Jul
Armidale Pastor’s view of Julia Gillard
Posted in Election | No Comments »Whether you considered Kevin Rudd to be the best thing since sliced bread or the worst thing since Adolf Hitler, he was our Prime Minister and WAS elected by the Australian public into that role. It is technically true that we elect local members who then elect their own leader and the leader of the majority party becomes PM, however it in indisputable that the last election was a Presidential style election and we were told that a vote for a Labor candidate was a vote for Rudd and a vote for Liberal candidate was a vote for Howard. Rudd’s face appeared on ALL local promo material. It WAS the expectation of those who voted Labor into government that Rudd would be PM. It was indisputably the understanding of the Australian people that they had elected Kevin Rudd to lead our Nation as Prime Ministerial.
The ALP is a fractionalized party – i.e. the factions, not the rank and file, run the party. Rudd was not a member of a faction (a rare thing in itself), however because neither the Right nor Left factions could get their candidate “up” in the party room, the popular Kevin Rudd was seen as the compromise candidate who could win the election. It worked. But when the popularity faded and the polls went down, Rudd had no factional power base to protect him and thus the unknown back room ALP factional power brokers rose against him. The Prime Minister of this nation was sacked at the behest of the these people the MP’s of course, had to take their instructions from these people, after all it is these factional leaders that determine MP’s pre-selection! Those who remember the ALP’s outrage at the sacking of Gough Whitlam have every right to see Rudd’s sacking by that same ALP machine as hypocritical.
Don’t be fooled, despite the Gillard appointment, we still have a very unstable and potentially volatile situation. Julia Gillard is a member of the Left faction, however she has come to power due to the support afforded to her by the right and centre-right factions. If she loses popularity or upsets the right she could easily face the same fate as Rudd; for if they withdraw their support for her, she will fall as Rudd. She must govern to please the right and centre right and yet maintain her left credibility. By the way, the ALP Right are the ones who control the ALP in NSW, and that should be enough to frighten anyone!
Love or loathe Rudd, he had strong morals and a Christian base. The new PM lacks credibility in both of these areas.
Some say that it is good to have Gillard because she is a female – our first female PM. But is gender really important? Has the gender of the Premier in NSW or Qld suddenly made their respective governments better? Of course not. Gender is really irrelevant, it’s character that matters.
Rudd was replaced by the first PM to be living in a de facto relationship, so her views on marriage and family don’t need to be canvassed – her lifestyle speaks to those issues. She is one who declares herself to be non religious. Gillard opposed the ongoing funding of chaplains as Education Minister but bowed to Rudd’s wish to provide funding for another round. That funding will now be at serious risk. Gillard is on record as one who supports the right of same sex couples to marry. Rudd blocked the ACT Government’s attempt to legitimize Gay marriage, it is highly unlikely that Gillard will follow suit. I expect to see the ACT Labor government re-introduce this legislation and be able to proceed without the objection of the federal Government…. of course, this would be the thin edge of wedge – once one jurisdiction starts others will follow. Gillard is on record as a supporter of abortion on demand funded by Medicare. This list could go on.
Is she a woman of principle? It is hard to see the one who strongly supported decisions of the Rudd government but is now backing a different horse on these issues, as being a person of principle (remember, she was deputy PM, she was involved in the making of all of the decisions on things such as the mining tax, the carbon emissions trading scheme, the population target, the school hall B.E.R. scheme, border protection etc).
So what about the Opposition, are they the answer? Certainly the Opposition Leader has strong moral and religious base, but his party is in disarray, filled with infighting and instability. Remember, they have had 3 changes of leader to Labor’s 2!
Don’t be fooled, politically, our nation is in a mess. In NSW we have a government that has seen over 200 ministerial changes in less than a single 4 year term and that spells instability. It has been rocked by in-fighting, ministerial resignations and sackings because of unlawful conduct…. at least one former minister is now in gaol. And be reminded again, NSW is “run” by the same factional power base that has elevated Gillard to the PM’s job.
Are so called “Christian” parties the answer? I can’t support a so called Christian party that allows it’s only federal politician to vote in the Senate in support of abortion. Neither can I support the so called Christian parties in NSW whose only parliamentary representatives conducted a spiteful, vilifying, unchristian slanging match in the media, accusing each other of immoral and unlawful conduct.
What I am saying is simple. Encouraging Christians in our Nation to vote for one party over another is not the answer. We’ve gone beyond that. Our Nation is in very deep trouble.
Islam is gaining a strong foothold – you may have read recently (in the last fortnight) of a policeman who was charged with racial abuse over his demand that a Moslem woman uncover her face so he could check her license. In one State, and I think it NSW, Moslem women can now leave their face covered in license photos. The influence of Islam is growing at an extremely rapid rate.
Spiritually, morally, politically our nation is heading downhill at a rate of knots. What I am saying is that if the church doesn’t wake up and pray and step into the void and do so very quickly, our children will live in a very different Australia to the one we know today. This is a message that we must heed and that needs to be taken to the church across our nation.
Think about this. Julia Gillard’s grandparents were part of the Welsh revival – her parents were raised in a God fearing Baptist home, she had a little exposure to the gospel in a Baptist environment in her childhood. She now says that she is a “non religious person” a “non practicing Baptist” (whatever that is!!!). It has only taken one generation to lose the effect of the Welsh revival, to lose Biblical morals and principles. Just one generation.
I realize that the picture that I have painted is negative but the picture is accurate, that really IS the way that the world is, that really IS the state of our Nation.
But there is another perspective.
If it only takes one generation to kill a revival, then understand this, one generation is all it takes to restore the same!
We can hold our heads in despair as we view this South Land of The Holy Spirit or we can lift our heads and become that generation that makes this South Land GREAT.
I believe that politically, morally and religiously, our Nation is in deep trouble. But I also believe that God has given us the answer. “If my people who are called by my name…..”. The answer is not in our ballot boxes, although we must be wise and prayerful about who we will vote for. The church must rise up, the sleeping giant must wake. We MUST pray and we must declare the counsel of God without fear or favour. We must take a stand on morality and godly principles. We must be the generation who restores the revival, the generation that rises up in Jesus’ name and will not bow down to any other name. It may not be the popular path, but I believe it is Australia’s last hope.
We simply MUST be part of THAT generation the generation that rises up and reclaims our heritage. To leave it to another generation will be to leave it too late. To leave it to another people will be to make a tragic mistake.
If not me then who, if not now then when?
It only takes one generation……….
………and it has to be ours!
Dave Logan,
Armidale