Over the weekend, Martyn Iles, erstwhile head of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), announced he’d been dismissed by the board.
“I hasten to add there is no question of misconduct,” he said. “Rather, the board has reviewed the ACL’s strategic direction and decided I am not the right person to lead the revised strategy, which focuses more primarily on political tactics, less on the gospel. Having heard this articulated, I absolutely agree … I have always been a preacher first, a politician second (or third)”.
We’re not so sure about that — the ACL certainly lived up to its “lobby” function in the years after Iles took over from Lyle Shelton. Crikey takes a look back at the successes and failures of Iles’ time in charge.
Scott Morrison’s ‘miracle’
Iles became the face of the ACL at the age of 29 in 2018, after it had resolutely failed to convince the Australian public of the evils of marriage equality. During the 2019 federal election, it ran a targeted campaign on issues such as abortion, religious freedom and Safe Schools in a group of key marginal seats — Boothby in South Australia, Canning in Western Australia, Petrie in Queensland, Chisholm in Victoria, and Bass in Tasmania.
Although it’s hard to quantify the exact influence of the ACL campaign, the Coalition won them all.
Israel Folau
In just a few days in June 2019, Iles landed high-profile television appearances on Sunrise and The Project and made the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald over the sacking of rugby player Israel Folau for homophobic social media posts, motivated by Folau’s belief that “hell awaits” gay people (along with drunks, adulterers and others).
The issue with Folau was elevated beyond a debate around what an employer could control about their employees’ expression outside work, becoming instead a celebrated culture war cause — and the ACL was a big part of that. The day GoFundMe shut down Folau’s fundraiser for legal fees, Iles and the ACL took over, going on to raise $2 million in 24 hours.
Several gallons of ink were spilt on what it all meant, though nothing much changed. The case resolved as you might expect an employment dispute between two well-resourced parties in Australia, with a confidential settlement and a mild, mutual apology. The ACL put out a statement saying the case had set “a clear precedent for every bureaucrat, manager, or person in a position of power, that they cannot ruin someone’s career because they don’t like what they believe”.
Religious freedom
After a quiet year in the early part of the pandemic, in 2021 the ACL ramped up its efforts towards its main aim since marriage equality didn’t go its way: entrenched legislative projections for “religious freedoms”.
Iles had meetings with politicians and appeared on Q+A. The organisation went all out, spending on Facebook ads on issues such as “cancel culture”, and going on a hiring blitz for roles such as national politics director. It worked. Sort of.
The religious freedom debate dominated the early part of 2022 and, at the third time of asking, the Morrison government got its religious discrimination bill through the House of Representatives. But the bill stalled in the Senate and was ultimately withdrawn.
As the sun began to set on Australia’s first Pentecostal prime minister, Iles concluded: “The wrong people seized control [of the Liberal Party] at a crucial moment.”
The saga around the bill perhaps sums up Iles’ time in charge — a lot of attention and influence that exceeded what you would expect from a lobby group representing a sectional interest within a sectional interest (a 2017 poll found more than half of Australian Christians supported marriage equality, and 61% didn’t like “conservative groups” like the ACL speaking on behalf of them).
But ultimately, it’s hard to find a concrete change that’s down to its impact.
“No matter how preposterous the Israel Folau or gender perspectives Iles argued, in my view he did Australia a favour,” political communication expert Toby Ralph told Crikey. “I think a community is enriched by debate exposing conflicting views rather than suppression of them. It lets sunlight do its job.”
An ACL spokesperson said Iles was a “fabulous” leader who would be missed.
“The word gospel simply means good news,” the spokesperson told Crikey.
“The work of ACL has always been, and will continue to be, political engagement built solely on, and informed by, the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. That has not changed one bit.”
I wonder what grotesque monstrosity will shuffle into Iles’ place, and what century he (of course, he) will hail from.
I’ve always had this unsettling notion that Abbott slipped through a crack in time whilst carrying out his day job at the Inquisition………….
Yes, a timeslip somewhat in same vein as The Pony Python Show.
“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”
Monty Python!
Well, fortunately he didn’t manage to kill Welcome/Acknowledgment of Country, which he claimed Christians shouldn’t participate in because it “affirms paganism.” I assume he will continue the Right’s war on kids that don’t fit gender stereotypes elsewhere.
These Christian Taliban are harder to dispose of than cockroaches………………..
At least cockroaches serve an ecological function.
Someone back at the start of the century in the USA coined the term Talibangelical to describe such!
A hypocritical evangelical Christian whose regressive stance on women’s rights and much else to do with personal freedoms mirror those of the Taliban.
I don’t think that is useful. It really needs to emphasise that these people are using Christian beliefs to promote oppression of women, LGBTQIA people etc
If you compare the American “Christian” Right and the Taliban, you will see that they have more in common than they have differences.
(If Cheezels turned up in the American Mid-West tomorrow morning, they would have him nailed up before sundown)
Yes I agree, both are ideological zealots. My point was they’re not acting like Islamists, they are acting like Christians.
Ref Mahatma Ghandi – “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Attribution disputed.
They are in truth acting like Christianists
A neologism created by Andrew Sullivan a conservative, gay, Catholic author and blogger in 2003 concerning the then President, Dubya, The Faux Texan and his push concerning a “Faith Based Administration”,
As was attempted recently here in Australia with Smirko, The Happy Clapper and his Disciples.
“I have a new term for those on the fringes of the religious right who have used the Gospels to perpetuate their own aspirations for power, control and oppression: Christianists.
Interestingly Sullivan first used“Christianist” in 2003 to describe Eric Rudolph, a US religious terrorist, convicted for a series of anti-abortion and anti-gay-motivated bombings across the southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed three people and injured 150 others. Rudolph also planted the bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
Sullivan then extends the argument, with such behaving exactly like Islamists viz. al Qua’eda, Taliban.
“Christianism is an ideology, politics, an ism. The distinction between Christian and Christianist echoes the distinction we make between Muslim and Islamist. Muslims are those who follow Islam. Islamists are those who want to wield Islam as a political force and conflate state and mosque. …It is the belief that religion dictates politics and that politics should dictate the laws for everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike.”
“But any pretense of a religious foundation for Christianism breaks down on many of the issues Christianists now consider their highest priority — cutting social services, blocking access to health care, lowering taxes, undermining public education, repealing restrictions on the ownership and use of firearms, endorsing harsh law enforcement methods and restrictions on the right to vote in communities of color, defending the Mexican border, and closing the door to refugees, to name a few.”
Scott Morrison to resign from parliament and take up the job as head of the ACL.
You heard it here first, folks.
*Shudders*
Not enough opportunities for him to take up half a dozen other roles, all in secret.
Well , that would kill the ACL very quickly! Can I offer Morrison a personal reference for the job?
Not sure how effective the ACL was in Boothby, but pleased to say, after a long history of Coalition victories in this seat, Louise Miller-Frost won Boothby for Labor
Martyn Iles… Legacy? surely you jest sir 🙂
Maybe we can count any increase in suicide attempts, evictions from home etc that coincided with one of his absurd campaigns