Thursday, 20 September 2018

 Mr PERERA (Cranbourne) (10:08): In 1966, 88 per cent of Australian people identified as being Christian. By 2016 this had fallen to 52 per cent. Over the same period people with no religion have grown from 0.8 per cent to 30.1 per cent. Today the most popular form of identification is no religion, well ahead of those who are Catholic. In Victoria only 53 per cent have declared their religion as Christian. In 2014, 31 members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly took the affirmation — that is, 35 per cent.

The mantra here in the Parliament is multiculturalism is bipartisan and all parties support multiculturalism. Religious diversity is linked to multiculturalism; nobody can dispute that. Parliament should reflect the diversity of the Victorian community — the diversity of faith and spirituality — and also should recognise non-believers. Therefore, in my view, reciting the Lord’s Prayer every sitting day is very hypocritical of all those who stand tall as supporters and defenders of diversity. First and foremost, Australia is a secular society. Our parliaments are secular parliaments. Since the European civilisation of Australia our country has been run as a secular society. We have no state religion, and the founders of the country planned it that way. This practice should never have existed at any time in history. Members of Parliament should wake up to reality and recite a prayer that reflects their duties as representatives of the Victorian community.