ACL’s strange election forums feature One Nation’s Mark Lathan and Independent Lyle Shelton.
The NSW election is a two-pony race for those attending the Australian Christian Lobby’s NSW Election Candidate Forums. The two-horse race is between Mark Latham, leader of the One Nation ticket and Lyle Shelton, formerly of the Christian Democratic Party and the ACL itself.
It makes for a clean stage. “Last night’s NSW Election Candidate Forum in Campbelltown, featuring candidates Lyle Shelton and Mark Latham’s Outsiders,” the ACL posted on Facebook this week. “The Q&A session was a standout, providing opportunity for lively discussion on important issues on the minds of voters.”
A blurb for ACL candidate forums this week in Parramatta and next week in Liverpool say quite accurately, “Both men are champions of religious freedom, parental rights, education, and the big life issues, and both will be contesting seats in the Legislative Council (Upper House).”
And you can access an online version at https://www.acl.org.au/ev_nsw_election_forum_online on Thursday 16 March at 7.00 pm.
There is legitimate interest by conservatively inclined Christians in who takes the seat that Fred Nile has occupied in the Legislative Council for forty years. Nile is backing an independent Candide, his wife Silvana Nile, who has not made it to the ACL events.
Meanwhile, also on Thursday night, a candidates forum in the traditional sense was held at St Andrews Cathedral and moderated by cathedral dean Sandy Grant who opened it with an acknowledgement of country.
Alex Greenwich, the Independent member for Sydney (the local electorate for the cathedral), Tito Skye for Labor, and Nick Waugh for the Greens. Liberal candidate Phyllisse Stanton was a no-show. Given the preponderance of progressives, the views expressed were probably a mirror image of the ACL event across town.
In earlier times, a strictly conservative view might have been heard from a Christian Democratic Party candidate; they tended to stand in most electorates.
Perhaps a more natural alternative to the ACL forums was two events featuring Premier Dominic Perrottet and Opposition Leader Chris mines organised by the Better Balanced Futures group, which supports SRE (voluntarily taught religious lessons in public schools). They linked major churches (Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, Hillsong) and other religions, the Imans Council, Sikhs, Buddhists, and the Jewish board of deputies.) The Other cheek reported on them here.
They made news with Minns promising not to ban preaching or prayer in a conversion therapy bill https://theothercheek.com.au/labors-chris-minns-promises-no-ban-on-preaching-prayer-in-conversion-therapy-bill.
The new look ACL candidates forum might be part of the concentration on forming an ultra-conservative supporters block. If so, it makes sense only to feature very conservative candidates.
It will take some time to determine if it was a Martyn Iles policy. The next state election, the NT before August 24 or Qld and the ACT on October 24, will see what direction the ACL will take.
The Australian Christian Lobby also ran another campaign that should have attracted wide-ranging support. The ACL campaigned for a ten-year-old living with Down Syndrome, Aaryan, and his family to be allowed to stay in Australia.
The Federal Government had denied the Indian refugee family permanent residency because their son has Down Syndrome. The ACL pointed out that the family had lived in Australia for seven years, and both parents are employed in critically understaffed industries.
Aaryan attends a regular school and does not need medication or medical treatment.
“This can not be tolerated,” the ACL said. And it was not. Four days after the ACL started their campaign, and after 5,000 supporters joined in, the family was issued with visas to stay.
This demonstrates that the ACL, now without Martin Iles, retains power for good.
(Corrected name of Better Balanced Futures)