The West Australian Parliament’s upper house would be able to remove the practice of imposing daily Christian prayers that appeal to the “creator of the universe” if the Labor Party’s representatives in the chamber decided to support the proposal.
The Rationalist Society of Australia understands that enough members of minor parties and the crossbench would provide Labor with the numbers to remove the prayers or replace them with something more appropriate.
In the newly elected Legislative Council, which began sitting last week, Labor requires the support of either the Greens members, the opposition, or the crossbench, to pass laws or make changes to the Standing Orders.
The RSA is aware of a number of members in the Legislative Council who are eager to remove prayers but will require Labor’s support.
In the state’s lower house, the Legislative Assembly, the Labor Party has complete control.
In late March, RSA Executive Director Si Gladman wrote to Premier Roger Cook and his new attorney-general, Tony Buti, to urge their government to remove prayers from the proceedings of both chambers or replace them with practices that were secular, more welcoming and inclusive, and better reflective of the West Australian community.
In response, David Michael, the Leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly, said he had passed our correspondence to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, who also chairs the chamber’s procedures committee.
“A key responsibility of the Committee is to examine and report on the procedures of the Legislative Assembly, on behalf of all members, and make recommendations for changes to the Standing Orders,” he said.
“I have also advised the Speaker that my counterpart, the Hon Stephen Dawson MLC, Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, would be comfortable for him to share a copy of your correspondence with the President of the Legislative Council.”
At the opening of each day’s proceedings, the President of the Legislative Council recites aloud Christian prayers that includes an appeal to the “creator of the universe” to bless the chamber’s work and also commits the elected representatives to make decisions “always to the advancement of Thy glory”. The President then recites the Lord’s Prayer.
Since he was elected to the Legislative Council in 2021, Brian Walker, of the Legalise Cannabis Party, has been pushing for modernisation of the Standing Orders to remove prayers from the formal proceedings of the chamber.
In March, he was re-elected, along with other minor-party representatives from the Greens (four members), One Nation (two members), Animal Justice Party (one member) and the Australian Christians (one member).
Based on Census figures from 2021, West Australians identifying as not religious (43 per cent) already out-number those who identify as Christian (41 per cent).
Speaking today, Mr Gladman said the new parliament needed to act on this issue, whether by the chambers simply debating and passing motions or by sending the matter to their respective procedural committees with the view to modernising proceedings.
“The practice of reciting prayers at the opening of each day’s proceedings alienates and excludes many people, including elected representatives, staff and members of the public in attendance. It simply fails to reflect the rich religious and non-religious cultural diversity of modern-day Western Australia,” he said.
“As the state’s most important institution of democracy, the parliament should be a welcoming place for all citizens. And it could be a welcoming place for all by adopting secular practices that treat everyone equally and do not favour one particular religious worldview.”
The Rationalist Society of Australia is actively advocating for prayer rituals to be replaced with more appropriate practices in councils and parliaments. See the latest updates here.
Si Gladman is Executive Director of the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.
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