Nile + Lyle, welcome committee, Letitia’s ride against porn | The Lyle Shelton Show #31
Hello and welcome to the Lyle Shelton Show.
It’s a great honour to have been invited by the Reverend Honourable Fred Nile to succeed him in the New South Wales Parliament and as leader of the Christian Democratic Party.
This came as a complete surprise.
However, after prayerful discussions with Rev Nile, Silvana Nile and CDP State Manager Annie Wright, it became clear to me and my wife Wendy that this was our next assignment.
Ever since the end of the marriage campaign in 2017, I have felt a strong call to engage in party politics.
Many people doubt whether the culture wars are real.
As more and Christians and conservatives feel the pressure, both legal and cultural, to suppress their views and conform with woke ideas, it is clear there is a real battle and the other side is playing for keeps.
The battle for human rights for unborn children is especially intense and the left always circle the wagons when abortion is challenged.
Other policy priorities I’ve outlined in media interviews this week include stopping the gender fluid indoctrination of children, preserving freedom of speech and religion and water and energy security.
All of the above are under relentless attack by the radical left.
And as the Council of Jerusalem urged the Apostles Paul and Barnabas – “remember the poor”. Like Paul, this is the very thing I’m eager to do.
While I’m sad to be leaving Queensland (I hope the voters of NSW forgive me at Origin time), I’m excited and daunted at the same time about the challenge that lies ahead.
Rev Nile and his CDP supporters have been absolute champions for the truth for more than 40 years.
They have faithfully withstood a barrage of vitriolic and irritational criticism.
Now there is an opportunity to build upon this legacy. Together we can revitalise the party over the next 18 months and ensure we are in a position to retain our seat in the Legislative Council.
It would be terrific if we could restore our numbers to two seats.
Could I encourage you to consider joining the party? Civil society democracies settle their disputes through the democratic process, not violence.
A political party is simply a way of organising within a democracy and of taking a hold of the tools of democracy available to every citizen.
You can join by going to cdp.org.au.
Christian engagement in politics is not about “theocracy” or pulling down the wall of separation between church and state.
It is about engaging as citizens and bringing our Christian ethics and principles into the public and political sphere.
Other citizens, as is also their right, bring their ethics and principles and these are often brought with religious zeal and often emanate from alternative religious world views.
So please consider this way of participating in our participatory democracy.
Life has been good in Australia and too many of us have had a “set and forget” approach to politics.
Such is the hostility towards our Western inheritance among those who have grasped the levers of power in the media, politics and the academy, we can no longer afford to stay uninvolved.
While the CDP only has representation in the NSW parliament, CDP membership is certainly open to people in other states.
We would certainly appreciate any financial support as we embark on the revitalisation of the CDP so it can continue to be a beacon of truth in politics for years to come.
I’ll be moving to Sydney in the coming weeks to take up the position of Director of Campaigns and Communications with the CDP.
Should I win the support of the party’s State Council, I will transition to the Parliament in November upon Rev Nile’s retirement and after a joint sitting of the Parliament to elect the CDP’s nomination.
Exciting days lies ahead.
Thanks if you have been one who has supported my journey. If you are not yet a supporter, please sign up a lyleshelton.org.au. I’d love to stay in touch with you.
Welcome back, you’re with the Lyle Shelton Show.
Ever wondered why the champions of “love and diversity” show no love and seem to hate diversity?
“Transphobe”, “divisive,” “politically irrelevant blow-in” and someone who would not fit in -is how some of my future colleagues in the New South Wales Parliament have described me.
This followed the announcement by Reverend Honourable Fred Nile that he would be retiring from the Parliament in November after 40 years and had nominated me as his successor, subject to the approval of the Christian Democratic Party’s State Council.
“New South Wales and our Parliament values and celebrates the LGBTI community. Lyle Shelton will feel completely out of place,” Lower House MP Alex Greenwich told the media.
Seriously? Why would the champions of tolerance, love and diversity want to make anyone feel “completely out of place”?
Where’s the love and where’s the welcome?
And why do they assume I don’t value and celebrate people and various communities within our society?
In a democracy everyone has the right to challenge the political and public policy ideas that anyone else puts forward, but that should never mean not accepting and valuing people.
Sadly, modern identity politics, based on cultural Marxism’s critical theory, conflates the contest of ideas that used to be a hallmark of democracy with an assertion that challenging certain groups’ ideas means you have a phobia or animus towards them personally.
The practitioners of identity politics can neatly avoid debate and even shut it down (eg cancel culture) by labelling their ideological opponents as bad people.
For too long this has meant the substance of issues has not been debated, and certain propositions have found their way into laws and policies virtually without scrutiny.
No one would sign a commercial contract without scrutinising it. So why do we allow laws to be passed and policies to be introduced without proper debate and scrutiny?
Parents are waking up to the nightmare that their children are being taught at school that their gender is fluid, thanks to the aggressive march of LGBTIQA+ political activists.
Those of us who point out the harms of chemical and surgical castration and double mastectomies on gender-confused minors are labelled “transphobes” and “divisive”.
Here’s the NSW same-sex marriage activist-turned NSW politician Alex Greenwich:
One activist, the vexatious litigator Gary Burns said the Christian constituency’s concerns about freedom of speech and religion were simply just an exercise in “poofter bashing”.
Lots of heat in these statements but no light.
As former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson keeps saying: “You can’t get good public policy out of bad public debate”.
It seems the prospect of a higher standard of debate has some people setting their hair on fire.
You’ll enjoy my guest on this week’s show. I recently spoke with my darling sister Letitia about her efforts to fight back against the porn trade.
Well that’s it for the Lyle Shelton Show. If you are in Sydney, come and say hello at Koorong Books West Ride this Saturday Morning April 17. I’ll be signing books from 10am to around 12pm. I’d love to see you if you can make it.
If you’d like to order a copy of my book – I Kid You Not, notes from 20 years in the trenches of the culture wars, go to lyleshelton.com.au.
Finally, thanks to Dave Pellowe and his team of volunteers at the Good Sauce News for production and editing.
Thankyou for your company and I look forward to seeing you next time on the Lyle Shelton Show.
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Lyle Shelton is National Director of the Family First Party. He started his career as a rural journalist before being elected as a member of the Toowoomba City Council and serving the Australian Christian Lobby for 10 years, half of that decade as ACL's Managing Director. He was a Director and spokesman for the Coalition for Marriage during the 2017 postal survey campaign which resulted in the legal undefinition of marriage. He also blogs here.
