Why is the Lord's Prayer read at the beginning of each day in the House of Representatives and Senate if Australia is a secular nation?
The President of the Senate
David Foote/DPS Auspic
The President of the Senate
David Foote/DPS Auspic
Description
The President of the Senate sits in a large, red chair on an elevated platform in the Senate. The President is a senator who has been picked to run the meetings in the Senate. The President’s chair faces the U-shaped seating of the other senators. From here, the President can see and hear everything that happens, and everyone in the Senate can see the President.
Permission should be sought from DPS AUSPIC for third-party or commercial uses of this image. To contact DPS AUSPIC email: auspic@aph.gov.au or phone: 02 6277 3342.
At the beginning of each sitting day in the Senate and House of Representatives prayers are read. This is done because these prayers are part of the rules – Standing orders – of the Senate and House. Prayers are not read at the start of a sitting day in the Federation Chamber, the second meeting room of the House.
Senators and members of the House of Representatives are not required to be present or participate in the prayers. There have been several attempts by senators and members of the House of Representatives to change the Standing orders to replace the prayers with an opportunity for personal prayer or reflection. In voting against this change, some senators and members have argued the prayers at the beginning of each sitting day are a long standing and non-partisan tradition which re-affirms their commitment to the common good of Australia.
In 2010 both the Senate and House introduced an Acknowledgement of Country before the reading of prayers at the start of each sitting day.