The West Australian Labor Party has no plans to change exemptions to the Equal Opportunities Act that allow religious groups certain freedoms and the Australian Greens (WA) is opposed to the introduction of R18+ computer games, according to answers to a questionnaire released today.
The National Party of WA is against Sunday retail trading and most WA parties are concerned about the sexualisation of children in advertising, according to other responses.
In the countdown to the West Australian election, the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has launched a website informing Christians about what the parties think on key issues Christians care about.
The website www.wavotes.org.au provides the responses of political parties and Independents to 15 questions ranging from indigenous issues, homelessness and drug policies, to brothels, same-sex adoption, euthanasia and Sunday trading. There is also a question which specifically asks parties about the weighting they would give to Christian views on key matters of public policy.
ACL West Australian Director Michelle Pearse said that the aim of the website is to assist Christians to make a wise and informed vote at the upcoming election after accurately weighing up the different party policies and views on issues of concern to them.
“Research conducted for the ACL as part of the 2006 National Church Life Survey confirms that Christians care about a broad range of moral and social justice issues, which they believe should be actively lobbied on in the political sphere,” she said.
“The questions put to political parties are in keeping with this wide range of interest and mean that the parties have had to clearly state their policies on issues which sometimes fall below the radar of the mainstream election coverage.”
Mrs Pearse said the website contains responses from most WA political parties and an Independent, with other responses to be posted on the site as soon as they are received.
Other special features of the new ‘WA Votes’ website include information about Meet Your Candidate Forums and details on how MPs voted on two conscience issues (cloning and surrogacy), as well as how minor parties and Independents voted on the prostitution bill. The site also contains election resources such as an explanation of the preferential voting system and a special DVD about the upcoming election.
Australian Christian Lobby
Society
Christian website displays party policies
Posted: Thursday, 28 August 2008, 16:11 (EST)
Top Stories
Society Headline
