When the opposition parties in the Senate thwarted that intention by referring the proposed amendment to a Senate Committee for investigation, in the hope that an election would be called before the Committee could report back thus nullifying the bill, Christians said this is the line in the sand issue and we will fight for what we believe in.

In response to the Senate call for public submissions on the issue,
informed sources tell us that some 12,000 people forwarded submissions supporting the proposed amendment with only 100 received against it.

This was inspite of frantic attempts by the homosexual lobby to rally
support against the amendment amongst their constituants. The true
comparative size of the homosexual lobby was finally exposed.

When the National Marriage Forum was called almost 1,000 people
travelled from every State and Territory to make the point that social
re-engineering had gone as far as we were prepared to accept and on this issue we would not give ground. They came by car, air and bus arriving in the early hours of Wednesday 4th August and not leaving until the sun went down that afternoon. The Great Hall was filled to overflowing, the public galleries filled to capacity, whilst close circuit television carried it to those who did not have a place to sit in the foyer.

Everyone, including the media, politicians and the organisers
themselves, were staggered and deeply impacted by the massive turnout.

Speakers included the Prime Minister John Howard. His 20 minute speech was often interrupted by applause, and he received a standing ovation at the end. Mr Howard reaffirmed the Government's intention to keep marriage between a man and a woman, and announced that he would reintroduce his marriage amendment legislation "within a fortnight".

This caught many off guard, but resulted in huge rounds of applause.
This is something that pro-family groups had been actively lobbying for.
It is possible it even took shadow Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, who
spoke on Labor's behalf, by surprise. When it was her turn to speak, she pledged that Labor would go along with such a bill. That of course
represented a major turnaround as it was Labor which had voted to refer the Bill upon first presentation to a Senate Committee and the Committee had still not finished their deliberations!

Other speakers included amongst others, Deputy Prime Minister John
Anderson, Law Professor Patrick Parkinson, newspaper columnist Angela Shanahan, doctor and lecturer David van Gend, family activist Babette Francis, Fred Nile and `Digger' James. All offered articulate and
informed defences of marriage and family, and all were warmly received by an enthusiastic and decidedly partial audience.

The understandable response from the homosexual lobby expressed through Tasmanian homosexual activist Rodney Croome was one of bitter disappointment. He lamented the next day that this was a significant turning point: "John Howard's announcement spoke of the fact that Australia's far right - once lost on the fringe of national politics - is now determining public policy across the political spectrum and
across a range of issues. It also says that the influence of the social
left as well as the nation's homosexual community has shrunk to
next-to-nothing."

One should not read "surrender" into such a statement and no doubt they will return to fight another day, so we must remain alert and on guard, but if promises are followed through by the two major political parties it was indeed a major victory for the Christian community that showed the level of social and political "muscle" than we can flex when moral and spiritual values come under attack.

Thank you to all who placed submissions before the Senate Committee, to those who attended the National Marriage Forum and also those who
covered the issue in prayer. We are proud that you came to the fore when the chips were down. Please however remain alert, as the winning of one battle does not mean the end of the war.

A final thank you to Warwick Marsh (Fatherhood Foundation), Jim Wallace (Australian Christian Lobby) and Bill Muehlenberg (Australian Family Association) who gave so much of their time and energy to organise and bring off the National Marriage Forum. To them and many others we owe a debt of gratitude. Well done!

Brian Pickering is the National Coordinator, Australian Prayer Network