Faith in the 2010 Australian Federal Elections
While hung parliaments are a relatively common occurrence in some countries, there have only been two in Britain since World War Two: those that followed the elections of February 1974 and May 2010. It is curious that Australia should also produce a hung parliament within 4 months of Britain, the first at the national level since the elections of 1940.
Australia’s August election campaign has been described as “boring” by many commentators, but in terms of faith matters it produced some colourful and controversial statements.
Until June 2010 everybody expected the governing Australian Labor Party to be led into these elections by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a practicing Anglican. He was expected to do battle with the Liberal-National coalition parties led by Tony Abbott, a practicing Catholic. The discourse surrounding their rivalry only rarely had sectarian overtones; it was more commonly pointed out in media comment that both leaders were Christians, rather than being cast in terms of an Anglican-Catholic divide.
But in June, only months out from the election, Rudd was toppled in an intra-labour “palace coup” by his deputy, Julia Gillard. Within weeks she was put on the spot in a media interview and asked about her faith position. She replied: "I am, of course, a great respecter of religious beliefs, but they're not my beliefs… I am not going to pretend a faith I don't feel. I am what I am and people will judge that...”
That interview brought religion squarely onto the political stage for a time, with some commentators, as well as voters, seeing a Christian/non-Christian divide between party leaders as impacting the political landscape.
In an unrelated exercise, three weeks before the elections a combination of Australian Christian organisations published a checklist of what they termed Christian Values, assessing each of the political parties against this checklist. The values included attitudes towards marriage as against de facto cohabitation, equal shared parenting after divorce, same-sex “marriage”, abortion, euthanasia, pornography, environment and so forth.
While small, Christian-based parties such as the Christian Democratic Party and the Family First Party rated highly against the checklist, what was more interesting was the assessment of the major parties. The Liberal-National coalition rated considerably higher than the Labor Party, with the third major party, the Greens, rating the lowest by some considerable distance, explaining the nickname of “Godless Greens” that they have earned in certain quarters. It is, however, difficult to assess the impact that this checklist had on final voting figures
Religion also achieved prominence in the Sydney electorate of Chifley, where the Labor party fielded a Muslim candidate, Ed Husic, who ultimately went on to win the seat and become the first Muslim member of Australia’s lower house. Controversy erupted during the campaign when the Liberal party candidate in Chifley, David Barker, questioned his Labor rival’s suitability, commenting in interview to the Australian Broadcasting Commission that “I'm not anti-Muslim. But I don't know if we want at this stage in Australian politics a Muslim in the parliament and an atheist running the government.”
The Liberal Party swung promptly into damage control mode and disendorsed Mr Barker, with Tony Abbott commenting that “attacks on people based on their religion have no place in this election campaign.” Mr Barker’s replacement as Liberal candidate was the curiously-named Venus Priest, a former nurse who migrated to Australia from the Philippines in 1995.
Mr Husic, a former union boss whose parents also migrated to Australia from the former Yugoslavia in the 1960s, commented after the elections that “if someone asks me are you Muslim I say yes. And then if someone says 'Well do you pray and go to a mosque and do all the other things that are associated with the faith?' I say no.”
At the time of writing the horse-trading between the major parties and the independents has just concluded, with the outcome being the continuation of Labor rule with the support of independents for a further three year period.
The entry of religion onto the political stage has proven uncomfortable to many in this highly secularised society. Yet it clearly has a place and an audience, with almost 70% of Australians still affiliating themselves with a religion in the Australian census.
An edited version of this article first appeared in "Evangelicals Now" (http://www.e-n.org.uk/), October 2010, p10
Australia’s August election campaign has been described as “boring” by many commentators, but in terms of faith matters it produced some colourful and controversial statements.
Until June 2010 everybody expected the governing Australian Labor Party to be led into these elections by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a practicing Anglican. He was expected to do battle with the Liberal-National coalition parties led by Tony Abbott, a practicing Catholic. The discourse surrounding their rivalry only rarely had sectarian overtones; it was more commonly pointed out in media comment that both leaders were Christians, rather than being cast in terms of an Anglican-Catholic divide.
But in June, only months out from the election, Rudd was toppled in an intra-labour “palace coup” by his deputy, Julia Gillard. Within weeks she was put on the spot in a media interview and asked about her faith position. She replied: "I am, of course, a great respecter of religious beliefs, but they're not my beliefs… I am not going to pretend a faith I don't feel. I am what I am and people will judge that...”
That interview brought religion squarely onto the political stage for a time, with some commentators, as well as voters, seeing a Christian/non-Christian divide between party leaders as impacting the political landscape.
In an unrelated exercise, three weeks before the elections a combination of Australian Christian organisations published a checklist of what they termed Christian Values, assessing each of the political parties against this checklist. The values included attitudes towards marriage as against de facto cohabitation, equal shared parenting after divorce, same-sex “marriage”, abortion, euthanasia, pornography, environment and so forth.
While small, Christian-based parties such as the Christian Democratic Party and the Family First Party rated highly against the checklist, what was more interesting was the assessment of the major parties. The Liberal-National coalition rated considerably higher than the Labor Party, with the third major party, the Greens, rating the lowest by some considerable distance, explaining the nickname of “Godless Greens” that they have earned in certain quarters. It is, however, difficult to assess the impact that this checklist had on final voting figures
Religion also achieved prominence in the Sydney electorate of Chifley, where the Labor party fielded a Muslim candidate, Ed Husic, who ultimately went on to win the seat and become the first Muslim member of Australia’s lower house. Controversy erupted during the campaign when the Liberal party candidate in Chifley, David Barker, questioned his Labor rival’s suitability, commenting in interview to the Australian Broadcasting Commission that “I'm not anti-Muslim. But I don't know if we want at this stage in Australian politics a Muslim in the parliament and an atheist running the government.”
The Liberal Party swung promptly into damage control mode and disendorsed Mr Barker, with Tony Abbott commenting that “attacks on people based on their religion have no place in this election campaign.” Mr Barker’s replacement as Liberal candidate was the curiously-named Venus Priest, a former nurse who migrated to Australia from the Philippines in 1995.
Mr Husic, a former union boss whose parents also migrated to Australia from the former Yugoslavia in the 1960s, commented after the elections that “if someone asks me are you Muslim I say yes. And then if someone says 'Well do you pray and go to a mosque and do all the other things that are associated with the faith?' I say no.”
At the time of writing the horse-trading between the major parties and the independents has just concluded, with the outcome being the continuation of Labor rule with the support of independents for a further three year period.
The entry of religion onto the political stage has proven uncomfortable to many in this highly secularised society. Yet it clearly has a place and an audience, with almost 70% of Australians still affiliating themselves with a religion in the Australian census.
An edited version of this article first appeared in "Evangelicals Now" (http://www.e-n.org.uk/), October 2010, p10