Thursday, 9 August 2007

Howard & Rudd

I was invited by the Australian Christian Lobby to attend an evening to meet both the Prime Minister John Howard and the opposition candidate Kevin Rudd. The format allowed for four sessions where twenty Christian leaders were in a room with each candidate to meet them personally and ask questions.

The second set of meetings was in a larger group where the candidates each spoke for 45-60 minutes followed by prepared questions from the audience.

Both men were prepared and respectful. Both were personal and engaging. Both of them have a high regard for TSA. It was in all, a good event.

As the choice goes forward for the election of the next Prime Minister, we need to carefully consider what we believe to be God's will for the country. I wouldn't suggest the choice to be easy.

1 Peter 2:17 (MSG)
17 Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jim,

I watched this last night and thought it was a good opportunity (I had seen a similar event with Presidential candidates in the US recently). Did you get to meet either the PM or leader of the opposition? What was your impression? I noticed that both spoke about the place of the churches in talking to government about policy - is there a clear path for us to do this effectively?

Thanks also for not being one of the religious leaders who the cameras caught sleeping during the speeches
:-)

Regards, JDK

7:38 am
Jim Knaggs said...

Thanks, Jason. It was a worthwhile event. A smaller crowd (20) was afforded a close-up meeting with both men where I asked about homelessness and the need for affordable housing.

There were no commitments to go forward with dialogue, although both were convincing about their interest in the Christian church and important role we have in Australia.

8:29 am

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