Ah, the Australian Christians. This political party had the dubious distinction of being the party to have the most deleterious effect on my blood pressure when I read its policies prior to the 2012 election. You see, I’m Christian, and this party purports to speak for me – but instead, it says a lot of things that I find utterly abhorrent.
So that’s my statement of disclosure up-front. I don’t trust this mob, and I’m starting from a place where I eye their policies with suspicion. I’m sorry – I really try not to do that, but they made me so utterly furious last time that I know I am going to find it difficult to be fair to them this round.
Let’s get started, shall we?
(Note that I will be using the abbreviation ‘CDP’ for this party throughout, as they were previously the Christian Democratic Party, and I want to avoid confusion with the Australian Cyclists Party)
The website for the Australian Christians has a two-part rotating banner on the front page. The first one is “Promoting Christian Values (‘a party with a voice in the political conversation that can shape policy, promote and protect the values that create a better Australia for all, no matter what their faith and belief’), and the second is Be a Voice for Christian Values (‘Australian Christian candidates are all committed Christians seeking to be that voice. The church is faced with challenging and complex issues. Would you help us to equip fellow Christians to make informed voting decisions?’).
I find the second banner tempting for all the wrong reasons. I am almost certain that they do not want me to be their voice, any more than I want them to be mine.
The first banner – look, that’s actually a great set of values. I just have my doubts about whether they are likely to achieve it, because last time their policies struck me as having quite a different effect.
Onward.
The CDP’s group ticket has one or two surprises. In the Northern Metropolitan Region People Power comes up first, followed by Family First, the Liberal Party, the DLP, Rise Up Australia and the Shooters and Fishers. These parties are swapped around in the first six spots on all the other regional group tickets. It’s unlikely votes will get much further than this level, really. At the bottom of the ticket, we have the Sex Party, Voluntary Euthanasia, and the Greens. They seem to be in two minds about whether they find euthanasia more objectionable than sex parties, and alternate which they put last across their various electorates. The Greens are always third last, and the rest of the parties also move around a bit in the middle so that nobody gets unduly advantaged.
It’s notable that People Power manages to be popular with both the Animal Justice Party and the Christians, since the two parties both preference each other very low.
To the policies, Batman!
