The Secular Party of Australia is a minor Australian political party, founded in January 2006 and registered as a federal political party in 2010.History of Secular Party
It aims to promote

secular humanist Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality ...

ethical principles and the separation of church and state in Australia. In early 2022 it merged with other parties to become the

Fusion Party Fusion Party is a name for multiple political parties in United States history and more recently a Federal political party established in Australia. The different parties that used the name don't share any particular political positions; instead ...

History

The Secular Party was founded in January 2006 after discussions in late 2005, and registered as a federal political party in 2010. In 2005, the Secular Party took out a series of advertisements airing in prime time, spoken by party founder and then vice-president John Goldbaum. The campaign often used the slogan "Don't Let the Church Govern Australia", attacking the policies of the Howard Government concerning abortion, contraception, and

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

. In 2007 the party merged with the similar Freedom From Religion Party. The phrase "Freedom From Religion" was appended as a subheading to the main party name on the website and in marketing materials. This subheading has since been changed to the sub heading "Freedom of religion and freedom from religion". The party contested the 2007 Federal Australian election by fielding candidates for each Australian state's representation in the Senate under the campaign slogan "Don't Let The Church Govern Australia - Keep Religion Out of Politics". The party was not registered federally, so the party name did not appear on the ballot paper. Ian Bryce appeared on ABC Radio in a discussion on secularism and John Perkins submitted an article to the Australian political e-journal On Line Opinion, but the party received little other media attention during the campaign. In 2008 and 2009 the party became more active in Senate Committee discussions around the taxation of religious organisations and the HREOC submission on same sex discrimination. On 2 July 2009, the Secular Party applied to the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

to be registered as a federal political party; its application was accepted on 16 June 2010. The 2010 federal election was the Secular Party's first election as a registered political party. The party fielded 31 candidates across Australia. These included Senate candidates in all states and 19 candidates for the House of Representatives. According to the Australian Electoral Commission the total number of votes cast for the party in lower house seats was 10,287 (0.1%) of the overall total. The party received 8,741 first preference votes (0.09%) in the Senate election. In the 2013 federal election, the Secular Party received 4,834 votes (0.04%) in the lower house, and 12,698 first preference votes (0.09%) in the senate. In the 2016 federal election, the Secular Party of Australia fielded 8 candidates for the senate, with 2 each for the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. In the 2019 federal election, the Secular Party of Australia fielded 2 candidates for the senate for Victoria. The party has stated that it has joined an alliance called ''Fusion'' with the Pirate Party, Science Party, and

Vote Planet Climate Emergency Action Alliance: Vote Planet, formerly the Save Our One Planet Alliance, is an Australian political party founded in 2019. The party is an electoral alliance between the unregistered "Save the Planet" and "One Planet" parties. ...

. On 11 January 2022, the party was voluntarily de-registered within the

due to being unable to meet the increased registration requirement of 1,500 members.

Policies and aims

Aims

* To bring about separation of church and state in Australia * To promote

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

worldwide * To stand for human rights and social justice, affirming the dignity of each human being * To support the maximisation of individual liberty and opportunity consistent with social and environment responsibility * To defend freedom of expression everywhere * To espouse policies which support a rational approach to human problems * To promote the fullest use of science for human welfare * To gain and maintain for non-religious people the same rights that are enjoyed by members of religious bodies The Secular Party believes that the law and policy in Australia isn't that of a truly secular government and that voters in Australia are looking for a secular alternative.

The party supports

* Constitutional separation of Church and State * A secular republic, free of hereditary privilege * Pro-choice regarding

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

* Lesbian IVF availability * Same-sex marriage in Australia * Contraception and sex education * Anti-homophobia education * Removal of anti-discrimination exemptions for religious schools and businesses *

Voluntary euthanasia Voluntary euthanasia (VE) is the ending of a person's life at their request in order to relieve them of suffering. Voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been the focus of intense debate in recent years. Some forms of ...

Embryonic stem cell research Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre- implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist ...

* Scientific research not to be limited by religious objections

The party opposes

Censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

, religious coercion and theocracy * Government support for religious schools * Religious attire at schools * Religious indoctrination of children * Sharia Law

References

External links

The Secular Party of Australia websiteAustralian Electoral Commission
{{Australian political parties Church–state separation advocacy organizations Political parties in Australia Republican parties in Australia Skeptic organisations in Australia Secularism in Australia Political parties established in 2006 2006 establishments in Australia Secular humanism