Vic Christians to grill leaders

The Christian lobby is seeking assurances that Victoria's major parties won't adopt
Greens' policies on euthanasia and same-sex adoption should they need the minor
party's support to form government.
Premier John Brumby, a mad Magpies supporter, and Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu, a
Cats fan, will spend part of AFL Grand Final eve answering questions from the
state's Christian lobby at Parliament House.
In the leaders' first town hall-style meeting before the November 27 poll, they will
answer questions from Christian leaders on Friday night but are not expected to
debate each other.
Australian Christian Lobby state director Rob Ward said the leaders would be quizzed
on issues such as abortion, changes to the Equal Opportunity Act, religious
vilification and gambling.
"Across the church everybody is seeking one thing and that is less abortions," he
told AAP.
Labor and the coalition will be sent a list of 20 questions from the lobby early
next week, including what each would do if required to win support from the Greens
to form a minority government.
"We will be asking both leaders whether they would, shall we say, trade away
commitments they've made before the election if they need to do deals with minor
parties," he said.
"We have seen federally and now in four states in the space of a week the Greens
move on euthanasia.
"We would seek an assurance from both leaders ... that if it was necessary for them
to negotiate in some way with the Greens that would not become a bargaining chip.
"We'll ask the leaders of both parties to commit to not allowing the introduction of
euthanasia into Victoria."
Greens upper house MP Colleen Hartland introduced a private member's bill into
parliament in 2008 to legalise euthanasia, but it was defeated 25 votes to 13.
This week she called on the Victorian Law Reform Commission to examine the issue
following Labor minister Maxine Morand's call for it to be back on parliament's
agenda.
Same-sex adoption was another key issue for the church, Mr Ward said.
It is illegal in Victoria for gay couples to adopt a child together.
The Greens policy is to remove all laws preventing adoption on the basis of sexual
orientation or marital status.
A judge earlier this month allowed a gay man to adopt his foster child. The NSW
parliament recently passed a bill giving same-sex couples full adoption rights, and
similar rights exist in the ACT, Western Australia and Tasmania.
Mr Ward said he was certain the Greens would try to persuade both parties to give
same-sex couples full adoption rights.
He said faith-based organisations were concerned about changes the government has
made to the Equal Opportunity Act, which now requires them to provide proof that
membership of a faith is an inherent requirement for employment.
"Most Christian schools would like to think that their staff represented the
Christian faith in every aspect of the curriculum," he said.
"That freedom is diminished now."
Mr Ward said Christians were also critical of the government's decision to give the
Equal Opportunity Commission the power to launch its own investigations, without
having received a complaint.
"That kind of Orwellian power is quite concerning," he said.
Currently holding 55 lower house seats, the Brumby government would relinquish its
majority in the 88-seat chamber if it lost 11 seats.
The coalition would have to gain 13 seats to govern in its own right.