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15th September 2004
Bible Belt wants to tighten a grip on power

Danny Nalliah, a Pastor of the Catch the Fire ministries, and Steve Fielding both members of the Family First party in Dandenong.

Both sitting still and moving around convinced Danny Nalliah that Canberra called. Now he dreams that he might hold the balance of power in the Senate.

The moving was his travelling as senior pastor of Catch the Fire Ministries. The sitting still was the long days in court defending the Islamic Council of Victoria's complaint against him under the state's religious vilification act.

"I have travelled the length and breadth of this nation, and have been very concerned about the moral decay. Families are in turmoil, and I thought, 'How can we help?' " Mr Nalliah said yesterday. He thought of starting his own political party, but found what he was looking for in Family First, a conservative party that expects to be Australia's fourth largest after the election. Family First believes it can win three or four Senate seats, and hold the balance of power.

Mr Nalliah is behind Steve Fielding on the party's Victorian senate ticket. He feels the Islamic Council case has provided a good platform. The council complained that Mr Nalliah, Catch the Fire and speaker Daniel Scot vilified Muslims at a Melbourne seminar in March 2002. Judge Michael Higgins is yet to deliver a ruling.

"The case means people have got to know about me nationwide, and the values we stand for," Mr Nalliah said. "In the last census 73 per cent of Australians claimed to be Christian. They are the moral majority who want to see Christian values, but don't stand up because there is no one to champion their cause."

Family First was launched in South Australia two years ago, and had its first parliamentarian there nine weeks later, winning an upper house seat. While not a Christian party, its values are conservative and Bible-based. It will stand 126 candidates, more than the Democrats, including every marginal seat and Victorian seat. "People know business, unions and the environment will be well represented in Canberra but question whether the family is," he said.

Family First's policies include a Family Commission, which would examine the impact of legislation on families. The party also wants a health and wellbeing index, similar to the consumer price index, measuring a basket of indicators such as housing affordability and health accessibility. It wants to extend government-funded counselling for couples considering divorce and women considering having an abortion.

Family First has discussed preferences with both major parties. Its own preferences would be distributed by candidate rather than by party, but the Greens would be last.