Lyle Shelton will replace the retiring Fred Nile (leader of the Christian Democrat Party and homophobe) in the New South Wales Parliament.
Nile announced that he would be retiring from the NSW Legislative Council on Sunday. After 40 years in politics, he is the longest current serving member of Parliament.
“It has been the privilege of my life to represent Christ’s values in the NSW Parliament on behalf of the Citizens of this great State,” Nile said in a press release.
“I am delighted to be recommending Lyle Shelton as my successor and I am confident this news will be received with great enthusiasm by our Members.”
Nile’s replacement, Lyle Shelton, is the former head of the Australian Christian Lobby and leader of the No campaign against same-sex marriage (ew). He is very anti-LGBTIQ in his political opinions, and has said the movement is “indoctrinating children” on Twitter. Fred Niles is also a raging homophobe, and once said he was scared gays would form their own nation.
During the same-sex marriage debate, we said the ????️???? political movement would not stop with redefining marriage. We said freedoms would be next along with indoctrinating children. Few believed us, the ????️???? activists said we were lying. Three years on, a former Deputy PM tweeted. https://t.co/dAzMfr1jBL
— Lyle Shelton (@LyleShelton) December 14, 2020
After being announced as Niles successor, Shelton commended the retiring leader as being a “lone voice for Christ’s values.” He also said that “never before has the Christian voice been more needed in public life.”
A privilege & honour to be asked to succeed the Rev Hon Fred Nile MLC. He has been a courageous & often lone voice for Christ’s values in Australian politics over 40 years. Never before has the Christian voice been more needed in public life. #nswpol https://t.co/gdmPT4qFcx pic.twitter.com/qAQKo0PFRX
— Lyle Shelton (@LyleShelton) April 11, 2021
People in the replies have expressed disappointment that a man with such backwards opinions will sit in NSW Parliament.
The toxic legacy of Fred Nile’s political life growing up is one of the reasons I identify as an atheist.
So much damage, religious obstruction. It made it all clear to me.
*lone* voice for a reason.
— Ian R (@hcornea) April 11, 2021
Great so rejected at all points by the qld community, so now he gets shoved onto us in Nsw when he wasn’t elected or even a Resident of the state.
— sydney_girl ???????? (@instagelessaus) April 11, 2021
This comes after the Christian Democrats have faced a number of controversies, and at one point the NSW Electoral Commission warned it was considering deregistering the party for having less than 500 members.
Fred Nile was also locked out of his own party headquarters last year, due to an internal conflict where party members accused Nile of mismanaging funds.
