Page 562 - Week 02 - Thursday, 14 February 2013
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service or religious ceremony which they believe is appropriate in the conduct of their business as members. It is not about any of those things. It is not about saying that members cannot come into this place wearing insignia or a symbol which professes their religious faith and belief. All of these rights are intrinsic to rights as members and rights as human beings, and the government is not suggesting otherwise.
What we are suggesting, however, Madam Speaker, is that it is not appropriate for you, as the Speaker, to profess to organise or lend the authority of your office to a ceremony which is designed to draw a clear link between the authority of your office, the Assembly and a religious ceremony. We have seen comments in response to the debate over the past few weeks which have made very clear the problematic nature of last Monday’s ceremony.
I would like to draw members’ attention to the comments of Professor James Haire, who is a professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, a previous president of the National Council of Churches and a Uniting Church minister. He gave a very interesting interview on ABC morning radio earlier this week and I think his comments bear repeating. He was asked, first of all, whether or not the church service that was established by you, Madam Speaker, on Monday was effectively the same as the church service established by the commonwealth parliament and which is now a regular part of the commencement of the commonwealth parliament’s parliamentary year.
This is what Professor Haire said in reply: “There is an enormous difference. We have the issue of the separation of church and state. The federal parliamentary service is quite different. A parliamentary Christian Fellowship—a group of Christians who are members of federal parliament. Their leaders are always cross-party. Currently their president is a member of the Labor Party and the secretary is a member of the National Party of Australia. So they are cross-party. They organise this themselves. It is not organised by the Speaker of the House of Representatives or by the President of the Senate. They come to the ACT Churches Council. It’s a voluntary service. It’s not to that extent official.”
Professor Haire was asked by the presenter on ABC radio, “What do you make of the multi-faith nature of this event? The Speaker, Vicki Dunne, has gone to some length to emphasise she has gone to lengths to invite representatives from a number of faiths, including Christian faiths, to be part of this.” Professor Haire said in reply, “That doesn’t solve the problem. The point is she is running services. The state is running services. She, representing the Assembly, is running a Christian service. That’s not how it works in a liberal democracy.”
The presenter, at a later point in the interview, went on to ask about the claim you have made, Madam Speaker, that you have organised a service as Speaker but not on behalf of the Assembly. The presenter asked Professor Haire, “Does that hold any water for you?” Professor Haire said in reply, “No, none, because she is still Speaker and she is a representative. She is an elected representative. Even more than an MLA she represents the state. For that reason she should not be doing it. It doesn’t happen in the federal parliament.”
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