Candidate Forums
Questions
For the church-based candidate forums being held across Australia, five questions have been identified as recommended opening questions.
These questions have been developed in consultation with senior leaders from Australian Baptist Ministries, Australian Christian Churches, Presbyterian Church of Australia, Seventh Day Adventist Church of Australia, the Sydney Anglican Diocese and the Sydney Catholic Archdiocese.
Each question has a short video outlining the issue, and a specific question to be put to each candidate.
Individual Religious Freedom
How will you protect the individual rights of religious freedom, expression and conscience, and the right for parents to raise and educate their children in accordance with their faith?
Community Religious Freedom
How will you protect the positive right for faith-based organisations – including churches, charities and educational institutions – to operate according to their faith? This includes employing staff and engaging volunteers who believe and practice their faith.
Cost of Living
What will you do to ease the cost of living pressures on individuals and families, especially those most at risk?
Gambling
Will you commit to the implementation of all 31 recommendations of the Murphy review, to protect our kids and community from gambling harm?
Persecuted Religious Minorities
How will you ensure that persecuted religious minorities, those who cannot safely register with UNHCR, receive fair consideration in Australia’s humanitarian intake and resettlement program?
Keep up to date
Sign up to be notified as forums are confirmed, and get the latest updates.
Frequently asked questions
What is a "candidate forum"?
A candidate forum is an event held a few weeks before an election where the main candidates for a specific electorate are invited to speak to a group of people and answer their questions. These events are frequently run by issues groups (environment, housing etc) or the local chamber of commerce, and are about getting a specific demographic of people together and giving the politicians the opportunity to speak directly to their concerns.
These forums are being hosted by the churches of the electorate, to allow politicians to specifically hear the concerns of the Christian community, and give specific and direct responses.
Which candidates will be invited?
Where possible, all candidates will be invited to speak at the forum. In electorates with a large number of candidates, invitations might need to be limited to give attendees the opportunity to hear in more detail from the candidates most likely to win the electorate or impact the election.
What questions will be asked?
Most forums will spend some of their time asking pre-determined questions, and some of their time taking questions from the attendees.
The organising churches will determine the initial questions and communicate them to the candidates well before the forum. Suggested questions have been developed by the combined heads of churches to reflect the concerns that are common amongst Christians.
You can read the recommended questions here.
The questions from the attendees are usually taken through an online question portal, to allow live-stream viewers to also ask their questions.
Which churches are invited?
The forum is being hosted by a group of churches from the electorate. Everyone is welcome to come.
Do you have any other questions?
Authorised by Mike Southon, Freedom for Faith, 168 Chalmers St, Surry Hills NSW