Why the Prime Minister is wrong about the separation of church and state in Australia

14 March 2006

On 28 February Democrats' Senator Allison moved a motion which had as its intention a legislative change towards Australia separating church and state. The Prime Minister responded on 2 March that

"What the separation of church and state means in this country is that there is no established church .. we don't have the Anglican Church as the official state religion, that's what it means..."

On-line article. Printable version.

Prime Minister's reason for burqa being confronting is twisted

The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, has declared that he finds the full head-to-toe Islamic dress "confronting". He said that most Australians would agree with him. On this issue, the Secular Party does agree with him, but for different reasons. Mr Howard would find that the burqa confronts his Christian values. We find that our secular values are confronted...article

The Prime Minister is incorrect

when he said at his press conference 2 March: "A secular state means that there is no established church as the official head of state. It doesn't mean that we abandon our Judeo-Christian heritage or that we eliminate official reference to God"... article