WEST Australian Christians have been banned from using publicly-owned venues because their views do not “represent” those of the State’s Labor government.
Under pseudo-censorship laws passed within days of Labor’s March 13 re-election, WA Premier Mark McGowan has prohibited people with whom his government disagrees from hiring public facilities.
- Christians banned from hiring public venues because of disagreement with Labor Party.
- ACL calls the move a 'serious example of State censorship'.
- Euthanasia debate highlighted as possible cause of ban.
The State’s venues are forbidden from being hired “where the content of an event does not represent the views of the West Australian government or the vast majority of Western Australians”.
INVOKED
The ruling was invoked by the Perth Theatre Trust last month to block the Australian Christian Lobby from hiring the Albany Entertainment Centre.
ACL is considering its legal position.
The WA director of the nation-wide Christian organisation, Mr Peter Abetz, said the policy was a serious example of government censorship.
“I’d be very keen for the policy to be changed, but if they don’t do it voluntarily, then perhaps we need to go to the discrimination tribunal,” he said.
“It’s quite staggering to be honest. We first tried to hire the Perth Concert Hall and when that was declined we never thought much of it as there were plenty of other suitable venues.
“When we made enquiries to the Albany Entertainment Centre, we were told it was available and so filled in the forms.
“Then we got a response saying ‘sorry, you can’t hire it because your organisation has political motives’.”
EUTHENASIA
The McGowan government disagrees with the ACL’s position on euthanasia.
Mr Abetz said the Equal Opportunity Act (1984) outlawed discrimination on the basis of political views or religious beliefs.
“The fact that the government is saying you can’t hire this venue because you espouse traditional Christian values, I find that absolutely outrageous,” he told Sky News anchor Chris Kenny on Wednesday.
“My understanding is the High Court has ruled that we have that implied right of political communication and here we have the government saying no you can’t.
“We’ve written to the minister pointing out that we believe the policy is in contravention of the Equal Opportunity Act.
“We want to give them the opportunity to set their house in order but it they refuse to do that … we do plan to take it further.
“It’s outrageous to say that if you don’t agree with West Australian Labor views you don’t get to hire a venue.
“We hope common sense will prevail.”PC
“When Man stops believing in God, he will believe in anything” G. K. Chesterton.
This radical behaviour by the Minister of Culture of the state of Western Australia, must prove Premier McGowan’s Government to be out of sinc with the rest of Australia.
Divisive behaviour is not condusive to good mental health. What are these men thinking.
Australia is a Christian country long before any of these politicians came to power… this is an act of McGowan bigotry and very unAustralian…using religion as the basis of a dispute rather than looking at the human and psychological underpinnings of the disagreement.
If blocking groups from using State owned venues, who hold Christian views based on the the teachings of the Bible, being the ‘tried and true’ Old Testament 10 Commandments, or the New Testament Sermon on the Mount, then one must ask is this the Policy of the WA Labor Party?
I am not aware of this being Labor Policy, and I would be very surprised if it is, as the Labor Party was founded on Christian teaching.
If some want it to be, then such a policy change should be put, debated and voted on at the very next WA Annual Convention. I would be very surprised if the majority of the Labor Party in WA would support such a change. Also I doubt if the electorate would take kindly to such a change.
It is not only Christians who value Christian teaching, particularly the 10 Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. Indeed the Constitution, our legal system, and procedures in most or our Parliaments are anchored in the teachings of Jesus.
It would be a brave person who would dump these,
This is quite extraordinary for a country based on Christian principles to espouse. One would expect it in China or North Korea and many other places but WA? What is this “woke PC cancelled” monster calling itself the WA Labor Party? Who in the name of freedom elected these zealots to office? Why do I think back to the iconoclastic schisms of history so as to make comparison?
I hope that the reaction to this nonsense will be robust and memorable otherwise whatever else might occur, freedom will be unable to raise its head to be heard.
Gone is Freedom of Speech in a Christian Nation (or at least in W.A). Labor are modern Bolsheviks when they block the views and freedoms of others (to hire a publically available venue), and the dangers of letting this behaviour run unchecked is frightening.
One wonders if the W.A Govt would allow the venue to be hired to a union, a socialist society, or the United Front (CCP).
‘The State’s venues are forbidden from being hired “where the content of an event does not represent the views of the West Australian government or the vast majority of Western Australians”.’
So who determines exactly what “represents the views of the majority of Western Australians”? How big does a majority have to be before it’s a “vast majority”? Above all, who says that a government is entitled to “a view” on anything? Governments are the agents of the people, by whom they are elected to serve and by whom they are paid – not the other way round.
This is an act of breathtaking arrogance – it is a modern-day parallel of the state-mandated strictures that constrained the lives of Jews in Germany in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The ACL should *not* seek legal advice: they should inform McGowan and his so-called government that they will be using the state-owned venue of their choice whether the government wants to take their money or not, and they should simply turn up on the day and force entry to said venue. If the police then want to start bashing and arresting people for the heinous crime of being Christians, I’m sure that they’ll lead news bulletins around the world – no doubt that would do wonders for McGowan’s approval ratings.
Democracy and Labor WA, what democracy?
The bigger they believe they are the harder they always fall.