Queensland Election

To be held on 21 March 2009

On 23 February, Queensland Premier, Labor's Anna Bligh called an election.
The election will be held on 21 March 2009 - six months early.

She said she had called the election early due to the global financial crisis and speculation about the election date. Click here for the ABC report of the calling of the election and summary of the parties.

The Opposition is the Liberal National Party, a combination of the Liberal and National Parties (they combined during 2008 in Queensland).

Before voting in the election, voters need to assess the policies of the political parties AND the candidates in their electorate.

1. Assessing the policies of the parties

Christian Values Checklist
One of the easiest ways to get an overview of the moral and ethical policies of the political parties is to use the Christian Values Checklist.

As in the federal and various state elections, a Christian Values Checklist has been prepared by the Australian Christian Values Institute. This is headed by Warwick Marsh and Salt Shakers is a part of the group preparing the information for the Checklist.
FIRST EDITION - 6 March; SECOND EDITION - 13 March 2009.

The Christian Values Checklist covers a range of moral and ethical issues such as cloning, abortion, homosexuality, gambling and so on where there is a clear Christian perspective.

On the issue of abortion, for instance, we need to remember that Anna Bligh is a member of Emily's List (which requires Labor women to support abortion in order to get assistance to get elected). 12 other current sitting female Labor MPs are also members of Emily's List. Source - click here.
In 2007 Anna Bligh told the Courier Mail she would support a Bill to decriminalise abortion (Abortion on Labor agenda - CM, 28/10/2007).
These factors need to be taken into account when assessing a political party's position on this important issue. [More information in the 'Checklist Comments' document.]

On financial and welfare issues the parties are usually quite similar and on such issues there are often differing views within the Christian community. Thus the focus in the Checklist is on the moral/ethical issues, which often show marked differences between political parties on these vital issues.

The Christian Values Checklist for the Queensland election is available on the ACVI website.
In addition, an 8 page 'Checklist Comments' document is also attached below - it looks at some questions from the Checklist and highlights some policies of some of the parties. (see second edition)

A SECOND EDITION of the Christian Values Checklist was released on 13 March 2009.
Several responses were altered:
Q14: Give all councils the right to veto brothels
Family First and the Liberal National Party both have a policy to allow Councils to veto brothels.
Q 20: Remain free - remove religious & homosexual anti-discrimination
Family First generally opposes discrimination laws - Family First's score has been raised to a '?'
Q25: Restore Upper House to Queensland Parliament to bring back accountability
Family First has now published a policy in favour of restoring an Upper House in Queensland.
The DLP has two different forms of their policy on an Upper House - however they are campaigning for one so their score is now a '?'
More details in the Checklist Comments.

Political parties and policies
To assist you further assess the policies of the political parties, we've provided links to the websites and policy pages for the major parties running in the Queensland election.

Family First
Website
Policies
Core Values and Beliefs - Queensland

DLP
Website
Queensland election policies
Policies

Liberal National Party
Website
Policies
State policies

Australian Labor Party
Website
Policies

Greens
Election Website :
Policies

2. Assessing individual candidates
When you go to the ballot box on election day, you need to know who the candidates are and what their own values are BEFORE you cast your vote.

Candidates:
To find out who your candidates are, obtain a list of the candidates from the Electoral Commission of Queensland - click here for the page where candidates' names are displayed. Clicking on the name of each candidate gives their phone number and email address!

Electorate:
If you don't know which electorate you are in - click here.

Contact them to ask them about themselves and their values. You might want to ask about their position on moral issues such as abortion, cloning or homosexuality. Or perhaps how they feel about the financial crisis, climate change or war.

You might want to know if they are married, if they are a Christian or what involvement they have had in the community.