By Jenel Hunt
An attempt to have prayers removed from council ordinary meetings has been overturned at a Southern Downs Regional Council meeting on Wednesday 17 July.
In adopting a revised meeting policy, councillors narrowly voted that the order of business should include the existing prayer and condolence sections within the meetings and not before the official meeting, as had been suggested.
The meeting heard that including a prayer in the meeting would actually be in contravention of the Queensland Human Rights Act 2019.
Brought in during the Dobie mayoral reign and continued during the Mayor Pennisi era of the SDRC, the prayer was a hot topic and most of the councillors had either a question or an opinion to voice.
Mayor Councillor Melissa Hamilton said that under Section 4B of the Act, councillors were required to act and make decisions in a way that was compatible with human rights.
She also referenced Section 29, which stated that every person has the freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief.
“In my opinion, including the prayer once the meeting has opened, potentially infringes the Act,” she said.
“Forcing someone to sit through a religious ceremony is in breach [of the Act] in my view, and in regard to Christian values and caring for people, you are all sitting around a table with a councillor who has expressed extreme discomfort at having to sit through those ceremonies.”
She suggested that moving the prayer to a time immediately before the opening of the meeting would allow the council to reflect the importance of religion in the community while complying with the obligation to allow people to make a personal choice.
Cr Hamilton also questioned how it was different having the prayer five minutes before 9am, as opposed to five minutes after.
Cr Cynthia McDonald was quick to support the prayer within the actual meeting.
“The argument surrounding the church versus state has long been debated throughout history. It’s my belief that our community continues to maintain Christian values,” she said.
She said that while the Australian Census data of 2021 showed 49.3 per cent of Australians classified themselves as Christians, the Southern Downs region was much higher at 64 per cent.
She cited the Australian Constitution’s preamble that the people agreed to unite in a Federal Commonwealth ‘humbly relying on the blessing of almighty God’ and said that all Australian parliaments except the ACT featured some form of Christian prayers.
Cr McDonald suggested that as a diverse inclusive organisation, ‘perhaps we should be looking at having Hindus, Moslems and various other religions represented’ in the meeting time allotted for prayer.
Cr Russell Wantling pointed out there were 40 denominations of churches operating within the Southern Downs.
But for Cr Morwenna Harslett, the legislated separation of the church and the state meant not only that the free exercise of any religion not be prohibited but also that “we shall not impose any religious observance upon others”.
“And that’s the bit that I think is being contravened if we put it in the minuted part of the meeting. It means that we have to sit here and be part of that prayer. I don’t disagree with the respectfulness of it and I don’t want to take away other people’s rights to pray in whatever way they wish to. I simply don’t understand why that can’t happen before the minuted part of the meeting commences,” she said.
“That way anybody who may not be a Christian or who may want to be part of that process doesn’t have to be – because once you put it within the minuted part of the meeting, you have to be there.”
There are rules around councillors wanting to leave the room during ordinary meetings requiring the permission of the chair.
Cr Hamilton said the challenge was to make the system of local government work in a way that responded to the cultural diversity within the region while preserving democracy.
“My issue is that while 64 per cent of our region is Christian, that means 36 per cent of people are not. Our increasingly diverse staff and councillors should be able to attend official meetings without engaging in a prayer which is inconsistent with their religions or beliefs,” she said.
“For the prayer to be optional it needs to occur before the beginning of official business. Once this meeting opens, councillors and some staff cannot leave the meeting. If it occurs immediately before the meeting they can exercise their right to leave the room and return for the start of official business.
“Personally, I would choose to remain in the room for the prayer, but it should always be a matter of choice. I don’t want to make people uncomfortable in this chamber.”
Crs Sheryl Windle and Ross Bartley spoke in favour of the prayer with the actual meeting and both also advocated to keep condolences in the meeting’s order of business.
Cr Bartley said he thought the quoted figure of 64 per cent Christian was ‘a bit light on’ and considered the region to be ‘very, very Christian’ and that churches brought great value to the community, especially in difficult times.
He believed the iconic people who had ‘gone before’ should be recognised as well.
“It doesn’t need to be a eulogy but I think it has always been formally recognised that we have a minute’s silence for those who have passed since the last meeting,” he said.
The vote to include prayers and condolences in the order of business was close, at five voting for the motion and four against.
In favour were Crs Cynthia McDonald, Russell Wantling, Sarah Deane, Sheryl Windle and Ross Bartley.
Against were Crs Joel Richters, Carla Pidgeon, Morwenna Harslett and Melissa Hamilton.
The council meetings policy that was adopted at the same time is based on the Queensland Government’s best practice example standing orders for local government and standing committee meetings.
