Family First, the reborn conservative party, is the Australian Christian Lobby’s (ACL) top scorer in their policy “snapshot” for the Federal Election. Family First gets the top score of 98 per cent in the ACL survey followed by the WA-based Australian Christians on 89 percent, outscoring One Nation on 77 per cent. Legalise Cannabis outscores Labor.
Here is the table.
As described by Michelle Pearse to The Other Cheek, the survey is based on responses to 18 questions, and the ACL analysis of the credibility of their responses.
The ACL lays out each party’s response to their 18 issues on their Australiavotes website. For example theie analysis of Labor party is here.
Lyle Shelton the lead Senate candidate in NSW preceded Martyn Iles in heading up ACL, and Robert Brohier the lead Senate Candidate in SA previously headed that states ACL operation.
So it can be said that Family First was well schooled in the ACL election exam.
Queensland Presbyterian Nathan Campbell wrote of the ACL’s previous effort under Martyn Iles:
“I’m going to put it out there that if your policy platform ends up endorsing Pauline Hanson’s One Nation as a ‘Christian vote’ in the current climate, there’s probably a problem with how you’re defining your platform.”
The continuing high score for One Nation will trouble many Christians, including theologically conservative ones – the survey fails to account for the racial background to the party.
There is tension between two roles adopted by the ACL: building support for Christian’s perspectives across the major parties and the continuation of the ACL tradition of effectively endorsing minor parties.
While the ACL would see both efforts as truth telling – why would say a Coalition party MP be swayed by a group that effectively campaigns against them? Or an ALP candidate?
Here are the ACL’s questions:
1. Will your party commit to allowing religious schools and other religious institutions to recruit staff and implement policies which reflect their ethos?
2. Will your party commit to protecting free speech in Australia by not introducing laws that will further erode religious freedom and freedom of speech?
3. Does your party intend to restore the definition of a woman in the Sex Discrimination Act to be based on biological sex?
4. Does your party support the continuance of the current chaplaincy program in schools?
5. Will your party commit to reviewing the ‘Consent and Respectful Relationships Program’ to ensure gender ideology and all references to potentially harmful practices are removed?
6. What steps will your party take to ensure the nationalcurriculum does not contain matters that are not factual or evidence-based?
7.. Will your party commit to an audit of all Australian Government departments’ DEI policies, guides, and training to ensure they are implemented based on a genuine commitment to fairness, capability and respect for all, rather than identity-based diversity policies that favour particular groups and individuals over others?
8. Does your party consider that children and adolescents under 18 years of age should be allowed to take puberty blockers and cross–sex hormones, and undergo surgery to remove breasts and other sex organs?
9. Which recommendations of the “Inquiry into online gambling” (the Murphy Inquiry) does your party propose to adopt?
10. Does your party support the introduction of age verification to restrict access to pornography by children under the age of 18?
11. What initiatives are your party planning to implement to increase the Australian birth rate and to support parents wishing to stay at home and care for their children?
12. What steps does your party propose to take to reduce homelessness in Australia?
13. Will your party push for an inquiry into the connection between a legalised or decriminalised sex industry and human sex trafficking?
14. Will your party support an inquiry into annual spending on “Closing the Gap”, including an audit of privately controlled entities and an evaluation of all funded programs, to ensure they are effective in helping vulnerable Indigenous Australians?
15. What is your party’s position on whether federal laws should be changed to permit VAD consultations via Telehealth?
16. What plans does your party have for the legalisation of cannabis or other illicit drugs?
17. Given that currently, parents cannot access their 14–17-year-old children’s My Health Record unless the child consents, does your party propose to restore parental rights to access their children’s records, except in exceptional circumstances?
18. Given the current levels of poverty and humanitarian need around the world, and the concern regarding aid budget being used ideologically, does your party plan to increase foreign aid as a percentage of the Federal Budget to meet desperate international needs, targeting it where it’s practically required, ensuring it’s not influenced by ideology?
This survey expands ACL’s policy footprint from the five issue “How to vote for Christian Values” issued for the last federal election which focused on prayer in parliament, euthanasia, sex and gender in schools, and faith based schools upholding their values. The inclusion of homelessness and foreign aid as issues braodens their policy remit, but the focus remains on “moral” issues.
Alternative questions
The results from a survey like this obviously depends on the selection of questions. many Christians will have additional or different questions. Here are some possibilities.
- What measures will your party take to ‘close the gap’ and reduce Aboriginal and Torres strait islander disadvantage? (Question 14 from the ACL closes off the possobility that more resources may be needed to close the gap.)
- What measures to support lower level of global warming should Australia undertake? What targets for net zero should Australia have?
- What level of immigration intake should Australia set?
- Will you increase Australia’s refugee intake in light of the number of wars around the world?
- Should Australia spend more on our military?
- What changes to welfare payments such as Jobseeker, Parenting Payment and the Disability Support pension will your party implement?
- What increases in support to families with children will you support?
- What level of spending on the NDIS will your party budget for?
- What policies of your party will increase the affordability of housing?
- What changes to Medicare do you propose? How will your party make healthcare more affordable?
- What initiatives will your party introduce to reduce inequality in education?
- What is your party’s policy on freedom of speech?
Some of these questions add new topics, and others seek more specific answers to some of the ACL’s concerns. For example housing costs.and medical expenses affect single wage families – a key concern of the ACL. But others such as climate chnage have caused difficulty for the ACL because their conservative Christian constituency is split on the issue. Freedom of speech is an issue for many Christians.
However, a broader spead of questions, whther these or others would have changed the party ratings – and possibly have made it difficult for ACL to score the parties. For example scoring the the energy policies of labor and the Coalition may not have been a welcome task for the ACL.