National Civic Council

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The National Civic Council (or NCC) is an Australian Conservative Christian lobby group,[1] founded by B.A. Santamaria.[2]

The NCC promotes policy based on Santamaria's Catholic values, including opposition to feminism,[3][4] abortion, same-sex marriage[2] and supporting Christian values along with "the integrity of human life", "the family unit", decentralism and patriotism (including economic). It is usually considered socially conservative, whilst in economics it is critical of both socialist and economic-rationalist trends. The group organised support for Tony Abbott before the 2015 spill motion.[5][6]

History

The NCC evolved in 1957 from the Catholic Social Studies Movement (also known simply as "The Movement") which was founded in the early 1940s by prominent Catholic layman B.A. Santamaria. The Movement worked closely with the Industrial Groups, which were formed within the Australian Labor Party to combat the influence and infiltration of the Communist Party in trade unions. The Movement, and later the NCC, had close links with the original Democratic Labor Party.[7]

The organisation's website states that its "primacies" are "The family as the basic unit of society," opposition to "excessive centralization," the "right to life" from fertilisation to natural death, patriotism, and "Judeo-Christian values."[8][9][10]

Publications and influence

Public debate continues to be generated through the NCC’s national magazine ‘News Weekly’. It also publishes a journal of religious opinion called ‘AD2000’. Various states maintain their own smaller publications, such as ‘Action’, ‘Comment’ and ‘FACTS’.

The Australian Family Association, an affiliate of the NCC, maintains a high profile on a range of social issues. The Australian Family Alliance was created as a conservative Catholic political party in the 1990s by the AFA and the NCC.[3][11][12] In 2014, Peter Westmore, the national president of the NCC attended a ‘strengthening the family’ conference organised to support the World Congress of Families.[13]

Prime Minister Tony Abbott became interested in politics in 1976 when he attended a National Civic Council conference.[14] Abbott represented the Democratic Club in the 1970s, which was sponsored by the NCC.[15][16] Gerard Henderson describes the NCC as Abbott's "original spiritual and political home in politics"[17] Various media sources have reported that a NCC e-mail campaign helped in part to secure Tony Abbott's position as Prime Minister during the Liberal leadership uncertainty in 2015.[2][6] Senator Eric Abetz stated before the spill "In the last few days the emails have been overwhelmingly flooding the office saying all this nonsense about leadership has gone far too far, and the emails are now overwhelmingly saying 'stick to the team you've got'"[2] Abetz has previously spoken at the NCC.[18]

Organisation

The NCC has offices in Melbourne (also its National Office), Brisbane, Townsville, Adelaide and Perth.

NCC National President, succeeding B.A. Santamaria, is Peter Westmore. National Vice-President is Pat Byrne and there are also a number of State Presidents who coordinate local groups in each state.

In November 2014, Peter Westmore attended his daughter Trish's marriage to her partner Christy in New Zealand,[19] where same sex marriage was made legal in 2013. He said his daughter's wedding had his blessing . "She always has my blessing in everything she does."

Asked on Tuesday March 24, 2015, if he still supported the NCC's opposition on same sex marriage he said: "Of course I do."

Mr Westmore did not respond when asked about the apparent inconsistency in his personal and political positions on the issue. He asked Fairfax Media to "respect" his family's privacy.

See also

References

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External links

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