Video urges voters to support life this Victorian election
With less than a month to go before the Victorian election, there are many potential issues to weigh up and party policies to consider to cast an informed vote. An excellent pre-election video posted on YouTube is asking people to seriously consider how the issue of abortion should form a key part of their deliberations on the suitability for election of the various candidates.
The video features extensive commentary from Peter Kavanagh MLC, DLP Member for Western Victoria on the tragedy of the Abortion Law Reform Act 2008, which allows a woman to terminate the life of her unborn child for any reason up until 24 weeks of pregnancy, and with the consent of two abortionists at any time after that, even until birth.
A special part of the video is comments from Melissa Ohden, a young American woman who lived to tell the story of her mother’s failed abortion attempt. She recently toured the country sharing her inspiring story with supporters of life in Australia, and explains why Victoria’s abortion law is one of the most extreme in the world.
Please click here to view the video.
The video features extensive commentary from Peter Kavanagh MLC, DLP Member for Western Victoria on the tragedy of the Abortion Law Reform Act 2008, which allows a woman to terminate the life of her unborn child for any reason up until 24 weeks of pregnancy, and with the consent of two abortionists at any time after that, even until birth.
A special part of the video is comments from Melissa Ohden, a young American woman who lived to tell the story of her mother’s failed abortion attempt. She recently toured the country sharing her inspiring story with supporters of life in Australia, and explains why Victoria’s abortion law is one of the most extreme in the world.
Please click here to view the video.
Vic Greens wasting parliament’s time on euthanasia
The Victorian Greens should take note of the resounding defeat of Victoria’s euthanasia bill in 2008 and stop continually trying to push for laws which would put at risk the lives of vulnerable sick and elderly people, the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) said today.
ACL Victorian Director Rob Ward said that in August 2008 the Physician Assisted Dying Bill 2008 was comprehensively rejected in the Victorian Upper House by 25 votes to 13.
“The Greens need to get past their anti-life agenda and recognise that the Victorian Parliament has already firmly decided against euthanasia and it is a waste of parliamentary time to keep revisiting the issue,” Mr Ward said.
“Greens MLC Colleen Hartland’s motion seeking a review of the Medical Treatment Act relating to end-of-life medical treatment and palliative care options is very obviously just a back-door attempt to push the euthanasia barrow.
“Her move to get the issue referred to the Victorian Law Reform Commission is a particular source of concern given the Commission’s very poor track record in dealing with contentious social issues such as abortion and same-sex surrogacy.
“This is not a matter for a parliamentary committee or the Commission. The Victorian Parliament has already spoken on this issue - voting in favour of valuing life and affirming the role of doctors in caring for the sick, not harming them.”
Mr Ward said that, as a society, we should be seeking to ease people’s pain through better palliative care, not promoting killing as an alternative to helping them.
“We should also continue to stand firm in rejecting legislation that would send dreadful messages to the sick and elderly about the worth of their lives and which would put people’s lives at risk.
“For example, in Holland where euthanasia has been legal for some years, research indicates that around 1,000 people are killed each year without their consent.”
Mr Ward said that in every Australian state where a parliamentary committee has closely examined euthanasia – normally at the bidding of the Greens - the committee has rejected it on account of the way in which the laws to protect life are made inconsistent and dangerously subjective.
“As a society we should be affirming the unique and intrinsic worth of all human beings, no matter what their physical, mental or emotional state might be.”
Media Contact: Rob Ward on 0408 348 352 or Glynis Quinlan on 0408 875 979.
ACL Victorian Director Rob Ward said that in August 2008 the Physician Assisted Dying Bill 2008 was comprehensively rejected in the Victorian Upper House by 25 votes to 13.
“The Greens need to get past their anti-life agenda and recognise that the Victorian Parliament has already firmly decided against euthanasia and it is a waste of parliamentary time to keep revisiting the issue,” Mr Ward said.
“Greens MLC Colleen Hartland’s motion seeking a review of the Medical Treatment Act relating to end-of-life medical treatment and palliative care options is very obviously just a back-door attempt to push the euthanasia barrow.
“Her move to get the issue referred to the Victorian Law Reform Commission is a particular source of concern given the Commission’s very poor track record in dealing with contentious social issues such as abortion and same-sex surrogacy.
“This is not a matter for a parliamentary committee or the Commission. The Victorian Parliament has already spoken on this issue - voting in favour of valuing life and affirming the role of doctors in caring for the sick, not harming them.”
Mr Ward said that, as a society, we should be seeking to ease people’s pain through better palliative care, not promoting killing as an alternative to helping them.
“We should also continue to stand firm in rejecting legislation that would send dreadful messages to the sick and elderly about the worth of their lives and which would put people’s lives at risk.
“For example, in Holland where euthanasia has been legal for some years, research indicates that around 1,000 people are killed each year without their consent.”
Mr Ward said that in every Australian state where a parliamentary committee has closely examined euthanasia – normally at the bidding of the Greens - the committee has rejected it on account of the way in which the laws to protect life are made inconsistent and dangerously subjective.
“As a society we should be affirming the unique and intrinsic worth of all human beings, no matter what their physical, mental or emotional state might be.”
Media Contact: Rob Ward on 0408 348 352 or Glynis Quinlan on 0408 875 979.
Call for Victorian inquiry into deaths of babies born alive after failed abortions
In Victoria, the DLP Member of the Upper House, Peter Kavanagh, has courageously challenged the status quo on abortion by calling upon a Parliamentary committee to inquire into the post-natal deaths of babies born alive in Victoria after failed abortions.
In Parliament recently Mr Kavanagh (pictured) called upon “the Family and Community Development Committee to inquire into, consider and report on the post-natal deaths of babies born alive in Victoria after failed abortions, with particular reference to the 2007 Annual Report of the Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity”.
Mr Kavanagh noted that on 20 May 2010 the Herald Sun reported on the recently released 2007 annual report of the Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity which showed that 54 out of 181 late term foetuses who were aborted for “abnormalities” (at around 26 to 28 weeks) survived late term abortions but all of them in the period studied died “post-natally”.
He further noted that babies born after 26 to 28 weeks of gestation have a very high chance of survival if given even minimal care, and that the death of every one of these babies in the period studied therefore suggests that they were neglected to death, if not deliberately killed.
Recent media reports suggest that the number of late-term abortions in Victoria have sky-rocketed since abortion was decriminalised in the State. ACL is concerned about how many more babies are being born alive after botched abortions and left to die – and denied even basic care.
You may recall that during the 2008 abortion debate in Victoria, Gianna Jessen, an abortion survivor, spoke at Queens Hall in Parliament House in an event organised by the Ad Hoc Interfaith Committee and supported by the ACL. She told how she was saved from certain death by a nurse who, in the absence of the doctor, called for an ambulance to revive her after she arrived alive after a botched abortion in a US abortion clinic.
It is galling to discover in 2010, through a government report, that in 2007 – even before the new ‘open-slather’ abortion laws were passed - 54 babies in Victoria survived late term abortions but were not given any chance at life. We commend Mr Kavanagh for pursuing this issue.
Victorian identity-based hate crimes review
Rob Ward, 29 April 2010
Over the last year or so, the media has made much of an apparent rise in violent attacks directed at Indians living or studying in Victoria. The Indian media reacted strongly and the Premier and other members of the Victorian Government have understandably bent over backwards to address this issue.
One action taken was to amend the Sentencing Act 1991 which now requires courts to consider when sentencing whether the offence was motivated by hatred or prejudice against a group with common characteristics. This consideration, which effectively targets crime that is based on a person’s identity, is a specific response to perceptions about racially-motivated crime.
The ACL strongly condemns acts of violence, whether randomly directed against an individual or against someone based on their belonging to a group such as a racial, religious or other group. A crime is a crime and it should be dealt with by the law based on available evidence. We acknowledge that crime, especially violent crime directed at members of an identifiable group, can have a negative impact on the whole group, not just the individual who is directly attacked.
A further measure to address crime motivated by hatred in Victoria is an inquiry by the Department of Justice, and headed by The Hon Geoffrey Eames AM QC. ACL is making a submission to the inquiry. The basis of the Eames inquiry appears not only to be recent attacks on Indian students, but a contentious report by the ‘ALSO Foundation’ called ‘With Respect’ (see here), which may create divisions within the community and may be used to advance the homosexual agenda.
Our contention is that while we agree that identity-based hate crime is wrong and must be condemned, the ALSO report calls for new offences to be created which could challenge freedom of speech as well as making it a crime to even say something which might “offend” a member of the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender or intersex (GLBTI) community. This goes much further even than the discredited Racial & Religious Tolerance Act 2001 in terms of limiting religious freedom.
The Eames inquiry is due to report to the Attorney-General in September 2010. We will be watching closely and will keep you informed.
Over the last year or so, the media has made much of an apparent rise in violent attacks directed at Indians living or studying in Victoria. The Indian media reacted strongly and the Premier and other members of the Victorian Government have understandably bent over backwards to address this issue.
One action taken was to amend the Sentencing Act 1991 which now requires courts to consider when sentencing whether the offence was motivated by hatred or prejudice against a group with common characteristics. This consideration, which effectively targets crime that is based on a person’s identity, is a specific response to perceptions about racially-motivated crime.
The ACL strongly condemns acts of violence, whether randomly directed against an individual or against someone based on their belonging to a group such as a racial, religious or other group. A crime is a crime and it should be dealt with by the law based on available evidence. We acknowledge that crime, especially violent crime directed at members of an identifiable group, can have a negative impact on the whole group, not just the individual who is directly attacked.
A further measure to address crime motivated by hatred in Victoria is an inquiry by the Department of Justice, and headed by The Hon Geoffrey Eames AM QC. ACL is making a submission to the inquiry. The basis of the Eames inquiry appears not only to be recent attacks on Indian students, but a contentious report by the ‘ALSO Foundation’ called ‘With Respect’ (see here), which may create divisions within the community and may be used to advance the homosexual agenda.
Our contention is that while we agree that identity-based hate crime is wrong and must be condemned, the ALSO report calls for new offences to be created which could challenge freedom of speech as well as making it a crime to even say something which might “offend” a member of the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender or intersex (GLBTI) community. This goes much further even than the discredited Racial & Religious Tolerance Act 2001 in terms of limiting religious freedom.
The Eames inquiry is due to report to the Attorney-General in September 2010. We will be watching closely and will keep you informed.
Welcome to Victoria Votes
Who do I vote for? How do I make my vote count for Christian values? This is what many are asking with just weeks until polling day.
For the past 10 years, ACL has worked hard to ensure Christians know as much as possible about the Parties and Candidates standing in elections.
In a non-party partisan way (but critical where necessary), we have sought to help Christians cast an informed vote for those who best support Christian values.
We are pleased to be taking this service to new levels in the 2010 Victorian Election.
We contacted all the Parties contesting the election with 21 questions of key concern to Christians.
All of the well-known Parties have promised to respond, along with some of the less well known.
We will be posting their answers on the victoriavotes.org.au site and hope you might take some time between now and November 27th to consider their responses. For busy people who don’t have time to go through 21 questions and answers, we have an easy link to “Touchstone Issues”.
This site contains information about ACL’s local Candidate Forums and we are in the process of up-loading short video messages from participating Candidates.
If your local candidate has not submitted a video, you might like to ask them to consider this.
victoriavotes.org.au also contains information on conscience votes held in the Victorian Parliament.
It is important to know where your candidate stands on protecting human life at its most vulnerable.
We’ll be seeking to update this blog daily (after 28th October) with comment on the remainder of the campaign as it affects Christians.
God bless,
Rob Ward
ACL State Director - Victoria
For the past 10 years, ACL has worked hard to ensure Christians know as much as possible about the Parties and Candidates standing in elections.
In a non-party partisan way (but critical where necessary), we have sought to help Christians cast an informed vote for those who best support Christian values.
We are pleased to be taking this service to new levels in the 2010 Victorian Election.
We contacted all the Parties contesting the election with 21 questions of key concern to Christians.
All of the well-known Parties have promised to respond, along with some of the less well known.
We will be posting their answers on the victoriavotes.org.au site and hope you might take some time between now and November 27th to consider their responses. For busy people who don’t have time to go through 21 questions and answers, we have an easy link to “Touchstone Issues”.
This site contains information about ACL’s local Candidate Forums and we are in the process of up-loading short video messages from participating Candidates.
If your local candidate has not submitted a video, you might like to ask them to consider this.
victoriavotes.org.au also contains information on conscience votes held in the Victorian Parliament.
It is important to know where your candidate stands on protecting human life at its most vulnerable.
We’ll be seeking to update this blog daily (after 28th October) with comment on the remainder of the campaign as it affects Christians.
God bless,
Rob Ward
ACL State Director - Victoria
Christian Lobby condemns Victorian ALP same-sex marriage push
For release: November 23, 2009
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has strongly condemned the passing of a resolution by the Victorian Labor Party state conference on the weekend calling for gay marriage and urging the Federal Government not to disallow ACT legislation to give same-sex couples legal ‘marriage-like’ ceremonies.
ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said it is not surprising that the push to undermine marriage and change the social fabric of society is coming from the more radical left-leaning elements of the Labor Party in both Victoria and the ACT who are intent on pushing a social engineering agenda which would be at odds with most Christian views.
“The Rudd Government has given Labor an opportunity to consolidate what was a well-acknowledged shift of many Christian voters to Labor in the last federal election but if they follow the urging of elements of the Victorian Labor Party and their equivalent elsewhere they will never hold those gains,” Mr Wallace said.
“It would be similar to the situation with the ‘Howard battlers’ who came over to the Coalition and then deserted it in 2007.”
Mr Wallace said there is an ‘open and shut case’ for the Federal Government to overturn the ACT legislation.
“There was a clear pre-election commitment given by Federal Labor that they would not allow the mimicking of marriage and there’s been no more brazen attempt to do this than that represented by the legislation recently passed by the ACT Assembly.
“The thing that will drive Christians away from Labor if this legislation is left standing is not so much the issue itself, as the concern about how much they can trust a Federal Labor Government if a key election promise to the Christian constituency is broken. This is not a threat, it is simply fact,” Mr Wallace said.
Mr Wallace said the ACT Government is trying to frame this issue solely in terms of whether the civil partnerships legislation contravenes the Marriage Act according to fine constitutional legalities and its latest supposedly ‘clever’ attempt to get around any problems.
“Whether it does or not is not the real issue at stake – although if its own proponents are saying it is actually marriage then surely it contravenes the Marriage Act. The issue is that the Federal Government has the constitutional power to disallow the ACT legislation and its election promise impels it to do so,” he said.
Media Contact: Glynis Quinlan on 0408 875 979
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has strongly condemned the passing of a resolution by the Victorian Labor Party state conference on the weekend calling for gay marriage and urging the Federal Government not to disallow ACT legislation to give same-sex couples legal ‘marriage-like’ ceremonies.
ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said it is not surprising that the push to undermine marriage and change the social fabric of society is coming from the more radical left-leaning elements of the Labor Party in both Victoria and the ACT who are intent on pushing a social engineering agenda which would be at odds with most Christian views.
“The Rudd Government has given Labor an opportunity to consolidate what was a well-acknowledged shift of many Christian voters to Labor in the last federal election but if they follow the urging of elements of the Victorian Labor Party and their equivalent elsewhere they will never hold those gains,” Mr Wallace said.
“It would be similar to the situation with the ‘Howard battlers’ who came over to the Coalition and then deserted it in 2007.”
Mr Wallace said there is an ‘open and shut case’ for the Federal Government to overturn the ACT legislation.
“There was a clear pre-election commitment given by Federal Labor that they would not allow the mimicking of marriage and there’s been no more brazen attempt to do this than that represented by the legislation recently passed by the ACT Assembly.
“The thing that will drive Christians away from Labor if this legislation is left standing is not so much the issue itself, as the concern about how much they can trust a Federal Labor Government if a key election promise to the Christian constituency is broken. This is not a threat, it is simply fact,” Mr Wallace said.
Mr Wallace said the ACT Government is trying to frame this issue solely in terms of whether the civil partnerships legislation contravenes the Marriage Act according to fine constitutional legalities and its latest supposedly ‘clever’ attempt to get around any problems.
“Whether it does or not is not the real issue at stake – although if its own proponents are saying it is actually marriage then surely it contravenes the Marriage Act. The issue is that the Federal Government has the constitutional power to disallow the ACT legislation and its election promise impels it to do so,” he said.
Media Contact: Glynis Quinlan on 0408 875 979