![\"Australian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/3274sw_300w_1h_1x_1y.png\")
Australian Attorney General Michael Daley has confirmed a new law banning prayer for people struggling with sexuality.\u00a0Michael Daley Instagram screenshot<\/p>\n Australian Attorney General Michael Daley has confirmed a new law banning prayer for people struggling with sexuality.\u00a0Michael Daley Instagram screenshot<\/p>\n
The attorney general of New South Wales (NSW), Australia last week reaffirmed a ban on praying for sexually struggling people even if they request it.<\/p>\n
Lyle Shelton, national director of the Family First Australia political party and a candidate for a seat in the Upper House, stated on Friday (Sept. 5) that Attorney General Michael Daley had reaffirmed the ban in a parliamentary session.<\/p>\n
The NSW Parliament on March 22, 2024 had banned LGBTQA conversion practices, which took effect when it enacted the Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 (NSW)\u00a0on April 4 of this year. The law includes a ban on \u201cperforming a ritual, such as an exorcism or prayer-based practice to change or suppress someone\u2019s sexual orientation or gender identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome prayers are now illegal in NSW,\u201d Shelton stated on LinkedIn. \u201cIf a mum, dad, pastor, or friend prays with someone who asks for help to follow God\u2019s word, they could face sanction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calling prayer a freedom and not a crime, the party leader said the government has \u201cno business\u201d deciding which prayers are lawful or unlawful.<\/p>\n
He pledged the party would introduce legislation to restore the freedom to pray for anyone who seeks it, specifically to restore \u201cthe right to pray for anyone who asks for prayer for unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrayer is at the heart of religious freedom,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cIf someone asks for prayer to live in line with their faith, it is an extraordinary overreach for the government to make that illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The commitment comes after Liberal Member of Legislative Council Susan Carter revealed in parliament that the new Conversion Practices Ban Act makes some prayers unlawful, even if people freely seek them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank Susan Carter for her courage in asking the questions no one else would,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cShe put the simple question of whether prayer could be banned to Attorney-General Michael Daley. His answer was shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Family First press release quoted Daley as saying in parliament: \u201cPraying with or over a particular person in an attempt to try to change or suppress that person\u2019s sexuality or gender is unlawful\u2026 If it\u2019s an unlawful prayer, then it\u2019s not a lawful prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelton protested that the government was presuming to decide which prayers were permissible.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Daley admitted the government claims the right to define some prayers as \u2018unlawful,\u2019\u201d Shelton added. \u201cThat is a direct assault on religious liberty in NSW. It is chilling to think that a mum or dad, pastor, or friend could face sanction for praying with someone who explicitly asked for prayer to help them follow God\u2019s word.\u201d<\/p>\n
Family First stated that government regulation should never curtail the right to seek prayer.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrayer has always been about change \u2013 change in circumstances, change in hearts, change in lives. To criminalize a prayer that someone requests is a staggering overreach of state power into the private and spiritual lives of citizens,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cFamily First will act. If elected, we will introduce legislation to restore the simple freedom for people to pray with those who ask for it. No government should have the power to ban prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelton also called on church leaders and other people of faith not to let the new law intimidate them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe early church prayed for boldness in the face of threats (Acts 4:29),\u201d he said. \u201cThat remains our call today. Family First will be the voice in Parliament ensuring that ideology masquerading as law does not trample on prayer and freedom of religion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian Attorney General Michael Daley has confirmed a new law banning prayer for people struggling with sexuality.\u00a0Michael Daley…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,18612,90571,22405,673,44,90572,46785],"class_list":["post-130267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-homosexuality","tag-lgbtq","tag-new-south-wales","tag-news","tag-religious-freedom","tag-transgender"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}