ACBC Election Guide

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President Archbishop Mark Coleridge said no one political party fully embodies Catholic social teaching. The bishops are, however, offering an election statement to encourage Catholics and people of good will to reflect on the good they can do for their community by using their vote for the good of all.

Archbishop Coleridge said “we all long for what Pope Francis calls ‘a better kind of politics, one truly at the service of the common good’”.

“This ‘better’ politics pursues the common good of all Australians by recognising the dignity of every individual and the solidarity we all share as a national community,” Archbishop Coleridge said.

We need a holistic, long-term vision for the future – not just a vision for the economy but a vision for Australian society, the human community and the whole earth community… 

Poverty makes people vulnerable to modern slavery and is enabled by globalisation. Australia’s Modern Slavery Act should be strengthened by firstly appointing an independent Anti-slavery Commissioner with a broad mandate to drive better practice in mitigating risk in our supply chains and, secondly, widening the coverage of this legislation to include the States and more companies.

We pray that Australia realises the vision for politics pronounced by Pope Francis when he wrote that, “Good politics combines love with hope and with confidence in the reserves of goodness present in human hearts”.

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