‘Heritage’ is no argument against change on parliamentary prayers

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Dear Editor,
The Australian Christian Lobby is correct that Australia has a long Christian heritage, but that is no argument against change (‘Mike Gaffney MLC and Si Gladman speak on ABC podcast about the problem of prayers in parliament’, YouTube, 14 May 2025).
Australia also had a long heritage of capital punishment and flogging as penalties for some serious criminal offences, but the heritage argument was rightly seen as irrelevant in the country’s shift to a more humane culture.
Similarly, there was a long heritage of regarding women as unemployable, viewed as people whose sole role in life was baby-making and house-management. But that heritage has been abandoned as women have become included in many fields from which they were once excluded
There has been a very long heritage of Australians eating eggs from battery-cage poultry farms, but we have now rejected that heritage and engaged in a long push towards less inhumane ways of treating poultry We also have a long heritage of not caring about the experiences of animals exported overseas to be slaughtered for meat in other countries. But we have now rejected that heritage in favour of protecting animal welfare
There was a very long heritage of not expecting children to remain in school past the age of 14 – and, before that, to not go to school at all. But we have now ...