Australian Christian Voter

Status quo for Christian parties in NSW upper house

2011-04-16T19:36:00.000+10:00

Christian parties neither increased or reduced their presence in the NSW Legislative Council in the March 2011 election. Shoalhaven Mayor Paul Green, standing for the Christian Democratic Party, replaces Gordon Moyes who represented Family First (after a mid-term departure from the CDP).

Once again, the two parties struggled to find agreement in how best to maximise the impact of those voters who choose to vote for a Christian party, with preference agreements falling down.

Paul Green joins Rev Fred Nile in the LC and together with the two Shooters and Fishers will play a significant role in sharing the balance of power in the current parliament. Green plans to continue on as Shoalhaven Mayor.

Gordon Moyes, his stint in NSW Parliament at an end, plans to use his time and experience in mentoring young Christian leaders, with a particular focus on politics.

For a wrap up of a the March 2011 NSW election, check out the following:

Antony Green's blog
CDP wrap-up
Gordon Moyes future
Australian Christian Lobby's reports

Christian vote contributes powerfully to election result

2010-09-01T22:36:00.001+10:00

Regardless of arguments for and against faith playing a role in the political process, one respected electoral analyst reports that the beliefs of both Christians and atheists strongly influenced voting patterns and results in the 2010 Federal Election.

Former Labor Senator John Black now runs Australian Development Strategies which includes a service called Elaborate, used to analyse the latest election results.

Elaborate is the name given to both the database and the analytical techniques developed by Australian Development Strategies principals during 35 years of experience in using demographic analysis, profiling and mapping.

Even in the the first paragraphs of he 45 page report, it becomes clear that the votes of Christians played a significant role in the election.

In describing the methodology for the 2010 election analysis, John Black's report says:

'Where we found more activist Christians, we found more voters swinging against Labor... The regression analysis weeds out the purely descriptive variables and uses only those variables which contribute real explaining power to the model. For example in the current election, the ALP copped an absolute caning in the regression analysis from activist Christian demographics in terms of both the vote and the swing. So the presence of an activist Christian vote in any electorate both described and explained behaviour.'

Australian Christian Voter's own research indicates that in the days after Julia Gillard became Prime Minister, thousands of people, presumably Christians, searched the internet for information about Ms Gillard's religious beliefs.

John Black's report confirms that this was an issue for many voters and this influenced electoral outcomes in certain seats.

'The anti Labor swing included the Christian evangelical faiths previously won by Kevin Rudd in 2007. While they were only one in ten voters on the faith spectrum, they live in the marginal Queensland and NSW seats.'

'At the same time, atheists also showed that the beliefs of prospective Prime Ministers matters. The big group of atheists and agnostics – one in three voters - swung heavily to Labor across Australia,' the report continues.

Christians, or church goers, may have had an influence in the election and re-election of independents, a factor assuming more importance than could have been imagined.

'This anti-Green, pro Independent group are older and live in more rural or outer urban blue collar suburbs where families have children and frequently attend Church. In these parts of Australia men have certificate qualifications and drive a truck to work and women stay home to mind the kids. There’s no spare money for the internet or Pay TV.'

But a key for the election result was that many Christians who swung away from the Gillard-replaces-Rudd ALP were in marginal seats.

'...regression modelling and simple seat swings show that the loss of Kevin Rudd’s pro-Christian, pro-family profile cost the ALP votes from Christians in marginal seats across the country. The top four Pentecostal seats in Australia included three in Queensland and one in NSW. The average anti Labor 2PP swing in these seats was 7.2 percent, compared to the national swing of 2.1 percent, a difference of 5.1 percent.

'Julia Gillard’s lack of religious beliefs – or the absence of Kevin Rudd’s Christian image - may have led to an increase in the swings to Labor candidates from agnostics and atheists.'

In terms of the growth in the Green vote, one interesting result is that in the seats won by independents, the Green vote it amongst the lowest in the nation. This could mean, for groups seeking to combat the rise of the Greens, that the most successful method might be to run a local, capable independent candidate.

'When we rank all 150 seats by their lack of 2010 Green voters we see the three independent MPs in the bottom five Green seats. If this lower income demographic does vote Green, they can cast up to 45 percent of their second preferences to the LNP,' the report says.

The stereotypical Green voter is described as:

'This is the Don’s Party group that used to be in the ALP in the sixties and seventies: young university students or graduates, frequently working and still studying in academia, no kids, often gay, arts and drama type degrees or architecture where they specialise in designing environmentally friendly suburbs, agnostic or atheist, often US or Canadian refugees from capitalism, but well paid in professional consulting or media jobs.'

Another unusual phenomenon is that the Greens and Liberals are battling for the richer demographic. In a section of the report examining anti-Green voters, Black's report describes a range of lower income voters and says:

'The Greens get none of these groups and... they lost even more of them in 2010, as their vote polarised around the inner city rich, the code word for which is apparently, "progressive".'

'...we see that the demographic groups swinging to the LNP also tended to vote Green and swing to the Greens. This includes big groups, like the inner city renters and those paying top quartile mortgages. So, while the LNP demographic may be anti-Green, apart from the self employed, many of those swinging to the LNP were also swinging to the Greens in 2010.'

Read the full John Black report.

In summary, it would appear that Christians are a strong part of the voter base for the three independents who are currently deciding who will be the next prime minister. In addition, many Christians swung away from Labor because of Julia Gillard's atheism and this swing had more of an impact than the atheist swing to Julia Gillard.

Particularly in Queensland, the swing was pronounced enough to say that seats that might have stayed with Labor, giving them a majority in the House of Representatives, went to the Coalition, bringing about a hung parliament.

An unexpected result has been that the balance of power in the lower house has assumed more importance than the Greens balance of power in the Senate.

And with the voting done (for the time being at least), Christians would be advised to focus their influence on doing good, loving justice and walking humbly with their God.
Peter Hallett

ACV to bring election comment to an end shortly

2010-09-01T10:32:00.001+10:00

Australian Christian Voter will shortly go into recess after a three month journey covering the 2010 federal election. With more than 130 posts in that time, and more than 6,000 page impressions, it has proved a useful resource for Christian voters, and voters in general.

If as a Christian voter, you have been visiting various party and organisational sites to see how the voting of Christians affected the 2010 result, you probably have found very little information. This partly because there is not a clear result yet, and because of the general wear and tear on organisations after a gruelling campaign.

ACV will tomorrow bring you some insightful comment on the election result, including how the Christian and atheist vote affected the outcome. Stay tuned.

DLP claims Vic Senate seat as count continues

2010-09-01T06:31:00.000+10:00

Possible DLP Senator John Madigan

The sixth and final Senate seat in Victoria is still up in the air with the Democratic Labor Party claiming the seat just ahead of Family First's Steve Fielding and Liberal Julian McGauran.

While the DLP only finished fifth on first preferences, behind Liberal, ALP, Greens and Family First, they do well with preferences from other minor parties, including, crucially, the Christian Democratic Party, who preferenced the DLP ahead of Family First.

However the ABC's Senate calculator is now showing the DLP being eliminated before Family First, with Family First not having enough votes to hold out Senator McGauran.

Despite this the DLP is virtually claiming victory on their website:

'After an extremely successful senate campaign and despite the fact that no one in the electronic or print media gave the DLP so much as a footnote, the people of Victoria have put John Madigan in the position of becoming the first DLP Senator in 35 years. Although the final figures will not be known for up to two weeks John is well placed to take the final Victorian Senate Seat.

'It is a shame that this possible DLP victory will come at the cost of Senators Julian McGauran and Steve Fielding who have given such strong and determined service on behalf of the people of Victoria.'

Mr Madigan is a blacksmith, skills that may well benefit him in the Senate.

Thousands of votes 'quarantined' by AEC in two electorates

2010-09-01T06:03:00.000+10:00

In a federal election where the two major parties have virtually tied, the Australian Electoral Commission has announced that hundreds, and even thousands, of votes in two electorates will not be counted because they had 'not been handled in accordance with the provisions of the Commonwealth Electoral Act'.

The AEC website reports that 'legal advice has been received which means that 2,977 early votes cast for the Division of Boothby will not be included in the count' and separately, that '452 early votes cast for the Division of Flynn will not be included in the count'.

Boothby in SA was held by Liberal Andrew Southcott and his lead in the count was reduced by 339 votes because of the quarantining of votes from the Oaklands Park Early Voting Centre.

Although the AEC says this has not changed the position of candidates in terms of the two party preferred position, it has made it nail-bitingly close 50.81 to Liberal, 49.19 to Labor.

The Flynn result is not as close and less votes were involved.

The Electoral Commissioner, Ed Killesteyn said that this is a serious matter that has resulted in affected voters not having their votes counted.

Read the AEC's statements and see the electorate results.

An explanation of the state of the Senate

2010-08-27T08:57:00.000+10:00

While the Senate election result is more clear cut than the House of Representatives, there is still some debate over who will win the final Senate seat in Victoria.

ABC election guru Antony Green says Family First will miss out, with the seat going to the Democratic Labor Party or the Coalition. However, Senator Fielding says he's still chance.

Read The Tally Room's summary here.

Fielding still flexing Senate muscle

2010-08-27T08:41:00.000+10:00

With the new Senate not sitting until July 2011, Family First Senator Steven Fielding is planning to influence the shape of government, using his balance of power vote, regardless of whether he is re-elected as the Senate count continues.

Mr Fielding said he believed 'voters are not very happy with Labor' and along with independent Senator Nick Xenophon, can prevent Labor legislation from passing the Senate. Currently there are 37 Liberal Senators, 32 Labor, five Green plus Fielding and Xenophon. When the newly elected Senate sits from July next year, the Greens - with about nine Senators - will hold the balance of power.

Steve Fielding may block Labor rule

Do the new cross bench members carry their cross?

2010-08-26T08:42:00.000+10:00

When Julia Gillard became Prime Minister there was massive interest from the Christian community as to whether she believed in God or carried Christian values.

Now that we have a handful of independents holding the balance of power, it will be interesting to see if their religious faith or otherwise receives the same scrutiny.

None of them have clear Christian identification in their publicity material but the rural independents would be well accustomed to visiting church events as part of country life.

At this stage, between four and six members of the House of Representatives will sit on the cross benches - that is, not on the Labor or Liberal side of the house.

They are the independents, Member for New England (NSW) Tony Windsor, Member for Lyne (NSW) Rob Oakeshott and Member for Kennedy (Qld) Bob Katter, all regional or rural electorates. Issues highlighted by these three include help for regional Australia, a departure from the two-party system of government to a more united parliament approach and

Also on the cross benches is Member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, who is a member of The Greens and his policies are those of The Greens. He highlighted gay marriage and a price on carbon as two of his priorities.

A possible fifth is Member for O'Connor (WA) Tony Crook who ran as a National but is reported as saying he will sit on the cross benches as an 'independent WA National'. He is staunchly anti-mining tax and ETS.

And a likely sixth member is independent Andrew Wilkie who appears to have won the seat of Denison in Tasmania. He is contacting independent Senator Nick Xenophon for advice and one of Wilkie's key issues is to combat the spread of poker machines.

Family First increases vote, Fielding still in race

2010-08-26T07:38:00.000+10:00

Family First's Senator Steve Fielding is still in the race for the sixth senate seat in Victoria, despite widespread reports (including a reference on ACV) that he had lost his seat.

According to Family First Victoria, 'Contrary to reports in much of the media, Family First has not been swept out of the Senate by the “greenslide” – at the very least it is going to be a very close count. While the Greens have definitely won the fifth Senate spot, the final spot is coming down to a photo finish between ourselves, the DLP, and the Liberals.'

Family First is also reporting a 30 per cent increase in its vote across Australia.

Read Family First's election report.

CDP summary describes vote as 'encouraging'

2010-08-26T07:27:00.000+10:00

The Christian Democrtic Party NSW Senate results are 'very encouraging', according to a summary on the CDP website.

The CDP received 82,560 votes in the 2007 Senate Election and preliminary results indicate that the CDP vote will increase by 3-4000 votes in 2010, still not enough to win a seat.

Read the full NSW CDP summary.

Barnaby might regret tangling with Windsor before election

2010-08-22T22:53:00.001+10:00

National Senator Barnaby Joyce touched on the issue of a hung parliament in an open letter to Independent MP, Tony Windson, published in the Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth.

Implying that Mr Windsor didn't bother to turn up at parliament to participate in votes, Senator Joyce may now regret his open attack on Mr Windsor.

The letter gives an insight into the animosity between Mr Windsor, Qld Independent Bob Katter and the Nationals:

'An open letter to Tony Windsor MP

03 Jun, 2010 04:00 AM

I have read The Northern Daily Leader for many years and have always found it a fair and balanced paper. So I am sorry that The Leader has been accused of political bias (“MP accuses The Leader of political bias”, 1/6/10) from the local federal member, Tony Windsor, for simply expressing a different view.

Mr Windsor must realise that other parties have the right to stand candidates and express views different from his own. The federal seat of New England and the state seat of Tamworth are not owned by him, but the people. They will make a decision at the coming state and federal elections.

Who knows, they may even vote for someone who actually turns up to vote in Parliament?

Who knows, they may even vote for someone who is opposed to the reckless spending of the Rudd government, which has left Australians a legacy of $143 billion of debt and growing?

And, who knows they may vote for someone who will oppose Mr Rudd’s emissions trading scheme which will tax everything you see, touch and do in New England?

I think that the people of New England are looking for a change of government. But Mr Windsor, by his own words, is contemplating leaving the Rudd government in power in the event of a hung parliament. No wonder many people are expressing a different view from him.

Senator Barnaby Joyce
Queensland'

Rural Australia front and centre in hung parliament

2010-08-22T20:53:00.000+10:00

After years of battling drought, high living costs, reduced services and being generally ignored by government, rural Australia may well see its needs come to the fore in a big way.

Three key independents, all from regional Australia, hold the key to the next government, along with the new Green member for Melbourne Adam Bandt. Another independent in Tasmania and an 'independent National' in Western Australia, could also be in the mix.

The independents set to hold the balance of power

Family First's Fielding loses Senate seat

2010-08-22T12:49:00.001+10:00

The ABC's election analyst Antony Green says Victorian Family First Senator Steve Fielding has lost his place in the Upper House.

He says the Greens will hold the balance of power in the Senate, with new senators elected in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.

The Greens had been widely tipped to increase their Senate numbers to take the balance of power.

Senator Fielding was elected to the Senate with the help of Labor preferences in 2004 but is almost certain to be replaced by Greens candidate Richard Di Natale.

Read the full Seven News report.

While we're hanging around, what's up in the Senate.

2010-08-22T00:30:00.000+10:00

With the news focus firmly on the probability that Australia will have a hung parliament, what is happening for minor parties such as Family First and Christian Democratic Party in the Senate.

According to the latest figures from the Australian Electoral Commission, South Australian Family First candidate Bob Day is still in with the slimmest of chances of winning the sixth Senate seat.

Family First SA has 32,323 votes or .285 of a quota. However the Greens have .93 of a quota, Liberals 2.57 quotas and Labor 2.72 quotas. Which means only four of six seats are definitely decided and the final two will depend on the completion of counting and, possibly, the flow of preferences.

Family First can expect to rise on the preferences of some other minor parties but it is a slim chance indeed that they would get ahead of either Liberal, Labor or Green for the sixth senate seat. But it's not impossible and it certainly a night for the unlikely.

In WA's Seante race, the CDP polled 10,973 votes but were behind the Australian Sex Party with more than 13,000 votes. Most of the sex party preferences will flow to the Greens and there is not enough votes among other minor parties preferencing CDP to see them reach a quota.

In NSW the CDP polled about 60,000 votes, putting them ahead of the Australian Sex Party but behind the Shooters and Fishers Party. family First polled 27,706 in their first serious Senate attempt in NSW.

It will be interesting to see if the preferencing decisions of CDP and Family First affect their success in the election. Both preferenced Liberal before each other.

Adam Spencer's election update at the Swan's game...

2010-08-21T20:43:00.000+10:00

Electoral commission offers Virtual Tally Room

2010-08-21T17:18:00.000+10:00

If you don't plan to watch the wall-to-wall television coverage of the election results tonight, you may prefer to follow along online.

The Australian Electoral Commission has a comprehensive online Virtual Tally Room which means you can keep up to date with overall results or even follow a candidate or electorate, where ever you have internet connection.

Such as at the Swans v Bulldogs game at the SCG!

Check out the Virtual Tally Room

Good advice for last minute voters

2010-08-21T13:35:00.000+10:00

Still to head up the street to cast your vote? In these final hours, here's a little last minute assistance:

Find your closest polling booth
Work out how to vote in the Senate
ACV's election summary
Last minute values checklist
Catering for an election night party
Election night coverage on TV
Something completely different

When I voted with my family today, the familiar aroma of a barbecue was the first sign of a polling venue, followed by the ubiquitous posters, leaflets and passionate (or bored) volunteers.

My polling booth was wet - dripping with water - tears or signs of a whitewash? I moved to a drier location, numbering all 84 preferences and taking about 10 minutes to do it!

So join the fun, and get out there and vote - polling places close at 6pm!

Double hung parliament a real possibility

2010-08-20T23:04:00.000+10:00

As Australian's go to bed on election night, they might find they wake up Sunday morning, not with a hang over, but a double hung parliament.

Most opinion polls now have the two-party preferred vote as 50-50 with Labor's primary vote of about 36 per cent boosted by a large flow of Green preferences.

There are already three independents in the House of Representatives, Tony Windsor, Bob Katter and Rob Oakeshott, who all stand a good chance of being re-elected while the Greens may win won inner city seat.

As the three current independents are either former Nationals or holding seats formerly held by the Nationals, the Coalition may have first chance of negotiating a government, however all three are in favour of Labor's national broadband plan and so this is far from clear cut.

Tony Windsor said that in the event of a hung parliament, the cross bench members would get together to work out how to proceed. Which party had the most seats and the best deal for regional Australia would be factors.

An interesting sidelight is that in the inner city seats of Melbourne, Sydney and Grandlyer, the Liberals have preferenced the Greens on their how vote card which might mean a Green candidate gets elected. They would be much less likely to deal with the Coalition.

In the Senate, unless the Coalitions picks up seats or one of the other minor parties pull of a miracle, the Greens will hold the balance of power. This means a slightly right leaning cross bench in the lower house and a left leaning Senate.

Read more hung parliament analysis:

They deserve a hung parliament: MP
'Double hung' parliament on cards
Greens prefer Labor in a hung parliament
Markets dread a hung parliament

Family First answers environment questions

2010-08-20T11:07:00.000+10:00

Family First's lead Senate candidate in NSW Greg Swane has responded today to questions about his party's environment policy.

Mr Swane said Family First is committed to tackling issues such as climate change, deforestation and marine sanctuaries as well working to achieving a fair and equable approach to the 'carbon tax issue'.

He said his major concern and focus was how the implementation and size of any carbon tax would affect the Australian family’s ability to survive financially.

'I want to comment on the alarmist focus of The Greens that implies that the environment is collapsing,' Mr Swane said in a statement sent to churches and supporters.

'I agree that the environment is under threat because of man’s neglect. However, The Greens would have us believe that if we do not do something dramatic now, it will collapse. This is incorrect and in many ways is scaremongering.

'The Greens commitment to immediately introduce a 20 per cent carbon tax if they achieve power in the Senate will bring catastrophic financial ruin to tens of thousands of ordinary Australians. Small business will be affected significantly by any large follow on CPI increases.'

Mr Swane cited a recent statement from the the Masters Builders Association of Victoria which said that such a tax would be devastating for the building industry, with housing affordability reaching crisis point, jobs lost, construction of vital community infrastructure halted and economic recovery threatened.

'The Greens liberalist policies do not contain any element of reality as to the cost and impact upon the Australian family and small business,' Mr Swane said.

'Their attitude is "we want everything now, regardless of the cost to the Australian economy". Please do not be deceived by their emotional appeal. The economic cost of their policies to Australia is very real.

'Our environment is important and there are many issues we need to address. Family First, and I, am committed to a proactive implementation of climate change initiatives, but believe that before any policies are introduced we need to look closely at the financial impact upon Australian families.'

ACL welcomes move to fight sexualisation of children

2010-08-20T10:02:00.004+10:00

The Australian Christian Lobby has welcomed moves by ACT Greens Party Convener, Meredith Hunter, to introduce a voluntary code of conduct for retailers to help combat the sexualisation of children.

The ACT Greens have also proposed educating students on the dangers of sexualised images on young minds.

The ACL’s ACT Director Nick Jensen said he supported moves for the ACT to become a leader in the fight against the sexualisation of children and welcomed Ms Hunter’s motion calling on the ACT Government to take action on the issue.

'While Ms Hunter’s motion is welcome, it would be great to see her concern extend to Federal Green policies, where there is a push for X-rated material to be sold throughout Australia, support for girls to sell their bodies for sex in prostitution legislation, and opposition to ISP filtering measures to stop child pornography on the internet.'

'Big Australia' election talk an excuse for selfish neglect: Bishop

2010-08-20T08:58:00.000+10:00

Election-time talk of population downsizing only excuses ongoing selfishness and neglect, according to the Bishop of Parramatta, the Most Rev Anthony Fisher. It is not beyond human compassion to find 'room at the inn' for more than the few who are here already, he continued, in an article on the Catholic Diocese of Parramatta website, titled 'Is Green Australia the new White Australia?'

Bishop Anthony said that to close the borders of Australia to all but a favoured few (with the right skills) would diminish the nation, not just economically but culturally, morally and spiritually.

'To close the borders of our homes to all but a favoured few babies is also impoverishing. Australia can allow and should support larger family sizes than the present rate of one or two children per family.

'Governments, churches, business and the community must play their part in addressing the big infrastructure shortages in the cities, as well as providing incentives for decentralisation.

'It is not beyond human wit to find ways of doing this without destroying ecosystems, running out of water or being trapped in carparks called motorways,' Bishop Anthony said.

'My point is simply: Australia – including Western Sydney where I live – is nowhere near population overload. Our problem is a lack of appropriate planning, infrastructure and services to match our population.'

Read Bishop Anthony's full article.

Abbott & Gillard Christian talks on pay TV tonight

2010-08-19T18:14:00.001+10:00

Pay television subscribers will have the chance to view Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott’s messages to the Christian constituency tonight at 6:30pm.

The Australian Christian Channel will screen a 90 minute pre-election special featuring the ACL’s Make it Count event with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace’s recent interview with Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

For those without pay television, you can watch Julia Gillard's interview at Australian Christian Voter and Tony Abbott's June 21 address at Australian Christian Lobby.

How to cast the perfect vote... and not cast the first stone

2010-08-19T16:42:00.000+10:00

Final election comment
By Peter Hallett
Australian Christian Voter

Many voters will be hoping to cast the perfect vote on Saturday - one that represents the best policies, the best candidates and the best future for themselves and the nation.

Christians, and many other thoughtful people, are trained to be intentional and purposeful in all that they do, conscious of rights and wrongs and doing what is best in the eyes of God or their own conscience. This brings a kind of moral pressure to bear as we sift through the competing arguments from candidates and commentators alike.

Sometimes casting a vote almost becomes a battle to see who will cast the first stone - is there any among us worthy to pass judgement on the poor, political sinners scrambling exposed in the dust.

The hard, but relieving, truth is that the perfect vote does not exist, and never has because none of the parties or candidates are perfect. So if perfection is your goal, your are looking in the wrong place. I can think of Someone perfect, but He doesn't need your vote. He would appreciate a chat though...

So take the pressure off, sit back and read my summary of the various options based on years of journalism and a relentless reviewing of parties, policies and posting more than 110 articles on the election in the past two months.

Oh, and one thing I won't be doing is telling you how to vote... That's your decision.

Rev Fred Nile

Christian Democrats: Though not always enjoying being lumped together, CDP along with Family First are the parties most strongly aligned with the Christian community (I can hear the protests of a smallish number of left-wing Christian Green voters decrying this appraisal but I'm not talking about what you would like to see, but what is a reality, so get a grip). The CDP is led by wily Rev Fred Nile who many love to hate but who has a great deal of political experience, is a survivor and as tough as bricks. There's no doubt the CDP has suffered a loss of finance and personnel with the advent of Family First and this has shown to some degree in their organisation for the election. However they have in NSW a solid lead Senate candidate in Shoalhaven mayor, Paul Green, and also should put in a good showing in Western Australia with Trevor Young. The CDP approach is to use the Bible as their policy document and often their media releases and emails read a little like a Bible study or prayer newsletter. They champion a very Biblically orthodox, morally conservative range of policies which appeal to many Christians concerned with the breakdown of families and marriage and the moral undermining of society. They can be unpredictable in other areas and social justice and more marginal social issues are their weak point. This is partly because they are very quick to take a black and white stance on issues many Christians see as on the fringe of Christian belief. In any case, I see good value in a vote for the CDP in that it reminds the big parties and Greens that there are many people who hold to Christian moral values and care deeply about the nation. If there is a miracle and they win a Senate seat, it will be a very colourful ride!

Bob Day

Family First: Born in South Australia when Assemblies of God pastor Andrew Evans won a seat in the state parliament, Family First has more recently sought to project itself as being for families and small business. This is a reasonable strategy in attempting to broaden its voter base but has come at the cost of alienating arguably its strongest voter base, the Christian community. Nevertheless, they are still strongly associated with Christian voters but it was Labor preferences that delivered the first Family First Senator in Victoria in 2004. That is unlikely to be repeated in 2010 - Senator Fielding has understandably had a tough ride as an inexperienced and lone Senator and the rise of the Green has seen a preference deal with Labor, shutting him out of re-election. Maybe it was desperation with this position that led a Fielding staffer to have conversations with the Australian Sex Party a few weeks ago. Although no-one seriously thought they would do a preference deal, even talking to them was a damaging political mistake. Family First also tick most of the morally conservative boxes and may have appeal to small business as well, although I doubt they have developed strong enough policies to build a support base there yet. While having a softer face than CDP on a range of other social issues, again they miss the opportunity to rally Christians for whom Millennium Goals and environmental issues are big ticket items. Family First's best chance is Bob Day for the Senate in South Australia. A very well known businessman who sits on various boards and organisations, he may climb up the preference ladder if he can get a strong enough first preference vote. Again, many Christians will find a Family First vote good value because it aligns more closely with their personal religious and moral beliefs and they have at least broken into the house on the hill, if briefly. Oh, and keep in mind, Senator Fielding, even if he loses, will hold his position until June so still may have some impact on the next government.

Bob Brown

The Greens: Leader Bob Brown has very cleverly ridden the wave of environmental concern that first began having electoral impact 10 to 20 years ago and now may well break resoundingly on the beach of widespread electoral success. The Greens are a reasonable chance of winning Sydney and Grandyler in NSW and especially Melbourne, all inner city seats. These areas are dominated by 20-30 somethings, highly educated and largely unattached. This is important because it is easier to vote on a purely ideological basis when you are not trying to raise children or run a business. It's amazing how more immediately pragmatic people become when personal responsibility grows. It will happen to many of these inner city voters, but not before they possibly give the Greens their best yet electoral win. Not that other people shouldn't be concerned about the environrment. I know there are Christians voting Green because they believe acting quickly and directly on climate change is more important from a social justice and environmental perspective than the moral quicksand that may accompany the Greens. Likewise, their embracing view of asylum seekers and call for an increase in aid to 0.7 per cent of GNI rings the right bells. Perhaps if we could morph Bob Brown and Fred Nile we'd have a very interesting prospect for the broader spectrum of Christian voters... One thing I'll say to the Greens (and some Christian social justice organisations): sounding sanctimonious about environmental righteousness has gone a long way to turning many Australians off the whole climate change debate. There's one thing worse than being wrong, it's being right and smugly bitter.

Tony Abbott

Liberals: One thing we can't forget is that six months ago no one gave Tony Abbott a chance in this election and since then Labor fearfully deposed its leader and installed a new Prime Minister who is having to fight tooth and nail to keep Abbott out of the Lodge. My guess is that he won't win overall although he will win in some states. But that is far from an air tight prediction - there is little predictable about this campaign other than Mark Latham making a goose of himself. In terms of policies, I think the Liberals have failed to communicate why some of theirs are better than Labor, even though they might be in some cases. And on the economy, I think they have relied too much on past glory and suffered from the need of Oppositions to be reactive to government decisions, even when they are not that bad. That has left them looking a bit thin on economics, even though I feel a strange comfort when I hear Andrew Robb talk finance, compared to a mild panic when its Joe Hockey. In some ways, the Liberals seem to appeal to the left more than Labor. They are against a mandatory internet filter which Labor has championed and many Christian groups applaud. And they have announced they will appoint a Minister for International Development, a key social justice initiative. Their paid maternity leave, if it had come from Julia Gillard, would have been lauded as a great feminist victory - but the chattering classes can't quite bring themselves to celebrate, because it's Tony afterall. On balance, I think Tony Abbott could develop into a Tony Blair kind of leader, and find himself delivering further useful innovation, if he continues to grow and change as a person and thinker. As a devout Catholic, it is assumed that beneath it all, he would remain more in line with most Christians than his main opponents on moral and family issues. However, if he loses, there is every chance he will be dumped and after a bit of argy bargy, Malcolm Turnbull will emerge to lead the Liberals more to the 'wet' side of Liberalism.

Julia Gillard

Labor: When Julia Gillard became Prime Minister many thought, including myself, that the parliament's most competent politician had moved to the fore. However within a week she started looking out of her depth and to have made several serious tactical errors. I am still to detect the Julia I thought I had come to recognise when she was Education minister but she has gamely weathered the early storms and is probably just in front. Labor has worked hard to shore up areas of concern to many Christians such as school chaplaincy, non-government school funding and marriage definition. Labor's continued support for an internet filter is applauded by many Christian. When Penny Wong, the gay minister for climate change, came out in support of the traditional view of marriage, it was either a remarkable piece of doublespeak, or Labor showing they have genuinely found moral ground for accepting this position. Or perhaps everything will be different after the election, something the more suspicious Christian organisations are claiming. I think Julia Gillard is right - if we are going to take action on climate change, a greater level of consensus is needed on when and how to do this, because to say there is only one view of this is arrogant and polarising. A citizens assembly is not likely to work, but good leadership might. If Julia does lose, don't be surprised if Kevin Rudd says a little more than 'I told you so'...

There are a variety of other minor parties, and I know some Christians are quite supportive of the Democratic Labor Party, but I've overstayed my welcome already - links to all the parties and various Christan checklists are available in the right column of this site.

In summary, if the Greens win 10 Senate seats, which has been predicted by a Morgan poll, it will mean that all legislation, whether from Liberal or Labor, will need their support. This could mean many changes to Liberal or Labor policies as we now see them. And if the less likely scenario of a hung parliament in the lower house occurs, we may well be back at the polls within two years.

As I approach my vote on Saturday, having thought and prayed, I'm looking at which party or candidate in the lower house most closely aligns with my core values. I then make sure my next couple of preferences stay as close as possible to that position. I can tell you now there is not a candidate or party that aligns with everything I would choose personally, so apart form standing myself as an independent, my vote will be guided by majoring on the main things.

In the Senate it is the same, but I'm also considering the importance of a broad range of voices involved in the review of legislation and the opportunity and responsibility this brings. I try to consider which voice, that is important to me, is likely to be unrepresented in the Senate unless people like me vote for them.

I always number below the line in the Senate to take complete control of my vote and besides, it gives me more time to savour the wonders of our amazing democracy and the freedom to vote safely which we invariably take for granted.

Happy voting on Saturday.

Non-government school funding could still be in the balance

2010-08-18T20:40:00.001+10:00

In the 2004 election, Mark Latham made the funding of non-government schools a divisive issue and if Labor had been elected, funding for private, church, Christian, Catholic and independent schools would have been hit hard.

Labor lost the 2004 election in a landslide.

Kevin Rudd, and more recently, Julia Gillard have sought to remove this division and despite pressure from unions, have maintained school funding in such a way that parents from a range of backgrounds can consider different schooling options for their children.

Despite this, there are still many policy uncertainties surrounding the funding of non-government schools and one of the biggest is the impact of The Greens holding the balance of power.

Christian Schools Australia is a peak body for community Christian schools in Australia and its Election 2010 web page provides background on many educational and election issues.

Visit the CSA Election 2010 resource.

Find a Family First candidate

2010-08-18T15:34:00.000+10:00

Family First now has a comprehensive list of candidates available online, state by state. To find a Family First candidate in your state click below:

Family First Victoria
Family First South Australia
Family First Western Australia
Family First Queensland
Family First NSW

Meanwhile, Family First in NSW had a scare when NSW Upper House member, Gordon Moyes, collapsed outside parliament recently. He is reported to have spent three days in hospital with heart-related health issues but is now fully recovered.

Candidate links for the Christian Democratic Party were published recently on Australian Christian Voter

Making your vote count in the Senate

2010-08-18T15:13:00.001+10:00

Wondering if there is any point voting for minor parties in the Senate? Won't the big parties or the Greens just get them regardless? Maybe not - check out this video explanation on Australian Christian Voter's Watching page.

Also on the Watching page, the latest Politics in Focus broadcast from Adventist Media

Labor matches Libs on chaplains and then some...

2010-08-18T15:00:00.000+10:00

One of the election issues highlighted by many Christian organisations is the ongoing funding of the state school chaplaincy program, first introduced by the Howard government.

After Opposition leader Tony Abbott promised to continue funding at least until 2014, it seemed the Coalition was in front on this issue.

However Labor has matched and then risen the chaplaincy stakes by promising to not only maintain funding for existing chaplains for a further three years, but to extend the program.

As many as 1000 additional schools, including those in remote or disadvantaged areas, will get a chaplain service under Labor's new policy, announced this month.

The National School Chaplaincy Program already provides the service to 2700 schools. If Labor wins the August 21 election, the program would get $222 million to reach more schools, especially those in disadvantaged and remote areas. Funding could also be pooled so a chaplain could serve a number of schools.
A national consultation process will consider the scheme's effectiveness and how it fits with other student support activities, with a discussion paper to be released by October.

A study into the effectiveness of school chaplains, conducted by University of New England and Edith Cowan University is available online. Among other things, it finds that 98 per cent of state school principals believe chaplains are making a positive contribution to their school community.

The Greens are opposed to school chaplains and have called for them to be replaced with 'counsellors'.

Day of action leads to poverty policy movement

2010-08-18T14:29:00.000+10:00

Micah Challenge and Make Poverty History's national day of action on August 11 has produced some positive commitments from politicians.

Supporters were asked to email or tweet political leaders including Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott, asking if they would remember the poor this election.

Specifically politicians were being asked to commit to increase Australia's international aid budget to 0.7 per cent of GDP, in line with UN millennium goal recommendations and to ask parties to appoint a Minister for International Department which would ensure greater awareness of aid issues and better targeting of funds.

The campaign received an immediate response from the Coalition with deputy leader of the Opposition, Julie Bishop, announcing that the Coalition, if elected, would appoint a Junior Minister for International Development.

And on the day of the poverty question campaign, Prime Minister Julia Gillard released a statement supporting the work of Christian organisation, Micah Challenge.

'Micah Challenge and the Make Poverty History campaign have done an outstanding job in reminding us all of how we can make a difference in the lives of people who have so much less than us.'

In the statement, Ms Gillard stopped short of announcing a minister for international development or increasing aid to 0.7 per cent but did say there would close ministerial attention to the aid budget and that 0.7 per cent would be considered in the future.

The Greens say in their international aid policy document that it is there goal that the aid budget be increased to 0.7 per cent in 2010. With the balance of the power likely to fall to them, they may well face pressure to negotiate hard on this and other issues.

All major parties have now made policy announcements - read them courtesy of Micah Challenge:
ALP aid policy statement
Coalition foreign policy statement
Greens aid policy statement

CDP candidate lists available

2010-08-17T01:01:00.002+10:00

With less than a week before the federal election on Saturday, the Christian Democratic Party has posted complete lists of candidates for most states in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The CDP is urging Christians to vote for the CDP first before allocating preferences to other parties as a way of highlighting the strength of the Christian vote.

To see lists, and in some cases, profiles of CDP candidates in various states, click on the links below:

CDP NSW
CDP WA
CDP VIC
CDP SA

The other states and territories do not appear to have online lists of candidates.

Everything you need to know about voting, policies, candidates and preferences

2010-08-16T13:23:00.000+10:00

As we enter the final week of the 2010 federal election campaign many voters are still trying to make up their mind who to vote for or even who the candidates are in their electorate or state.

And while we are being inundated with mindless campaign advertising, there are some great online resources for doing personal research.

For some voters, the main concern is to discover the policies of the various parties on the issues that matter to them, and there is a wealth of material available.

Read Peter Hallett and Australian Christian Voter's full election resources rundown exclusively in the online Sight Magazine.

Parties exploit loophole with late launches

2010-08-15T22:23:00.001+10:00

Have you been wondering why political parties have their official campaign launch when the election campaign is nearly over. The Coalition campaign was at the start of the week and Labor's is tomorrow. Here's why:

'...a loophole in Department of Finance policy means the sizeable daily travel allowances for politicians and staffers are paid out of the public purse until the day of the respective political parties' campaign launch.

'The Liberal Party and the Nationals have been carrying their own costs for a week and will ultimately be financially responsible for nine days of the 33-day campaign.

'However, the ALP will continue to have public funding until the conclusion of tomorrow's ''official'' campaign launch in Brisbane, leaving Labor with just five days to pay for.' (SMH)

This is in addition to the $2.31 all candidates receive retrospectively if they achieve at least 4 per cent of the vote. The total campaign cost for the taxpayer is expected to exceed the 2007 record of $163 million. Not bad for five weeks of risk aversion...

Internal problems confront Greens, Family First

2010-08-15T22:03:00.000+10:00

Two minor parties, The Greens and Family First, are experiencing the rough and tumble of federal politics this weekend, both featuring in major newspaper articles detailing their difficulties.

Family First was the subject of story in the Fairfax media headlined, 'Sex, debt and heads that roll: a Family saga of biblical proportions'. The story highlights alleged financial difficulties and organisational problems including the dumping of a Victorian candidate after he came out in support of gay marriage.

Family First dispute the financial allegations and are not the only party caught out by running a candidate who they had to disendorse. The Liberals have done this twice, in NSW and Northern Territory.

Read the full article on Family First.

Meanwhile The Greens are divided over their policy on funding for non-government schools, an issue of concern for Christians in particular as many families choose to place their children in Catholic, Anglican or Christian schools.

In an article title 'School policy fractures Greens', the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Greens leader Bob Brown believed it was no longer to remove '$1000 per student' of funding from private schools. However NSW Greens upper house member John Kaye quickly responded saying he was disappointed by the Senate team's attitude.

The dispute is the thin edge of the wedge as The Greens come to terms with the electorates response to some of their more radical policies and the pressure a uniform national preference deal with Labor will bring.

Read the full article on The Greens.

Greens could have 10 in Senate while Family First out: Morgan poll

2010-08-13T18:23:00.001+10:00

Roy Morgan Research has released the first Senate polling for this election showing The Greens strongly increasing their vote and Family First losing its Victorian Senator although in with a chance in South Australia.

Conducted in July and involving interviews with more than 5000 participants nationwide, the poll shows: 'support for the ALP in the Senate was 40 per cent (down 0.3 per cent since the November 24, 2007 half-Senate election). Coalition support was 36 per cent (down 3.9 per cent) and Greens support 15.5 per cent (up 6.5 per cent). Support for minor parties was Family First 2.5 per cent (up 0.9per cent), One Nation 0.5per cent (up 0.1per cent), and other parties and independent candidates 5.5 per cent (down 3.3 per cent).

'On these figures the Senate composition would be ALP 33-34 Senators, LNP 31-32 Senators, Greens 10 Senators and 1 Independent, Nick Xenophon...'

In Victoria, while the Family First vote has remained the same (about 2.5 per cent), according to the Morgan poll, the decision by Labor to preference The Greens makes it nearly impossible for Senator Fielding to be elected.

However in South Australia, the Family First vote is up to 3.5 per cent and although this far from a quota, it may help Family First survive long enough to gain some preference boosts. The confusing thing in SA is that Nixk Xenophon polled 3.5 per cent even though he is not up for election this time. So once voters realise he is not there, a flow to other minor parties or independents may occur.

There are 76 members in the Senate and currently the ALP has 32, the Coalition 37, with five Greens, one Family First and one independent. To get something through, the Government needs 39 votes. For legislation to be blocked, 38 votes are needed. Half of the senate seats are up for election on August 21 - six in each states and one each in the ACT and Northern Territory.

Check out the full Senate poll results.

Disendorsed Liberal now a Senate candidate

2010-08-12T20:30:00.001+10:00

Disendorsed former Liberal candidate for the NSW seat of Chifley, David Barker, is now running for the Senate and has attacked the Christian Democratic Party and Family First preference arrangements.

Mr Barker was disendorsed by the Liberals last month after posting anti-Muslim comments on Facebook.

Now running as a 'Christian independent', Mr Barker said the allocation of preferences by the Christian Democratic Party has increased the danger of a Greens senator being elected in NSW.

'The best strategy for stopping the Greens was for all the pro-family small parties and independents to preference each other tightly before going to the Liberal-National Coalition,' he said. 'By sending CDP preferences direct to the Coalition, Reverend Fred Nile has greatly boosted the prospects in NSW of the anti-Life, anti-family Greens.

'What the self-styled Christian parties have done is minimise the prospects of a Christian pro-life candidate winning the sixth Senate spot. The most likely result is a Greens victory, with the next most likely result the re-election of Senator Fiona Nash.'

Mr Barker is critical of Nationals Senator Nash who in the past has supported the abortion drug RU486.

Family First candidate warns church leaders on Greens policies

2010-08-12T12:04:00.000+10:00

NSW Family First Senate candidate Greg Swane is urging church leaders to highlight the 'threat to marriage' that would occur if The Greens gain the balance of power in the Senate.
Mr Swane said that while all three Christian-based parties as well as Liberal and Labor uphold the current Marriage Act, Tasmanian Greens Senator Christine Milne said her party would be introducing legislation to make gay marriage legal.

'I recently took part in a short debate on gay marriage (Channel 7’s Good Morning program, Friday, August 6) and you can see that I am not only a passionate defender of the family, but also not afraid to discuss contentious issues publicly in a non-emotive manner,' Mr Swane said.

'My past experience has shown that this achieves more than taking a moralistic, judgemental and confrontational approach. That approach has proved not to work in the Australian culture.'

Mr Swane also highlighted that The Greens had chosen not to answer a range of question in the recent Australian Christian Lobby survey covering family, euthanasia, abortion, chaplaincy in schools, youth unemployment, national curriculum, funding for faith-based and independent schools, marriage, parenting, sexualisation of children, internet safety, freedom of religion, religious security, and fringe benefit tax considerations for churches and faith-based charities.

'Their attitude and policies are a real threat to Australian families. Please compare and analysis our policies. The great attraction of The Greens for many has been their fight for the environment and more recently carbon tax. However their high profile views on these issues has masked their social reform agenda,' he said.

'Although many of you will be aware of this situation, I know that there are many who are not. I ask that you advise your church to seriously consider who they vote for in the Senate this election.

'Obviously I desire to win a seat in the Senate and pursue the protection of the family; whether you mention Family First or not is your decision. Please do mention something this Sunday.'

Homeless and affordable housing ignored by politicians

2010-08-12T11:32:00.001+10:00

ACV Reader's Comment
By Brett Christensen

I am amazed at what the political parties can get away with in an election campaign. They set the agenda and key issues, rather than the voters. And voters let them, as do the media.

Homelessness barely rates a mention. The related issue of housing affordability has been noticeably absent also. Bank bashing is a more popular practice, so interest rates do get trotted out for a mention by the pollies. But banks don't set the price of houses, and interest rates (which are quite low, compared to when I first entered the market) would pose little concern for home buyers if house prices were not so high.

I have yet to hear a politician bemoan the fact that, proportionate to mean income, Australian houses are the most expensive in the world. A few lonely voices are out there calling attention to this problem, but they're not running for seats in parliament.

Why do political parties not wish to acknowledge the elephant in the room? I cannot speak for them, but I suspect that they would see a serious loss of votes as the consequence of trying to tackle the problem. Try removing tax concessions for the investors who buy up slabs of the property market, reducing the supply and putting upward pressure on prices. See how many net votes that wins you. Then see how many votes you lose from the 'haves' who don't want to see their property prices fall.

The 'have-nots' and homeless might well vote for a political party which had the nerve to tackle our housing problem, but the haves would no doubt apply their financial resources against such a party in an election campaign - and the moral high ground is certainly no match for money in our modern democracy.

I must acknowledge that Family First has identified this as an issue and dared to identify 'the tax system and superannuation system' as key factors to be addressed, but that party is hardly a major voice in this campaign.

The Greens also broach the issue, but shy away from facing the root problems, merely saying the government should 'increase funding to public and community housing'. Clearly they do not wish to risk any votes by proposing intelligent policies.

Is not this a matter of social justice? Who will stand up and speak up for the disenfranchised have-nots and homeless? Obviously not the current crop of politicians, by and large. Will those who profess faith in Jesus Christ be numbered with the pollies who want to talk about the weather or anything but the elephant in the room? Or will they they stand apart from the crowd and insist that it be put on the agenda?

Brett Christensen
Victoria

Will we remember the world's poor this election?

2010-08-09T23:26:00.000+10:00

Christian social justice organistion Micah Challenge and Make Poverty History are hoping to mobilise thousands of Australians to help focus politicians attention on the needs of the world's poor during the August 21 election campaign.

On August 11, they are making resources available for thousands of people on one day to ask the same question to the politicians, 'will you remember the world's poor?'

'It seems to me that our political leaders haven't asked themselves that question this election,' said MC national coordinator, John Beckett. 'We think it's an important question. It's a life and death question for millions of people in our world!

'In fact we think it is one of the most important questions that anyone promoting themselves as the potential leader of a large and wealthy nation should be asking themselves. Since they seem to have forgotten to ask themselves this question, we're going to ask it for them,' Mr Beckett said.

He urged people to raise the poverty question in unison this Wedneday, August 11 from 9am by visiting The Poverty Question page and following directions.

Green Christian fends off anti-Christian claims

2010-08-09T23:15:00.001+10:00

With news today that the Greens primary vote appears to be slipping, it is timely to consider a defence of the party against those that claim it is anti-Christian.

In today’s Essential Report, the Coalition has increased 3 per cent to 42 per cent, Labor has increased 1 per cent to 41 per cent and The Greens have dropped to 10 per cent%, their lowest level of support since May. The two-party preferred vote is 52-48 per cent.

Meanwhile, Greens Senate candidate for the ACT Lin Hatfield Dodd has been busily defending her party from accusations of being anti-Christian.

The Australian Christian Lobby criticised The Greens for only answering six out of 24 questions it put to all political parties on Christian issues.

Mr Wallace said the Greens' refusal to answer the majority of questions showed they were trying to hide their 'antagonism to faith'.

'I think the main thing that's come out of this is the position of the Greens. The Greens actually only answered six of 24 questions,' he said. 'Clearly they felt they couldn't answer the other 18 questions without exposing their antagonism to faith.'

The on Sunday in an opinion piece in the Sunday Telegraph, Cardinal Pell labelled the Greens 'anti-Christian' and 'sweet-camouflaged poison'.

Cardinal Pell also claimed the Greens policies are expensive and will not help poor people.

Ms Hatfield Dodds rejected ACL's criticism.

'I'm a practising Christian. I've been a member of the Uniting Church all my life, since its inception, and the Presbyterian Church before that,' she said.

'I've been in leadership roles in the Uniting Church. I'm a practising person of faith. I'm a member of the Greens and I'm a Senate candidate.

'The Greens' four pillars are social justice, environmental sustainability, participatory democracy and peace and non-violence. As a person of faith that sits totally perfectly for me with some of the core pillars of the Christian faith which are about holding God's creation carefully, caring for those who are the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.'

In response to Cardinal Pell's comments, Ms Hatfield Dodds said Cardinal Pell was simply barracking for his 'old mate' Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

'It's no secret that Cardinal Pell and Tony Abbott are fairly good mates,' she said.

'I think it's good that political leaders have friends from across the religious spectrum. I guess where it gets a bit dangerous is where we see political endorsements or disendorsements come from religious or church leaders. For me, that is starting to cross a bit of a line.'

She said Cardinal Pell's attack was 'very disappointing'.

Watch Julia Gillards interview with Christian lobby

2010-08-08T20:42:00.001+10:00

When Julie Gillard became Prime Minister it was just four days after the national Make it Count webcast in which then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition leader Tony Abbott introduced their policies and answered eight questions from church leaders.

Ms Gillard's rise to Australia's top job was greeted with a rush by voters to discover her values and beliefs and Australian Christian Voter carried numerous stories on these topics.

Now, at a time when the election result appears to be on a knife-edge, Julia Gillard agreed to follow through with a 2005 pledge to engage with the Christian community as as part of that, did an interview with the Australian Christian Lobby, answering the same eight questions as her predecessor.

Watch the video now.

Make it Count 2010 Ms Julia Gillard Questions from Australian Christian Lobby on Vimeo.

Gillard's Christian questions video up tonight

2010-08-07T13:08:00.001+10:00

The Australian Christian Lobby will upload footage of its interview with Prime Minister Julia Gillard to its Australia Votes website tonight.

ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace yesterday asked Ms Gillard the same questions asked of the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott at ACL’s June 21 Make it Count event.

Ms Gillard reaffirmed her and Labor’s commitment to marriage and support for school chaplaincy.

Off course not everyone is happy she chose to meet with the ACL.

Policy seeks to break youth welfare subculture

2010-08-07T12:06:00.000+10:00

The high rate of youth unemployment and the welfare entrenchment of a generation has finally received some attention in the election campaign.

In an exclusive report in today's Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Hartcher writes, 'Tony Abbott wants to implement a big reform of youth welfare, where young people volunteer to give up their benefits in return for a guaranteed job.

'In declaring his intention to "break the youth welfare subculture" if elected, Mr Abbott was advancing the most ambitious idea of the election campaign so far.'

Read the full story.

Galaxy poll shows swing to Coalition in marginal seats

2010-08-06T22:18:00.000+10:00

The latest polling has led television news reports tonight to claim the election will be decided by the religious vote based on results in marginal seats. Crikey.com.au's Poll Bludger blog has the following report:

'We learn via Channel Nine that Galaxy has conducted a poll of two marginal seats in NSW, Macarthur and Eden-Monaro, and two in Queensland, Bonner and Bowman. We are told only of a 2.8 per cent swing against Labor, which I’m guessing means a composite result of 51-49 in favour of the Coalition from the four seats in question, which collectively produced a Labor two-party vote of about 51.8 per cent in 2007. On the primary vote, Labor is said to be down six points to 39 per cent and the Coalition steady on 44 per cent.'

Nielson Poll results are expected at 10.40am tonight

Gillard to answer Make it Count questions for ACL

2010-08-06T08:07:00.000+10:00

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has agreed to be interviewed by the Australian Christian Lobby today to add her comments to those made by Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd in the Make it Count national webcast conducted on June 21, three days before Mr Rudd was toppled as Prime Minister.

In a move perceived to be an attempt to recover ground with churchgoers, this afternoon Ms Gillard will answer the same eight questions from Make it Count, put by ACL director Jim Wallace, and the video will be posted on the Australia Votes website which was launched yesterday.

Read the full Brisbane Times story.

Gillard agrees to meet Christians?

2010-08-06T07:57:00.000+10:00

Coinciding with media focus on the Christian vote in Queensland and the launch of Australian Christian Lobby's Australia Votes website, media reports have begun circulating that 'questions of faith are set to emerge from the shadows'.

The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday afternoon carried an AAP story that Prime Minister Julia Gillard has agreed to meet with the ACL after last night attending a fundraiser for Mary McKillop.

Watch Australian Christian Voter today for more details and read the full AAP story.

Candidate forums target marginal seats

2010-08-05T14:45:00.000+10:00

The Australian Christian Lobby is encouraging Christian voters to attend candidate forums being held in many electorates across the nation. These are meant to be non-confrontational forums to canvass candidates views and are especially targeted at marginal seats.

Watch a short video on candidate forums.

Candidate forum events as of August 5, 2010 (electorate name in block letters):

10/08/2010 BRADDON 7:30 pm Gateway Church, 100 Don Rd, Devonport

11/08/2010 DEAKIN 7:30 pm C3 Centre, 171 Rooks Rd, Nunawading

11/08/2010 BASS 8:00 pm Tailrace Centre, 1 Waterfront Dve, Riverside

12/08/2010 CASEY 7:30 pm Life Ministry Centre, Old Melbourne Rd, Chirnside Park

12/08/2010 LEICHHARDT 6:30 pm Cairns Baptist Church, 138-142 Lake St, Cairns

12/08/2010 FORREST 7:00 pm Grace Christian Church, Vittoria Rd, Bunbury

13/08/2010 MCEWEN 7:30 pm P/12 College, Delatite Rd Campus, Cnr Delatite & O'Sullivan Rds, Seymour

15/08/2010 HOLT 6:30 pm Turning Point Family Church, 1785 South Gippsland Hwy, Cranbourne

16/08/2010 LA TROBE 7:30 pm Beaconsfield Baptist Church, 7 Desmond Ct, Beaconsfield

16/08/2010 CANBERRA 7:30 pm Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Blackall St, Barton (Senate candidate forum)

16/08/2010 FRASER 7:30 pm Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Blackall St, Barton (Senate candidate forum)

18/08/2010 SWAN 7:00 pm Airport City Church, 240 Epsom Ave, Belmont

18/08/2010 HASLUCK 7:00 pm Thornlie Church of Christ, 319 Spencer Rd, Thornlie

Check back for updates.

Millions to learn of Australian voting website answering Christian concerns

2010-08-05T14:33:00.000+10:00

By Glynis Quinlan,

Public Relations Manager
Australian Christian Lobby

With little more than two weeks to go until the Federal election, the Australian Christian Lobby today launched a website – promoted by a million fliers and booklets sent to churches throughout Australia – informing Christians about the different political party standpoints on key issues they care about.

The Australiavotes website provides the responses of eight political parties, including the Coalition and Labor, to 24 questions on issues of interest to Christians ranging from homelessness and foreign aid to freedom of religion and the sexualisation of children. Tellingly, the Australian Greens only answered six of the questions, choosing to avoid scrutiny on a variety of issues where their policy is unlikely to be well-received by most Christians.

'The failure of the Australian Greens to answer 18 of the 24 questions – even where they have known positions on the issue such as their support for gay marriage and removing school chaplains – can only be seen as a cynical exercise to avoid scrutiny of their more radical policy positions,' ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said.

'But as disturbing as the deception in not declaring their antagonism to faith in society, is the failure to comment on issues like youth unemployment, the funding of private schools and the sexualisation of children – all issues of concern to a broader constituency,' he said.

'This deception and narrow agenda is hardly the stuff of a legitimate third force in politics.'

Mr Wallace reiterated that Christians don’t vote as a homogeneous block but that they tend to care about a broad range of moral and social justice issues which are likely to influence their vote.

'The questions put to political parties are in keeping with this wide range of interests and mean the parties have had to clearly state their policies on issues which sometimes fall below the radar of day-to-day election coverage.'

Mr Wallace said the responses to the questionnaire will be widely distributed among Australian churches from a broad range of denominations, with 250,000 16-page summary booklets sent out this week, along with 800,000 fliers promoting the Australiavotes website (more than one million pieces of literature in all).

Party responses to each question were limited to 250 words, plus a dot-point summary which is used in the printed booklet. Website users have the option of customising the information by choosing particular parties and questions they wish to compare.

Some key commitments revealed in party responses on the website include:

• Federal Labor has said it will continue to tackle homelessness as a national priority and will continue with its funding initiatives in this area and plans to halve homelessness by 2020. By contrast the Coalition statement does not refer to funding for housing but details initiatives in the areas of mental health, illicit drug use and education.

• The Coalition has given a commitment to continue school chaplaincy funding at its present levels and make it an ongoing program. By contrast Labor has not guaranteed funding past 'the end of the program' in December 2011, but has said it will conduct a consultation process to consider future options. Both Family First and the Christian Democratic Party want to extend the chaplaincy program.

• In response to a question about the proposed national school curriculum failing to acknowledge Australia’s Judeo-Christian heritage, the Coalition states, 'If elected we will review the National Curriculum and widen the consultative process'. By contrast, Labor only talks about the consultation process which has already taken place.

• Both Labor and the Coalition have given a commitment to maintain the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, as do Family First and the Christian Democratic Party. Despite the Greens’ publicly announcing they are in favour of gay marriage and promoting this to certain interest groups, they made the decision not to answer this question for the Christian constituency.

• Responding to concerns about the sexualisation of children, the Coalition has committed to review the 'broken' classification system and task the review with developing a new way of ensuring that proper community standards are applied to all media. By contrast, Labor refers to the current classification system as 'a valuable guide to Australians'.

• Labor has restated its commitment to mandatory ISP level filtering of RC content. By contrast, the Coalition is non-committal about ISP filtering.

• Both Labor and the Coalition have given clear commitments not to remove fringe benefits tax concessions for the not-for-profit sector. This was one of the many questions the Greens refused to answer.

• Both major parties said they would continue the practice of opening Parliament each day with the Lord’s Prayer. This is another question the Greens avoided.

• Both Labor and the Coalition have indicated they will take action to help end religious persecution overseas.

The political parties which responded to ACL’s questionnaire are: the Australian Labor Party, the Coalition (Liberal and National Parties), Family First, Christian Democratic Party, Australian Sex Party, Climate Sceptics Party and the Non-Custodial Parents Party. The Australian Greens provided answers to only six of the 24 questions. Answers are in the parties’ own words.

Christian vote gets prime radio coverage

2010-08-05T10:28:00.000+10:00

ABC Radio's popular AM program today gave prominence to Prime Minister Julia Gillard's atheism and the impact of this on Christian voters in marginal Queensland seats.

The interview with group of female voters who identified themselves as Christians gave an insight into the strength of feeling in Queensland, arguably Australia's most conservatively Christian state.

Listen to AM's story, Brisbane Christian's won't vote Labor.

Excellent election info for voters

2010-08-04T18:05:00.000+10:00

As we head into the home straight for the election, there are a few good websites about that help with the mechanics of voting or with overviews of electorates.

Below the Line is a great site for helping you work out who is running for the Senate in your site and, if you choose to mark all the preferences for yourself, will help you prepare in advance.

The Tally Room is a great blog that provides profiles for every federal electorate in Australia. You can search them alphabetically and each profile includes a map, background, sitting member and last election results.

The Poll Bludger is a Crickey.com blog that provides more details on polls than you might ever imagine needing.

The Australian Electoral Commission is of course the official source of information for the federal election and you can do everything from finding a polling booth to working out how to cast a postal or pre-poll vote.

And stay tuned for Australia Votes which is not up as of today but will be a comprehensive election site provided by the Australian Christian Lobby.

Each of this links will appear permanently on Australian Christian Voter website in the right column.

Brief video report of Christian election issues

2010-08-04T10:02:00.000+10:00

Adventists Media's latest Politics in Focus video report is available on Australian Christian Voter's Watching page. It features a brief rundown of Christian issues in the August 21 election campaign with Australian Christian Lobby managing director, Jim Wallace.

Christian voter checklist released

2010-08-04T09:46:00.000+10:00

Australian Christian Values Institute has released its checklist for the August 21 election in which major parties are rated on their policy or statements on a range of issues.

The purpose of the checklist is to 'help the Christian community and those who are sympathetic to Christian values make a more informed choice when it comes to voting'.

According to the the Australian Christian Values Institute website, it is 'an initiative of the board of Australian Heart Ministries, a non-profit charity dedicated to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Australian Christian Values Institute has a vision to "renew the Christian vision of Australia for the common good".'

The answers appearing on the checklist from the major parties are prepared from 'party policy statements, public statements, media reports... In some cases the voting record of the parties over the past few years has also been considered'.

Read background about the purpose of the checklist.

Direct link to the checklist as a pdf document

Read further background on how checklist responses were developed

Aid commitment remains despite $300m cut

2010-08-02T22:34:00.000+10:00

The Coalition has affirmed its commitment to increasing overseas aid and development to 0.5 per cent of national income by 2015 despite axing $300 million worth of foreign aid programs designed to mitigate the affects of climate change.

While the cut has been criticised by aid organisations such as Oxfam and Caritas, Opposition's Foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop claims Labor padded the aid budget with the climate funding to garner support for a UN security council seat.

'The Coalition remains committed to increasing the foreign aid budget up to 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2015. We will be changing the focus, and we will be ensuring that aid is delivered in the main in our region where it can have the most effect,' Ms Bishop said today.

But the head of Catholic aid organisation, Caritas is not convinced. 'Countries, like Australia, who have amassed their wealth from the production of greenhouse gasses, cannot simply walk away from their responsibility to assist, as the coalition appears to be doing,' said Caritas CEO Jack De Groot.

Australia's aid and development sector for has been calling on politicians to meet the UN's Millennium Goals which include a recommendation for foreign development assistance to rise to 0.7 per cent of GNI by 2015, but both the government and the opposition remain committed to 0.5 per cent.

Read Caritas's full media release.

Read Fiona Bishop's response.

Christians should be willing to change voting patterns: Dickson

2010-08-02T16:18:00.001+10:00

'Much has been said about the ''Christian vote'', an expression often associated with those nasty-right-wing-religious-nuts imposing their morals on a secular society', writes the Centre for Public Christianity's John Dickson in the Sydney Morning Herald.

'Given that 64 per cent of Australians call themselves Christian, according to the census, it is important to clarify what the Christian vote means.

'Christians should be willing to change voting patterns after Christian reflection on particular policies. A believer who cannot imagine voting for the ''other side'' has either determined that only one party aligns with the will of God or, more likely, is more attached to their cultural context than to the wisdom of scripture.'

Read John Dickson's full article.

Newcastle businessman leads Family First's NSW Senate ticket

2010-07-30T10:00:00.002+10:00

Family First NSW announced this week the selection of Newcastle businessman, Greg Swane, as its lead Senate candidate.

In announcing the selection, chairman Neville Cox said Mr Swane brings with him extensive experience in small business, including retail, manufacturing and the building industry.

'Greg is passionate about social justice and is totally committed to families influencing government rather than government policy impacting on the family unit unfairly,' a statement from Mr Cox said.

'Mr Swane attends the Salvation Army, Belmont and shares with them a heart and commitment for those who suffer from life’s injustices. Greg and his wife Julie have been married for 23 years. He has three children David, Elizabeth, Amy, and two grandchildren.

In his first media statement, Mr Swane, questioned the bland showing in the campaign so far of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition leader Tony Abbott.

'Who is determining political debate in Australia? Is it Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott, or Wilbur and Willamina? Why have our political leaders allowed issues of national importance to become dreary, boring and unimportant?' Mr Swane asks.

Mr Swane said he believed politicians had lost the ability to be relevant to the needs of Australian families and called on political leader to 'stop being more concerned with their delivery than their content'.

'Why have leaders of our country come to such a position of stage managed debate, refusing to address real issues affecting families, small business and the rural sector of NSW for the sake of political expediency?; Mr Swane said.

'The debate between the Prime Minister and Tony Abbott paid little attention to the major issues of education, health, transport infrastructure, dental care, the environment, asylum seekers and immigration. The Australian community demands leadership from our leaders in these areas.

Mr Swane said as a Family First Senate candidate in NSW he was committed to 'sensible and rational debate to not only maintain but increase the stability of the family unit' and was committed to reviewing all proposed legislation, regardless of which party is in government, to determine what is best for the Australian family.

He also highlighted the lack of focus on small business issues in the election campaign so far.
'Small businesses employs five million people in Australia, with over 50 per cent involved within or part of a family unit. The Government and Opposition are not seriously considering their needs. The major parties have clearly been seduced by big business, evidenced by the way Labor capitulated to the large mining companies for political expediency.'

Call to Christian values in Canberra Declaration

2010-07-30T06:40:00.001+10:00

The Canberra Declaration drafted by more than 20 Christian leaders and calling the nation to Christian values was was officially launched on the lawns of Parliament House on Friday, July 23, as part of the Government of God conference.

In the lead up to the August 21 federal election, The Canberra Declaration follows the 2009 Manhattan Declaration and the 2010 Westminster Declaration in declaring that when 'Christian values are respected and allowed freedom of expression, not just confined to so-called sacred spaces but in the public arena as well, society is richer and healthier'.

The Declaration emphasises three areas in contemporary Australian society - religious freedom, marriage and the family, and the sanctity of human life.

About 3000 people have so far signed the declaration which can be viewed at the Canberra Declaration website or read in full on the In Depth page of Australian Christian Voter.

Christian parties learn tough lessons

2010-07-30T06:25:00.000+10:00

ACV Comment
Peter Hallett

There is nothing quite like the heat of an election campaign to test out both frontline candidates and the party machines behind them.

Labor and Liberal have both had their problems during this campaign with leaks, bad candidate choices and apparent contradictions between spokespersons.

At a state level, we've even had the NSW Premier and her Education minister publicly at odds over a major policy announcement.

If these major parties are having problems, with their massive infrastructure and budgets, we might expect to find smaller parties appearing a bit rough around the edges.

And so when a junior staffer of Senator Fielding, charged with establishing connection with minor parties, contacts The Australian Sex Party, has a coffee with the media savvy Fiona Patten, and thinks he or she is going to get out alive... I don't think so.

The moment contact was initiated from the Family First Senator's office, a major media story was just a matter of time.

And while we all know that Family First would never consider a preference deal with a party to which it is so diametrically opposed, the impression of being incompetent doesn't help.

On the other hand, perhaps the rule that 'all publicity is good publicity' applies and no doubt Family First representatives got more free air time to describe what they stand for than at any other time during the campaign.

But the Christian community didn't really need the spectacle of another clearly Christian party jumping on the bandwagon of Family First's embarrassment.

Politics is a tough game we know, and we expect a tough but fair battle, but Christians don't really want to see the parties, that in their mind are more closely aligned with Christian community, harming each other.

Rev Fred Nile is probably one of the most experienced Christian politicians in the nation and has had more than his fair share of tough knocks, and given plenty along the way too. It did him no favours however, to trumpet the Family First mistake in his own press release without including the quick and urgent denials that also came from the party.

The split between Rev Nile and Dr Gordon Moyes in NSW has been, and continues to be, damaging to any sense of Christian united purpose politically between Family First and the Christian Democratic Party.

It is hoped that at some stage these two parties can respect each others existence, acknowledge their distinctives and similarities and concentrate on what they are their for - providing a a credible, alternative voting choice for Australian voters.

Let's hope that Family First and CDP can have more success with preference negotiations with each other...

Sex Party claims lead to unholy row between Family First and CDP

2010-07-29T16:39:00.002+10:00

An unholy row has broken out between Family First and the Christian Democratic Party over claims Family First considered a preference deal with the Australian Sex Party.

As ACV reported yesterday, Sex Party candidate, Fiona Patten, told the media that Family First approached her about a preference deal. This was strenuously denied by Family First saying they would never do any kind of deal with the Australian Sex Party and any meetings conducted were more about deciding who not to preference.

But a flurry of emails began this afternoon from both parties to churches and Christian leaders after Rev Fred Nile sought to damage Family First politically by publicising the claims through a press release.
A media release titled 'Family First?' and signed by Rev Fred Nile, restates the original Sex Party claims without inclusion of a Family First denial.

'Christians around the nation are in a state of shock after reports have come to light that Senator Steve Fielding's office of the Family First Party has allegedly been courting a former political adversary that advocates prostitution, hardcore pornography, euthanasia, full-term abortion and homosexual marriage,' the media release begins.

'Look I don't want to get into what Family First should and shouldn't be doing. But I will say this, the reports I'm getting are very concerning. It begs the question, what "family" are they putting first?' asked Rev Fred Nile.

'It pains me to see such compromise in this nation. Christians are called to be salt and light, to fight wrong not accommodate it! Right now, I feel for the many dedicated Christians who have made sacrifices to help Family First.'

Family First quickly emailed to churches and leaders a denial from federal chairman Bob Day but the email, deliberately or by accident, included what appeared to be personal email correspondence between Family First Senate candidate Greg Swane and Rev Nile.

'In this subject, Fred, of the Sex Party and Family First, because of your past experience of misrepresentation by the media and their intent always to discredit Christians, by your response and public comment have been played directly into the media's hands.

'You know Fred that Family First would not seek to do a deal with the Sex Party and yet you have reported that we have initiated and fostered this, without first checking your facts.

I am so disappointed in you Fred, that you have sort [sic] to take a political advantage in this issue against other Christians. If we as Christians cannot show respect for each other in the political realm how can we expect God to be using both of our parties for His kingdom,' Mr Swane's email reads.

Bob Day's denial was similar to that reported in ACV yesterday: 'I am the Federal Chairman and no preference arrangement can occur without my approval. Family First has not and would not ever contemplate a preference arrangement with a Party like the Australian Sex Party.

'This is a blatant attempt by the Australian Sex Party to discredit Family First. You might recall some months ago this Party took out large advertisements in The Advertiser expressing one of their key aims was to "stop Family First".'

CDP takes strong stance against Gillard, Greens

2010-07-29T14:28:00.000+10:00

The Christian Democratic Party's Rev Red Nile believes the August 21 election is the most important in Australia's history with voters facing a clear choice between 'an atheistic ALP Prime Minister' and an alternate Prime Minister who is 'strongly committed' to the Christian faith.

In his latest press release, Rev Nile describes Prime Minister Julia Gillard as 'a founding member of the pro-abortion Emily's List and is a socialist left-wing supporter of the Fabian Society'.

On the other side, Tony Abbott is 'strongly committed to the Christian faith, Judeo-Christian moral values and our Commonwealth Constitution as are our CDP House of Representative Candidates', Rev Nile said.

Rev Nile saves his fiercest criticism for The Greens with whom the CDP will battle for influence in the Senate.

'Every voter also faces a clear choice for the federal Senate, between our CDP Senate team led by Mayor Paul Green, who will courageously stand up for our Aussie Christian family values and for one law for all Australians - no Sharia law!

'Or the radical anti-Christian, pagan, Green Party Senate candidates led by Lee Rhiannon a former member of the Stalinist Socialist Party, who actively campaigned in the Upper House for same-sex "marriage", marijuana, x-rated videos, abortion, euthanasia, etc,' Rev Nile continues.

'Your vote is urgently needed, so we can ensure the election of Paul Green and defeat the watermelon (green outside but 'red' inside) Green political party.'

The real turning point in the election?

2010-07-29T09:00:00.000+10:00

What really counts in politics...

Archbishop questions future under Gillard

2010-07-29T08:51:00.000+10:00

Reasonably balanced comments from the Catholic Archbishop in Perth about Prime Minister Julia Gillard are being splashed across Australia's media as a damaging blow to her campaign.

One commentator said the Archbishop had 'pole-vaulted' to the centre of the election campaign with his concerns about Ms Gillard's atheism.

'While there is no indication that the present Prime Minister will undermine the special privileges that churches enjoy, some wonder what the future will bring. This may well influence their votes,' Archbishop Hickey said, in a report from The West Australian.

'Many Christians are concerned that someone who does not believe in God may not endorse the Christian traditions of respect for human life, for the sanctity of marriage and the independence of Churches, church schools and church social welfare agencies.'

Archbishop Hickey said he would not seek to influence the way Catholics voted, he urged people with strong religious convictions to be politically active. 'Some will undoubtedly vote for Mr Abbott because they appreciate his strong Christian faith,' The West Australian reports.

Read the full story.

ACV Comment: This is hardly unexpected comment from the Catholic Church and seems to be more an acknowledgement that voters do consider beliefs and values alongside stated policies when considering how to vote. On the other hand, the Archbishop holds a position of influence and so any political reflection will be perceived as an attempt to sway voters and candidates.

While Julia Gillard has acknowledged her atheism, she also promised to engage in a proactive manner with Christians and churches. Opposition leader Tony Abbott, while a practicing Catholic, also told the Make it Count webcast that his faith would not influence his political life, in the sense that he would seek to govern for all Australians.

Family First denies approaching sex party for preference deal

2010-07-28T22:35:00.000+10:00

Family First has denied claims by the Australian Sex Party that it was approached about doing a preference deal for the federal election.

A spokesman for Family First Senator Steve Fielding has confirmed a staff member met the Sex Party but also met all other parties to discuss policy and candidates for the election.

Family First federal chairman Bob Day said no preference offer was made and that raising the issue was part of a Sex Party campaign to discredit Family First.

Read the full article on ABC Online.

ABC religion editor sinks his own boat in vent against Christian lobby

2010-07-28T06:09:00.000+10:00

By Peter Hallett
ACV editor

Religion and Ethics editor for ABC Online, Scott Stephens, brings into question the validity of his own position when he condemns the Australian Christian Lobby, saying it should not even exist. If it should not exist, then by the same logic, neither should a Religion and Ethics editor on ABC Online.

In Stephen's July 19 post, which Australian Christian Voter previously highlighted as a way to encourage engagement and debate, he rightly says that there is no such thing as a uniform Christian vote 'given the sheer diversity of conviction, belief and moral sensibility that is represented across churches in this country'.

But he wrongly concludes that this means an organisation such as Australian Christian Lobby should not exist. The two ideas do not necessarily follow and if they did, how could the ABC justify having just one Religion and Ethics portal for such a diverse community. The argument is unsustainable.

Surely a healthy response to a diverse Christian community would be a range of Christian forums for considering political, social and spiritual realities in our nation. Just as the ABC's online faith and religion portal provides such a forum, so too the Australian Christian Lobby (with which I have no affiliation), and, in some small way, ACV.

Stephens writes: 'the only "lobby" that the church ought to posses is its ability to persuade by holding out and modelling a radically hospitable, just and generous form of sociality - a microcosm, if you like, of a properly constituted and harmonious civil society'.

This sounds very much like he is saying Christians (at least those with whom he disagrees) should let their grassroots actions speak for them rather than engaging in the political process which often involves the less solid, more deceptive world of words and ideas.

But as Scott Stephens is doing that very thing - engaging as a Christian online in a world of words, ideas and political debate - it seems that there is one rule for himself (and those he identifies with) and another rule for the rest of us.

He criticises Pentecostal leaders for their lack of real engagement but writes off as irrelevant their attempts to do just that. He says that ACL is somehow predominantly representing the Pentecostal vote when clearly a far broader range of churches engage with ACL, as seen by the group of leaders and churches assembled for Make it Count.

I should say that there are some very good points in his post, things that we need to hear. The church should be a 'radically hospitable, just and generous form of sociality' and, as he also writes, we are in trouble if the church's political engagement is nothing more than being 'desperate to retain what is left of its dwindling political and cultural influence'.

But as usual, when someone seeks to impose their own metanarrative on the way things are, they find that a lack of omniscience, and good, old-fashioned objectivity, lets them down.

A more constructive approach may have been to highlight areas of concern within the approach of ACL and others without feeling the need to scathingly dismiss their right to exist.

This smacked of personal retribution, the blurring of lines between valuable comment on church and society and a personal journey of hurt and disappointment. There was also an intellectual conceit that was saying, 'you people simply aren't clever enough to participate in this process.'

And that would be right to a degree - by and large Christians are naive of political realities, and many churches on the evangelical and Pentecostal side of church life have been far more focused on building the kinds of communities Stephens admires than delving into the political and cultural life of our nation.

But the thing missed by Stephens is that this is changing and ACL is one of the early manifestations of a new willingness to engage. Hillsong, while mercilessly critiqued by Stephens, is I believe (again with no affiliation) desperately seeking to grow in the wisdom, genuineness and scope of its engagement with Australian society, while remaining unapologetic about being a large, contemporary church.

Come on Scott, this is the 21st Century, the era of 'and/also' not 'either/or'. Let's lay down the paradigm of blame and stereotype and find ways to bring Christian diversity together in a healthy and respectful way. Just because a forum is 'online' doesn't mean it should treat people as faceless, nameless caricatures.

Liberal organisational failure leads to candidate chaos

2010-07-26T23:36:00.000+10:00

The disendorsement of a Liberal candidate for making anti-Muslim comments is a story of organisational incompetence.

David Barker became the Liberal candidate for the safe Labor seat of Chifley in Sydney's west because no other candidates could be found. He was endorsed directly by the state office rather than pre-selected by the local Liberal branch.

A Liberal party source was quoted in The Australian as saying 'Mr Barker was a vulnerable disability pensioner' and the source was 'critical of party officials for failing to predict he would not withstand media scrutiny'.

Identifying himself as a Christian, Mr Barker's comments did not assist serious Christian engagement in the political process. 'When I get in, I will give my votes, all of them, to God who is on the side of the Liberal Right...' is just one example.

This incident has raised questions of due-diligence in candidate selection but it also points to the strain placed on party structures as they seek to run candidates across the nation.

Smaller parties, while hopefully avoiding this kind of mistake, are struggling to not only get candidates up and running but to communicate with the media and the electorate.

ABC's online religion portal dismisses Christian vote

2010-07-25T20:57:00.000+10:00

'The last two federal elections were deformed by the way that leading figures from both political parties blatantly fawned to that most gullible of electoral commodities: the so-called "Christian vote." But because there can be no such thing as a "Christian vote," given the sheer diversity of conviction, belief and moral sensibility that is represented across churches in this country, such a description must necessary act as code for one variety of Christianity in Australia - unfortunately, the most unengaged, uninformed, easily seduced kind.'

So writes Scott Stephens, the Religion and Ethics editor for ABC Online. Read his full article.

Worm loses debate while Gillard and Abbott even

2010-07-25T20:13:00.000+10:00

The clear outcome of tonight's political leader's debate was that the Channel 9 worm lost, or possibly died, while Channel 7s polliegraph, showing much more liveliness, was the winner.

As viewers in lounge rooms around the nation were just beginning to ask why the blue worm was flat-lining, the worm disappeared altogether, presumably for resuscitation.

Meanwhile, both the Channel 7 and Channel 9 studio audiences gave the debate to Prime Minister Julia Gillard although Channel 9 political commentator, Laurie Oaks, disagreed with his channel's 'wormers' and said that Opposition leader Tony Abbott won.

Given that Abbott was expected to lose badly, the fact that he was a close second virtually negates any political benefit to Ms Gillard.

And what was obvious to everyone is that both leaders are trying to be small targets, avoiding controversy and sounding similar in many policy areas.

Possibly the clearest difference on the night was their gender and their hair colour.... PH

Gay Cabinet Minister supports traditional marriage view

2010-07-25T18:33:00.001+10:00

Labor's Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, the nation’s first openly homosexual cabinet minister, told Channel 10 today that says she agrees with her party’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

‘On the issue of marriage I think the reality is there is a cultural, religious, historical view around that which we have to respect,’’ Ms Wong said.

Read the full story in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Support school chaplaincy campaign launched

2010-07-23T16:26:00.001+10:00

The future of government-funded chaplains in public schools was a hot topic in the Make it Count webcast with Opposition leader Tony Abbott committing to three years funding from 2011 while then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said future funding was dependent on a review of the scheme.

While Mr Rudd was confident the review would support the ongoing support of school chaplaincy, and Ms Gillard is thought to have the same view, it does leave the door open for the scheme to end. Likewise, Mr Abbott's commitment does not cover funding growing with inflation which means positions could be lost.

To shore up these commitments, the National School Chaplaincy Association is calling on voters to email their Federal member during the election campaign to press home the importance of school chaplaincy.

'Now is the time to contact your local federal MP to inform them of your support of the school chaplaincy program and your wish to see it extended beyond 2011,' the campaign website says.

'In your own words please consider the following points in your response:

1.Express your support for the school chaplaincy program and your desire to see it continue.
2.Mention any positive feedback you have heard from schools, parents and/or students. Maybe your child has benefited.
3.Express your opinion that the funding needs to be expanded so that schools currently without chaplains can gain access.
4.Express your opinion that you want the nature of school chaplaincy to remain unchanged ie. holistic pastoral care – physical, emotional and spiritual.
5.Express your desire to hear a commitment for an expanded program during this election campaign.'

The website includes a postcode search for contact details of local members.

Mr Rudd, when speaking about chaplaincy in June's Make it Count, said he had spoken to many government school principals about the program and it always received enthusiastic endorsement.

Australian Christian Voter on Vision Radio

2010-07-23T16:12:00.000+10:00

Australian Christian Voter will feature in a series of interviews on Neil Johnson's Twenty20 program on Vision Radio starting from next week.

Vision is a national community radio network from a Christian perspective and Twenty20 can be heard weekdays at midday (eastern) or 10am (western) and a 'best of' highlights package also airs each weekend.

Click here to find a full listing of Vision radio frequencies

Smaller parties race to get candidates up

2010-07-22T17:52:00.000+10:00

Parties specifically representing Christian values are rushing to get their candidates and campaigns on track and due to smaller organisations and budgets, are a fair way behind Liberal, Labor and the Greens.

Most interest for these parties is in the Senate where in 2004 CDP leader Fred Nile went close to winning a seat in NSW and Family First's Steve Fielding was elected on the back of Labor preferences in Victoria.

The CDP have announced Shoalhaven mayor Paul Green as their lead Senate candidate in NSW and further candidates are expected to be announced across the nation shortly.

Family First have just announced Greg Swane as their lead candidate for the Senate in NSW along with Linda Rose in Western Australia and Bod Day in South Australia.

SA is Family First's strongest state and they have a small chance of winning the sixth seat in that state. Senator Fielding is likely to struggle in Victoria without another unusual preference deal while both CDP and Family First had a strong showing in WA and one or the other could go close on preferences.

Family First is relatively new in NSW with Rev Gordon Moyes becoming the first parliamentarian when he left CDP to join Family First as a sitting member in the NSW Legislative Council.

The senator positions up for election in 2010 are those who were elected in 2004, the year Mark Latham gave John Howard a resounding victory. Whereas usually the six seats are split three right, three left in each state, Barnaby Joyce stole a 'left' seat in Queensland and Steve Fielding did the same in Victoria. With Labor now in a much stronger position and the Greens polling extremely well, it is more likely that Labor and the Greens will fight over the final senate position in most states.

For an excellent breakdown of how senate results may look, read Tom Colebatch's article in The Brisbane Times

Internet filtering briefing linked to Queensland marginal seats

2010-07-20T19:37:00.001+10:00

The Australian newspaper has linked a briefing given to the Australian Christian Lobby before the internet filtering announcement with Labor's concerns about marginal seats in Queensland.

The article implies that the briefing, given the day before Communications Minister Stephen Conroy announced a delay in implementing internet filtering, was partly motivated by the ACL's strong support base in Queensland.

A spokesperson of the minister said the briefing was part of the normal process of communicating with stakeholders while ACL chief of staff described as rubbish the suggestion the government was only interested in the filtering idea in an attempt to hold on to the Christian vote.

Read the full article in The Australian.

Fielding's task harder after Green preference deal

2010-07-19T23:03:00.000+10:00

The re-election of Family First Senator Stephen Fielding has become a much more difficult prospect following the deal today of a tight preference swap between Labor and the Greens.

Senator Fielding was elected in 2004 when a preference deal with Labor saw him clinch the sixth senate seat with about two per cent of the primary vote.

Back in 2007 he warned Kevin Rudd not to do a preference deal with the Greens because their policies were anti-family but with the removal of Rudd, and his more open engagement with Christians, the preference deal has slipped away from Family First.

Greens leaders Senator Bob Brown described the election of Senator Fielding with just two per cent of the vote as 'peverse' but also said he recommended Green voters ignore official preferences and vote beneath the line to set their own preferences.

On Q & A, Liberal deputy leader, Fiona Bishop criticised the Greens for making a deal with Labor even before their climate change policy had been released. She said it made a mockery of their commitment to environmental issues.

World Vision boss calls for bigger hearts, stronger borders

2010-07-19T16:00:00.000+10:00

It is already clear that asylum seekers and 'stopping the boats' will be a critical element of this election. Yet the politics of asylum seekers is both deflating and confounding.

Why do asylum seekers arriving by boat cause so much alarm in some sections of the Australian community?

Read Tim Costello's full article in the Sydney Morning Herald

Australia to vote in federal election in 35 days

2010-07-17T14:45:00.000+10:00

Australians will vote in a federal election in 35 days from now after Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced on August 21 election today, just 23 days after she ousted Kevin Rudd from office.

It is the first winter election since 1987 and with a uniform swing of just 1.7 per cent needed for a change of government, Ms Gillard will be hoping August 21 in a fine, sunny winter's day.

A few key issues of interest to Christians or that will influence the election result are:

Christian voters will again have a key influence, particularly in the marginal areas of western Sydney and more generally in Queensland.
The Greens hold strong hopes of winning lower house seats in the inner city seats in Sydney and Melbourne and to hold the balance of power in the Senate.
Both Prime Minister Gillard and Opposition leader Tony Abbott are untried as leaders in an election campaign and probably have shared the honours in the past few weeks. A distinctively good or bad campaign from either of them could decide the election, as it did when Mark Latham led Labor in 2004.
Family First's only federal parliamentarian, Senator Steve Fielding, has real fight on his hand to be real elected. If he loses, the seat could go the the Greens.
Both parties representing Christian values, Family First and Christian Democratic Party, seemed to be some way from finalising candidates, but should announce some key names shortly.
The CDP have their best chance in NSW or Western Australia - they just lost to the Greens the final senate seat in WA in 2007.
For Christians, issues such as non-government school funding, Christian chaplaincy, internet filtering, Millennium Goal fulfillment, asylum seeker policy will be important although the two major parties have attempted to neutralise each other on most of these issues.

In working out how to vote on August 21, Australian Christian Voter will provide timely news and commentary and will also link to the work of organisations such as Australian Christian Lobby and Micah Challenge in understanding key issues.

Both ACL and Micah Challenge encourage voters to organise electorate forums to meet candidates to learn of their values and policies.

Gillard to call election tomorrow: ABC

2010-07-16T17:50:00.000+10:00

The ABC is reporting that it 'understands' Prime Minister Julia Gillard will tomorrow call an election for August 28.

The ABC website says that according to Labor sources, 'Ms Gillard is expected to visit Quentin Bryce in Canberra tomorrow morning. But it is believed that the issuing of the writs will be delayed until next Wednesday to allow more time for people to enrol to vote.'

Crikey.com is passing on the ABC's story with the comment that Ms Gillard will have to be out to Yarralumla early to meet the Governor General before Ms Bryce catches a plane to France to attend the dedication of the Fromelles Military Cemetery.

School funding review reignites concerns

2010-07-16T15:14:00.000+10:00

A government review of school funding led by businessman David Gonski has reignited debate over whether Labor or Liberal will provide a better deal for non-government school funding.

With the review not due to report to well after the election, new Minister for Education Simon Crean has been assuring the non-government school sector that no school would lose 'a dollar of funding' and '...there is no schools hit list for those who want to run a scare campaign.'

This has not comforted Greg O'Kelly, the chairman of the Bishops Commission for Catholic Education, who said it left open the possibility that funding could be frozen in real terms.

'The outcome for some hundreds of Catholic parish and regional primary and secondary schools is that their funding may be frozen in real dollar terms for several years from 2013,' he said.

The Coalition has been keen to put its nose ahead on the issue and Opposition spokesman for Education, Christopher Pyne, has promised that non-government school funding will be 'enhanced' under a Coalition government.

The review of the funding system established by John Howard was initiated by Julia Gillard while Education minister and the panel has an interesting make-up. Chair David Gonski is a former student and chairman of of Sydney Grammar School while review panel members Ken Boston and Carmen Lawrence are on the record in saying the government school should receive priority and the current funding system is flawed.

Liberals finally get organised in key election region

2010-07-16T06:51:00.000+10:00

The Liberal Party will finalise its line-up in Western Sydney tomorrow when it finally pre-selects candidates for the seats of Greenway, Parramatta and Chifley.

After announcing Penrith local Fiona Scott as the Liberal candidate for Lindsay, the race for Greenway is between two pre-selection candidates of Filipino decent, Venus Priest and Jayme Diaz. If the Liberals were to win Greenway, either one would be the first person of Filipino background in the federal Parliament.

Greenway is held by Liberal Louise Markus but a redistribution means it is now notionally Labor and Ms Markus will contest the nearby seat of Macquarie.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott said during a visit to Penrith Paceway this week that he hoped to be campaigning in western Sydney 'as much as is humanely possible' between now and the election.

During the paceway visit, Ms Scott was asked if she believed asylum seekers was an important issue in her electorate and she instead redirected the focus to the state of Nepean Hospital. This is despite Labor being convinced that asylum seeker policy is 'killing them' in areas such as western Sydney.

Penrith preferences telling for federal poll

2010-07-16T06:25:00.000+10:00

Western Sydney will be a crucial battlefield in the upcoming federal election and so some aspects of the results from the recent state Penrith by-election have special importance.

While the election was largely fought on state and electorate issues, the performance of minor parties and preference flows may translate federally.

The Greens received 12.1 per cent of the primary vote (6.6+) with 21.5 per cent of preferences flowing to Labor and 13.2 to Liberal. More than 65 per cent of Green votes 'exhausted' which means these voters chose not to preference.

The Christian Democratic Party was the next biggest of the minor parties with 4.4% of the vote (1.8-) with 11.2 per cent preferences to Labor and 49.1 per cent to Liberal. Only 39.7 of CDP votes exhausted, the lowest for any candidate.

Point of interest include the strong performance of the Greens in an area not usually associated with the Green vote and the general reluctance of the Green voters to preference the major parties.

The CDP must be disappointed to have lost votes at a time when the sitting member and Labor was heavily on the nose. On the positive, it is still a reasonable primary vote which sends a message regarding the importance of CDP voters and their preferences in tight election results, such as may occur in the federal poll.

Source: Preference flow information from Antony Green Election Blog.

Election date firms as ads begin and issues blur

2010-07-12T13:23:00.000+10:00

ALP advertisements began appearing on prime time television last night, another signal that Australia is just weeks away from an early election. The ads featured a scraggy photo of Tony Abbot and an appeal not to trust him with Australia's health system.

Add to this Julia Gillard's asylum seeker policy wobble last week and plans to announce almost a replica of the Opposition's climate challenge policy tomorrow, and pundits are backing in an August 28 election.

Julia Gillard got the Prime Minister's job on the back of her reputation of being as Labor's most formidable politician and yet this took a battering last week with the on-again-of-again East Timor refugee processing centre.

Still benefiting from an electoral honeymoon, the Labor part machine is likely to recommend moving ahead quickly before it suffers from any more communication meltdowns.

At the same time, climate change is the last area to be 'tidied up' and it appears Ms Gillard's solution will be to focus on renewable energy, energy efficiencies and consultation with business. This mirrors the Opposition to some degree and removes the 'great big new tax' line from the election. It also portrays Ms Gillard as the new-style consultative Prime Minister.

Cabinet will be asked for its view on election timing tomorrow.

Politicians fail to deliver on asylum seeker policy

2010-07-11T07:00:00.004+10:00

ACV Sunday Comment
By Peter Hallett

Prime Minister Julia Gillard carefully attempted to stake out the high moral ground when she spoke about asylum seekers and other foreign policy issues in an address to the Lowey Institute last Tuesday.

Appealing for open debate, calling for people to refrain from demonising others with different views and suggesting a regional approach to asylum seekers, for a few moments she was at her convincing best.

But as the detail (or lack of) in her policies sank in, it became obvious that not only was she was pushing the same policy for which she has lambasted the Opposition - overseas processing of asylum seekers - she was in danger of replaying the mistakes of the Rudd Government - great sounding policy and no capacity to carry it out.

In the week following the announcement, it became clear that East Timor was far from united in support of the idea, and when Papua New Guinea was suggested as an alternative, that nation gave an even colder response.

And a good clue was given as to where the Prime Minister's real concerns lay when she appeared, some would say cynically, on the deck of a navy patrol ship with none other than David Bradbury, the Labor member for the marginal seat of Lindsay in Sydney's west.

As Ms Gillard's asylum seeker policy unravelled, even Senator Stephen Fielding's idea of returning 'illegal' asylum seekers to the back of the queue in refugee camps and bringing two refugees to Australia in their place started to look plausible.

And with Opposition leader Tony Abbott left vulnerable by comments that implied he might authorise the towing out to sea of refugees in leaky boats, it became clear Australia is unlikely to see sensible policy on this issue with an election so near.

One thing Ms Gillard got right - both appropriate border protection and compassionate treatment of asylum seekers are valid concerns. The best possible solution would be to remove this debate from the political arena and give it into the hands of those with serious expertise and legitimate concern. Now that would be statesman-like.

'Very good chance' of re-election: Fielding

2010-07-10T17:34:00.000+10:00

Victorian Senator Steve Fielding has featured in a wide-ranging interview in the Herald Sun newspaper in which he told how he wanted to hide forever after he badly fumbled a press conference.

Senator Fielding has also revelaed he has had second thoughts about whether he should have revealed he was sexually abused as a child.

Despite these concerns, Fielding, sometimes dubbed the 'accidental Senator', believes he has a 'very good chance' of being re-elected - along with a 'good chance' of being booted out.
Read the Herald Sun's full interview with Senator Fielding.

Gillard proposes East Timor regional processing centre

2010-07-06T17:01:00.000+10:00

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has tried to re-cast the asylum seeker debate in Australia by proposing that compassion for refugees and tough border protection are not incompatible.

In a speech to the Lowy Institute today, she rejected the divisive impasse that 'slogans' and 'labels' had produced in the asylum seeker debate.

'If you are hard-headed you're dismissed as hard-hearted. If you are open-hearted you are marginalised as supporting open borders,' Ms Gillard said.

To find new ground for discussion, she unveiled a bid for new regional processing centre in East Timor that would handle asylum seeker processing for the region, effectively removing a product for people smugglers to sell but sounding more than a little reminiscent of the 'Pacific solution'.

She had spoken about the plan with the East Timorese leader President Jose Ramos-Horta, the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, and claimed all were open to the idea.

In another policy announcement, Ms Gillard commissioned a report on Australian population sustainability and said if re-elected she would toughen laws on people smuggling.

To help make up your own mind about Ms Gillard's policy announcements today, the full text of her speech follows.

Full text of Prime Minister Julia Gillard's foreign policy speech to the Lowy Institute today.

Thank you very much to the Lowy Institute for hosting me today.

The Lowy Institute has established a reputation for independent, robust and forceful analysis of Australia's place in the world. It is exactly the right place to make today's address: Moving Australia Forward.

I first would like to acknowledge the enormous contribution of the institute's founding benefactor, Frank Lowy. Frank Lowy is a great Australian. He was a refugee who escaped to Israel after World War Two in a crowded boat full of asylum seekers.

After fighting for Israel, he arrived on our shores as a very determined 21-year-old. He worked hard and went from factory worker to milk bar owner to Blacktown shopping centre developer and in time, to the largest retail property group in the world — truly great achievements and a remarkable story.

As the Socceroos' number one supporter, no doubt Frank has had some frustrating recent weeks in South Africa. I think both the Socceroos and Frank fought proudly for Australia.

But down to the business of today.

In my first press conference as Prime Minister I said I would lead a strong and responsible government to take control of our future.

That's why I moved to immediately end the uncertainty caused by the proposed RSPT, which has been successfully adapted to become the Minerals Resource Rent Tax. The investment community can be assured that the future of mining in Australia is strong and secure, And to all of our mining communities across the length and breadth of Australia, I assure you that your future is also secure and your prospects are bright.

I have also made it clear that a national leader must recognise when a government needs to take a breath, slow down, weigh the evidence and make the right, considered judgements for our people. To this end I've made it clear that I support sustainable population growth and reject the idea that Australia should hurtle down the track towards a big population.

Population growth has always been a part of Australia's story. I arrived in Australia as a little girl with my family in 1966 – since then Australia's population has doubled from 11 to 22 million people, reflecting both immigration and natural population growth.

In the years ahead, our population will continue to grow, but the issue for Australia is both the speed of that growth, and whether — and where — it can be sustained.

We are very roughly the same size as America and we are a great country like America — but we are not America. We do not have the inland sprawling plains, fertile soils and cities for that kind of population. 80 per cent of our population lives along our coast precisely because our continent is different.

In many faster growing parts of Australia – like western Sydney, south-east Queensland and the growth corridors of Wyndham and Melton, in my own electorate in Melbourne's western suburbs — people would laugh if you told them population growth was intended to improve living standards. People in these communities are on the front line of our population increase and they know that bigger isn't necessarily better.

At the same time, other parts of Australia are crying out for more people – skilled workers to fill job vacancies in occupations like mining, health and aged care, and community services. I regard this alone as a giant policy question for Australia. It is truly the mismatch of modern Australia: communities with too many people and not enough jobs and then other communities with too many jobs and not enough people.

This is reason enough to declare that population policy should not be driven by an arbitrary single number.

Instead, I believe it must be driven by the needs and the circumstances of each region across the nation. With this in mind I have commissioned the Minister for Sustainable Population, Tony Burke to develop a population strategy for a sustainable Australia.

If we move forward together with 'sustainability' guiding our way, there are also new industries we can grow, new jobs we can create, new skills we can teach, new technologies we can develop and, if we get this right, a quality of life that will continue to be the envy of the rest of the world, and so we have begun an important debate on sustainable population growth. It is a positive debate we intend to lead and one that must not be constrained by self censorship or political correctness.

I have no truck with constraining debate on the big questions. I am for frank, open, honest national conversations, so let's have a frank, open, honest national conversation on the issues of border protection and asylum seekers.

Today I am announcing steps to strengthen Australia's border protection arrangements. I am setting out the long-term approach we will take to dealing with the pressure of unauthorised arrivals.

We are taking these steps in response to the increase in unauthorised people movements in our region and around the world.

I am also making the government's policy goal clear: it is to wreck the people smuggling trade by removing the incentive for boats to leave their port of origin in the first place; to remove both the profitability of the trade and the danger of the voyage.

I will return to these steps in a moment, but let me turn first to some remarks made in the last few days by a prominent Australian, Julian Burnside QC, an eminent lawyer, much respected in our community. Mr Burnside said: "I challenge Julia Gillard to point out to the public that at the current rate of arrivals it would take about 20 years to fill the MCG with boat people."

He went on to refer to certain Australians as: "Rednecks in marginal seats".

On the first point Mr Burnside is very, very right and I'm happy to oblige. He is right because in the context of our migration program, the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat to Australia is very, very minor. It is less than 1.5 per cent of permanent migrants each year; and indeed it would take about 20 years to fill the MCG with asylum seekers at present rates of arrival. This is a point well made.

On the second point he is very, very wrong. It is wrong to label people who have concerns about unauthorised arrivals as "rednecks".

Of course, there are racists in every country but expressing a desire for a clear and firm policy to deal with a very difficult problem does not make you a racist.

For too long, the asylum seeker policy debate has been polarised by extreme, emotionally-charged claims and counterclaims; by a fundamental disrespect that I reject.

But as poor as this commentary is, even worse is the deliberate use of inflammatory politics presented as policy. I speak of the claim often made by Opposition politicians that they will, to quote: "turn the boats back".

This needs to be seen for what it is. It is a shallow slogan. It is nonsense.

Under John Howard, only a handful of boats were ever turned around.

Tony Abbott claims that the Howard government had an active policy of turning boats back. This is simply not true.

For the entire time of the Howard government, only seven boats were turned back. The last Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel (SIEV) "returned from whence it came" was SIEV14, which arrived at Melville Island in the Northern Territory on November 4, 2003 with 14 Turkish passengers.

The Howard government did not turn a boat back after 2003.

Let's ask ourselves why. Was it because the Howard government suddenly lacked the resolve to turn the boats back? Of course not.

The Howard government's actions changed because of a change in the practical reality, and the reality that confronted prime minister Howard confronts us today: the reality that to avoid being turned around boats are sabotaged raising safety of life at sea concerns for Australia's customs and border protection and defence personnel as well as the asylum seekers on board.

And the second practical reality is that there is nowhere to turn the boats back to.

My opponent, Mr Abbott, is good at slogans: a great big new tax on everything; a great big new tax on mining; a big bad tax; and now, turn back the boats.

But these slogans are hollow.

The Opposition is trying to sell the Australian community a fairytale in which all you have to do is go out to an asylum seeker boat and turn it around and everything will be fixed — but this fairytale is not the facts.

The facts are the boat will be scuttled and start to sink.

The facts are that this nation would then be confronted with a stark choice: either we could leave the scene in the certain knowledge people including children would drown or we could rescue the asylum seekers from the water.

Today let me say one thing loud and clear: our nation would not leave children to drown. We are Australians and our values will never allow us to embrace this kind of evil. So, inevitably, the so-called strategy of turning the boats back would become a strategy of rescuing asylum seekers from the water with all the risks that entails to the lives of defence and customs personnel.

The slogan is hollow and Mr Abbott knows it.

In his own policy document he says that the so-called turnaround of boats would only happen "Where circumstances permit". This is an admission that it won't work.

How appalling it is that this is where the long-running debate on asylum seekers has taken us – to an unedifying exchange of incendiary labels like "red neck" and hollow slogans like "turn the boats around", with nobody asking how we can move the nation forward.

Think of the impasse this division has created.

If you are hard-headed you're dismissed as hard-hearted. If you are open-hearted you are marginalised as supporting open borders.

I say to those engaged in this type of rhetoric: Stop selling our national character short. We are better than this. We are so much better than this.

The other way, the path less travelled in recent times, is the path to move us forward together - to discuss the facts, reject the myths and make our decisions on what we know to be true on the principles that can unite us.

So let us start by considering the facts.

Last year, Australia received 0.6 per cent of the world's asylum seekers.

Refugees, including those referred for resettlement by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, make up less than 8 per cent of migrants accepted in Australia.

Even if all those who arrived in unauthorised boats were found to be refugees — which they will not — they would still be only 1.6 per cent of all migrants to Australia.

The total number of people accepted into Australia each year under our refugee and humanitarian program is 13,750 people. This is a fraction of our annual migration intake. This number has remained stable for many years and does not increase even when we face surges in boat arrivals. If more boats arrive, fewer people can be sponsored under our special humanitarian program.

We should also understand that what drives the peaks and troughs in the numbers of boats trying to get to Australia has less to do with what we do here and more to do with the conditions people are escaping — conditions like war, genocide, imprisonment without trial, torture, harassment by authorities, the disappearance of family and friends, and children growing up in refugee camps with no prospect of ever again seeing their home.

And when conditions deteriorate in countries with sea routes to Australia, as they did between 1999 and 2001, more boats come – some 5516 people came to our shores in 2001. But then when conditions improved as happened after 2001 with the downfall of the Taliban regime fewer and fewer boats arrived.

This ebb and flow has been evident since the time when Malcolm Fraser was our prime minister in the 1970s and the people arriving in boats were from Vietnam.

Through their efforts to disrupt people smuggling, the Australian Federal Police, working with our regional neighbours, have prevented more than 5000 foreign nationals coming to our shores illegally since September.

These are the facts.

But moving forward also means we must agree on the organising principles for developing policy. I submit we can agree on these principles:

That we should be prepared to accept people in legitimate need just as a young Frank Lowy was accepted 60 years ago;

That there is nothing humane about a voyage across dangerous seas with the ever present risk of death in leaky boats captained by people smugglers;

That Australia's basic decency does not accept the idea of punishing women and children by locking them up behind razor wire or ignoring people who are fleeing genocide, torture, and persecution, nor does it allow us to stand back and watch fellow human beings drown in the water, but equally that there is nothing inconsistent between these decencies and our commitment to secure borders and fair, orderly migration. The rule of law in a just society is part of what attracts so many people to Australia. It must be applied properly to those who seek asylum, just as it must be applied to all of us;

That no one should have an unfair advantage and be able to subvert orderly migration programs;

That there should be no incentive for people smugglers, to take even bigger risks with people's lives in the name of mercenary profits;

That people smuggling is an evil trade to be punished;

That hardworking Australians who themselves are doing it tough want to know that refugees allowed to settle here are not singled out for special treatment;

That people like my own parents who have worked hard all their lives can't abide the idea that others might get an inside track to special privileges;

And that finally, if this were to happen, it would offend the Australian sense of fair play.

And so with the facts on the table and these uniting principles as our guide we move forward. We move forward to an effective, sustainable, long-term solution;

To stop the boats not at our shoreline but before they even leave those far away port;

To ensure people smugglers have nothing to sell and so ending the long and dangerous voyages.

That means building a regional approach to the processing of asylum seekers, with the involvement of the UNHCR, which effectively eliminates the on shore processing of unauthorised arrivals and ensures that anyone seeking asylum is subject to a consistent process of assessment in the same place.

A regional processing centre removing the incentive once and for all for the people smugglers to send boats to Australia. Why risk a dangerous journey if you will simply be returned to the regional processing centre?

To this end I can report today that I have already taken steps to achieve this goal.

Irregular migration is a global challenge, and like all global challenges it can only be tackled by nations working together.

That's why we have put so much effort into regional co-operation in recent years. We co-chair the Bali Process with Indonesia, and through this process, we are working with our regional neighbours and key organisations like the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration, to manage irregular migration and stop people smuggling, and can I say how much we appreciate and value our co-operation with Indonesia as co-chair.

We do these things because we believe that building a sustainable regional protection framework is the most effective way to address irregular migration, including to Australia.

Building on the work already underway through the Bali Process, today I announce that we will begin a new initiative. In recent days I have discussed with President Ramos Horta of East Timor the possibility of establishing a regional processing centre for the purpose of receiving and processing of the irregular entrants to the region.

The purpose would be to ensure that people smugglers have no product to sell. Arriving by boat would just be a ticket back to the regional processing centre.

It would be to ensure that everyone is subject to a consistent, fair, assessment processes.

It would be to ensure that arriving by boat does not give anybody an advantage in the likelihood that they would end up settling in Australia or other countries of the region.

It would, of course, have to be a properly run, properly auspiced, properly structured centre.

President Ramos Horta told me that he welcomed the conversation about this possibility and I look forward to further consultation and dialogue on developing this initiative into a proposal that would advance the proper and consistent treatment of people arriving without authorisation in our region.

I have also spoken to New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key, about this possibility, and he has said to me that he would be open to considering this initiative constructively.

East Timor and New Zealand are vital countries in this initiative as they are already signatories to the Refugee Convention, and New Zealand – like Australia – is a key resettlement country.

I have also already discussed this initiative with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres.

Australia maintains its strong support for the capacity of the UN to ensure appropriate forms of refugee assessment.

I told the High Commissioner that my government is not interested in pursuing a new Pacific Solution — instead Australia was committed to the development of a sustainable, effective regional protection framework. Again, I look forward to a constructive and concrete dialogue with the UNHCR on this initiative.

This problem is not Australia's alone.

I want to reassure Australians that this is not about a quick fix – there is no quick fix. It is about stopping people getting in boats, but it is also about improving the protection outcomes for refugees by establishing a framework for orderly migration within the region. It will take time. I believe it will be worth the effort.

Only this sort of long-term approach will deliver what we need. I ask for the patience and support of the Australian people as we work with the countries of our region on this shared challenge;

A regional solution with the participation of the UNHCR could prevent the piling up of authorised arrivals in detention in Australia;

A solution that I will pursue relentlessly.

It is also clear there are steps we must take in the interim in accordance with the principles I outlined earlier.

Last night, the UNHCR published its revised eligibility guidelines on Sri Lanka. The guidelines are just one source of information which has helped to inform the Government about the changing situation in Sri Lanka.

The UNHCR report confirmed the improved human rights and security situation in Sri Lanka and that displaced people continue to return to their homes. Instead of automatically presuming that particular groups in Sri Lanka are refugees, the UNCHR states that all asylum claims must now be considered on a case by case basis, noting that some groups may still be at risk.

With the new information, acceptance rates are likely to fall.

Today, in light of these circumstances, I am announcing the government has decided to lift immediately the suspension on processing claims for Sri Lankan. Those currently in detention will have their claims processed against a range of country information including the revised UNHCR report I have described.

So I have a message for people in Sri Lanka who might be considering attempting the journey to Australia. Do not pay a people smuggler, do not risk your life, only to arrive in Australian waters and find that far, far more likely than not you will be quickly sent home by plane.

The other group of arrivals for whom processing has been suspended is people from Afghanistan. So far this year more than 60 per cent of all asylum seekers arriving by boat have come from that country. Although there was a time when large numbers of Afghan asylum seekers were granted refugee status, since April there have more than 500 primary refusal decisions for Afghans. During the past month the primary refusal rate has exceeded 70 per cent.

If upheld at review, these increasing rates of refusals will result in many more people being returned to their homelands.

I am not immediately ending the suspension of processing of Afghan asylum seekers, but my government will keep that decision under review in the coming weeks and months.

Under my leadership, the government will work closely with the Government of Afghanistan on a range of migration-related issues – including putting in place arrangements for the return of Afghan nationals who are found not to be legitimate refugees to Afghanistan.

This process is essential for the integrity of our migration program, and it is important for sending a clear message of deterrence to people smugglers and their clients that they cannot buy their way into Australia.

I look forward to securing an efficient return arrangement and then resuming processing Afghanistan asylum seeker claims and getting Afghans home.

To reiterate: I am committed to treating people with decency while they are in Australian detention, but if people are not found to be refugees, I am committed to sending them home, and whilst ever boats are attempting to enter Australian waters there must be effective policing.

We are successfully prosecuting dozens of people smugglers through our courts. We have successfully extradited alleged people smugglers from other countries.

Since September 2008 we have made 149 arrests for offences related to people smuggling – 48 people have been convicted, and a further 99 prosecutions are now underway in our courts.

We are also investing in eight new patrol vessels with improved surveillance and response capability - strengthening our Border Protection Command, which already has18 vessels and 18 aircraft available for patrolling Australian waters all year round. We already have more assets deployed for this task than any other Australian government has had.

We ultimately destroy the illegal boats we intercept.

The government recently strengthened penalties with the enactment of the Anti-People Smuggling and Other Measures Act 2010. This legislation includes mandatory minimum penalties for organisers and created a new offence of providing material support for people smuggling, with a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment and/or a fine of $110,000.

If re-elected I will legislate to toughen these measures further, increasing maximum penalties for situations where a people smuggling venture results in death.

Finally, with regard to those who are accepted as refugees:

I believe Australians are prepared to welcome those who are genuine refugees, but they also expect them to learn the rules under which we live and abide by those rules. That means that when newcomers settle in our community, they accept their responsibilities as members of the community – to learn English, enter the workforce, and send their kids to school like everyone else.

Most refugees fulfil these obligations and are grateful to be able to make a new home in Australia – just as hundreds of thousands of refugees also did in the aftermath of the holocaust and the Second World War in Europe.

But the rules are the rules. We will ensure refugees shoulder the same obligations as Australians generally.

In conclusion, we are implementing the changes I have announced today based on the principles I have outlined.

Moving forward means effective policy.

It means respecting the anxieties that are held by many in our community, but basing our policy and our discussion on the facts, moving beyond the false promises and simplistic slogans.

It means speaking frankly about the difficulties we face, and seeking common ground, consistent with the values that Australians share – values of fairness, respect for the rule of law, tolerance, compassion and responsibility.

I speak today cognisant and proud of these values, and before the end of this year I will seek our people's endorsement so that we may all move forward together.

This is the full text of Prime Minister Julia Gillard's speech to the Lowy Institute today.

Asylum seeker policy moves to centre stage

2010-07-03T10:55:00.002+10:00

Voters can expect to see clarification of Labor's asylum seeker policy when Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivers a major statement of foreign affairs at the Lowey Institute for International Policy in Sydney on Tuesday.

During her press conference regarding the mining tax deal yesterday, Ms Gillard said she had further policy areas to address with asylum seekers at the top of the list, followed by population policy and climate change.

The issue of asylum seekers is one of particular sensitivity to the Christian community with many churches and Christian organisations involved in advocacy and care for refugees.

In his fighting speech before being deposed as Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd warned of a 'lurching to the right' on the issue of asylum seekers if he was removed from office. He was referring to the belief in some Labor factions that the party need to toughen border protection in line with community views.

Ms Gillard, speaking to The Age, said their would be 'no quick fix' and denied that any toughening of the laws would represent a lurch to the right.

'I don't think this is appropriately diagnosed as a left-right debate. It's a practical problem that requires practical solutions,' she said.

Make your electorate aware of poverty

2010-07-02T23:00:00.002+10:00

Micah Challenge knows a good reason to get activate in the upcoming election - every minute, 20 children die from preventable causes and another minute passes while the Millennium Development Goals remain unmet.

For this reason they are inviting interested voters to hold a Make Poverty History forum in their local federal electorate.

MPH forums are an effective way to engage the public, federal MPs and candidates in considering how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and halve global poverty.

'Holding your own electoral forum helps raise awareness in the community on global poverty and reminds our leaders that every minute counts for those people living in extreme poverty,' reports the Micah Challenge website.

Click here to see a map of forums registered so far. If there is none in your electorate, download the information kit and register a forum.

If a forum is already planned in your electorate - plan now to attend. If there is not already a forum in your electorate, register now to run one.

ACL rules out a second Make it Count with PM Gillard

2010-07-02T20:42:00.001+10:00

Australian Christian Lobby has ruled out running another Make it Count webcast as a result of the leadership change resulting in Julia Gillard becoming Prime Minister.

ACL Chief of Staff Lyle Shelton said it would unrealistic to stage another event before the election which could be sooner rather than later.

'A lot of work goes in to putting an event like this on – not to mention the generous co-operation of the two busiest people in politics,' Mr Shelton said on the ACL website.

'However, as always, ACL has put questions to the major parties covering a range of areas of concern to Christians. We will be publishing the answers on our Australia Votes website during the campaign period.

'We are also working to assist Christians to learn as much as possible about their local candidates and their values. Elections are always a strategic time to engage politics. We will be doing our best to encourage Christians to engage and influence the values of the candidates and parties that will shape the character of the nation after the election,' Mr Shelton said.

Gillard announces mining tax breakthrough

2010-07-02T09:18:00.001+10:00

After days of negotiations in a 'windowless room' with 'sleeves rolled up' Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced a breakthrough agreement this morning for the super profits mining tax.

The new Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) will be cut to 30 per cent, down from the previously 'not-negotiable' 40, and will only apply to coal and iron ore. Oil and gas projects will come under the current Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) regime.

The government compromises result in a loss of revenue of $1.5 billion which means the proposed reduction of company tax will be halved. Instead of falling to 28 per cent, it will drop to 29 per cent in 2013/14 for big companies and 2012/13 for small business.

The proposed funding of a superannuation guarantee increase will go ahead and it will rise to 12 per cent, meaning more super for working Australians. A Policy Transition Group chaired by Don Argus will assist the government and mining industry in implementation of the new arrangements.
Ms Gillard said this agreement, signed with three of Australia's biggest miners, provided 'stable, coherent government and a positive basis for trust'.

'Australians are entitled to a fair share of the mining wealth in our grounds,' she said, adding that the MRRT would allow the Australian population and the mining industry to 'both prosper together' from resources that can 'only be dug up once'.

As if to highlight her change in strategy to that employed by Kevin Rudd, Ms Gillard said the real breakthrough was the 'hard, frank discussion' that took place between the government and miners.

'I've learned across life that things work best when you get people around the table'.

During the press conference announcing the MRRT this morning, Ms Gillard would not be drawn into discussing the implications of a large vested interest, protesting and advertising in order to see substantial change in government policy.

The last time this occurred was when the union movement advertised heavily against the Howard government's Work Choices legalisation. The then government refused to negotiate and lost the 2007 election. This time it cost a Prime Minister his job. ACV

Hear for yourself as Julia answers, do you believe in God?

2010-07-01T11:44:00.002+10:00

With unprecedented media focus on the religious beliefs of new Prime Minister Julia Gillard, there is as much fiction as facts being reported.

But during a 15 minute interview with Melbourne ABC radio announcer, John Fain, Ms Gillard is asked directly, do you believe in God? She then speaks about her faith and religious upbringing for about two minutes. Click the play button on the widget below and listen for yourself.

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Gillard says no to gay marriage

2010-06-30T15:04:00.000+10:00

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has affirmed existing Labor Party policythat marriage is between a man and a woman.

“We believe the marriage act is appropriate in its current form, that is recognising that marriage is between a man and a woman, but we have as a government taken steps to equalise treatment for gay couples,” Ms Gillard told Austereo radio.

Asked if this was also her personal belief, she said it was.

Ms Gillard's statement is being seen as strategic in not further distancing the Christian vote after yesterday's admission that she is an atheist.

Marriage and its legal definition is one of the most sensitive issues for Christian and church leaders and both former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition leader Tony Abbott were very clear in their Make it Count webcast on June 21 that they would be preserving the current marriage act.

Heavy media focus on religion and politics

2010-06-30T14:50:00.000+10:00

The departure of Kevin Rudd has increased, not lessened, the focus on the influence of religious beliefs and politics.

Since the leadership change last Friday there has been unprecedented focus on whether Prime Minister Julia Gillard would follow her predecessor in affirming religious faith.

When she told ABC radio yesterday that she was not a Christian and would not pretend to have faith, media and internet commentary on the issue soared.

Several major news outlets are conducting their own polls on the topic. The Sydney Morning Herald is asking readers: 'Will Julia Gillard's atheism make her more open-minded on policy?' As of this posting, 2087 readers had voted with 58 per cent saying yes, and 42 per cent no.

At the same time, Radio 2UE is asking visitors to its website: 'Should a politician's religious beliefs matter to voters?' The result is not known.

News.com asked yesterday, 'Will your vote be swayed by Julia Gillard's stance on religion?' 12601 people voted with 26 per cent answering yes, 50 per cent no and 24 per cent saying they didn't care.

Last night the 7pm Project debated the same issues and what is becoming clearer is that political support is polarising more on the issue of faith.

See ACV's poll - right.

Gillard directly addresses Christians and issues of faith

2010-06-29T12:03:00.001+10:00

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been directly questioned about religious faith and the future of the Christian vote in Australia during an interview this morning on ABC Radio.

The Australian newspaper reports that Ms Gillard appeared to 'surprised' when asked whether she believed in God and how she would court the Christian vote.

'I'm not a religious person,' Ms Gillard told ABC radio.

'I was brought up in the Baptist Church but during my adult life I've, you know, found a different path. I'm of course a great respecter of religious beliefs, but they're not my beliefs.'
'I am not going to pretend a faith I don't feel. And for people of faith the greatest compliment I could pay to them is to respect their genuinely held beliefs and not to engage in some pretence about mine. I think it's not the right thing.'

The Australian report continues:

Ms Gillard said she 'never thought it was the right thing for me to go through religious rituals for the sake of appearance. I am what I am. And people will judge that'.

'For, you know, people of faith what I would say to them is I grew up in a Christian Church, a Christian background, a Baptist Church, I won prizes for catechism for being able to remember Bible verses. I am steeped in that tradition but I've made decisions in my adult life about my own views.'

Ms Gillard declined to say if she was worried about the Christian vote, indicating she was more concerned with the 'national interest (and) about doing the right thing by Australians'.

'What I can say to Australians broadly of course is that I believe you can be a person of strong principle and values from a variety of perspectives. And I've outlined mine to you.'

See the full story in The Australian.

Gillard moves quickly to end advertising deja vu

2010-06-29T09:12:00.000+10:00

On June 11, Australian Christian Voter posted: 'Is the mining tax Labor's version of Work Choices? Anyone else getting a sense of deja vu?' It seemed Mr Rudd had created an almost identical political environment to the one brought on by John Howard's Work Choices which helped him lose the 2007 election.

Not surprisingly, the only definite policy statement in Julia Gillard's first speech as Prime Minister on Friday was that she was ending the mining tax advertising campaign and called on the mining industry to do the same, a hurried attempt to defuse a political time bomb.

In our June 11 post we said, 'In politics, history always repeats (no one learns their lesson the first time...) But it remains to be seen if the election outcome - the tossing out of the incumbent - will also follow suit.'

Julia, no doubt a keen reader of ACV, decided not to wait around and find out, but tossed out the incumbent herself... PH

Skill, not just values, vital for political success

2010-06-29T08:57:00.000+10:00

ACV's Monday Comment: One week ago many Christian voters watched Australian Christian Lobby's Make it Count webcast featuring Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott. Today Mr Rudd is on the backbench, Mr Abbott is fighting a rear guard action and new Prime Minister Julia Gillard is enjoying rising popularity.

This change took the proverbial wind out of the sails of many Christians interested in the political process because they had come to enjoy, perhaps a little complacently, having both major parties led by people of Christian conviction.

But in politics, as in any field of endeavour, it is not only your values that count, but your ability. When journalist Chris Uhlmann was asked whether some of Julia Gillard's views, such as being an atheist, would affect her electoral prospects, he replied that what really counted was that she was Australia's most formidable politician.
Julia Gillard has worked hard at the political game since university and has painstakingly worked on her public persona, her support base, her strategy and her influence. She has embraced politics, by her own admission, as an alternative to having children, and is now at the peak of her political powers.

For those who want to defeat her political agenda, believing you have the high moral or spiritual ground is not enough, and never has been. It is only when Christian politicians and parties are willing to develop the same elite skill set, the same level of commitment and the same political acumen, that they will garner the same political success.

In other words, to have success in politics you need to be a successful politician. Too much time is spent by some political parties trumpeting the superiority of their values while ignoring the crippling clumsiness of their politics.

It is heartening to see many Latin American world cup soccer players kneel and acknowledge God when scoring a goal or winning a match. However they are not in the team because they are Christians, but because they can play soccer. There's a lesson here for Christians involved in the performance oriented world of politics - be very good at what you do if you want your very good values to have influence... PH

Christian parties say they offer value for votes

2010-06-27T12:42:00.000+10:00

Australian voters with a Christian perspective have been focused on the major parties with the Make it Count webcast last Monday and a new Prime Minister on Friday.

Christian voters will watch closely the performance and direction of Julia Gillard in the coming weeks to see if the engagement with the Christian community, notable under Kevin Rudd, continues.

In the meantime, with an election imminent, parties specifically aligned with Christian values continue to press their claim to receive the votes of believers.

Australian Christian Lobby’s Jim Wallace said a vote for a Christian party candidate, even if they don’t win, was never wasted.
'People have to remember that because of our preferential system, you can place a first vote for a Christian party and then, whether your preference is allocated as the party would have them or you allocate them yourselves, your vote is never wasted,' Mr Wallace said.

'So I think those parties, and support for those parties, is very, very important. It’s very important when they are in the Upper House because we have seen the CDP has at times held the balance of power and exercised a lot of good in NSW and we have seen with Family First they have exercised a lot of good in the SA parliament where they hold, at least on certain issues, the balance of power.'

CDP's Rev Fred Nile said his party would make this issue a major campaign message as he knew from research that many Christian voters did not understand the value of voting for a Christian party first.

'Many voters don’t seem to realise that if they vote for the Christian party first and then go to their favourite major party; if we don’t get enough votes, their vote will then flow to their major party preference.

'What this does is send a message to the major parties, "We are concerned about these Christian issues. We would like you to adopt these policies, or be more Christian". So it’s a very powerful message and I know the major parties spend a lot of time, on election night, studying the preference flow,' Rev Nile said.

'So it’s really getting more value for your vote. If you vote directly for Labor or Liberal they can say, and rightly so, that you are fully supporting all their policies, when probably that Christian isn’t. Voting for us gives them a kick in the pants – because they ask why would the voter do that, and it forces them to do a bit of analysing of the vote and the issues.'

Parts of this Post were first published in Alive magazine and written by ACV journalist, Peter Hallett.

Salt Shakers express concern over Gillard

2010-06-26T12:27:00.001+10:00

Christian organisation Salt Shakers has published an extensive comment piece on Julia Gillard, exploring her links with the Socialist Forum and linking to a briefing paper prepared before the 2007 election.

They express concern that 'Miss Gillard is not a social conservative or a Christian. We can expect considerable social engineering towards an even more "tolerant", socially destructive Australia.'

Find the posting about half way down on the home page of their website.

'Non-practising Baptist' brings changing political climate

2010-06-26T10:12:00.000+10:00

'Julia Gillard may have been the first Prime Minister in Australia's history to eschew the good book when being sworn in this week. A self-described ''non-practising Baptist'', she took an affirmation rather than a Bible in hand.

'Government House does not keep records of whether any predecessors did the same, and the parliamentary library knows only that all others since [and including] Paul Keating took the oath...

'Faith in politics may not be dead under Gillard but it is certain to take on an altogether different meaning.'

So writes the Sydney Morning Herald's Joel Gibson in an analysis of the changing faith in politics climate under Julia Gillard. Read the full story here.

Bible and God missing from Gillard's swearing in ceremony

2010-06-25T18:01:00.002+10:00

There has been much discussion in the Christian community about the religious beliefs or otherwise of Australia's new Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

This is understandable as Christians had become accustomed to having professing Christians as Prime Minister and Opposition leader.

Few definitive statements are available on this topic although ACV posted comments yesterday showing that Ms Gillard believes connecting with Christian communities is valuable.

Today the issue of her swearing in has surfaced with people noting she did not make her affirmation on the Bible nor include words such as 'so help me God' (included, for example, in the swearing in of Governor General Quentin Bryce).

The video below confirms that there was no Bible or reference to God in the ceremony while a photo from Kevin Rudd's prime ministerial swearing in clearly shows him holding a Bible

ACV Opinion: The lack of a Bible is in keeping with Ms Gillard's views about secular government and may not reflect her personal beliefs, although it would seem to suggest she is not a person of faith.

Because of this, she is attracting condemnation in some internet chatter. However it is important to consider that if she does not believe in God, it is more honest of her to be sworn in without a Bible. It does not mean that God cannot work through her government. As Christians we believe all governmental authority is ultimately from God, regardless of the beliefs of individuals involved.

It is vital that Christians respond intelligently to the political situation and make judgements about how to vote on the broad range of policy decisions, rather than symbols and rituals that can easily be manipulated.

However, it is clear that the Labor Party under Ms Gillard is less likely to be openly responsive to Christian perspectives. All the more reason to stay well informed on the emerging political scene - keep reading Australian Christian Voter!

Tanner departure gives Greens hope in Melbourne

2010-06-25T09:36:00.000+10:00

Julie Gillard's replacement of Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister almost oer-shadowed the retirement from politics of Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner.

Mr Tanner announced yesterday that he would not contest the next election and made it clear that he had already discuss this with Mr Rudd and was due for final talks on the last sitting day of Parliament yesterday.

He said his decision was for family reasons and unrelated to today's leadership upheaval, and offered to continue to serve in the portfolio or stand down if it suited Julia Gilllard as she prepares to reshuffle the front bench.

Apart from leaving a whole on Labor's front bench, it makes the contest for Mr Tanner's electorate of Melbourne even more interesting as this is one of a few inner city, lower house seats that the Greens have some chance of winning.
They finished second in Melbourne, behind Labor, in the 2007 election and are making the winning of this seat one of their key election goals. This is the first time in any seat in Australia that the Greens have finished second.

Mr Tanner told parliament that his children 'need me more than my country needs me.'
Expressing love for his children has been an issue for Mr Tanner as he has acknowledged that detachment that works well in politics is not so useful at home.

He refers to brutal treatment at while boarding at the Church of England Gippsland Grammar school in country Victoria as a reason for swearing off organised religion, to be an agnostic.

'It was nasty, unfair, erratic, it made me angry then. I was smitten with the unfairness of life,' he said.

'I hated my time there but it did forge my character and the education was excellent. It set the stage for what would become the jumping point into politics.

'I blamed the conservatives, the Church of England, and it pushed me towards the Left.'

Mr Tanner is now particularly careful to give his four children all the love he can. He has Remy, almost 4, and Ainsley, 5, to his third wife Andrea and older kids from his first marriage, James, 12, and Jemma, 15.

Christian schools welcome PM Gillard

2010-06-24T16:31:00.000+10:00

Christian Schools Australia has congratulated Julia Gillard on being sworn in as Australia's 27th Prime Minister, the first woman to occupy this high office.

A statement written by CEO Stephen O'Doherty, says 'Ms Gillard comes to her position after undertaking a significant reform agenda in education, including measures which have greatly benefited Christian schools.

'The new Prime Minister has shown herself to have an enormous capacity for work, and to exercise her many responsibilities with good grace and strong relational skills.

'She comes to her new role having built considerable goodwill within our sector.
'Ms Gillard has been true to Labor's promises to be even-handed about education policy, and we have no doubt that she will continue this approach as Prime Minister.

'The agenda she recently outlined for the reform of school funding included specific commitments to a "fair" approach:

In the past, the question of school funding has been used to divide the Australian community, to pit school against school and school system against school system. My intention is not to follow this path, but to seek a constructive and open approach to the questions of school funding. (Sydney Institute speech, 15 April 2010)
'The Funding Review will be one of the major reforms during the term of the next Government, and it is very pleasing to have such commitments up front.

'If Labor is re-elected it will be very important that Prime Minister Gillard continues to exercise leadership in standing up to those who will undoubtedly use the Funding Review to again attempt division.'

Gillard's views on links with the Christian community

2010-06-24T14:58:00.000+10:00

With the sudden departure of Kevin Rudd and the rise of Julia Gillard as Prime Minister, thousands of Australian Christians are searching the internet for information about her position on issues of faith. Not surprisingly, the topic is also running hot in other circles, such as atheistic forums, who are happy to see the back of Kevin Rudd.

Very little has been written about Prime Minister Gillard's own religions convictions, if any, but she did have this to say on the ABC's Compass program back in May 2005.

'I think Labor has to learn how to connect with many of the elements of our new and growing communities. And certainly the evangelical or Pentecostal churches is one of those elements. And I don’t think we should be shy, even for those of us that value the sort of secular tradition that’s grown up within the Labor Party. I don’t think we should be shy of forging connections with those sorts of community groups.'

Rudd thanks God and ACL welcomes Gillard

2010-06-24T11:53:00.002+10:00

The Australian Christian Lobby has responded to Julia Gillard becoming Australia’s first female Prime Minister, even as Mr Rudd gives an emotional farewell speech.

'We congratulate Julia Gillard on this historic occasion,' ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said.

'However, we also want to thank Kevin Rudd for the commitment and energy he brought to issues such as homelessness, poverty, reconciliation and the importance of marriage in particular.

'Our immediate concern and prayers are for Mr Rudd, and we hope that at what must be a difficult time he can take strength in the God in whom we know he relies.'

Mr Rudd, accompanied by wife Therese, showed great emotion as he reflected on his term as Prime Minister and achievements such as the apology to the Stolen Generations, computers in schools, rural cancer care centres and homelessness support.

He also made a brief 'theolgoical' comments, giving thanks to Creator God - 'him or her'.

The ACL said that it would be expecting to see Labor under Ms Gillard confirm its concern for the poor and the disadvantaged, as well as the values in society that proved attractive to many Christians throughout Australia under Mr Rudd.

How will Julia Gillard appeal to Christian voters?

2010-06-24T09:38:00.001+10:00

Julie Gillard's rise today to Prime Minister came just a few days too late for the thousands of Christians who watched Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott perform in the Make it Count webcast on Monday night.

Now it is back to the drawing board for Christian voters with a new Labor leader and Christian leaders, churches and commentators will be anxious to see where Gillard stands on various issues of importance to the Christian community.

No doubt many will welcome the fact that a woman has finally taken the role of Prime Minister, but once that historic moment recedes, her policies and values will be under intense scrutiny.

So what do we know about Julia Gillard? First some salient points, and then some background:

Has long been associated with the left of the Labor party
Early in her career seemed not well disposed to private schools but more recently has said the public-private school division is an 'out-dated' cultural issue.
Has appeared to allow pragmatism to move her from a socialist to more conservative position, although some commentators are asking can a 'leopard change its spots'.
There is little written about her personal beliefs but she has not made any clear declaration of Christian faith as have Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott.
She has been the minister responsible for the school chaplaincy and has refused to guarantee funding past next year.

Miss Gillard has since 1998 been the Member of Lalor, a safe Labor seat in Melbourne's outer south-west suburbs. Since December 3, 2007 she has been the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, the first woman and the first foreign-born person to hold this position.

Historically attached to the left faction of the ALP, Miss Gillard has also been Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations; Minister for Education; and Minister for Social Inclusion.

As Minister for Education, Gillard is responsible for the government's controversial 'Building Australia's Education Revolution' program.

Julia Eileen Gillard was born in Wales on September 29, 1961 and migrated to Australia with her family in 1966, settling in Adelaide. She attended Unley High School, graduating in 1978; then on to the University of Adelaide with a later move to Melbourne. In 1986 she graduated from the University of Melbourne with arts and law degrees and, the following year, joined the law firm Slater & Gordon at Werribee, working in the area of industrial law.In 1990 she was admitted as one of their first female partners.

In 1983, Gillard became the second woman to lead the Australian Union of Students and she was also formerly the secretary of the left-wing organisation, Socialist Forum. From 1996 to 1998, Gillard served as Chief-of-Staff to Victorian Opposition Leader, John Brumby.

Gillard's partner is Tim Mathieson, a hairdresser. She does not have any children. According to Wikipedia, Gillard is notable both at home and in overseas nations such as the United States for her broad Australian accent.

Rudd to contest leadership ballot at 9am tomorrow

2010-06-23T22:32:00.001+10:00

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said at a press conference at 10.28pm that he will contest the leadership at tomorrow's ballot after Julie Gillard tonight requested a spill.

The Prime Minister said that if he is re-elected, the Labor Party will not be lurching to the right on asylum seekers and will move forward on its agenda on climate change according its own timing.
He said that factional leaders had indicated he no longer had their support and he suggested they were trying to do a number on him.

'Politics is a tough business but the business of politics is doing what's right for the country,' Mr Rudd said.

'We've headed into some tough weather of late and some people have become squeamish. I'm not one for getting squeamish.'

The vote will occur at 9am tomorrow and Mr Rudd said he believes he can win the vote.

When asked if Miss Gillard would need to stand down as deputy Prime Minister if she lost the ballot, Mr Rudd said all he was doing was calling a leadership vote which he believed was the responsible thing to do. He said it was in the national interest to resolve the matter urgently.

'And I have some urgent things to attend to.'

The press conference ended at this point.