In January, Education Minister Christopher Pyne announced that Professor Ken Wiltshire and Dr Kevin Donnelly would lead a review of the National Curriculum. Mr Pyne said the review would evaluate the curriculum’s “robustness, independence and balance and examine the content and development process”.



The National Curriculum was introduced as a draft by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard in 2010. At the time, opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne had said it was unbalanced and signalled a Coalition government would conduct a thorough review of the legislation.



There has been criticism that the new curriculum ignored Australia’s Judeo- Christian heritage. In the lead up to the election last year, in a Quadrant opinion piece, Dr Donnelly said the curriculum represented a threat to faith-based schools. He said:

“While students will be forced to learn every subject through a politically correct prism involving Asian, Indigenous and environmental perspectives, the debt owed to Australia’s Judeo-Christian heritage is ignored, with Christianity reduced to  one religion among many, alongside Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

The draft civics and civics national curriculum and the history curriculum also embrace choice and diversity — code for multiculturalism — and ignore the central place of Christianity in the evolution of Australia’s political and legal systems.”

The ACL intends on making a submission to the review and would encourage its supporters to do so as well. ACL believes that the National Curriculum should take proper account of Australia’s religious and cultural heritage and that an understanding of Christianity is vital for students to understand modern Australia and western civilisation.



Christianity has had an important impact on literature, philosophy, human rights, arts, science, education, health care, and many other areas of society. It is important that students understand the cultural, philosophical, and literary significance of the Bible. Incidentally it was atheist Richard Dawkins who said “you can’t appreciate English literature unless you are steeped to some extent in the King James Bible … not to know (it) is to be, in some small way, barbarian”.



While understanding sustainability, Indigenous, and Asian themes are necessary, they should not be emphasised at the expense of other important themes such as the influence of western civilisation.



Public comment is invited on the national curriculum until the 28^th of February. To learn more about the process and to make a submission go to http://www.studentsfirst.gov.au  and http://www.studentsfirst.gov.au/review-australian-curriculum

This year's National Day of Thanksgiving (NDOT) will be on Saturday 25th May. This is a chance for Australians to come together to celebrate our God-given heritage, and to demonstrate the Christian values of honour, respect, thankfulness and gratitude towards others.



The Governor-General and Prime Minister have now made official statements about the NDOT. Governor-General QuentinBryce says NDOT "is an opportunity for us all to reflect and give thanks for the valued contributions made by our fellow Australians" whilst Prime Minister Julia Gillard says it "provides a unique opportunity to celebrate and honour the contributions of others." Click here to read their statements in full.



There are many ways you can get involved in thanking those close to us and in our communities, but we particularly encourage you to send special NDOT 'thank you' cards to your local MP and show your gratitude for the contribution they make in governing our nation.



If your MP supported the current definition of marriage as between a man and woman, thank them for preserving this important family union also.



NDOT products, including cards and ribbons, have now been distributed to Koorong stores across Australia, and are available for purchase over the counter, or online.



For those unable to access a Koorong store, the products may also be purchased through the NDOT office via email at info@thanksgiving.org.au or phone (02) 9939 2133.



Visit the official NDOT website for more information on the products, and on how you can participate in this important day.

MEDIA RELEASE



22 April 2013



Calls by Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus for yet another vote to redefine marriage should be rejected.



“Despite the hype, this issue is not on the average Australian’s top ten list of priorities, including members of the left leaning GetUp group,” Australian Christian Lobby Managing Director Jim Wallace said today.



Mr Wallace said the Australian Parliament had spent an inordinate amount of time on this issue.

• Three parliamentary inquiries were held within three years with same-sex marriage not supported by two of them.



• In response to a Greens’ motion, Federal MPs surveyed their electorates with the overwhelming majority reporting back to Parliament it was not supported by their constituents.



• After almost two years of public and parliamentary debate, the Australian Parliament just last September rejected redefining marriage by a margin of almost two to one (98-42 in the House of Representatives and 41-26 in the Senate).

Mr Wallace said MPs were being bullied into conformism on same-sex marriage when the issue simply did not rate in the electorate.



Despite New Zealand’s passing of legislation to redefine marriage, public support for it fell during their debate from 63pc to below 50pc.



Mr Wallace said Mr Dreyfus’ push for a vote before the election would mean it would need to be held before June 27.



“It is ludicrous that the nation’s top law officer is pushing for a second vote on the same issue within months of its decisive rejection. How many other issues get this sort of special treatment by Parliament?



“Proponents of redefining marriage are determined to achieve their aim through legislation by fatigue. How much more of the Parliament’s time should be spent on this?”



Mr Wallace said supporters of same-sex marriage recognised that even with a Coalition conscience vote, the numbers in the Federal Parliament are well short of backing a redefinition of marriage.



“I would urge the Liberal Party to hold its policy position supporting marriage between a man and a woman. People are looking to the major parties to provide leadership and expect that they understand what marriage truly is.



“They do not expect the Coalition in particular to take up an agenda mainly run by the Socialist groups, whose banners seem to dominate almost every rally on the subject and who most likely vote Greens.”

Australia was one of the 189 member states of the United Nations that signed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 to halve world poverty by 2015.



Last year, the government diverted $375 million away from its foreign aid commitment in order to pay for the cost of detaining, processing and providing for onshore asylum seekers, and will likely try to divert more aid when it announces another "tough budget" on 14 May.



ACL has continually lobbied for government to reach the target as outlined by the MDGs, and advocates strongly for Australia's willingness to be generous to the poor by helping developing nations implement poverty-reducing strategies. In the lead up to this year's federal election, ACL will be urging the major political parties to recommit to the MDGs.



Micah Challenge has launched a campaign in the lead up to the May budget announcement, with the message: "Don't Divert Aid." This is designed to place pressure on the government to stop the diversion of overseas aid money.



Join with Micah Challenge in speaking out against the poverty and injustice, and encouraging our leaders to keep their commitment to reducing world poverty.



You can do this by contacting the offices of the Prime Minister and the Treasurer to tell them that Australian aid should be used to support poverty reduction and sustainable development overseas, and that you support the Government's commitment to increase aid to 0.5% of Gross National Income by 2016, but you do not want to see more aid funds diverted away from our overseas aid partners to meet the costs of detaining, processing and supporting asylum seekers:

• Call Prime Minister Julia Gillard's office on (02) 6277 7700



• Call Treasurer Wayne Swan’s office on (02) 6277 7340 or email wayne.swan.mp@aph.gov.au

In the last week the ACL has been quoted in the media on marriage, particularly on ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace’s comments made during a debate on gay marriage with Greens leader Christine Milne in Tasmania. ACL has also been mentioned in respect to Prime Minister Gillard’s decision to pull out of its National Conference as keynote speaker. See below for links to mentions in the media.



On Mr Wallace’s comments:

• Sydney Morning Herald – ‘Smoking healthier than gay marriage’



• The Australian – Christian lobbyist has gays fuming



• Sydney Morning Herald – Christian lobby defends gay slur



• Sky News Australia – Gay quotation misrepresented – Wallace

On the Prime Minister’s decision to back out of ACL’s National Conference:

• Christian Today – PM’s withdrawal from ACL conference is a win for aggressive gay activists, says Jim Wallace



• The Age – Gillard singes Christian Lobby over ‘offensive’ gay remark



• The Mercury – Boycott over gay debate

Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen defended Mr Wallace’s comments, saying that it is necessary we have an open and respectful discussion on the statistics surrounding the lifespan of homosexuals. He appeared on ABC’s Q & A program.



To watch the episode or read the transcript, please click here.

• Sydney Morning Herald – Archbishop backs ACL stance on gay ‘lifestyle’



• The Daily Telegraph – Archbishop of Sydney Dr Peter Jensen backs offensive gay health claims from ACL



• Ninemsn – Archbishop backs Christian lobby’s gay remarks

 



Lyle Shelton is the ACL's Chief-of-Staff. He spoke with Daniel Simon about religious freedom, the ACL National Conference, and Julia Gillard's decision to withdraw from the conference following Jim Wallace's comments about the health risks of homosexuality.

MEDIA RELEASE



Thursday 6 September 2012



The Prime Minister’s decision to withdraw from the Australian Christian Lobby’s national conference is based on inaccurate media reporting and misrepresentation by gay activists.



Australian Christian Lobby Managing Director Jim Wallace said the decision would come as a deep disappointment to Australia’s Christian constituency.



“This is a victory for the relentless campaign of demonization against anyone who would challenge the gay activists’ agenda in the public square.”



Mr Wallace said at no stage did he say that “smoking is healthier than gay marriage”, as reported by some media.



“What I did say is that heterosexual sex and homosexual sex are different and have different health consequences. They should not be packaged the same way as marriage because, as just one of many reasons, they are different.



“If we warn against smoking because it carries health dangers, we should also be warning young people in particular about activity which clearly carries health risks,” Mr Wallace said.



“The experience in places like Massachusetts is that it is very difficult to have this conversation where the lifestyle is held to be the equal of marriage.”



Mr Wallace rejected the characterisation of himself and the ACL as heartless.



“This is a blow to free speech of which there will be even greater pressure if the definition of marriage is changed,” Mr Wallace said.



“It is disappointing that the Prime Minister has acted so hastily on the basis of misreporting and false information from gay activists.”

MEDIA RELEASE



Wednesday, 22 August, 2012



The Australian Christian Lobby is calling on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to honour her election promise to protect marriage against attempts by Territories to mimic it.



ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said today's move by the ACT Labor-Green coalition to pass marriage-mimicking civil union legislation should be overturned by the Federal Parliament.



Two weeks before the 2010 election, Ms Gillard recorded a video interview with ACL.



Jim Wallace: On marriage – marriage is clearly defined in the Marriage Act as the union of a man and a woman to exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life, something important to the great majority of Christians. Your party’s committed to the definition of marriage, does that extend to not allowing it to be mimicked for instance in territories, for instance, by the inclusion of ceremonies and celebrants in a legal sense in legislation where parties don’t meet that definition of marriage?



PM Gillard: Look the Labor Party has worked this through and we have determined as a Labor Party that the Marriage Act will stay unchanged so marriage will be defined as it is in our current Marriage Act as between a man and a woman. And we have also said that the Labor Party policy is we do not want to see the development of ceremonies that mimic marriage ceremonies and so that’s the party policy and as Prime Minister, as Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party that’s obviously my policy, and that’s what you should expect to see from a Gillard Labor Government if we’re re-elected.



[See http://vimeo.com/13959730 from 12:10]



Mr Wallace said the ACT Labor-Green coalition's civil union legislation was not even wanted by the same-sex community and that today's move was just a stunt to cause further distraction of the Federal Parliament which is now bound to debate it, despite already having three same sex bills before it.



“This attempt to legislate same sex marriage by fatigue is reprehensible for its waste of parliamentary time and should be rejected by both major parties by joining in Federal Parliament to vote it down,” said Mr Wallace.



“This is the last sitting week before the ACT election and Labor and the Greens are using the ACT Assembly's time on what is really a low order issue in the electorate,” Mr Wallace said.

MEDIA RELEASE



Tuesday, August 14th, 2012



The Australian Christian Lobby is privileged to have the Prime Minister speak at its National Conference but has expressed disappointment at the ongoing campaign of demonisation from the homosexual lobby of anyone who does not line up with its agenda.



ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace rejected suggestions that the Prime Minister should not participate in the conference on Saturday the 6th of October and said it was natural that she would want to speak to Australia’s Christian constituency, which is a large one by any political standards.



“The Prime Minister’s engagement is part of the political process and Australian Christians represented in the community should have a right to expect that the PM would want to address them,” Mr Wallace said.



Mr Wallace said the ACL has a habit of alternately inviting one of the leaders of the major parties as a political guest for each National Conference.



“The theme of this year’s conference is on Religious Freedom in a Secular Democracy and we look forward to hearing from the Prime Minister on this important value in society,” he said.



Mr Wallace rejected the assertion that people are extremist because they believe in marriage between a man and a woman.



“Today’s attack on ACL by gay activists is typical of the relentless demonisation of anyone from Gloria Jean’s to the Salvation Army and Chick-fil-A in the United States who support or are perceived to support marriage remaining between a man and a woman.”



Mr Wallace also rejected suggestions that the ACL has not advocated for eradication of poverty or homelessness.



“The ACL is on the record for supporting mandatory pre-commitment technology for pokie machines, refugee reform and meeting the millennium development goals which help address these issues in public policy,” he said.

MEDIA RELEASE



For release: Sunday, 12th August, 2012



The Federal Government must intervene to stop Australia’s marriage laws from becoming a ‘hodge podge’ according to the Australian Christian Lobby.



The call follows announcements by the South Australian and ACT Governments to introduce homosexual marriage or marriage-mimicking laws.



ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said Prime Minister Julia Gillard went to the 2010 election promising to up-hold marriage between a man and a woman.



“Gay activists and Green politicians are now leading Labor States like Tasmania and South Australia by the nose towards homosexual ‘marriage’,” Mr Wallace said.



“Integrity does matter in politics and Federal Labor could choose to equal the Coalition’s integrity on marriage by intervening to stop South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT from legislating a new definition of marriage.



“The Coalition’s resolve to keep its election promise is to be applauded, despite the Greens and activists wanting it broken.



“The Government needs to act swiftly before Australia ends up with different marriage laws between States and the Commonwealth.



“The Attorney General must defend marriage against attempts by States and Territories to redefine it, even if it means going to the High Court,” Mr Wallace said.



“The Government also must signal that it will use the powers of the Parliament to overturn any marriage-mimicking law passed in the coming week by the Greens and Labor in the ACT.”