Home > Beliefs Survey > WA Legislative Assembly Election 2005
List of Candidates for Stirling (WA)
= previously sitting member
Ballot PositionCandidatePartyQ1Q2Q3Q4Q5Q6Q7Q8Q9Q10Total
1DIXON, TerryFamily First 10101010101010101010100
2CROWE, DariusOne Nation 00000000000
3REDMAN, TerryThe Nationals 00000000000
4SCOTT, RonLiberal 10101010101055101090
5BENSON-LIDHOLM, JanAustralian Labor Party 7122221151033
6BAKER, NormChristian Democratic Party WA 10101010101010101010100
7EVERS, DianeGreens (WA) 00000000000
8BROWN, VickiIndependent 00000000000

FamilyVoice survey scoring rewards openness and honesty. Failure to acknowledge the survey scores zero. A response to the survey is scored separately for each question: full agreement (Yes Definitely) scores 10, Probably = 7, Unsure = 5, Unlikely = 3, total opposition (Definitely Not) = 2, and No Comment = 1. The total score for all 10 questions thus ranges from 0 to 100.

Questionnaire

Candidates were asked to indicate how they would vote or did vote on these issues by answering the questions. If they are bound by party policy on a particular question, they were asked to provide an answer in accordance with that policy.

1. Prayers in parliament
Prayers in parliament are an important daily reminder that we must all ultimately answer to the higher authority of Almighty God. The prayers, which consist of the Lord's Prayer and a request for God's guidance, are an expression of the Christian foundation of our nation. According to the latest census, about 70% of Australians identify with Christian churches.
Would you support the continued opening of parliament with Christian prayers?

2. Adoption
Children have the right, all things being equal, to know the love and care of their natural mother and father. When children are relinquished for adoption, their right to grow up in an intact family with both a mother and father role model should be upheld wherever possible. Same-sex couples cannot provide both models.
Would you vote to repeal the WA law which currently allows same-sex and unmarried couples to adopt babies?

3. Reproduction and truth
Artificial reproduction should only be allowed where the child thus conceived is likely to grow up in an intact family, knowing the love and care of both a mother and father - a situation impossible with two lesbians. Birth certificates should state the name of the mother, and of the father if his identity is known. A woman should not be falsely described as a "parent" in the place of a father.
Would you vote to repeal the WA law which currently allows single women to access reproductive technology and allows a lesbian partner of a mother to record her name on the child's birth certificate as the child's other "parent"?

4. Prostitution
Prostitution problems - including drug abuse, street and child prostitution - have escalated in states which have legalised or decriminalised the prostitution trade. Prohibiting prostitution advertising would be a significant step towards minimising the spread of an activity which damages women, men, children and families.
Would you vote to prohibit all forms of advertising for prostitution?

5. Age of consent
Homosexual paedophiles often target teenage boys, plying them with gifts, pornography and alcohol or drugs in order to "groom" them to accept homosexual activity. Increasing the age of consent for homosexual activity to 18 would provide an important protection for such boys.
Would you vote to increase the age of consent for homosexual acts from 16 to 18?

6. Marijuana
There is increasing evidence of the harm done by marijuana to the human brain, causing greatly increased risks of depression, short-term memory loss, schizophrenia and psychotic episodes. The WA government should send a clear message that cannabis is dangerous, enforcing significant penalties for possession and growing plants, as well as providing rehabilitation programs for addicts.
Would you vote to make the possession of marijuana and the growing of any number of cannabis plants criminal offences with substantial penalties?

7. Abortion
The WA abortion toll of over 8000 deaths per year - about one third of all births - is a tragedy. Studies show that pregnant women who abort their unborn babies - often because the women wrongly believe they have no other option - are more likely to suffer depression, other illness, accidents and even death in the months or years that follow. Centres supporting pregnant women with abortion alternatives deserve funding for ultrasound scanners and other assistance, and WA abortion laws need to be greatly tightened.
Would you vote to restore protection for unborn children by significantly restricting abortion?

8. Euthanasia
Human life is precious from conception until natural death. Doctors need training in palliative care, which is able to relieve the pain and emotional distress some dying patients experience, and the right of all patients to refuse treatment which is burdensome. This is not the same as euthanasia, which means the provision of drugs with the deliberate intention of killing the patient, and should never be legalised.
Would you vote against any proposal to allow doctors to intentionally kill their patients?

9. Sunday trading
West Australians do not need to shop every day. Families need at least one day in the week when they can be reasonably sure that every one can be together, to worship or to relax. The "day of rest" is an important part of our heritage. Its abolition would put further pressure on the already fragile family unit.
Do you support the continued restriction on Sunday trading to provide one "family day" per week?

10. Gambling
WA has fewer problem gamblers than all other states and territories for one reason - poker machines, the most highly addictive form of gambling, are not available in local pubs and clubs. Restrictions on poker machines should be kept, and other even more highly addictive types of machines should not be allowed into the Burswood Casino.
Would you vote to retain the ban on pokies in any part of WA outside the Burswood Casino?