LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY juno_domina)

I found this site after reading Sunfell's livejournal, and even though I'm living in Australia I can easily see the relevance to our own country, both as part of the 'Coalition of the Willing' and as a country which is clearly following in America's footsteps in terms of seeing a resurgence in the religous Right.

Originally we had one key party that was involved in politics and was extremely blatant about its ties (the CDP- Christian Democratic Party- famous for declaring that Muslim women shouldn't wear chadors as they could be 'carrying weapons of mass destruction under them'), however they represented a very small portion of the vote. Recently we have seen Family First gain a seat in our Senate which has secured the balance of power for our Liberal givernment. This is frightening in many ways, as it means that they can pass whatever legislation they please with no effective check (unless Senators cross the floor). They don't run on an explicitly 'Christian' platform, however when you explore their documents and speeches it becomes frighteningly clear where they are headed. Two of the most famous incidents include a member stating 'lesbians are witches and should be burned at the stake' and one of their actual politicians proclaiming that Asylum Seekers held in detention should be released so long as they converted into Christianity (because, one assumes, they won't be terrorists anymore after that).

Given the close ties between America and Australia, and also my increasing exposure to this kind of politics, I'm really interested in learning more about what's going on and seeing the connections.

Juno