News
Select stories below have also been published in our digital magazine, the Australian Humanist. Visit the magazine to read more.
Humanism as Resistance: The Ottawa Declaration
On 9 August the General Assembly of Humanists International, meeting in Ottawa, adopted The Ottawa Declaration on Humanism as Resistance. Its central claim is bracing in its simplicity: humanism is not just a set of values but an active approach to life. Across eight clauses it commits humanists to resisting authoritarianism, nationalism and demagoguery, to refusing the dehumanisation that hate speech, science denial and disinformation make possible, to insisting that new technologies stay accountable to human beings, and to defending democratic institutions rather than assuming they will hold on their own. The urgency is not abstract. Humanists International's 2025 Freedom of Thought Report counts 65 countries where criticism of religion can be punished by imprisonment and 12 where it can carry the death penalty, and it warns that authoritarian movements increasingly advance sectarian agendas in the borrowed language of human rights. Australia is not a bystander. We still have no national bill of rights, religious exemptions still carve holes in anti-discrimination protections, and religious instruction still occupies class time in public schools in several states. Secular arrangements are held in place by people who show up. As Humanists, we are the Resistance.
A Right That Stops at the Edge of Town
Telehealth for Voluntary Assisted Dying Blocked in Parliament
The government and opposition combined to shut down a crossbench bill, despite Labor's own national conference backing the change.
Every state has legalised voluntary assisted dying, but a Commonwealth law written before video consultations existed still treats a telehealth conversation about VAD as "advice on suicide". Kate Chaney's bill would have fixed that, with the AMA, the Law Council and twenty health organisations behind it, and with Labor's own national conference having voted last month to remove the bar. On 11 August the government and opposition combined to quash it, 74 votes to 12. A right that exists in law but not in practice is not much of a right, and geography should not decide whether a dying person can reach care that parliament has already agreed they are entitled to. The fight now moves to the Senate.
Humanism Rocks: Nate Eggins
Altruistic Artist Nate Eggins, who performs as Conspiracy of One, brings his fourth annual Planetarium Variety Show to the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium on Friday 21 August as an official National Science Week event. Expect science talks, comedy, a critical thinking workshop, audience participation, prize giveaways and Nate's quirky sciency songs, all under the dome. Described as a cross between Tim Minchin and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, Nate won an award from the Australian Skeptics in 2023 for promoting reason, science, critical thinking and scepticism through music and art, and his previous planetarium shows have sold out every year. It is family friendly, and he makes a particular point of welcoming neurodiverse, LGBTQ+ and disability communities. Doors open at 6:30pm and the show starts on time at 7pm.
Census 2026 - Not Religious? Mark ‘No Religion’
Australia’s next National Census is taking place in August 2026. The Census is conducted every 5 years, and this year is an opportunity for Humanists, and all Australians who are not religious, to have their presence counted!
The Census results shape government decisions on funding, policy, and the role of religion in public life — from school chaplaincy programs to hospital and aged care services.