A MOVE to end the reading of the Lord's Prayer in Victoria's Upper House has drawn a hostile reaction from most North East politicians.
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Only Liberal Democrat Tim Quilty was willing to offer any sympathy to the idea which has been proposed by fellow MLC Fiona Patten.
The Reason Party leader plans to put a motion to the Legislative Council next Wednesday afternoon, calling for the prayer, which is recited at the start of each sitting day, to be replaced with a moment of contemplation.
"The proposal is simply that members would observe a brief silence in which to pray and/or reflect on their duty to faithfully serve their entire community," Ms Patten said.
She believes having the prayer is contrary to Victoria being multifaith and replacing it would show the "Parliament is for everyone".
Ms Patten said she had support for her action from Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and ethnic representatives.
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Wodonga-based Mr Quilty said he and fellow Liberal Democrat MLC David Limbrick did not have a final position on the matter.
"Personally I don't think we should be saying particular prayers at the start of Parliament but I don't know if it needs to change" Mr Quilty said.
"The main argument for changing it is that it doesn't represent other religions and atheists.
"If you were to change it that would be why, but against that there is tradition and it's not a massive burden for people to bear."
Wangaratta MLC Tania Maxwell declined to say how she would vote, cryptically noting when matters "are tabled I always look to their relevance for the communities I represent".
She prefaced her comment, given in a statement to The Border Mail, by noting "after the huge impact of more than six months of lockdown and public health orders since March last year, my job is to make sure our communities are getting the help they need from parliament and government to recover and get back to business".
The Liberal Party's MLC for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell said she would vote no to a change.
"I think the Lord's Prayer does represent more than one religion," Ms Lovell said.
"If you look at many religions they're all based on the First Testament, it's only the Second Testament people disagree with, that Christ was the son of God."
North East Lower House MPs Bill Tilley, Tim McCurdy and Steph Ryan all condemned Ms Patten's step.
Mr Tilley said given COVID there were more vital issues.
"But this is what you get with independents, a dirty little transactional deal with Labor to get their laws like the river frontage camping over the line through Ms Patten's support and now Labor will just fall into line with her Sex or Reason Party, whatever she calls it this week, to dump the prayer," he said.
The Nats both said "Parliament needs to spend its time finding a path out of lockdown, not debating the removal of a tradition that has served us well since 1857" and Ms Patten's "culture wars....are quite frankly, tiresome beyond belief".