“Blocker” in the Senate – elected with only 2% of the vote

Although attendance at Christian churches has declined to the point where only about 15% of Australians attend church at least once a month, the decline may be slowing. There are even signs attendance is increasing, according to Hugh Mackay, Australia’s most respected social researcher.

Some churches are classed as “high demand” – the Catholics’ Opus Dei and various forms of Protestant fundamentalism. Sydney’s Pentacostalist Hillsong Church claims 17,500 people a week take part in weekly services.

Such groups, accoridng to Mackay, depend on narrow prescriptive codes of dogma and religious practice. In his book “Advance Australia Where?” Mackay points to The Exclusive Brethren, a strict fundamentalist sect, which has emerged as a political pressure group.

So has the Assemblies of God, another branch of Petacostalism, which similarly represents a more overt cross-over between religion and politics than has been typical of Australian politics for the past quarter-century.

Now we come to Australia’s new Family First Party and its lone member of Parliament, Senator Steve Fielding who has become both unpredictable and troublesome to the Rudd Government. Fielding is in fact outdoing the Opposition in blocking Government initiatives in the Senate.

Fielding, a Victorian Senator, is strongly supported by the Assemblies of God. There is no mention of this on its website – in fact the site gives no indication at all of the persuasive influences that may be at work here.

Elected with less that 2% of primaries

Fielding hardly has a massive electoral power base. He was elected in 2004 with less than two per cent of the primary vote due to preference flows unlikely to be repeated. He faces re-election at the next poll.

Rather than share the balance of power with the Greens in the Senate, Fielding’s blocking approach aims to parlay Family First into holding the balance of power all by itself. His tactic is to wait to declare his postion on legislation so to capitalise on the already committed positions of the Greens and South Austalian Independent Sentor Senophon.

Family First desperately needs the profile which comes with the balance of power. Despite voting down the Medicare bill, Fielding remains open to a deal he claims will compensate low-income-earners for any increases in private health insurance premiums caused by the changes.

Mark Davis of the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Fielding’s tactis have infuriated the politicians on the other side of these transactions. But his approach is unlikely to prove sustainable. For if the Greens and Xenophon find every deal is gazumped, they may start playing last-mover advantage themselves, seeking to leap-frog Fielding's concessions in their dealings with the Government.