Christians Political Parties
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An election following a prorogued is not a common event. Because Senators (excluding those from the ACT and NT) are usually elected for a 6 year term, it is normal for each State to elect 6 Senators at each election, but when parliament has been prorogued, Australians are required to elect 12 Senators for each State.
When the Senate election is finalised and the new Senate meets, one of the first decisions that new senators will make will be to decide who will serve a 6 year term and who will serve 3 year term. Traditionally, the decision is simple – the first 6 Senators elected in their State serve 6 years, the balance serve 3 years. Alternatively, the Senate may also choose to use a “count back” system in which it would be determined which 6 Senators from each State would have been elected if it had been a half Senate election and they would serve 6 years, with the remaining Senators serving 3 years. Under the latter system (which strongly favours major parties), most senators who belong to minor parties would be limited to 3 year terms.
Where the election is for the full Senate, smaller parties (such as the “Christian” parties) have a much better chance of success, because the size of the “quota” for election is halved. Usually (i.e. in a half Senate election), 14.7% of the vote is required (after distribution of preferences) to win a Senate seat, but in a full Senate election, the size of the quota is reduced to just 7.4%.
In recent years, we have seen the effect that a double dissolution of Parliament can have on the Senate, with the rise of the small parties and independent senators. Both Labor and Coalition Governments have had to deal with a Senate in which the non major parties held the balance of power. This has tended to produce a slowing down on of legislation, with the Senate delaying the passage of a great deal of legislating and the minor parties and independents being able to negotiate "deals" with the government that have meant that governments have needed to compromise on some of its principles and ideals to persuade these small party and independent senators to pass certain legislation.
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Governments of both persuasions have shouted from the rooftop that voting for minor parties in a Senate election is voting for stagnancy and even "chaos" in our parliamentary system of government.
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However the reality is that it has been a LONG time since a Government had a Senate majority, and it appears that situation may not change for a while to come.
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Despite all of the moral righteousness claimed by Christian parties, for them to win a seat in a half Senate election under Australia's voting rules, is extremely difficult, if not impossible. If Christian parties go to the election as they are currently constituted, they would need an unrealistically watertight preference exchange to have any chance of election, and history has shown that the Christian parties have not only never achieved this, they have also never even suggested it to their supporters!
What we have tended to see in Australia past, has been splinter “Christian” parties forming for all sorts of reasons – policy or personality, and so when you go to vote in a Senate election the is not one but several "Christian options". The reality is than this splintering of the "Christian vote" effectively minimises the effectiveness of the Christian vote and makes it VERY hard for one of the "Christian" candidates to have any chance of winning a Senate seat. (Remember, united we stand, divided we fall - and that is exactly what we see with Christian candidates)
So, what should happen, what should Christian parties do in order to get a voice in the Senate? Whilst it may sound like a novel idea to some, Christians are going to need to work together if they are to get a voice in the Senate. Egos need to be trimmed and a broader base of common policies need to be adopted, and a single voice for a single party will need to be presented to the electorate. I believe that if this had happened in the last few Senate elections, we may have seen several Christians with a realistic chance of winning Senate seats across the Nation.
It may well be possible for Christian parties to continue to operate in their individual States as they do now (the CDP, for example is fairly strong in NSW, but weak in other States), but at a National level, some form of Christian Alliance needs to be formed to give Christians (i.e. representing Christian values - I do understand and accept that there are Christians in major parties who are already in the Parliament) a chance to win seats. Even at State level, I am sure that a single Christian alliance would perform MUCH better than the multiple party system currently performs. Sure, Christian parties have a few Legislative Council seats around the Nation, but together, with a single voice and just one Christian party or at least an alliance or coalition of Christian Parties, we can and would do better.
The most viable model that I can see, would be an alliance that involved current Christian parties meeting together to formulate a single platform (an one that is a set of positives rather than a list of things that we don’t like, which is what Christian parties tend to promote at present) on major political issues (such as education, health and the economy) as well as important moral issues (like marriage, treatment of refugees etc). Based on this single platform, a single party (maybe something like “The United Christian Voice” or “Christian Alliance”) could be formed to fight at least Federal Senate elections.
The simple reality is that the political system has “ganged up” against the Christian voice in our nation. Partly, this is the fault of the splintered and divided voice that supposedly represents Christian opinion in our Nation. We must find common ground and put aside some policy areas where we simply cannot find a single voice. Is this compromise? I prefer to see it as working together where we have agreement – I would much rather see the common ground that we have on a majority issues heard in our Parliament, rather than continuing to “fight” other Christians over peripheral issues, those things on which we may differ, and have these issues exclude our voice completely from the halls of government.