Growth of hypocrisy and end of faith in Australia (8)
I believe the answer is:
acanthus
'growth' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hypocrisy and end of faith in australia' is the wordplay.
'hypocrisy' becomes 'cant' (I've seen this in other clues).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'end of' suggests the final letters.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'australia' becomes 'Aus' (abbreviation).
The last letter of 'faith' is 'h'.
'cant'+'h'='canth'
'canth' inserted within 'aus' is 'ACANTHUS'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for acanthus that I've seen before include "Carved ornament" , "Ridicule" , "A staunch sort of plant?" , "Kind of leaves" , "Cash, aunt, for this plant" .)