Ralph Babet (Victoria, United Australia Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians will spend this long weekend in a thousand different ways—at the beach, relaxing at home or, if they can find the petrol and if they can afford it, maybe even on the road. That's not that likely; let's be honest. But Easter remains something more than a break in the calendar. Easter is the moment that the West remembers the story that built it; sacrifice, forgiveness and the stubborn belief that death does not have the final word.

You don't have to be a regular church-goer to benefit from the story of Easter. In fact, that's precisely why it matters. Easter is not just a religious ritual; it is the cultural heartbeat of a civilisation that gave us human dignity, the rule of law and the idea that every life has value. Strip away the resurrection, and much of what we take for granted begins to look incredibly unconvincing.

In a world that feels increasingly fragmented and uncertain, Easter offers a rare pause to remind ourselves that renewal is possible no matter how dark the circumstances. A wise man once said that even if we don't believe Christianity to be true we should want it to be true—and he was right. Christianity has been the moral architecture of the West for centuries. If that architecture is to endure, it needs more than vague appreciation; it needs participation. Get yourself to church this weekend and take an hour out of your long weekend to hear again the story that built the West. You might just find that the story still speaks and it matters more than you thought. Happy Easter to all.