Prime Minister Julia Gillard cancelled her appearance before the annual conference of the Australian Christian Lobby, after the lobby’s founder and chief, retired Brigadier Jim Wallace, compared the health effects of homosexuality to those of smoking. The ACL is actually a private company. Its main function is to influence governments towards a biblically conservative agenda. It doesn’t represent any particular church, nor does it claim to represent all Christians. But believers with more liberal views object to its name, the Australian Christian Lobby, because they feel the organisation doesn’t reflect the diversity of religious views. They’ve announced their own group, A Progressive Christian Voice (Australia). The secretary, the Rev Dr Ray Barraclough from Queensland, detailed his concerns about the implicit claim being made in the name, The Australian Christian Lobby.
This program was broadcast on ABC Radio National.