> ..there's a lot of conservative christian politicians in power at the federal level, and at some state levels, and they don't reflect modern australian values.
How come they don't, if they consistently keep getting elected?
How come they don't, if they consistently keep getting elected?
Still there might be something in their campaigns that resonates with the views of the majority. One wouldn't imagine them consistently winning fair elections in predominantly Hindu or Muslim country, no matter the campaign spending.
..while non-religious make up a fair portion of Aussies, most still identify as Christians.
Your own link shows another - the option for 'no religion' has historically been obfuscated or separated. Once upon a time, it didn't even exist. The whole point of your linked article is about how that question can be played with in order to fudge the results.
Age - conservative retirement-age voters are far more likely to vote than the 18-30 demo.
Networking - churches can, and do, bully-pulpit entire parishes.
So policy is far further to the right than the population median.
The penalty isn't particularly harsh ($20 first time missed a vote, $50 afterwards). I have a 40-year-old friend that's not enrolled, and as far as I'm aware, she has never been fined for it.
That's not been my experience.
Age - conservative retirement-age voters are far more likely to vote than the 18-30 demo.
Australia has mandatory voting. We have something like 98% voter turn out. You don't know what you are talking about.
Networking - churches can, and do, bully-pulpit entire parishes.
Facts not in evidence.
Also, MPs are generally voted in by party affiliation, so people vote more for the party rather than the individual person. Anyway, I'm not sure how it's happened, but the power-brokers of both major parties have a greater proportion of staunch christians than the wider population. So, when a party wants to do X or Y, often a bone will need to be tossed to one of these power-brokers to get the numbers.
It's not really a Christian thing, it's any bloc. I don't know much about Australian politics, but I can think of several political machines in the past driven by Irish Catholic turnout, and a few current ones driven by ultra-conservative Christian and Jewish groups.