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Australian Christian Lobby

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Australian Christian Lobby
Founded1995
Registration no.40 075 120 517[1] (ABN)
Location
Area served
Australia
Key people
Chairman, Jim Wallace AM
Managing director, Lyle Shelton
Chairman Emeritus, Tony McLellan
Websitehttp://www.acl.org.au

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) is a political organisation based in Canberra, which works in six different states and territories inside the country. The ACL is politically active in Australia as a Christian lobbying organisation.[2][3][4][5][6]

The ACL is an Australian Public Company, Limited By Guarantee[7] and files political expenditure returns with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).[8] Funding comes mostly from individuals but names are not disclosed by the organisation itself.[9] It has no political affiliation and makes no statements regarding faith.[9] Eternity House, the Deakin ACT headquarters of ACL is registered as a separate not-for-profit entity.[10]

ACL prepares and presents submissions to Federal and State parliaments and their agencies.[11] It publishes magazines such as Viewpoint, which are provided to Australian parliamentarians at no charge.[12] It periodically issues media releases[13] and communicates with supporters via email newsletters.[14] The organisation is involved in a campaign to support the retention of the current definition of marriage.[15] The ACL wants to permanently[16] over-ride anti-discrimination laws in relation to hate speech to assist in its campaign during a possible plebiscite on the issue.[17] It has been labelled as a hate group by its critics.[18]

ACL managing director
Lyle Shelton

History

The Australian Christian Coalition (ACC) was founded in 1995 by John Gagliardi, a lay leader of a large Pentecostal church in Brisbane. Gagliardi had held journalistic positions as editor of the Townsville Bulletin and as a presenter for Channel 10 news.[19] Co-founders include John McNicoll, a retired Baptist minister turned lobbyist in Canberra, and John Miller, who worked with a number of community and government organisations and held leadership positions within his independent community-based church.[citation needed]

The organisation changed its name to the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) in March 2001.[1]

A number of senior federal politicians have been guest speakers at ACL national conferences and ACL events, including John Howard (2007),[20] Kevin Rudd (2007),[20] Malcolm Turnbull (2008),[21] Tony Abbott (2010),[22] Julia Gillard (2010),[23] Bill Shorten (2014),[24] and Scott Morrison (2016).[25]

In 2012, Gillard pulled out of a planned appearance at the ACL national conference after Jim Wallace suggested that a homosexual "lifestyle" was more hazardous to health than smoking.[26]

Staff

Year Name Period Time in office
1995 John Gagliardi 1995 – 2000 5 years
2000 Jim Wallace 2000 – 2013 13 years
2013 Lyle Shelton 2013 – present Error: Need valid year, month, day

Jim Wallace was the managing director of ACL from 2000 to 2013.[27][28] Lyle Shelton is ACL's managing director.[29] The company has a self-appointed board of management – board members are invited to join by existing board members.[30] Board members are not elected by members.[31] The organisation's biggest expense is paying staff.

Representativeness and influence

One of the main criticisms of the ACL is that it overstates its representativeness.[31] Professor Rodney Smith of Sydney University suggests the ACL inflates its influence with the electorate to gain access to politicians and the media.[31] A former Chief of Staff and a former Victorian State Director expressed concern that the ACL's policies are created by a small number of company owners, while many people assume that it represents Australian churches or a caucus of members. Then managing director Jim Wallace confirmed that the organisation represents its supporters only but that, for contentious policy decisions, he contacts a group of representative theologians representing a number of denominations.[30]

John Warhurst, emeritus professor of political science at the Australian National University said, "ACL is now established in the top echelon of lobbying groups"[32] having the, "professional knowledge to run modern election campaigns".[33] He said ACL, "will not go away".[34] Warhurst has described ACL as an evangelical lobby group, more politically influential than the Christian political party Family First.[35] Professor Marion Maddox, from Macquarie University has said that ACL has achieved, "remarkable influence with political leaders on both sides."[36]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Historical details for ABN: 40 075 120 517, Australian Business Register (historical details), retrieved 14 November 2011
  2. ^ "Christianity and the LNP". Brisbane Times. 8 February 2012.
  3. ^ Maddox, Marion (2014). "Right-wing Christian Intervention in a Naïve Polity". Political Theology. 15 (2): 132–150. doi:10.1179/1462317X13Z.00000000071. ISSN 1462-317X.
  4. ^ "POLITICS, POLICY AND FAITH: THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT IN AUSTRALIA" (PDF). politicsandreligionjournal.com.
  5. ^ "Pilgrims' progress". Sydney Morning Herald. 24 January 2006.
  6. ^ Tom Hyland (20 December 2009). "Political influence of Christian right 'overstated'". Sydney Morning Herald.
  7. ^ Historical details for ABN: 40 075120517, ASIC, retrieved 15 November 2011
  8. ^ Political Expenditure Return – 2009–10, AEC, retrieved 15 November 2011
  9. ^ a b Josh Taylor (22 February 2016). "Money and mining men behind the shadowy Australian Christian Lobby". crikey.com.au. Crikey. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  10. ^ Jeffery, Stephen (20 March 2016). "Australian Christian Lobby registers Eternity House building as a separate not-for-profit". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  11. ^ "Submissions". The Australian Christian Lobby. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  12. ^ Viewpoint, Viewpoint, retrieved 14 June 2012
  13. ^ Media Releases, ACL, retrieved 15 November 2011
  14. ^ Newsletters, ACL, retrieved 15 November 2011
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference ACL position on marriage was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ "Override hate speech laws to allow marriage equality debate, urges Christian lobby". theguardian. 16 February 2016.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference porteous was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ "This man runs a political group obsessed with gay-hate". Mamma Mia. 7 September 2012.
  19. ^ Sharpe, Brad (25 January 2001). "Business of God". Australia: Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  20. ^ a b Transcript – Australian Conference (PDF), National Library of Australia, 2007, retrieved 24 October 2011
  21. ^ "Turnbull to address Christian concerns". Christian Today. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  22. ^ Here God is anything but dead, SMH, 22 June 2010, retrieved 23 October 2010
  23. ^ Zwartz, Barney (6 August 2010), Gillard bid to win back Christians, The Age, retrieved 18 August 2012
  24. ^ Karvelas, Patricia (30 October 2014). "Bill Shorten's description of Christians 'wide of the mark'". The Australian. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  25. ^ "Scott Morrison tells Australian Christian Lobby budget will focus on tax and jobs". The Guardian. 23 April 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  26. ^ Harrison, Dan (6 September 2012). "Gillard singes Christian Lobby over 'offensive' gay remark". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  27. ^ Sandeman, John (29 April 2013). "Changing the guard at the Christian lobby". Eternity Newspaper. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  28. ^ Hatcher, Leigh (28 April 2013). "Jim and Lyle: Changing of the guard". Open House. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  29. ^ "Our staff". Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  30. ^ a b The Australian Christian Lobby, ABC Radio National, retrieved 4 May 2013
  31. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference bfi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  32. ^ Warhurst, John (29 October 2014). "Pressure groups and the lessons political leaders should learn". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  33. ^ Warhurst, John (11 May 2016). "Religion will play a role in 2016 federal election". The Age. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  34. ^ "The Australian Christian Lobby will not go away". Eureka Street. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  35. ^ Warhurst, John (2006). "Religion in 21 st Century Australian National Politics" (PDF). Papers on Parliament. 46. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. The Senate: 61–80. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  36. ^ Ireland, Judith (19 February 2016). "Who are the Australian Christian Lobby?". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 February 2016.

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