The recent national conference of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) raises broader political questions. The event was held in Canberra and featured Opposition Leader Bill Shorten as keynote speaker.
The ACL will not go away. Despite serious academic criticism from Professor Rodney Smith of the University of Sydney questioning its claims to political influence, it is now established in the top echelon of lobbying groups.
Media reports noted that appearances at ACL conferences 'have become something of a political rite of passage in recent years'. That is a major achievement. Since Kevin Rudd and John Howard agreed to an ACL-sponsored forum prior to the 2007 election other leaders have followed almost routinely. Julia Gillard did withdraw under provocation from the 2012 conference but she made time for an interview with Jim Wallace of ACL prior to the 2010 election. On that occasion Rudd and Tony Abbott had already featured in the pre-election debate in June 2010 just days before Gillard ousted Rudd.
Like most other pressure groups the ACL, founded in 1995, boosts itself shamelessly in its search for donations and members. It claims to be a 'Voice for Values' and boasts 30,000 members. It reckons it has become 'one of the premier political lobbies in the country' and that it is 'growing in size and influence'. These are big claims, but measured by its growth and positioning ACL has been successful.
First it has effectively taken over the term ‘Christian’ in politics, though it does not claim to be the peak Christian voice. The name says it all. The major churches are fading by comparison, their image blighted by child sex abuse and falling attendances.
It is a sleight of hand, of course, to infer that the 64 per cent of Australians who are Census Christians subscribe to the ACL agenda. Half of them are Christian only in name and the other half includes many progressive Christians who do not accept at all any purported representation by the conservative ACL. But church leaders, like the new Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, also on this year’s program, have enhanced ACL’s image.
Secondly, it has demonstrated professionalism and creativity. It has invested in its future through its Lachlan Macquarie internship program and done innovative things, like broadcasting leaders’ debates before federal elections.
Thirdly, it has continued to attract Australia’s political leaders to its conferences. Politicians respond to opportunities so their presence is always a good test of potential group influence. ACL conferences are now on the political circuit even for those wary of them.
This is the first general lesson for politicians trying to reach as wide an audience as possible. The middle ground can be reached through unsympathetic audiences. Centrist voters follow the media reports that emanate from such events. This wider audience is always more important than the relatively small group in attendance. Labor MP, Shayne Neumann, who also spoke at the conference (in support of constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians, a cause ACL supports), was right to praise Shorten for his decision to speak.
But the second lesson is that there are costs for centre-left leaders addressing such groups. They certainly must be careful not to alienate their own core constituency in doing so. More importantly they must take care to be true to themselves by not exaggerating the place of faith in their own lives when they engage with faith communities. They should always stick to their own ground not that of their audience.
Shorten started with a story about getting advice from his local priest at Moonee Ponds about beginning his speech with something from the Scriptures (it turned out to be the Beatitudes). He ended with a long quote from Wesley and in the middle quoted John Fitzgerald Kennedy about leaders being responsible to all faiths but obligated to none.
Only those who know Shorten well can say whether he was really being true to himself. My advice to any speechwriter working for a leader who is not deeply religious is never to lay religion on too thick. There is a thin line between respecting the values of your audience and being untrue to yourself. The personal remains dangerous political territory.
John Warhurst is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University and a Canberra Times columnist.