Former One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson’s bid to enter the New South Wales Legislative Council came to an end today as the final results of the March election were tallied.

As expected, the Christian Democrats, together with the Shooters and Fishers Party will hold the balance of power jointly.

The NSW Greens picked up one extra seat taking their total to five upper house MPs in addition to new Balmain MP Jamie Parker in the Legislative Assembly.

The Coalition now holds 19 seats in the upper house, Labor 14 seats, the Greens five, with the Shooters and Christian Democrats each holding two seats.

Liberal MLC Don Harwin has been announced as the new President of the Legislative Council.

On 26 March the people of NSW elected to change the government.  Barry O’Farrell has been sworn in as Premier.  Kristina Keneally has retired to the Labor backbench and John Robertson has been elevated to the Labor leadership.

The swing towards the Coalition was historic.  More than 13 per cent of Labor supporters decided to change their vote.

The change of government and the size of the swing came as no surprise.  Opinion polls had been foreshadowing this result consistently for some time.

This NSW election we asked all parties their views on a range of moral and social justice issues. You can view their responses on our NSWVotes.org.au website.

Since gaining the balance of power in the Federal Parliament, the Greens have used every opportunity to pursue their radical social agenda. The Greens’ responses to our NSW election questionnaire are a warning they intend to pursue the same agenda in NSW if given the opportunity.

ACL has held its final two candidates’ forums for the NSW election this week in Lake Macquarie and Wollongong.

Thank you to all the wonderful church leaders and ACL volunteers who helped organise and run candidates’ forums.

The President of the NSW Baptist Union, Frank Willis has today endorsed concerns raised by 10 Catholic Bishops over the NSW Greens’ agenda.

Mr Willis encouraged Christians and people of goodwill to carefully read the statement released by the Catholic Bishops.

Posted by David Hutt, NSW Director, Australian Christian Lobby

Last night we held our second candidates’ forum for the NSW election in the seat of Newcastle.  Candidates addressed a range of moral and social justice issues in response to questions submitted by the audience.

Here are some of the highlights.

 

The Catholic Bishop’s in New South Wales yesterday released a statement warning voters to consider carefully the policies of the Greens as they cast their votes on March 26.

“The Greens’ position on a number of fundamental points of human and social policy areas conflicts directly with the beliefs and values of virtually all religious people, and the beliefs of many other people as well.”

The statement provides a clear synopsis on the Greens positions on religious freedom, school funding, drug use, marriage, abortion and euthanasia.

The Australian Christian Lobby’s NSW election website, NSWVotes provides a wealth of information for people wanting to make an informed decision before casting their vote on March 26.

ACL has produced a number of useful resources to help you promote NSWVotes in your church.  They can be downloaded by clicking on the following links:

B/W PDF document

Colour PDF document

Posted by David Hutt, NSW Director, Australian Christian Lobby

Yesterday I returned to Sydney from Dubbo where ACL held its first Meet Your Candidates Forum for the NSW election.

One-hundred and forty people attended the forum at Dubbo RSL to hear Independent MP Dawn Fardell, Nationals candidate Troy Grant and Greens candidate Matt Parmeter address Christian concerns.  Labor candidate Andrew Brooks was also invited but could not attend.

A range of moral and social justice issues were canvassed throughout the night including same-sex marriage, euthanasia, abortion, palliative and aged care, and ethics classes.



Both Mr Grant and Mrs Fardell expressed support for traditional marriage with Mr Grant declaring he believed marriage was between “a man and a woman and their God,” while Mrs Fardell qualified her support for traditional marriage by saying, “that’s where I am at the moment.”  Greens candidate Matt Parmeter declared, “the Greens support same-sex marriage.”

Asked about their position on abortion, candidates gave a mixed response.

“I’m pretty sure the Greens are pro-choice,” was Mr Parmeter’s response while the Nationals’ Troy Grant said while opposed to abortion in principle, he held concerns for victims of rape.  Mrs Fardell said she had previously attended meetings held by both pro-life and pro-choice organisations.

ACL will be holding a number of candidates’ forums in the lead up to Election Day.

MEDIA RELEASE

For release: 10th March 2011

The Australian Christian Lobby has today publicly released the results of a survey conducted of parties contesting the upcoming NSW election on a range of issues of concern to Christians.

The results of the survey have been posted on ACL’s NSW election website, www.nswvotes.org.au, which will be promoted widely throughout churches in NSW.

Yesterday it was revealed that former One Nation MP and perennial candidate, Pauline Hanson had nominated as a candidate for the NSW Upper House.

Both major parties have been quick to distance themselves from Ms Hanson. The Premier has described her policies as racist and both sides of politics have vowed not to direct preferences toward her.

At ACL we recognise that there will always be a range of political views inside the church. As John Howard once famously put it,“God is neither Liberal nor Labor.” You could extend this to any political party. 

We're very excited to have launched our NSW election website www.nswvotes.org.au. Our hope is that this website will be an important resource for Christians in the lead up to the March 26 election. 

If you haven’t already seen the footage from the recent Make it Count event with Premier Kristina Keneally and Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell, you can watch it here.

The 2011 NSW election is shaping up to be the most important in a generation.

But how much do you know about the political parties and their policies on important issues such as marriage, euthanasia, homelessness and religious freedom?

NSWVotes is an important resource for you and your church to find out more about the political parties and their policies on issues that are of concern to many Christians.

I hope you find the information here useful as you prayerfully consider who to support at this important election.

David Hutt - NSW Director, Australian Christian Lobby

Media Release: Wednesday, 14 March, 2007

On the eve of a State election in NSW and with a Federal election looming later this year, the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) is increasing its organisational strength and strategically tapping into rising community desire for a more value-driven society.