Call to Australia
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Christian Democratic Party
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|---|---|
 |
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| Leader | Reverend Fred Nile |
| Founded | 1977 |
| Headquarters | 9 Exeter Road Homebush West, NSW 2040 |
| Ideology |
National conservatism Social conservatism Christian democracy Christian right |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| Colours |
Silver (official) Blue (customary) |
| NSW Legislative Council |
2 / 42
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| Website | |
| www.cdp.org.au | |
The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) is a socially conservative political party in Australia. Its leader is Fred Nile, a Congregational Church minister and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.
Originally established as the "Call to Australia Party" in 1977, the party grew out of earlier organisations such as the Festival of Light, with which Nile has been associated for more than 30 years. These groups had sought to mobilise conservative and evangelical Protestants as an electoral force. Nile was elected to the Legislative Council in 1981, and the party has managed to see a candidate elected at every subsequent New South Wales state election to date.
The party exists to support Christian representation in every level of government – Federal, State and Local.
The party claims to support policies that it believes promote 'Christian values', are supportive of family values, protective of children and their rights including those of unborn children, and policies that are protective of established Australian values and systems, inclusive of a requirement that immigrants to Australia demonstrate a desire to learn English.
The party opposes LGBT rights, abortion, IVF, euthanasia, pornography, and sharia law.
The party and a candidate, Peter Madden, came under intense opposition from their policies and political campaign actions by the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL). Their campaign to have the Sydney Mardi Gras banned because of, as he puts it, "the lifestyle and perversion that it promotes" saw opposition from the RSL as one of their campaign YouTube videos, which featured Madden, labelled a "battle cry", calls upon "10,000 warriors" to rally against the event and shows Madden in front of the Anzac War Memorial in Hyde Park inviting viewers to become "lions" and join him. The NSW RSL president, Don Rowe, said that returned servicemen and women and the public as a whole find it "totally offensive" that anyone would use the image of the War Memorial to make a political statement. Don Rowe said to The Sydney Morning Herald, "I am neither a supporter nor a detractor of the Mardi Gras and the RSL has no official position on it, but we totally disapprove of the use of the War Memorial in a politicised way. It is a sacred site and symbolises those Australians who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country and for our freedoms … not for someone trying to make a political stand."
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Wikipedia