The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) is celebrating some victories in 2023 and preparing for some battles in 2024. In an extended interview with Vision Radio, ACL CEO Michelle Pearse reflected on some her year’s successes which included the tabling of proposed Scandinavian-style prostitution laws in the South Australian Parliament:
“Back in 2006, I was the WA state director of ACL and one of the first issues that I lobbied for was prostitution law reform. We called it the Swedish Law at the time which criminalises men, while helping women exit prostitution. All these years later, the first bill was tabled in South Australia. So this is something the ACL has been advocating for, for over a decade. So it’s good to see that if you keep fighting and you keep this information in front of politicians, eventually things can shift and we can see a bill tabled. So that was one big win, but it hasn’t been passed yet. So we continue to fight for another big win,” Ms. Pearse declared.
She pointed to Queensland’s recognition that some babies are born alive after the failure of an attempted termination, as another success story:
“We’re seeing the Queensland Health regulations changed to actually care for babies who survive abortions. Now this was indirect, but I really believe it was the ACL’s influence. We’ve kept this issue in front of the public. We appeared at parliamentary inquiries as well as other groups. So the guidelines have changed to protect babies, but we’re still pushing. It’s like, I suppose we get a win, but it’s not a full win because we need federal laws to ensure that babies are protected across Australia. And so we continue to push for that as well.”
The ACL head also claimed victory for a couple of quick campaigns against major retailers:
“There was this horrible toy that was a ‘deddy bear’ in a body bag. It was just grotesque. We alerted the public. They alerted Big W saying: Get this toy off your shelves. And within a couple of days it was removed. So well done to all the supporters. There was a terribly graphic book targeting [sex education for] children with explicit imagery. Again, ACL supporters heard the cry, made their voice heard and the book got pulled from the children’s section of Big W stores. So power to the public there.”
Ms. Pearse also told Vision Radio about some other achievements in the ACL’s fight for the faith community: “I think we’ve got some other wins or part wins in the lead up to hopefully bigger wins. On the Misinformation and Disinformation Bill, I was able to speak to Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and have the definition limited in terms of the scope of what serious harm could mean. It’s because of those conversations and submissions that we and other groups put in, that they’ve seen this happen. They still need to reduce the scope more. It’s a dangerous bill. We’re glad to have had some influence.”
“I think we’ve had a big win on the gender ideology stuff as well. It’s gaining momentum that this is a bad idea, that gender affirmation is flawed. We have a group of de-transitioners that the ACL is rallying together for them and their parents to have their voice heard by Members of Parliament. We’re seeing inquiries all over the nation. We think that an inquiry is going to get off the ground next year. Just last week we saw the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists actually say that there is not enough evidence to support gender affirmation ideology. So because of this, health ministers across the nation need to review their gender affirmation policies, so wins across the board, I think.”
Ms. Pearse noted that adding to the pressure: “We’ve got de-transitioners who are launching legal proceedings against health care providers because they believe they weren’t provided with enough other suggestions in terms of their gender affirming care and were encouraged to go down this route. Now they regret it because of the harm it’s caused them, and now they’re actually suing health professionals themselves. So I think it’s not going to take long for our parliaments to see this and change the laws.”
Looking ahead to 2024, the ACL boss is braced for some tough battles:
“We’re expecting a religious discrimination bill to hit federal parliament early next year. We don’t have high hopes for it. Religious freedom is the priority for continued Christianity in Australia, for the freedom of Christianity and for Christian schools. But the key issue is that it’s tied up with sex discrimination. The Sex Discrimination Act used to just be about ensuring that a female wasn’t discriminated against simply because she was a female, given the fact that she might have children or that she has children. But it’s extended because of our political and cultural climate, to ensure that people in same sex relationships and who identify as transgender aren’t discriminated against.”
“There are currently provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act which protect Christian employers from these sorts of discrimination laws, because we know that those kinds of behaviours don’t align with the Christian ethos. So this is what’s being challenged. Human rights bodies and government departments are saying that Christians have no right to discriminate in their employment practices against people in same sex relationships and who identify as transgender.”
“So the real threat and the thing that we’re campaigning against is that the provisions that are currently in the Sex Discrimination Act to give Christians the ability to — I suppose we say positively discriminate to ensure that we have the right to employ only Christians — that these provisions could be removed. This will mean that no matter what a religious discrimination bill says, that it would be useless because that’s the greatest threat that Christians are facing.”
“We’re expecting the Australian Law Reform Commission report to be tabled in Parliament in the coming months. That will certainly be interesting. Again, we’re not too hopeful on what that’s going to to be. So the best we can do at ACL is keep talking to individual Members of Parliament. We’re encouraging our supporters, especially those in marginal seats, to make their views known to their Member of Parliament so that we can have influence one-by-one to ensure that they put this thing off until they’ve got it right.”
Michelle Pearse added that the ACL is also preparing for elections in Queensland and the two territories next year:
“I think the Christian constituency — and I’ve always been really encouraged by this — is the most organised constituency in Australia and we have a big effect on electoral outcomes and I don’t think we should be shy about that. I think Christians need to be informed morally about the issues that the major parties and the minor parties stand for, so that they have an informed vote. We should vote with an internal perspective. We shouldn’t vote about money in our back pocket or what’s going to benefit us. We need to vote according to what benefits society at large. And so those parties that are upholding immoral policies, we shouldn’t vote for them.”
Ms. Pearse concluded that the ACL’s main job is the protection of religious freedom:
“I think if we don’t protect our freedoms legislatively, then everything else we’re fighting for is going to be a whole lot more difficult. So when we want to have a say on things like abortion; on transgender; and have these views that are often politically incorrect and unpopular with the public; if we don’t have our religious freedoms protected, then we’re going to be inhibited to speak out on a range of issues. So for me and our strategy going forward and all of our team, that has to be our priority next year. It’s coming at us from all sorts of angles, from the misinformation bill, from a proposed human rights charter that might hit the the parliament next year. All of these things, they sound good. Human rights, ending religious discrimination. But when we can see a sort of a left wing agenda, an unGodly agenda, operating within those sorts of bills and laws, then they actually inhibit and restrict our freedoms more than increase the human rights of the nation.”
To hear the full interview with ACL CEO Michelle Pearse, click on the link below:
