FROM BRIG. JIM WALLACE

Mate,

We really have a fight on for Marriage and preserving it as between a man and a woman.

Could you get information on this Marriage Forum to be held in Canberra on 4th August around your, network. This is the time to draw a line in the sand, but we need people there. The details are:

I'm sure you will be aware of the push by the homosexual lobby for marriage. We had hoped this would be thwarted by an amendment to the Marriage Act that would have, as much as is legislatively possible, defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. As a sweetener in anticipation, the Government actually gave them the right to superanuation.

However as we always knew, this group was not just after equality in social benefits and entitlements, they are without doubt aiming to remove every vestige of our Christian heritage which they find so offensive. The WA homosexual senator Brian Grieg appears to have made a deal with the Greens and ALP to see the amendment to the Marriage Act pushed into a Senate Committee for 3 months. Its going to committee was acceptable due process, but despite the government's attempt to have the Committee deal with this simple amendment by 7th Aug, Labor, the Greens and Democrats kept the reporting date late so that it could not be dealt with before the Federal Election.

They are obviously hoping for a Labor victory which might allow them to see that it isn't considered post election and have almost certainly made deals to give the ALP their preferences on that basis.

Three years ago the Church accepted political reassurances that the passing of the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act in Vic would not be misused to silence it. We now have two pastors already up for nearly 3/4 million dollars defending their light to discuss the truth about Islam. WE CANNOT SIT BY THIS TIME ON AN ISSUE AS CRUCIAL AS MARRIAGE AND LIVE TO REGRET OUR INACTlVITY LATER.

We have the leverage now, in the lead up to an inevitably close Federal Election, to force the parties to come clean on their intentions for marriage and so make it an election issue. If we do we can draw the line in the sand that will stop the encroachment of the homosexual lobby on Christian values. WE WILL NOT HAVE ANY LEVERAGE ONCE THE ELECTION IS OVER UNLESS WE GET THE PROMISES NOW ? PARTICULARLY FROM LABOR WHICH IS TRYING TO HAVE IT BOTH WAYS ON THIS. (Mr Latham has said he is for families and marriage and failed to instruct his party to vote in favour of it in the Senate.)There are two things we need to do as a minimum:

a)We need church and denominational leaders to personally attend a Marriage Forum on the 4th August in the Great Hall of Parliament House. We are attempting now to secure the presence of the Party Leaders and have them commit to the protection of marriage publicly, but also to a delegation of denominational leaders in private. Our aim is to cause the protection of marriage to be an election issue so that we have commitments on it while we have this leverage.

b)We need a great turnout of Christians in Canberra on the 4th August. The unfortunate reality is that the press only respond to numbers and then only reluctantly in the case of Christian concerns. We really do need churches in Melb and Sydney in particular to make the effort to get people here in large numbers. Unfortunately it needs to be midweek in order to get the political involvement on the scale and at the seniority we need.

I have included a flyer that 1 would encourage you to distribute in your church or throughout your denomination as soon as this weekend. I cannot emphasise how important an impact those people within striking distance of Canberra could have on the 4th August. The ALP in particular is sitting there hoping that the church will fail to activate on this and that they will get away with having buried marriage as an issue on which they don't need to sacrifice Greens and Democrats preferences by coming out unequivocally before the election.

PLEASE HELP ENSURE WE ARE NOT LOOKING BACK SIX MONTHS FROM NOW ON MARRIAGE IN THE SAME WAY THAT WE ARE ON RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS VILIFICATION LAWS. THE GATE MUST BE CLOSED ON THIS ISSUE.

Thank you and God Bless

Jim. Wallace AM

Executive Chairman

Australian Christian Lobby