Rudd and Abbott to Christians - Their Spiel

Last night the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) ran a live webcast aimed at Christians to meet the candidates for the next election. Churches had to pay (I think $110) to get access to the webcast probably to cover the cost of running the event. Lots of churches around Australia signed up and opened their doors for all to watch. At the church I went to (and attend on Sundays), there were lots of people there who were not from that church- and two other churches in the same suburb were also hosting the same event. Rudd and Abbott were each given a 20 minute spiel and then were asked the same questions from the audience from prominent Church leaders. There was also a 30 minute break between each speaker, because I guess they can not be seen in the same room together...

Kevin Rudd

Rudd went first and started by arguing for a secular nation where people of Christan belief, other belief or non-belief can have a fair say in this country. He cited some Christian influence on this nation and that historically Christians did start up education, healthcare and welfare in the western world. He then went on to list a series of things that he has already done or proposes to do, such as education development is all school - both private and public; health care should be federally controlled; aim to reduce homelessness by half in this country by building places for 20 000 people; have strict welfare conditions with a view in the NT; improve work place conditions. He said their government saved the economy and reduced unemployment by spending $15 billion and that climate change is happening and their Government tried to pass an ETS three times but it didn't get through.

Tony Abbott

Abbott actually mentioned Jesus and cited the golden rule, but he did concede that the idea was first around 500 years before Jesus, but he did say it was the Christian influence that made it take off. He then said the whole love thy neighbor is to be applied to all people, regardless of their belief. He called himself a Christian of sorts in politics and doesn't want people to vote for him as a Christian but as a politician. He then talked about how under Howard they boosted prosperity and increased household incomes; helped build private schools; brought in a baby bonus and school chaplains; introduced some pregnancy hotline. He called himself an orthodox liberal conservative but is also progressive. He wants to stop government wasteful spending and to give the education development money to schools to decide what to do with the money. He plans to reduce carbon emissions by 5% by 2020 and wants to have paid parental leave for 6 months and essentially larger Australian families. He summed up by saying he wanted smaller government, less taxes, a fair go for all, look after families and that people were basically good.

In the next post I will try and summaries the question time, but you can read about this event in other news locations (I assume as the day progresses more stories will come out):

Christian voters put Rudd, Abbott to the test - ABC News

Lateline - 21/06/2010: Federal leaders court Christian vote