Dear Shadow Minister,

As Paul Keating once said:

"I think Australia has to be a country which has
the 'Welcome' sign out."

SM

11% of Western Australian NATIONAL PARTY MP's from the current parliament are convicted paedophiles. A bit of irony, convicted paedophile JAMES HAYWARD most likely recited the 'Lords Prayer' before he voted on Child Protection Laws.

No need to concern yourself with 'Welcome To Country' but have you ever been so welcomed? Me thinks not.

Dear Banjo,

Thanks for another comprehensive explanation. I see that Christmas and Easter are defined as public holidays, so that might avoid them being defined as religious observances also.

The only other issues I could think of are the wording of the preamble "humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God", and whether 116, while applying to legislation passed by the parliament, would apply to the rules and procedures of the parliament itself.

I suspect that if reading the Lord's prayer were unconstitutional then an astute lawyer might have spotted it a long time ago.

Note also that acknowledgement of country precedes the prayer in the Federal Parliament, so I suspect that the procedures of the parliament are determined by the parliament itself.

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/Practice7/HTML/Chapter8/Acknowledgement_of_country_and_Prayers

Dear Fester,

«The only other issues I could think of are the wording of the preamble "humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God"»

Why the concern when they never meant what they wrote in the first place? Humble politicians??*??

When you embark on doing good, you have God's blessings regardless, you don't need to claim it; and when you embark on doing evil you will incur God's curse regardless.

The purpose of placing such clauses in different places is to remind people of God, wherever that happens to be - it doesn't seem to work for the parliamentarians, but here it just reminded you and Banjo of God - that's good!

«Note also that acknowledgement of country precedes the prayer in the Federal Parliament»

Excellent! The more time they waste, the less time they have left to harm us!

Dear Yuyutsu,

My considerations of this question are its legality and appropriateness in a democratic institution. As it happens I would not be crestfallen if both the prayer and acknowledgement of country were dispensed with and replaced with an acknowledgement of all people responsible for the nation we inhabit. Also note that unlike the Lord's prayer, welcome to country/acknowledgement of country is commonplace in a great many public and private organisations across Australia.