(Australian Politics)
C. de Bakker. Trowel & Sword. October 1961
Preamble: In Australia elections are never far away. Earlier this year there was the South Australian election; the Victorian election is due in a few weeks and a New South Wales election is due early next year. Even though the next federal election is not due for another nineteen months, we are constantly being bombarded by polls predicting the the state even of that election “were it to be held today”. There is a well known saying that – “the more things change the more they stay the same”. In many respects this article, written 65 years ago could just as easily be written about elections in Australia today, with the possible exception of the means of communication used by today’s politicians in their attempts to “bribe” constituents to vote for them or their party. For Christians of conscience the conundrum remains: Who to vote for – keeping in mind that for a long, long time the separation of church and state message has been drummed into us by the secular, anti-Christian lobby.
Whom Shall We Vote?
Shortly after we despatched our last monthly review to the printer, the Prime Minister finally made the announcement for which we had been waiting: setting the date for the next Federal elections. As expected, these elections are to be held in December, to be precise on December 9th, and it will be on that date that the various political parties will come to the people of Australia asking for a mandate for the next term of Government. In-as-much as we have made use of the opportunities to become Australian citizens, thus acquiring the right to vote, these political parties will also come to you and me, asking for our support. In City Halls, on street corners and via the means of personal canvass, the representatives of these parties will expound their political programmes and we will grow more and more confused listening to all the promises, hearing all the things they intend to do if we are willing to vote them into office. It sounds all very tempting and particularly if the politician happens to be the backslapping salesman type, assuring us that of all the migrants coming to this country he considers the Dutch people the greatest asset of the lot, we will be more and more inclined to say: ah well, he’s a nice fellow, never mind the party he represents and the principles he stands for. He will do me.
Well, will he really do you? That is the important question that we will have to ask ourselves when we are going to cast our vote, and this question is by no means an easy one. Time and again people have told me: certainly, we believe that a good purpose is being served in commenting on Australian politics in our periodical, quite interesting and all that, but now, you tell us how to vote when the election comes around. I am afraid that I can’t. I realise, of course, that this answer, which really is no answer at all, must be very disappointing to you, as a voter. But remember then, that this answer is conditioned by the very nature of the Australian political scene. It is this scene that is really disappointing to us as professing Christians and soldiers of the Cross. Disappointing, because we fail to find an acknowledgement of Christ’s Kingship in the sphere of the State in the political platform of either party, whether it be Liberal or Labour. Disappointing, because the number of Australian politicians who as professing Christians feel compelled to bring their Christian convictions to bear upon their political credo, is so terribly scarce. So, what are we to do, and who are going to be the men of our choice?
In trying to find the answer, no good purpose is being served by saying: if there were only a Christian political party in Australia. There isn’t and there won’t be one for a very long time to come, if there will ever be one. The Australian political mind is one that concentrates on economics, more than on anything else, and the thought that Christ’s Kingship might have something to do with such economic matters as land, jobs, taxation, industrial disputes, transport, marketing and social services, is far removed from this mind, and would at least in some circles be regarded as sheer blasphemy. Therefore, any penetration of Christian political principles into the sphere of practical politics is possible only via the individual members of Parliament, and not via any political party. Although not by any means a certainty, there is quite a, likely-hood that in each electorate can be found a man who is’ a professing Christian, whether he be a Liberal or a man representing the Labour Party in Federal Parliament. The very fact that he is known to be a Christian and is likely to better understand my Christian language than someone who is reputedly an agnostic, would for me be a reason to consider casting my vote in his favour, provided he would not be a man who above anything else allows himself to be led by the platform of his party but who feels himself to be sufficiently independent to express his own views in the field of practical politics, and who above all would have the moral courage to express his views as a Christian in matters of State. But if he is to be my man, representing me and many others in Parliament, then it would be my duty to be frequently on his back as his constituent, translating to him my Christian principles as applied to practical politics. Under the electoral system in force in Australia, this is a very concrete possibility, since there is a far closer relationship between the members of Parliament and their constituents as we have ever known in the Netherlands. Of course, this answer is far from satisfactory, but under the circumstances and considering the fact that we not only have a voting right but also a voting duty, it is to my mind, for the majority of our Reformed people, the only practical answer, at least for the time being. Our next monthly review will, we hope, give us an opportunity to dwell upon this subject somewhat further.
C. de Bakker.
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