World Vision boss calls for bigger hearts, stronger borders

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.