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“FamilyVoice Australia does not advocate discrimination against persons on the basis of their mental or physical health, despite the implication of news reports today,” said FamilyVoice National Director Ashley Saunders.

“We have absolutely no desire to exclude disabled persons.

“Our policy submission raises concerns about problematic behaviours, not disability status.

“We hold the view that it would be most unhelpful if a religious organisation had no option but to engage someone in a public role who (for example), struggled with uncontrollable urges to loudly vocalise profanity or sexually explicit phraseology that would upset family worship services,” he said.

“I hasten to point out that our staff members have a very long and positive association with people who have quite serious mental health challenges.”

Christian advocacy group FamilyVoice Australia has welcomed a decision by the South Australian government to rewrite the safe schools curriculum, but says greater reforms are needed.

“This is a breakthrough for parents who are deeply concerned by the exposure of young children to highly sexualised material,” said National Director Ashley Saunders.

“We are all against bullying, but the safe schools curriculum was all about normalising and effectively promoting the same-sex agenda.”

FamilyVoice has urged the South Australian State government to cancel the entire program, as occurred recently in NSW and Tasmania.

“The program must start from scratch with genuine anti-bullying strategies that do not simply target bullying related to sexuality,” he said.

“Parents are also sick of government weakness about mainstream media promotions of the same-sex agenda.

“State Attorneys-General must work together to tackle the exposure of children to sit-coms and other TV shows that expose young children to inappropriate content.”

WA parents are rejecting the Safe Schools program as “over-sexualised”, but they want a scheme that tackles all forms of bullying, according to Christian advocacy group FamilyVoice Australia.

"Parents tell us they are very upset by the over-sexualised ideology of Safe Schools," said FamilyVoice WA State Director Darryl Budge.

"WA Education Minister Sue Ellery is out of touch with the wishes of most parents and should not waste $1.4 million of our scarce funds on this unsafe curriculum."

The government recently expanded the Safe Schools program in Western Australia, as part of a national approach, though the governments of New South Wales and Tasmania recently shut down the scheme. 

"The program gives special treatment to certain children but it effectively encourages exclusion and bullying of children who disagree with its ideology. It should be cancelled,” said Mr Budge.

FamilyVoice is calling on the WA government to scrap the program along with its $1 million funding for the deceptive Respectful Relationships program.

"The Respectful Relationship program exposes preschool children to the same-sex agenda, expressed in storybooks, and it separates sexuality from biological gender, against the wishes of parents. Such programs have no place the education of children.

“Labor should remove these divisive programs from our schools.”

FamilyVoice Australia understands that Labor is due to release a Bill that would legalise ‘physician assisted suicide’ permitting Victorian doctors to kill their patients. The Christian advocacy organisation said Australia has previously rejected euthanasia, the deliberate taking of patients’ lives, many times – because no safeguards exists or will ever exist that can make legalised killing, safe.

“The interim report by a Ministerial Advisory Panel wildly and illogically assumes that the legislation will pass by only listening to those in support of euthanasia,” said FamilyVoice National Director Ashley Saunders.

“Medical killing is illegal, and is not supported by the AMA, because it would introduce a dangerous shift in our society, making it okay to kill those deemed unfit to live.

“It would impose a terrible pressure on our sick, elderly and vulnerable (such as those with mental illnesses) to end their lives. Doctors and even psychiatrists admit that it can be hard to diagnose depression — who are we kidding here?

“Quality health care manages the causes of patients’ distress rather seeking death solutions, which would be fatal to our existing doctor-patient trust.”

According to 33 of Australia and New Zealand’s top palliative care practitioners, requests for assisted suicide rarely spring from uncontrolled pain, but rather from despair, a sense of loss of control, or fear of being a burden to others. Evidence shows that a person’s desire for hastened death changes over time and reduces when care is good.  

“Palliative care has come a long way in the last decade,” Mr Saunders added. “We should be offering the world’s best practice compassionate palliative care and pain management - not death solutions. Disability advocates have rightly asked our parliamentarians, how can we have ‘death with dignity’, before we have ‘dignity in life’?

“I call on Victorian MPs to reject attempts to give doctors a licence to kill.

“Killing people is not a medical procedure. It is murder. Let us not get confused about a desire for less suffering, and pretend a method of suicide by lethal injection gives the dying the dignity and care they rightly deserve.”

FamilyVoice Australia has delivered a stinging rebuke to major parties who “refuse” to reveal their policies ahead of the West Australian State election, especially on abortion.

“Despite persistent attempts to obtain answers to our questions on family policy and the rights of the unborn, major parties are staying silent,” said FamilyVoice WA acting State Director Darryl Budge.

“To refuse to answer is totally unacceptable in a modern democracy,” he said.

Christian advocacy group FamilyVoice Australia runs a survey before each State election and has urged candidates to answer ten questions on family and social policy, including abortion.

“In recent years we have seen candidates gagged, and heard only silence from the major parties on matters of crucial concern,” Mr Budge said.

“We are especially upset on behalf of all voters that parties will not comment on the question of abortion.”

“As the recent withdrawal of the Pyne Abortion Bill in Queensland shows, policy makers should not ignore voters who are concerned about the welfare of mothers and babies.”

The only party to respond was the Australian Christians, including nine female candidates, who collectively responded ‘Yes, definitely’ to restoring laws to protect unborn children from abortion.

“On International Women’s Day, news that at least eleven female candidates oppose abortion should debunk the myth that views on abortion are divided by gender,” said Mr Budge. 

FamilyVoice’s survey asked other questions on prayer, protection for the mentally suicidal and unborn, outdoor advertising, drugs, prostitution, ‘Safe Schools’ and marriage. Full results can be found at survey.fava.org.au.

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

Candidates who indicated support for the rights of the unborn include Nick Goiran and (probably) Joe Francis (Liberals), Kate Doust and Teresa Ritchie (ALP), Philip Scot and Terry Popham (One Nation), Callum Burwood (Greens), and David Caudwell (Shooters and Fishers). All Australian Christians candidates also support the rights of the unborn.

Candidates who answered to indicate their support of abortion include Mule Nasteski (Micro Business Party) and independent Craig Buchanan. Animal Justice Party candidate Katrina Love replied as ‘unsure’.