Sparse Christian response to election news, but it's early days...

Response from faith-based organisations and churches was relatively sparse in the hours after Prime Minister Julia Gillard's announcement of a September 14 federal election.

Anglican analysis
Sydney Anglicans has a page devoted to the 'political year ahead' which pre-dates the announcement but provides some good analysis.

Among other things, it lists issues as:

• The key issue will be the economy.
• Voters will likewise expect more from Tony Abbott and his colleagues.
• A proper debate on poverty and income support needed.
• Expect big debates on law reform issues, starting with Commonwealth plans for national anti-discrimination laws. 
• Praying for let’s a more civilized climate of public debate.

Catholic comment
Catholic Health Australia tweeted that the election will be '2.5 weeks after the CHA national conference. Might be some people keen to be added to our program :)'.

Scott Prasser, executive director of the Australian Catholic University's Public Policy Institute, said in the SMH that Ms Gillard's 'unprecedented' move would benefit the government because it could keep campaigning with government resources.

Prof Prasser it would also put pressure on Tony Abbott to release policies and change tenor of all debates until the election.

ACL action
As of midnight on announcement night, the Australian Christian Lobby had not publicly commented on the election announcement and is still focused on the March 9 West Australian election.

"In the lead up to the election, the ACL has organised a Make it Count event with the Premier and Opposition Leader of the major parties on Tuesday 26th February at Mount Pleasant Baptist Community College from 7.30 to 9pm" the ACL website says.

Jewish response
Despite the Prime Minister announcing the election for the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, head of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim, was unconcerned saying the clash of dates on September 14 ''is not an issue''
Mr Wertheim told The Age that every federal election is held on a Saturday - the Jewish Sabbath - and he believes that Jewish people are well used to voting early either by pre polling or through the mail.

Handel's Messiah rates a mention
One blog has pointed out that among other things, September 14 is the date Handel completed the Messiah in 1741. If the Day of Atonement was not enough...

Election 2013 has religious overtones from beginning

From the day of its announcement, the 2013 Australian federal election has had religious overtones.

Choosing Yom Kippur - the Jewish Day of Atonement, this year starting on September 13 and concluding on the evening of September 14 - would be to Christians something like holding an election on Christmas Day.

And while most Australians of faiths other than Christianity are realistic about not having their special days featuring on the national calendar in the same way as Easter or Christmas, they might just expect to avoid competing with a national poll.

Still other Australians, of no or indifferent faith, will be asking what the fuss is about and are probably trying not to think about the election at all.

Finally, for the many for whom AFL is the religion of choice, they will feel vindicated that the Prime Minister has most carefully avoided their most holy of days.

Whether we like it or not, religion - or as we will more often describe it - faith is a fact of life and a reality of political life. And if you need a sign of its importance, then the intersection of election and holy day may be just for you.

We are reviving Australian Christian Voter for just that reason. There are many Australians who hope faith, especially the Christian faith, has a significant influence on the policies and outcome of the next election. There are many other Australians who hope, vehemently, that it doesn't and instead have their own special agenda. That is the nature of politics.

Australian Christian Voter is really for the average Australian, who may have an active or even dormant faith, or none at all, who seeks to be slightly better informed about what Christians and others are saying about policies, candidates and issues in the lead up to the election. And with good conscience cast a decent vote.

So with 226 days and about 21 hours until the September 14 election, lets keep open minds, ears and eyes as to how to cast our vote - and perhaps our noses might be useful for a whiff of pretense, or something stronger...

Reaction from Jewish politicians

Caucus saves Julia Gillard but can anything save the Labor Party?

Julia Gillard has won the ALP leadership spill today, 71 votes to 31 over Kevin Rudd and so continues us a remarkably unpopular Prime Minister while Kevin Rudd promises to go quietly to the back bench.

But with 'dysfunctional' being the elephant in the room for the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party, nothing is for certain.

Julia Gillard and backers have been emphasising that the next election is at the "end of 2013" which a long way off in politics. They are hopeful she can turn the tide of public opinion in that time.

One thing in her favour is that much of the electorate angst over the ugly betrayal of Kevin Rudd has been overshadowed by absolute electorate exhaustion with the whole boring business of Labor leadership shenanigans.

For Kevin, it may well be that nobody wants to hear one more thing about faceless men and legacies and finishing the job.

For Julia, she is in danger of being the new Kristina Keneally of Labor politics - leading a government so tainted that it won't matter what she does, or what policies and reform are achieved...

And there are a couple of names I think should be mentioned - Mark Latham and Malcolm Turnbull.

Mark Latham was chosen by Labor for the 2004 election and we all remember his handshake and his subsequent whitewashing from history by the ALP.

Then Kevin came to the rescue but we now learn that his leadership was apparently as dysfunctional as Latham's must have been to earn such neglect from former colleagues.

What does that say about Labor's ability to produce and choose normal, healthy, whole leaders? It's not really my question, it's Labor's - based on their own comments.

And meanwhile the Liberals had a close leadership contest a while ago but we hear no serious or hurtful discussion about Malcolm Turnbull's leadership ambition. Does this indicate a healthier, more balanced approach to resolving this issues? Or is it that, unlike Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott just has the right numbers to keep the dogs at bay...

'Dysfunctional - 1. Not operating properly. 2. Deviating from the norms of social behaviour in a way as regarded as bad.' That kind of sums it up, let's see if our politicians have had their fill of 'dysfunction' and can remember their electorates and the nation...

Stay tuned... and keep praying.

Status quo for Christian parties in NSW upper house

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

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.

ACV to bring election comment to an end shortly

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

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

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.