Australian Secular Lobby advocating for the separation of church and state in Australia

Julia Gillard makes pre-election same-sex marriage & NSCP pledges
to Australian Christian Lobby on August 6, 2010

Julia Gillard's pact with Jim Wallace and the Australian Christian Lobby regarding same-sex marriage and the National School Chaplaincy Program:

Born 6 August 2010—still going strong

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/rudd-said-hed-fix-samesex-marriage-20120721-22h75.html

Former Australian Medical Association boss Kerryn Phelps, her partner Jackie Stricker and another campaigner, Geoff Thomas, say they discussed gay marriage with Mr Rudd, then foreign affairs minister, at a function during the ALP national conference in Sydney last December (2011).

''He [Mr Rudd] absolutely said that if he was prime minister it [gay marriage] would have gone through,'' Ms Stricker said. ''We couldn't believe how open and forthright he was.''

Mr Thomas, who shot to national prominence after speaking out in support of his gay son on the ABC's Q&A program in 2010, said Mr Rudd told him: ''I hope you know if I was prime minister this would be law.''
According to Mr Thomas, who revealed details of the conversation in an interview with The Sunday Age, Mr Rudd went on to say: ''The reason Julia Gillard is in power is because of a deal she did with the Australian Christian Lobby and [conservative union boss] Joe De Bruyn.''

Mr Thomas, a Vietnam veteran, added: ''He said in cabinet she [previously] argued in favour of same-sex marriage.'' Ms Stricker and Dr Phelps have corroborated the comments.

So committed is Julia Gillard to her pact with the Australian Christian Lobby, that when challenged on her persistent resistance to same-sex marriage on 21 July 2012 during the Google + YouTube Hangout live event, part of her response was:

‘‘I’ve got a view about the cultural status of marriage in our society’’ - ‘‘You don’t agree with me, a lot of other people don’t agree with me, and you’ve pointed to opinion polls about all of this, but for me, politics isn’t about making decisions based on opinion polls; it’s about making decisions that you feel are right.’’

Also, when on 20 June 2012 the High Court of Australia in a 6-1 decision deemed Commonwealth funding of the National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP) to be invalid, within one week the Gillard government hastily enacted 'emergency' 'workaround' legislation to keep money flowing to Queensland Scripture Union and ACCESS ministries.

Within two hours of the 20 June High Court decision announcement, Australian Christian Lobby general manager Jim Wallace had described the finding as "only a technicality" which would "not mean the end of the program", assertively—apparently with good reason—adding:

"The government is committed to the program and I expect it will find an appropriate way of directing the funds" "I'd anticipate it will move quickly" "we are talking about a bureaucratic solution".

And, of course, ACL GM Jim Wallace was correct—after all, he is in possession of Julia Gillard's video verbal contract of 6 August 2010.

The Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 3) 2012 is regarded by many legal commentators as flawed. Shadow Attorney-General George Brandis described the bill thus:

"It is a very weak bill, it's very much a bandaid solution and I very much doubt that it will meet the tests the High Court set out in the decision last week,"

George Brandis also eloquently outlined the bill's inadequacies in the Senate on 27 June 2012.