Society

Christian lobby concerned at Tasmanian Greens’ failure to respond on policies

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) today said it was concerned that the passage of a series of deadlines set by the Tasmanian Greens themselves for them to respond to the Lobby’s request for answers on their policies, might mean they were unwilling to have their policies scrutinised in detail by Christians.

“The two major parties, with whom the Greens are clearly competing in this election, have had responses in and posted on the ACL election website www.tasvotes.org for three weeks and the Party has made a series of promises to respond so that theirs could be,” ACL Tasmanian Director Nick Overton said.

ACL is particularly concerned that the Greens’ answers to questions at Meet Your Candidate Forums and the record of the Greens in Federal, state and territory parliaments, mean that its policies are ones that Christians are particularly concerned to study in detail.

“We have had Greens in other jurisdictions advocating for, and where they were able sponsoring legislation which is quite contrary to the values of most Christians,” Mr Overton said. “From surrogacy for gays, gay marriage, abortion, euthanasia and in the most anti- Christian episode, being responsible in Victoria for a review that was progressed through the Labor Government and sought to remove the ability of Christian organisations to favour Christians in employment.”

“The Victorian example was especially concerning, because it was not just a clash of values, but the Victorian Greens actively attempting to attack a basic and essential entitlement of faith organisations to freedom of religion, as guaranteed under various international instruments to which Australia is a signatory,” Mr Overton said.

“If the Tasmanian Greens are bidding with the major parties for power, or to hold the balance of it, it is not good enough that they miss so many self-imposed deadlines,” Mr Overton said. “Christians, and Tasmanians generally, deserve to have their questions answered when so much hangs in the balance.”

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