My voting intention this year is to
vote for the Secular Party Of Australia for the senate.
The secular party is my choice for
a progressive, multi-platform party that has the will and drive to enshrine the
separation of church and state, something lacking in this country.
The secular party of Australia places
emphasis on formulating policies based on evidence, rather than
dogma. What a refreshing change that will be!
The secular party favours dismantling
the National schools Chaplaincy program – a program that cost Australians over 200 million dollars. You remember the NSCP, the
program that wasn't supposed to be about religion but violates the
Australian constitution? The same program that had funding deemed 'invalid' by the high court of Australia. The same program that puts
unqualified counsellors into schools. The same counsellors who may or may not know a damn thing about counselling children. The secular
party is intent on replacing it with a program that supplies
qualified counsellors. Counsellors who wont advise children on
spiritual issues as some of them currently do. What a novel concept,
it sounds a bit like seeing a doctor instead of homoeopath.
Speaking of homoeopathy, did you know
that Australians spend more on complementary medicines than on realmedicines ? You know, the medicines that actually have been tested
and approved ? The Secular party has proposed cracking down these
questionable remedies by tightening regulations and asking for some
actual proof of efficiency before Medicare rebates will apply.
As I said at the start, this party is
not a single-issue party, it has many policies. Sensible, evidence
based policies that aren't the result of some dogmatic interpretation
of a 2000 year old book put together by a bunch of semi-nomadic goat
herders who were writing down recollections of their ancestors.
Policies for example that will end the
tax breaks and exemptions for religious institutions. Tax breaks
will still be available for not-for-profit organisations of any
particular religious or non-religious persuasion provided they can
pass a public benefit test. You know, the sort of test that shows
that the tax-free money is actually helping the community at large,
and not just 'advancing religion'. Once again, the commitment to
evidence-based legislation makes sense.
The Secular party specifically deplores
the demonisation of asylum seekers. With the two major parties
engaging in a contest to see who can kick the shit out of the most
vulnerable of vulnerable, it's rather nice to see a party prepared to
treat people as.. well... people. Migrants to Australia will be
expected to understand that fundamental to Australian values is the
idea that women and men are equal. New Australian citizens will have
to understand that their primary loyalty will be to Australian
values, including freedom of religion and not to their
religion (assuming they have one!).
The secular party proposes that oaths
for public offices that currently reference religion should be replaced with
a more inclusive and secular oath, with an optional religious oath to
follow the legally binding affirmation. See! No coercion and you can
still swear your allegiance to the carpenter zombie if you want.
While we're talking about authority and
government, don't you think it might be time for an Australian head
of state? The secular party favours a republic, rather than the
current system of an English woman who is head of our state because of archaic hereditary laws. Sounds like a great career
path to me, but I can't see much room for promotion.
Was that blasphemy? Let's hope not,
because in Australian there are still blasphemy laws on the books.
Laws that should have been removed long ago like a the malignant
cancer they are. Laws just waiting for the opportunity to be hijacked
by some offended religious nutter in the name of their chosen all
mighty myth.
I'll be voting for Secular party in the
senate because of a commitment to evidence based policy, a commitment
to separating church and state, and a commitment to end the National
School Chaplaincy program. I'm voting secular australian party
because secularism is central to religious freedom. Freedom is
something we can all get behind.
