Christian Democratic Party (Australia)
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| Christian Democratic Party | |
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| Leader | Fred Nile |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Level 1, 963 Pacific Highway Pymble, NSW 2073 |
| Political Ideology | Christian Democracy, Social conservatism |
| International Affiliation | Christian Democrat and People's Parties International |
| Website | Christian Democratic Party |
| See also | Politics of Australia |
The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) is a minor political party in Australia. Its leader is Fred Nile, a Congregational Church minister and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.
Originally known as the "Call to Australia Party," the CDP grew out of earlier political groups in New South Wales (NSW) such as Call to Australia and the Festival of Light, with which Nile has been associated for more than 30 years. These groups have all sought to mobilise conservative and evangelical Protestants as an electoral force. Nile was elected to the Legislative Council in 1981, and in 1988 his wife Elaine Nile was also elected. She retired from the Council in 2003 and was succeeded by Rev Gordon Moyes, the CDP President and a television evangelist.
The Niles have built a small but stable electoral base among Protestants in New South Wales, particularly in the "Bible Belt" suburbs of north-western Sydney and in some country areas, but the CDP has has only achieved modest results in its attempts to expand its electoral base further. The party has comparable support in Western Australia, but has lacked similar representation in its state parliament because its seats have larger quotas.
The party concentrates almost exclusively on moral issues such as abortion, homosexuality and pornography. Recently it has made opposition to same-sex marriage a major part of its platform. The party is staunchly monarchist, on the grounds that Australia was founded on the British Judeo-Christian political and legal systems.
The Christian Democratic Party sees the policies of the major parties as an attack on their traditional views. Gordon Moyes explained, "Our Christian heritage is under attack from pagan and secularist forces, militant Islamic groups, a neo communism under a Green guise and a strident homosexual lobby that has successfully gained the support of the Labor Party, Australian Democrats and the Greens, and many from the left of the Liberal Party."
For the 1983 federal election, the CDP formed an alliance with the Victoria based Democratic Labor Party. They won no seats and contested subsequent elections separately.
The Christian Democratic Party has maintained representation in the New South Wales Legislative Council since the 1980s, and its numbers have usually varied from two to three Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs). Usually, these two individuals have been Fred Nile and one other MLC, until recently his wife, Elaine Nile. Following an increase in CDP support, the Niles were briefly joined by Mrs Marie Bignold, before she broke ties with the Niles over her opposition to the Liberal Party stance on industrial relations. Subsequently, Legislative Council restructuring meant her MLC seat was abolished, although Nile's updated biography reports that they have reconciled.
In the early 2000s, it was announced that Elaine Nile would retire due to ill health and be replaced with John Bradford, a former Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives who had defected to the CDP before being defeated. However, this fell through due to disagreements between the Niles and Bradford, and Elaine Nile continued to serve until Gordon Moyes of Sydney's Wesley Central Mission took over the second CDP MLC seat in 2003.
Nile made a bid for a NSW seat in the Australian Senate at the 2004 federal elections. He achieved 2.6% of the primary vote, but failed to win a seat. Similar party Family First won a seat in Victoria with 1.9% and a better preference deal.
Family First has announced that it will not stand candidates at the NSW state election in March 2007, and this may increase the CDP's chances of retaining Nile's seat.
During the New South Wales legislative election, 2007 the party called for a moratorium on Muslim immigration to Australia and seeking to replace them with “persecuted Christians from the Middle East”. Nile said the moratorium should be in place to allow a study of the effects of Muslim migration. "There has been no serious study of the potential effects upon Australia of more than 300,000 Muslims who are already here," he said. "Australians deserve a breathing space so the situation can be carefully assessed before Islamic immigration can be allowed to resume.”"In the meantime, Australia should extend a welcoming hand to many thousands of persecuted Christians who are presently displaced or at risk in the Middle East." [1]
Fred Nile was re-elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council on March 24, 2007, but it seems that the CDP has insufficient support to warrant a third Legislative Council seat based on current available polling information. As only half the Legislative Council is up for re-election at eight year intervals, his colleague Gordon Moyes will not face re-election until 2011.
[edit] Bibliography
- Fred Nile: Autobiography: Sydney: Strand Publishing: 2001: ISBN 1-876825-79-0
[edit] External link
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