Politics of The DLP
The party has a comprehensive policy platform, and Peter Kavanagh has referred to the heritage of the historic Democratic Labor Party, claiming that "The DLP remains the only political party in Australia which is pro-family, pro-life and genuinely pro-worker." Critics have charged that this policy orientation reflects a sectarian, conservative Catholic position that endangers the religious freedom of others, as well as faith/state separation
The DLP website claims to be not “left” or “right” but centre-“decentralist”. The DLP’s stated principles are “democracy”, “liberty” and “peace”. Its policies promote:
- against abortion, euthanasia and the destruction of human embryos
- opposition to giving homosexual unions the same status as marriage
- "sharing out/decentralising power and resources"
- policies and values influenced by Christian thought as to the definition of "decency"
- building up defensive capacity
These policies are not dissimilar to the five primacies of the National Civic Council (NCC). However, the DLP does not market itself as a Catholic or Christian party as such, although critics have argued that in its original incarnation, it was one of a number of NCC "front groups.' Others include the Australian Family Association and related organisations. An examination of its policies indicate that the DLP is opposed to libertarianism in the form of economic rationalism (neo-liberalism) and “progressive” social liberalism.
Following the election of DLP candidate Peter Kavanagh, attention has been given to the DLP platform of opposition to abortion and poker machines and its concern to deal with HIV/AIDS health risks associated with homosexual practice. The party's policies include a "Progressive Expenditure Tax" (with no tax payable on any income that is saved or invested), universal living allowance tied to basic per capita living costs, rejection of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and other taxes for general revenue that it views as regressive, federal funding for the education of students attending non-government schools to be based on an equitable distribution and increased diversification in overseas trade to broaden the base for growth, and on opposition to abortion, euthanasia, therapeutic cloning and same-sex marriage. The former DLP had the patronage of the Catholic Church in Victoria, but not in NSW.
Read more about this topic: Democratic Labor Party
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