Open Australia bridges democratic disconnect and puts you in touch with Parliament

A new website that makes the unfathomable depths of Hansard easily accessible will be a huge asset for serious voters in the 2013 election.

OpenAustralia has a simple goal - to be 'a non-partisan website run by a charity, the OpenAustralia Foundation and volunteers. It aims to make it easy for people to keep tabs on their representatives in Parliament.' <>

Screenshot of an electorate search using a postcode.

OpenAustralia has already been featured by the Global Mail which has used information sourced from the website to produce charts showing how politicians use language to describe issues. Check out its Party Lines interactive feature.

The OpenAustralia website describes its function as a bridge for the 'growing democratic disconnect':

Family First answers environment questions

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.

ACL welcomes move to fight sexualisation of children

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

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

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

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.

Non-government school funding could still be in the balance

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.

Labor matches Libs on chaplains and then some...

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.

Day of action leads to poverty policy movement

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

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

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.

Internal problems confront Greens, Family First

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.

Family First candidate warns church leaders on Greens policies

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.

Gillard's Christian questions video up tonight

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

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.

Millions to learn of Australian voting website answering Christian concerns

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.'

Christian voter checklist released

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

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. 

Worm loses debate while Gillard and Abbott even

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

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

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.