31st January, 2008
JIM WALLACE

"If this is to be a Happy New Year, a year of usefulness, a year in which we shall live to make this earth better, it is because God will direct our pathway. How important then, to feel our dependence upon Him!” - Matthew Simpson (American Methodist Bishop 1811-84)

A new year always brings new challenges and 2008 will be no exception.

"It is vitally important that we continue to work hard to raise the profile of the Christian constituency with governments and the community in order to engender an increasingly moral, just and caring society. This remains ACL’s priority as we enter 2008." - Jim Wallace

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) enters this year on the back of a very busy and successful year in 2007 in which we saw the prominence of the Christian constituency increased significantly in both the political and public spheres.

However, this is not something we want to be complacent about and we are very much aware of the need to build on that success.

Last year saw elections both in NSW and federally, with the Iemma Government returned to office in NSW in March and the Rudd Labor Government ushering in a new political era for Australia in late November.

In the lead-up to the Federal election, we hosted the landmark Make it Count 2007 event, which saw the leaders of Australia’s two major political parties speak live via webcast to around 100,000 Christians across the nation. A total of 880 churches, gathered at 706 venues, took part in the high-profile event, which played a significant role in confirming the importance of the Christian vote.

Prior to the Federal election, ACL also obtained responses from the different political parties on 25 issues ranging from homelessness and refugees to family life and film classification. These responses provided the basis for special election packs sent out to 5,800 churches around Australia and also a special election website at www.australiavotes.org.

In addition we ran our 'Meet Your Candidate Forums' prior to both the NSW and Federal elections, to facilitate Christians hearing directly from those wanting their vote.

It is vitally important that we continue to work hard to raise the profile of the Christian constituency with governments and the community in order to engender an increasingly moral, just and caring society. This remains ACL’s priority as we enter 2008.

We start this year with a Federal Government of a new political persuasion, and with ACL having good and deep relationships on both sides of politics. Through the questionnaire responses, the Make it Count event and lobbying activities we have been able to secure a number of commitments for the Christian constituency from the Rudd Government and we will, of course, be looking to them to meet these commitments.

There are many issues we are currently campaigning on at both Federal and State levels and we will continue our endeavours to bring a strong influence to bear on government policy and law-making in 2008. This year, there will be an ACT election in October and we will also be getting ready for the 2010 Federal election, so that we can maximise our effectiveness then.

Already in 2008, we have seen reports that show the desperate state of children in our society with one estimate that one in five Victorian children will be referred to child protection authorities before the age of five. At the same time, there is growing homelessness as we experience the twin effects of a housing affordability crisis and the growing gap between the rich and poor.

We continue to battle against various agendas, which the media wrongly attribute as “progressive”, that continue to undermine the main protection for a society under pressure - the traditional family. Homosexual adoption and civil unions, abortion and the increasingly overt sexualisation of children through media and advertising all remain as issues to be contended with this year.

In all that we do we are very mindful of how very dependent we are on the favour and blessing of God, as well as on the vital support we receive from many Christians and churches throughout Australia. As Matthew Simpson said in the quote above, the extent of our usefulness is governed by how much God directs our pathway. In everything we do we pray for God to guide and lead us.

Thanks to the high activity of the Christian constituency during the 2007 Federal election there is a new receptiveness to Christian opinion in governments. We need to follow this up so that God’s desire that good governance represent both justice and righteousness be reflected in our governments and their policies.

Jim Wallace, AM, is managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby.

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