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Political Agenda Update – Martyn Iles

by | Mon, Apr 11 2022

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Australia's Political Agenda
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With the announcement of the Federal Budget and the likelihood of an election campaign, the Australian Christian Lobby has some concerns about the current political agenda. Is the Government just trying to buy our vote?

Martyn Iles is Managing Director of the ACL, and he joined us to share his thoughts on what he calls the predictability of the federal budget. But he believes that one good thing is the federal government opening up 16,500 additional humanitarian visas for refugees.

“Those extra places would be specifically allocated to people who were fleeing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan,” says Martyn. “This is something that the ACL has been campaigning for ever since the debacle first occurred in Afghanistan and the Taliban seized control again.”

Martyn believes that the federal budget was really the unofficial start of the election campaign. “I think the PM will let it have its run in the media, which usually is about a week long process. Then we can expect an election in the next five to seven week period.”

Most of the ACL’s effort in this coming campaign will be an outward reaching into middle Australia. They have 7,700 volunteers and another 150 local electorate coordinators who are in charge of that volunteer army.

“We’ll be phone canvassing and leaflet dropping and using all the technology that the political parties use,” says Martyn. “I believe that this election more than any other, is about people. It’s not about parties. We have this problem in Australia at the moment, where every party contains some good people.”

But Martyn says he would caution people thinking of voting for a minor party. He says we need to focus on the person and ask ourselves, what are their social values? Do they align with Christian belief at all?

“The ACL campaign is to single out people who did the wrong thing,” says Martyn, “especially the Liberal MPs who undermined religious freedom and the cause of Christian schools in recent weeks. But there are a number of solid people who we want to make sure get in. Regardless of which side of politics they’re on.”

Martyn believes that come election time, ACL will be in an exciting position to contribute in a more Godly and Christian way. “It’s really the beginning of a new decade where we can recruit those who have the courage of their convictions. They can expect support when the election comes. Those who cause trouble will have to think twice before they undermine religious freedom again.”

Martyn believes if the government really wants a free society, they ought to be actively promoting Christianity, or at least for religious freedom. “It’s another reason for us to be unashamed of our faith because it really does make a real difference to people’s lives.”

“We should be bold in our proclamation of Christ and the Gospel, because we know that this faith has a profound impact on the life of a person. It transforms them from the inside out.”

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