If you’ve been doubting the religious tenets you were told to believe and have reached the point of no return, you can mark the shift at this year's Census. Accurately reflect your new affiliation by marking ‘No religion’. Find out more: censusnotreligious.org.au #Census26 #NotReligious

Author and commentator @janecaro.bsky.social has thrown her support behind our campaign, urging Australians to tick the ‘No religion’ box on the Census “if it’s the truth for you”. Find out more: censusnotreligious.org.au #Census26 #NotReligious #Census2026

“Are we to end up in Australia, as in the United States, where there are numerous fundamentalist universities… ?” In our #Rationale magazine, Rodney Nillsen takes a critical look at academic freedom in church-based 'university colleges'. rationalemagazine.com/index.php/20...

Fundamentalism in Australia’s university system - Rationale Magazine

The changes made to higher education by the Labor government in 1988 took many years to filter through the Australian university system. Those changes had two key features: colleges of advanced educat...

rationalemagazine.com

Andrew Denton reminds Australians to be mindful that the Census question about religious affiliation – ‘What is the person’s religion?’ – automatically presumes everyone is religious. Watch his full video on our website: censusnotreligious.org.au/2026/08/01/a... #Census26 #NotReligious

As we grow and change, so do our beliefs. Every five years, the Census asks about your current relationship with religion. If your beliefs have changed, your answer can too. Find out more: censusnotreligious.org.au #Census26 #NotReligious #Census2026

We welcome a Victorian parliamentary committee’s call for new laws to address coercive control in high-control groups and for reform of federal charities laws to ensure greater accountability of such groups. Read more: rationalist.com.au/rsa-welcomes... #SpringSt

RSA welcomes recommendations from parliamentary inquiry into coercive control in cults | Rationalist Society of Australia

The Rationalist Society of Australia welcomes a Victorian parliamentary committee’s call for new laws to address coercive control in high-control groups and for reform of federal charities laws to ens...

rationalist.com.au

In a message for our campaign, media personality and assisted dying advocate Andrew Denton speaks about the importance of helping to deliver more accurate Census data for the religion question. Watch his full video on our website: censusnotreligious.org.au/2026/08/01/a... #Census26 #NotReligious

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has itself acknowledged that the #religion question used in the Census “may lead respondents to a particular response”. But you don’t have to be tricked by the leading nature of the question. Find out more: censusnotreligious.org.au #Census26 #NotReligious

In an editorial today about allegations heard by a corruption inquiry in New South Wales, the Sydney Morning Herald has called for the Catholic school system to provide greater transparency over the use of public funds. www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw... #NSWpol #auspol

Time for Catholics to be transparent about their use of other people’s money

The freewheeling days when NSW Catholic schools did not have to account for how they spent taxpayers funds must end.

smh.com.au

On the Independent Australia website, Johanna Browne writes about the importance of a private, separate form for people living in high-control religious households. Read the article: independentaustralia.net/politics/pol... #Census26 #NotReligious

Why Australians need the right to answer their own Census

Australians should be free to record their own beliefs, identity and conscience without someone else answering the Census on their behalf.

independentaustralia.net

The ABC reports that survivors of cults and high-control groups have welcomed a landmark report that recommends outlawing coercive control in group settings in Victoria. Read more: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07... #SpringSt

Cult inquiry recommends outlawing coercive control in groups

A Victorian inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups is recommending world-leading laws against group coercive control.

abc.net.au

A Victorian parliamentary committee that investigated the harmful impact of cults has recommended new legislation to criminalise group‑based coercion and to develop nationally consistent approaches to identifying and responding to group‑based coercion. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... #SpringSt

Victorian cults inquiry accidentally shares email address of anonymous survivors with group members

Committee apologises for not concealing email addresses when alerting witnesses to final report

theguardian.com

If you're not religious and you decide not to answer the religion question, you will be helping to contribute to the under-counting of the non-religious population. And this leads to the continued privileging of religion in society. Find out more: censusnotreligious.org.au #Census26 #NotReligious

Ahead of the Victorian Parliament’s expected release of an inquiry report into cults and fringe groups this week, reform advocate Patrick McIvor provides a checklist of policy or legal reforms that cult survivors are seeking. Read more: patrickmcivor.com.au/2026/07/27/w... #SpringSt

What Victoria’s Cult Inquiry Needs to Deliver

This week, the Victorian Parliament’s Legal and Social Issues Committee is expected to table the final report of its inquiry into cults and organised fringe groups. The report follows an avalanche …

patrickmcivor.com.au

On the ABC website, Go Gentle founder Andrew Denton writes about the remaining barriers to voluntary assisted dying, including the ban on telehealth and the refusal of publicly funded Catholic health providers to support access. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07... #auspol

Telehealth ban still standing between dying patients and their doctors

A federal law that threatens doctors if they use electronic communications, such as the internet or phone, to discuss voluntary assisted dying remains in force, even though telehealth is now an establ...

abc.net.au

If you consider yourself to be spiritual in some way but not religious, then it’s important that you mark ‘No religion’ when you’re responding to the religion question on this year’s Census. Find out more: censusnotreligious.org.au #Census26 #NotReligious #SBNR

Surveys show Australia is less religious than the Census suggests — but it's the Census that shapes policy and funding. If you're not religious, marking 'No religion' helps build the real picture: censusnotreligious.org.au #Census26 #NotReligious #Census2026

Nine Newspapers report that Labor’s membership has called for the federal government to remove a legal barrier to voluntary assisted dying that stops doctors talking to patients over telehealth. Read more: www.theage.com.au/politics/fed... #auspol

Labor promises conscience vote in debate over telehealth for assisted dying

Voluntary assisted dying was the only issue that had attracted official dissenting remarks on the conference floor by Friday afternoon.

theage.com.au

It's common for people to grow out of a religious tradition and reject its beliefs while continuing to celebrate its culture. If you no longer accept the beliefs or no longer think of yourself as religious, mark 'No religion' on the Census. More: censusnotreligious.org.au #Census26 #NotReligious

The Guardian reports that Edmund Rice Education Australia, the entity gifted vast property holdings by the Christian Brothers, has agreed to help compensate abuse survivors in full, in a stunning reversal after weeks of public pressure. Read more: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... #auspol

Christian Brothers abuse victims to get ‘full’ compensation in backdown after controversial property sales

Edmund Rice Education Australia can be sued over abuse committed by Catholic order, after receiving much of its property holdings

theguardian.com

Our campaign spokesperson Michael Dove encourages people who don’t want someone else answering the Census religion question on their behalf to access the private form through the Bureau of Statistics. Find out more: censusnotreligious.org.au/separate-cen... #MyCensusStory #Census26 #NotReligious

The Friendly Atheist podcast in the US has reported on the results of the survey commissioned by our campaign, showing that the leading question used in the Census significantly undercounts Australia’s non-religious population: www.friendlyatheist.com/p/new-survey... #Census26 #NotReligious

New survey suggests Australia's Census may dramatically undercount the non-religious

A commissioned poll found that simply rewording the religion question in a more honest way pushed "No religion" from 43% to 54%

friendlyatheist.com

Johanna knows first-hand that it can be unsafe for people living in religious households to state their true beliefs in response to the Census religion question. Find out more about accessing the private form: censusnotreligious.org.au/separate-cen... #MyCensusStory #Census26 #NotReligious

We’re urging delegates at the Labor Party’s national conference this week to make changes to the policy platform to support collecting “accurate” data about population demographics, including on religion. Read more: rationalist.com.au/rsa-urges-la... #auspol #Census26

RSA urges Labor conference delegates to support collection of ‘accurate’ data on religion | Rationalist Society of Australia

The Rationalist Society of Australia is urging delegates at the Labor Party’s national conference this week to make changes to the policy platform to support collecting “accurate” data about populatio...

rationalist.com.au

Everyone has a fundamental right to decide for themselves whether they're religious. If you'll be completing the Census form on behalf of children or teenagers, let them exercise that right by answering the religion question for themselves. More: censusnotreligious.org.au #Census26 #NotReligious

Until 11:59 pm on Monday 3 August, every contribution to our campaign will be matched, dollar for dollar. The Rationalist Society of Australia has generously offered to match contributions (up to a total of $5,000). Contribute here: censusnotreligious.org.au/donate/ #Census26 #NotReligious

In our #Rationale magazine, cartoonist Matt Bissett-Johnson gives his take on what’s happening in current affairs. Check out his other recent cartoons here: rationalemagazine.com/index.php/au... @mbjcartoonist.bsky.social #auspol #Census26

Councillor Rob Baillieu has taken aim at the rates exemptions that are afforded to religious properties and private schools under Victorian state laws, saying these exemptions unfairly increase the burden on all other ratepayers in his council area. Read more: rationalist.com.au/subsidisatio...

As someone who left a high-control religious group, Sherrie knows that the Census can be an opportunity for many people who have lived in silence to finally have their voices heard on the matter of religious affiliation. Find out more: censusnotreligious.org.au #MyCensusStory #Census26 #NotReligious

Almost two per cent of rates collected at an inner-city Melbourne council is subsidising religion and private schools in what one councillor has described as an “unjust burden on ratepayers”. Read more: rationalist.com.au/subsidisatio... #auspol

Subsidisation of religious sites and private schools an “unjust burden” for ratepayers, says Victorian councillor | Rationalist Society of Australia

Almost two per cent of rates collected at an inner-city Melbourne council is subsidising religion and private schools in what one councillor has described as an “unjust burden on ratepayers”. At a mee...

rationalist.com.au