Some Victorian councillors want the state government to remove prayer from council meetings. 

A group of 21 Victorian councillors have written an open letter to the state government, calling on it to issue guidance on prayers in Council meetings. 

Currently, individual councils have the power to amend their agendas to remove an opening prayer, but many regional municipalities are against the move. 

Moyne Shire Councillor Jordan Lockett signed the open letter, saying councils should do more to promote inclusion.

“There's a big shift in the country, 'no religion' is 38.9 per cent of the population, and that population isn't being represented,” he said. 

“There needs to be a standardisation across all councils, I think that's what the attempt is here, to say the state government should enforce the Act across all the shires and councils,” he said.  

Glen Eira councillor David Zyngier has joined the call for the state government, the Minister for Local Government and the Premier to officially remove Christian prayers from the opening of local council meetings.

“All councils are governed by the Local Government Act 2020 which is a state government act, and it's been quite difficult for some councils who are sticking to their guns and dividing their community by promoting one deity over many,” Cr Zyngier said.

“All local councils are obliged to respect the Local Government Act 2020, that's what governs our operations and it’s a simple matter for the state government to intervene and insist all local councils reflect the interests of their multicultural and multi-faith communities.”

The state government has issued a statement saying; “We expect councils will reflect, and are accountable to, the communities that they are elected to serve”. 

“The Local Government Act does not require councils to conduct prayers as part of council meetings.”

Mildura Rural City Councillor Glenn Milne has voted in support of opening prayers, and says that taking religion out of council affairs would not be reflective of local values. 

“When you look at the very early beginnings of Mildura the first thing they built were the churches on Deakin avenue and they’re some of the oldest buildings,” he said.

“We need to have some respect for our own culture.

“It doesn’t hurt people to accept there are Christian people in our community.

“Most of our laws are based on Christian values anyway.

“[Residents want] us to concentrate on the real problems that are affecting our community.”