The 2024 Legal Defense Fundraiser has ended early due to the Board's decision to settle the suit. Donations will go towards the creation of a legal defense fund. Discussion on the matter can be found at the RationalMedia Foundation noticeboard. Thank you for your generous support.

Information icon.svg Campaigning is open for the RationalWiki 2024 Board of Trustees election.

Rise Up Australia Party

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Oh no, they're talking about
Politics
Icon politics.svg
Theory
Practice
Philosophies
Terms
As usual
Country sections
United States politics British politics Canadian politics Chinese politics French politics German politics Indian politics Iranian politics Israeli politics Japanese politics South Korean politics Turkish politics

The Rise Up Australia Party is a right wing, xenophobic, Islamophobic, and all around batshit insane Australian political party.[1] Ironically it is led by Sri Lankan born preacher Daniel Nalliah and associates itself with Christopher Monckton.[2]

The Rise Up Australia Party is the political wing of Nalliah's cult, "Catch The Fire Ministries". Another (presumably not evil) group, "Catch The Fire Melbourne", has a large notice on their front page denying any involvement with Nalliah and explaining that they are part of the broader, Canadian-based "Catch The Fire" philosophy. Kind of like how the Baptist Church is entirely unrelated to the Westboro Baptist Church.

Policy

The party believes in "the minimum (amount of taxation) required to achieve justice and efficient administration" and "socialism is to be avoided". It is currently unknown how they define "the minimum". [3] The party's energy policy is a blend of Global Warming denialism and insistence that coal power is "clean". The source of these views could be seen to involve Nalliah's creationist views and the amount of coal that Australia possesses and is currently mining. [4] The party is also a strong advocate of what it calls freedom of speech. Attempting to tap into the current Australian discontent with Parliament, they state that they would actually agree with good policy. The only problem is that they most likely don't like what average Australians think is good policy.[5] The RUAP believes that the main goal of Muslims in Australia is to establish Sharia law in Australia. While they "love the Muslim people" they are opposed to their texts and doctrine.[6] Their dislike of Islam comes from the party's apparent push to curtail the "inalienable human right to pursue prosperity, happiness and freedom..." Of course, if you happen to be someone who is desperate enough to try and get to Australia and pursue said things, then he will turn you around and/or let your boat sink. [7] Never mind that Nalliah is from Sri Lanka where many asylum seekers come to Australia from. The rest of their political positions are the stereotypical wingnut positions.

Pastor Nalliah

Pastor Daniel Nalliah has created some public reaction due to controversial statements he has made in recent times. In 2009, he claimed that bushfires in the state of Victoria were divine retribution for the state's laws concerning abortion. He has also accused the Australian Parliament of being controlled by Satan and under the spell of witchcraft, after a "black mass altar" was allegedly discovered near Parliament House in Canberra[8].

A left-wing blog source stated that Nalliah has claimed to have the capabilities to heal the deaf, dumb and blind, and also claimed to have brought two people back from the dead.[9]

Nalliah has also promoted the criminalisation of homosexuality[10] and at one stage advocated gay conversion therapy.[11]

Nalliah was also affiliated with Reclaim Australia and attended three Reclaim Australia/UPF rallies in 2015 in both Melbourne and Sydney.

Scott Moerland

Arguably the party's most prominent spokesperson apart from Nalliah is Scott Moerland. Moerland, a former soldier, served in the Australian military and fought in conflicts in both Iraq and Timor-Leste. Moerland has claimed that the major Australian parties have forgotten the needs and desires of the Australian people, which prompted him to join Rise Up Australia[12]. Moerland is also strongly anti-Islamic and has claimed to have studied Islam for many years. He has produced a series of YouTube videos that have offered both legitimate and just plain batshit nutty (and often profanity-laced) criticisms of the religion, and its relation with the left, who he erroneously believes is supportive of the ideology.

Moerland was also a spokesperson for Reclaim Australia, and he attended both the April and July rallies in Brisbane. At the April rally, he gave a forty-minute speech denouncing Islam. At the July rally, he personally condemned left-wing counter-protesters during a speech, verbally abusing them and also accused them of treason.[13]

References