The Secular Party of Australia condemns Gillard for her outrageous claim that she accepts Australia’s cultural and religious heritage.  She ignores the fact that 42% of residents in Melbourne Ports are not Christian and she uses religion as an excuse to deny equality for all Australians.

Gillard stated in an interview that she accepts the Christian reason for marriage and ignores the fact that the Marriage Act was only changed in 2004 to specify marriage between one man and one woman.  Her use of the term ‘Christian heritage’ is disrespectful and deeply offensive to married people of no faith and of other religions.

Despite her personal held beliefs about marriage, she should not allow her decision to be based on religious grounds to the detriment of a section of the community.  Government should be about protecting minorities against the unjustifiable will of the majority.

The Secular Party of Australia’s policy is equality for all.  The removal of religion from government decision making is now paramount.  No one religion should be used to lord it over the rest of the population.

Media Release – Gillard Stands Condemned (20 Aug 10)

But Danby has been playing it both ways.  In the Jewish media he talks about his Jewish track record, how much the Labor government has spent in the Jewish community over the last three years.  Then at the Jewish News Candidate debate between himself and the Liberal candidate he called the last three years “The Golden Era of Labor and Jewish Schools”.  He’s very proud of that achievment.  Nowhere, to his Jewish voters, has he mentioned anything about gay rights or all the work he has purported to do for the gay community.  He’s strangely silent.

Over at the Melbourne Ports Candidate forum Danby makes no mention of this Golden Era, nor does he make any mention of his strong connections to the Jewish community.  He spoke about his great achievements and that of the Labor Government, but not once did he mention the hundreds of millions of dollars the Labor party has spent on Jewish schools.  That piece of information was kept quiet.

Now in rides Kev Ekendahl, astride the cash cow and promises the Jewish community $15 million for Jewish Schools.  In the loudest “Me too!” I’ve heard in years, the Liberals are bending over backwards to secure the prized Jewish vote.  Nowhere in his advertising in the gay media has Kev mentioned anything about his promises to the Jewish Community, and again, nowhere in his communication with the Jewish community does he mention he’s gay.

These two really do like taking it both ways.

Cut the crap.  Are they really so selective that they want to keep the two demographics of their potential voters apart?

Melbourne Ports deserves better than a couple of party hacks who will play the audience for fools, tell them only the nice bits, and ignore the tough bits in fear that it will cost them precious votes.

When you stand at the polling booth, ask yourself do you really want this sort of deceit from your elected representatives?  No?  Then you know what to do.

Vote [1] Gregory STORER in Melbourne Ports.

Vote [1] Penelope GREEN in Melbourne.

Vote above the line for the Senate and mark the Secular Party as [1] in Group R

We deserve to be represented by people with integrity, not hopefulls who only pander to sectional interest for the sole purpose of getting elected.  You need someone who will represent your views, without favouritism based on  religious lines or party politics. Melbourne Ports needs better representation and I can do that.

Religious institutions receive many exemptions and benefits.  They don’t pay payroll tax, stamp duty or GST.

It’s time to end the rort!

Organised religions are in a privileged position in our society.  The Australian Tax Office considers the ‘advancement of religion’ as a justifiable reason to grant them charity status and tax exemptions.

Religions take full advantage of this and use their status to amass huge amounts of money that isn’t properly accounted for as their books are quite often closed to public scrutiny.

It really is time to review their charity status and, unless a church can show that their work is for the public benefit, that status should be removed and the money should be taxed.

The challenge for us is to recognise where religion is:

• doing ‘charity’ work
• taking advantage of our current taxes laws
• making huge profits
• not contributing to society as responsible corporate citizens

If you run a business, then you have to be prepared to pay your share of the tax.

Australia needs a Charities Commission, an organisation that would monitor and supervise non-profit organisations to ensure that the work they are undertaking is really for public benefit.

Your support of the Secular Party will allow us to pursue the true separation of church and state, an issue that needs correcting and one we are long over due for.