News from October -
November 2007
Archive of news ....
November 2007
30 November 2007 -
Brendan Nelson elected
as Liberal leader
The
Liberal Party has elected
Brendan Nelson to be its
Parliamentary Leader. Julie Bishop fromWestern
Australia has been elected as Deputy Leader.
The vote was very close - with Brendan Nelson receiving 45 voters to Malcolm
Turnbull's 42. Media article here.
Article and photo on ABC
site.
Although Malcolm Turnbull had been widely tipped to
win the ballot, we, and some MPs, were concerned that he was promoting policies
that were more akin to the Labor Party and Greens (reversing reform of workplace
relations laws, ratifying Kyoto and
actively promoting abortion and reform of homosexual 'couple' rights.)
It
remains to be seen how the Liberal Party positions itself as being different to
the Labor Party.
Meanwhile Kevin Rudd announced his
Cabinet...
Julia Gillard has been given Education AND Industrial
Relations. Wayne Swan is Treasurer, Peter Garrett has been given Environment but
'Climate Change' and Water have been removed...
Click here
for a FULL Cabinet list.
26 November 2007 - The election is OVER!
A new era dawns for Australia with the
landslide win to Kevin Rudd and the Labor
Party . They have more than 80 seats - with around a 25-30-seat
majority in the House of Representatives.
The Senate is not confirmed yet, but it appears that
after July 2008 (when the new Senators take their seats) that the balance of
power may lie with newly-elected Nick Xenophon, the anti-pokies campaigner from
SA, and Family First's Steve Fielding. The Greens could also
share in the balance of power although they have not won as many seats as they
hoped for. The Democrats did not win any seats.
It will be some time before
the Senate vote is declared.
Prime Minister John Howard
We recognise the
dedicated service that Prime Minister John Howard and his deputy Peter Costello
have given to this nation over many years, as well as others who have lost their
seats..
Many people have spoken of John Howard as one of Australia's
greatest Prime Ministers - perhaps second only to Robert Menzies.
The fact
that the Prime Minister John Howard may have lost his seat of Bennelong is a sad
way to end a career as one of Australia's greatest statesmen.
The Prime
Minister only needed a swing of around 4.2% to lose... the electorate had
undergone significant re-distribution. Labor's Maxine McKew had tapped into the
ethnic vote - with 12,000 Chinese and 5,000 Koreans in the electorate. It
appears the Chinese had traditionally voted for Mr Howard. But Labor ran a
concerted campaign, highlighting Mr Rudd's Mandarin speaking, enlisting Chinese
people as volunteers, erecting a huge billboard in Hong Kong and having Kevin
Rudd's Hong Kong-born son-in-law Albert Tse assist in
campaigning.
Media:
Election result: Full list of
media items - click here.
PM's seat of Bennelong...
Will the
ethnic vote decide John Howard's future in Bennelong?
Lateline,
19 November 2007.
It's
Bennelong time since a PM was rolled
The Age , 17 November
2007.
Apple
corps campaigned to the max
The Age,
26 November 2007.
Peter Costello
We acknowledge
Peter Costello's decision not to take on the Liberal Party leadership but to
leave politics (eventually) and spend more time with his family.
If you have
not heard his announcement, you can hear it in his own words - on Sky News.
Click here.
Visit our election page for the Comment we made following the election on
Saturday evening. Click here.
For full election results,
visit the AEC's 'Virtual Tally Room', click here.
23 November 2007 - The election is
TOMORROW!
Today we have written about the
'affiliations' and beliefs of candidates.
What affiliations do your candidates
have? (E-News 23/11/2007)
It is important to KNOW the beliefs
and the 'worldview' of your candidates BEFORE deciding your vote. This article
focuses on Julia Gillard and her involvement
with EMILY’s List, the Fabian Society and the
Socialist Forum.
Attached on our election page. Click here.
To find out about
Kevin Rudd's beliefs, read our
article – click here.
ALSO:
Greens in the Senate? Which Party would
they work closely with? (E-News 23/11/2007)
The Greens
support abortion, homosexual rights, drug injecting rooms and vilification
laws.
Labor supports ALL of these except same-sex marriage.
The Coalition
does NOT support any of them!
Labor has also given their preferences
to the Greens in their Senate Group Voting Tickets!
Read the email
on our election page.
22 November 2007 - The election is in TWO days
time!
Over the past week we have
published a number of documents and sent on our E-News relating to the election
- t hey are ALL posted on our Election webpage (at the bottom): Click
here.
Voting in the
federal election 2007 - Preferences and more (E-News
21/11/2007)
- how to vote - Senate preferences and Group Voting Tickets
etc.
Preference deals and allocating your
preferences (E-News 21/11/2007)
- How and why parties make
preference deals
Election Update - 3 tools
towards more informed voting (E-News 8/11/2007)
- an analysis
of three Christian voting guides
Overseas Aid -
an election issue? [E-News - 16/11/2007]
- how much aid
should governments give?
Imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery - (E-News 22/11/2007)
- Lots of
'other' checklists and surveys from a range of groups!
Election Update - Prayer focus (E-News -
19/11/2007)
- Prayer for the election, at polling places and 3 day Esther
Fast and Prayer focus...
The Christian Values
Checklist is on the same page.
16 November 2007 - The election is a week
away!
Just a week to the election. The
Christian Values Checklist was published in The
Australian today. Click here to see the Checklist on our 'Election
Page'.
Print it out, distribute it to
your friends!
The Election Page also contains
information on finding your candidates and electorate, Group voting tickets,
links to websites and other surveys etc.
Prayer is essential - the Parliamentary Prayer
Network has published Prayer Notes for
the 28 days leading up to the election along with the Prayer Ministries of
Australia.
The Prayer Groups are calling a '3 day Esther Prayer and Fast' from
Tuesday evening through to Friday evening next week. Christians are also
encouraged to pray at the polling places next week.
Click here for FULL details. [For Polling
places prayer, scroll to bottom of the page and open pdf document]
15
November 2007 - 'Californication' ends
Channel 10's controversial series ended on Monday night with the
12th episode screened. By the final episode there were not many ads.
There are now 64 companies who have told Channel 10 they do NOT
want their ads screened on this program.
A great result!
Thanks
to the companies - and to all those who contacted them!
Some
interesting developments:
* Some of the companies say they
have a 'Code of Conduct' and say this program doesn't match their Code of
Conduct.
* Others say it is against their family values as a company...
*
Some advertising agencies are now advising their clients (companies) not to
advertise on the show...
Click here for our
campaign page.
9
November 2007 - Finnish killing - killer refers to 'natural
selection'
The high school shooting in
Finland, where Pekka-Erik Auvinen killed eight people
(including the principal and then himself), has shocked the world. The killer
left a video and writings that identified his beliefs and motivations... This
morning I heard news reports about him talking about 'devolution' and 'natural
selection'.
David Catchpoole of Creation Ministries International
highlights the stark connection to 'worldviews' and writes "Ideas have
consequences".
He says "Overwhelmingly, Auvinen’s statements
in his YouTube contribution (and other blogs on the internet) reveal his belief
(that is, what he believed prior to his death) that there is no Creator
God, and therefore there is no ultimate purpose to our existence. Note that at
the root of Auvinen’s views is the presupposition that evolution is true...."
The first quote he gives from Auvinen is "I am a cynical existentialist,
antihuman humanist, antisocial social darwinist, realistic idealist and godlike
atheist."
Read the full article - it highlights the
killers' beliefs:
Inside the mind of a
killer
David Catchpoole, Creation Ministries International.
8
November 2007 - Senate 'Group voting tickets' released
The Australian Electoral Commission has
published the Senate 'Group Voting Tickets' for all the political parties for
the federal election. Click here.
This tells you, if you 'vote above the
line' for the Senate and your first chosen candidate doesn't get enough votes to
get elected or has more than a 'quota' who the votes will flow on to!
This often causes controversy - sometimes
political parties do 'preference deals' with parties whose views they may not
support in order to get THEIR votes flowing to them.
It is sometimes seen as
though the first party is actually supporting the views and beliefs of the party
they have given preferences to... however it is a way of getting all the votes
of the other minor parties who you think will get LESS votes than you will in an
attempt to get enough votes to get elected.
Voting BELOW the
line - numbering EVERY square - is one way to ensure you direct your
vote to where you want it to go: it means that YOU say who the vote will flow on
to if your chosen person doesn't get elected or has more than a 'quota'!
Explanation of Senate voting
on AEC website:
video or article (explains
quota).
To sign up to receive our E-News
click here for details.
In
the meantime, click here for our
federal election page - with the Christian Values Checklist and
lots of links and helpful information!
8
November 2007 - A movie to avoid - 'The Golden Compass'
One movie to avoid is The Golden
Compass, a new children’s movie starring Nicole Kidman. It will be released
in the
USA on December 7 and in
Australia
on
December 26, just in time for holiday movie-going. It is important that we as
Christians are educated.
Although the movie seems to pick up
on fantasy themes similar to the Narnia series, this film is based on an
anti-Christian book by British atheist Philip Pullman.
The Golden
Compass is based on the first book of a trilogy called His Dark
Materials (originally titled Northern Lights.)
Pullman told the Sydney Morning
Herald in a 2003 interview “My books are about killing God.”
Each
character in the story has a ‘daemon’ (yes, pronounced ‘demon’). The movie
website says “In Lyra’s world, a person’s soul lives on the outside of the body
in the form of a daemon - an animal spirit that accompanies them through life”.
The movie website encourages children to find their own 'daemon' - a dangerous
practice.
The Golden Compass has also been produced as an interactive game
by Sega - for Nintendo, Playstations, X-Box, WII and PC. It is being released in
time for Christmas - so beware!
References:
Perspectives:
Does The Golden Compass point to a new atheism?
Rebecca Grace (AFA)
In what direction does The
Golden Compass point?
Review by Rebecca Grace of
AFA.
The Golden
Compass - by Chuck Missler,
K-House, 11 Dec 2007 eNews.
Sympathy for the
devil - Focus on the Family,
Review, 19 Dec 2007.
Snopes
report
Movie website: The Golden Compass
Sega point
us in the direction of The Golden Compass, IT Wire
Sega website -
The
Golden Compass
2
November 2007 - Extremist Islamic literature in British
mosques
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has
been visiting the UK. However a controversial note to his visit emerged when a
report by Dr Denis MacEoin, an Islamic studies expert at Newcastle
who previously taught at the University
of Fez was released this week.
He revealed that, after researching
for two years, he "uncovered a hoard of malignant literature inside as
many as a quarter of Britain 's mosques. All of it had been published and
distributed by agencies linked to the government of King Abdullah [Saudi
Arabia]."
Wahhabism:
A deadly scripture
The Independent, 1/11/2007
October 2007
30 October 2007 - A Prickly
Question
When prep student Rourke asked Peter
Costello a question about cactuses no-one thought it might make the front page
of The Age or the 7.30 Report!
The question: "Who made cactuses?"
What would YOU have replied?
Peter Costello's answer: "Rourke wants to
know who made cactuses. You didn't make them did you Rourke? No? Well, that is a
very ... that's one of the great questions of life actually. I think God made
everything, so God made cactuses. That's my answer, thank you very much."
A good answer!
See the transcript on the
7.30 Report website and watch the video clip. [Towards the end of the clip -
from minute 6.20 through to 7.06]
Climate change
swings into election focus
7.30 Report, 29 October 2007.
29
October 2007 - Abortion
The Victorian
government has asked the Victorian Law Reform Commission to
investigate how abortion can be legalised.
Not to see if it SHOULD be
legalised - they just want to know how it CAN be legalised and taken out of the
Crimes Act.
Submissions are needed by November 9.
Click
here for our Campaign page - full
details.
Victoria: Teen abortions
down
Fewer teenagers are seeking abortions in Victoria - "in
2005-06, 850 terminations were performed on women aged under 20 in public
hospitals, down from 924 the previous year and 1010 in 2003-04." A similar drop
occurred in private hospitals.
And teen birth rates are up - one reason
suggested for this is the 'baby bonus'.
Extra
baby bonus? Teen abortions fall
The Age,
21/10/2007.
In a related article,
Chantelle said her family 'suggested' an abortion when she became pregnant at 17
- but she and her 'partner' decided to go ahead and have the baby... she is now
21...
'Young
mums can do it... it's not impossible'
The Age,
21/10/2007.
Queensland: Abortion
could also be decriminalised in Queensland...
The Courier Mail
reports: "Aspley MP Bonny Barry is preparing to introduce a Private Member's
Bill to remove abortion from the criminal code within the next 18 months, after
being encouraged by Ms Bligh in mid-2000 to put the plan on ice.
"Ms Bligh
told The Courier-Mail she would support a Bill to decriminalise
abortion.
"I have been on the public record a number of times on this issue
and I believe that those decisions are best made by a woman, her partner and her
doctor and they are ultimately private decisions," she said.
"If . . . there
was a Bill in the Parliament to decriminalise it, I would support such a Bill,
but I have no intention of introducing such a Bill."
Article: Abortion
on Labor agenda
Courier Mail, 28/10/2007.
26 October 2007 – Christian Values Checklist
launched
 The Christian Values Checklist compares the policies of the major parties on a range of moral and
ethical issues.
The Checklist has been prepared by a group of people,
including Salt Shakers, who are not associated with any political Party.
We
do not simply ask the Parties or candidates to tell us what they will or will
not do and give you their answers. To compile this Checklist we looked at Party
policies and how the Parties have behaved (voted) on a range of moral
issues.
A one page and a 14 page substantiation of the positions identified
in the CV Checklist is also available.
With many issues,
such as taxation, welfare (the poor), overseas aid, immigration - issues rightly
seen as important by most Christians - there is little real difference between
the major parties. On the other hand minor parties can make all sorts of
promises because they know they rarely hold a balance of power.
We need minor
Parties, especially in the Senate, because it is supposed to be a House of
Review. But the worldview underpinning their values must be very carefully
evaluated.
In contrast to just repeating the Party mantra on popular issues,
those relating to either the hip pocket or social justice, the Christian Values
Checklist looks specifically at the issues the parties rarely talk about. But
these are the issues that will define our nation.
Click here for these documents - so you can read them and
distribute to all your friends and church!
24 October 2007 – Vic Labor govt appoints another
activist judge! Or two!
Attorney General Rob Hulls
has appointed yet another judge who is an activist for the 'Left'.
Barrister
Lex Lasry QC has been appointed to the Supreme Court - he has not had
experience as a judge. He has represented Nguyen Tuong Van, hanged in Singapore
in 2005 for drug trafficking, as well as David Hicks and other human rights
cases.
According to The Age, Lasry is one
of about 20 former employees of the law firm Slater & Gordon who have been
appointed to the courts as judges - one of them being Judge Michael Higgins who
heard the VCAT Tribunal case against Catch the Fire Ministries.
Hulls also appointed Iain Ross as a judge in the County
Court yesterday - he was a former secretary of the ACTU!
Speaking of activists - Rob Hulls has also appointed former Liberty President Chris
Maxwell and Marcia Neave (who was the head of the Victorian Law Reform
Commission) to the Supreme Court's Court of Appeal.
The question is: Do we
have an independent and unbiased judiciary?
Click here
for the report in The Age.
22 October 2007 – Prayer for rain and Christian
leaders
More then 600 people gathered in the Great Hall of Federal
Parliament to pray for Rain and the future of our nation today, leaving standing
room only for late-comers.
Christians from around Australia, including as far
away as WA and Qld, converged on our nation’s capital in answer to the call by
Danny Nalliah of Catch The Fire Ministries which was supported by a number of
other prayer networks and Christian ministries.
Click
here for the Catch the Fire website for media
reports.
17 October 2007 – FIFTY
companies don't want ads on Californication!
There are now 50 companies telling Channel 10 they don't want
their ads on Californication!
Click here for our campaign website with ALL the details.
Meanwhile ACMA
has said they will investigate complaints against the program - but it may take
SEVERAL MONTHS!
15 October 2007 – Federal Election called for 24
November
Prime Minister John Howard has
called the election for 24 November. He visited the Governor General yesterday
(Sun 14 Oct) to have him declare the election date.
The Parties are already
in campaign mode. The PM launched a 33 page program for the election last
week:
Australia:
Strong, Prosperous and Secure
The Liberal
Party website says "This document sets out the Howard Government’s priorities
and goals for Australia drawing on key prime ministerial speeches in recent
years....". Click here for
website.
Kevin Rudd and the ALP countered with statements calling
for 'New Leadership'.
Click here
for his
'Opening Statement'.
Click here
for our 2007 Federal Election
page.
15 October 2007 – President Bush says we all
worship the same God
President Bush has
said in a TV interview that Christians and Muslims - and people of every
religion - all worship the same God. For Christians who believe in the
uniqueness of Christ and that Jesus is the only way to the Father (John14:6)
this is an offensive statement. He also said " I believe that Islam is a great
religion that preaches peace."
Interview
on TV - with Al Arabiya TV in
the Oval Office.
Posted on the President's website.
"Bush
believes in Universalism"
Berit Kjos, Oct
10, 2007.
Detailed assessment of President Bush's statements.
Author: Jenny Stokes | Modified: 27 March 2008 |
