Over six months ago I was asked by my colleague Rev The Hon. Fred Nile, to bring to our Management Committee recommendations for the restructure of our CDP. I have reported to the Management Committee that I would present my report after the State election, so as not to divert our energies from the election of Rev Nile to the NSW Upper House or the successful election of Clr Paul Green to the Federal Senate.
However, for the good of the long-term future of the CDP, we must restructure. Our State Director, Phil Lamb has written on the CDP website: "My appointment in January 2004 brings the first change in the management structure of CDP in over 20 years. The directing of the party to this point, has been done by Rev Fred Nile. My appointment as State Director - is an inaugural position, and is a result of Fred asking Rev Dr Gordon Moyes to re-organise the party"
I have informed the Management Committee and our State Council of my general directions and have received their approval to continue. However, not all of our CDP older members understand the need for change and are perhaps suspicious of it. I am the right person to recommend these changes for three reasons: I am the only person in the senior levels of the Party who has had advanced management experience, managing over 4,000 staff, over a billion dollars in assets for twenty five years and because of graduate management training, was elected a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management. Further more, I am, because of my role as Chairman of both publicly listed and private companies was elected by my peers a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. I co-authored a book on the role and responsibilities of directors and officers of Not for Profit organizations (such as CDP). Thirdly, I have enjoyed my career as a church leader and have indicated to all levels of our Party that I will never accept the position of Leader of our Party, even if it were offered to me. I am no threat to anyone in current leadership positions.
So back to the restructure as requested of me by Rev Fred Nile. This will enable our party to continue post Fred Nile when he is unable to continue to lead us because of age or infirmity. I have indicated that we must make our party more Christian. We have lost the support of all mainline denominations although we have good support from the Coptic Church and some other Easter Orthodox Christians. We must recapture the lost support of mainline church leaders. We need the support of all Christians on the great moral issues that confront us.
We must make our party more Democratic as our name indicates. In practise we never have special meetings or conferences to discuss our policy. Currently major issues are not debated. The first we hear of a CDP stance is when we read Rev Nile's press releases. Many times we would all agree with them, but many issues these days are beyond the wisdom of one man.
The issues of stem cell research, restrictions on immigration, the scientific evidence on climate change, the evaluation of water policies, industrial relations, euthanasia, nuclear energy, desalination and so on have many Christians of different backgrounds on different sides. A do-nothing fundamentalist response to changing situations is a quick direction towards irrelevance. We will simply die out. The Bible is so wise in declaring "in the multitude of counsellors there is wisdom." Those who declare that they alone are the fount of all wisdom have a serious ego problem.
Democracy describes our most successful form of government. With origins in ancient Greece, Rome and south Asia, democracy has generally grown and expanded throughout history. Today, democracy is the predominant form of government in the world. It is a fundamental belief in the ability of ordinary people to understand issues and to comment intelligently on them.
As State Director Phil Lamb wrote on our CDP website: "The future of CDP is very bright, although I believe at this point we have an image problem with the majority of the main-line churches. CDP must "penetrate" into those major denominations. The CDP performs outstandingly in Parliament - yet we must change so that the party is truly representative of all Christian Churches, and potential members who agree with Christian values. Deliberate strategies must be devised, which the whole party embraces that will broaden our support. We must be looking to attract younger voters, and bringing a younger image to our party. That means we will be heading into new directions."
One of the Members of the Legislative Council said recently, "We need to reinvent our belief in the concept of "public." As individuals none of us has the capacity to meet these challenges successfully on our own. But they are soluble only if we reinvigorate the public institutions that allow us to work together collectively for the common good. Those challenges require collective solutions. As a community we have a collective right to determine our common future."
He is correct. We need to involve our members, branches and Councils in matters of policy, and press releases that involve the rest of us should not be made until there has been consultation.
The Christian Democratic Party has for over twenty years represented the concerns of people who support Christian values, schools and caring institutions, family life, and the importance of the Commonwealth Constitution. While we have fought for the values that made our nation. We are committed to the future development of our nation as an inclusive community based on cohesive values that made us a people. All other issues must be democratically debated. We have to change from being a party where a few attack anyone who does not agree with them. That is not a democratic response, but a totalitarian one.
The third issue is that we must become more of a political party. That means we must become better structured, with more members involved in leadership. At the moment we are like a pyramid balancing on a very narrow point of one man.
Our State Director has wisely said in an earlier report, "After two years of thorough and investigative research, using professional methods to survey the community and interview representative samples of the community, we must develop as: a party whose average age of supporters is lowered. (i.e. a Party that appeals to lower age groups in the community); policies that appeal to wider groups of voters; a modern party that uses the internet, email and Bulletin Board discussion groups as its primary communication media; a Party that has wide-spread support among main-line Christian churches; a Party that conducts regular opinion polls and focus groups; a Party that is more aware of the responsibility to care for God's world, and have credible policies which provide voters with a genuine alternative to The Greens. My task is to inspire and motivate and mobilize a very large group of members and supporters, as we pursue a common goal of REPRESENTING THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN PARLIAMENT - of seeing our NSW and Federal Parliament enact laws that are in harmony with the principles of Scripture."
The trouble is, that some of our members are totally resistant to change. They react, sometimes with threats against those who propose discussion seeking the best direction for the future. These people work on the basis of shooting the messenger rather than engage in discussion for the future of our CDP. For example, one recent writer to me attacked my discussion on a policy announced without consultation or discussion. He wrote: "Even if you did accept the CDP values when you stood for Parliament, your views are now clearly in conflict with the people who would have supported someone standing under a CDP banner. If you are a person of integrity, then surely your continuing attack on what Fred Nile has fought and stood for over these past decades leaves you no other option but to resign not only from the CDP but also from Parliament."
We will continue to do as Fred Nile requested, and look to the future, to the re-organization of our Party, and this will involve raising issues that impact on us all. We must become more Christian, more democratic, and more of a party.
