Key Points
- The Andrews Labor government made an election promise to workshop a replacement for the Lord's Prayer.
- Fiona Patten pitched a motion in 2021 to replace the prayer in the upper house with a moment of silent reflection.
- The 2021 Census highlighted Australia is becoming more religiously diverse.
As Victorian parliament returns for 2023, MPs will once again rise to the Lord's Prayer regardless of their religious beliefs. But days appear numbered for the long-standing tradition.
The Andrews government made an election promise to workshop a replacement for the Lord's Prayer at the start of this term.
The commitment was brokered after crossbencher Fiona Patten pitched a motion in 2021 to replace the prayer in the upper house with a moment of silent reflection, a move backed by some religious figures.
Ms Patten, an atheist, lost her upper house seat but has initiated a petition to encourage people to write to Premier Daniel Andrews and Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes to honour their promise.
More than 20 local councillors last week sent a letter to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, Mr Andrews and other ministers calling for rules to prevent councils starting meetings with single-faith prayers.
Ms Patten, who is working with the Legalise Cannabis Party's newly-elected upper house MPs, said the crossbench is yet to begin talks with the government on a replacement model or timeline for implementation.
"I suspect that now with the petition and the (councillors') letter that this will initiate those conversations," she told AAP.
Both houses of Victoria's parliament have opened each sitting day with Lord's Prayer since 1918 but it has been recited alongside an Acknowledgement of Country in recent years.
The ACT lower house replaced the Christian prayer with an invitation to pray or reflect in 1995.
"A moment of silence in the chambers before they turn into the bear pits ... would actually be quite helpful in setting the scene," said Ms Patten, who noted there are more than 148 religions across Victoria.
The 2021 Census highlighted Australia is becoming more religiously diverse, with 10 per cent of Australians following a faith other than Christianity - up from 8.2 per cent in 2016.
Almost as many Australians have no religious affiliation (38.9 per cent) as those who identify as Christian (43.9 per cent), and the proportion of Victorians with no religious affiliation (39.3 per cent) is higher than the national average.
Deputy Victorian Greens Leader Ellen Sandall said it's astounding the Lord's Prayer remains a fixture of both houses each day and she will introduce a motion for the lower house to ditch it when parliament returns on Tuesday.
"Our parliament should reflect the diversity of the whole Victorian community, not just those of one particular faith," she said.
Mr Andrews said a parliamentary committee would likely be the avenue through which a replacement model is considered.
"There are parliamentary committees that could do that important work," he told reporters on Sunday.
"And make sure that perhaps that prayer changes to be more reflective of the fact there are many different faiths across our Victorian community, not just the faith Christian."
The opposition has been approached for comment.
