The state’s longest-serving MP, the Reverend Fred Nile, will retire from parliament at the state election, with his second wife Silvana Nile to contest a seat in the upper house in a bid to replace him. Nile, 88, who has served for 41 years in Macquarie Street except for a short break in 2004 when he unsuccessfully contested a seat in the federal Senate, will deliver his valedictory speech on November 16. Nile’s last move in parliament is likely to be putting forward a bill to protect Indigenous culture. The Christian crusader – who has opposed same-sex marriage, abortion and the availability of halal food products in Australian stores – also served in parliament with his first wife, Elaine. She was an MP from 1998 until she retired in 2002. Elaine died in 2011 and Nile married Silvana in 2013.
Despite his vocal opposition to many progressive issues, Nile has been working with First Nations people for decades, and particularly since 1983 when he backed the Aboriginal Land Rights Act that passed parliament. In what is likely to be his last before retirement, Nile has a significant bill before parliament, which would bring NSW in line with the rest of Australia to reform the protection of Indigenous culture and heritage. In an unlikely allegiance, Nile asked independent Sydney MP and prominent same-sex marriage campaigner Alex Greenwich to join him in supporting his bill in the lower house, which Greenwich said he was “proud to do”. The now independent led the former Christian Democratic Party for decades until it was wound up because of a lack of members, bitter internal fighting and threats to Nile’s leadership.
Nile faced a revolt in 2019 after members threatened to overthrow him and the party’s board, amid accusations of nepotism and mismanagement. Members were also angry that Silvana Nile had been selected to top the party’s Senate ticket in 2019. She was not elected. The Christian Democrats, and Nile, survived the threatened coup but a declining membership base over the next two years, including a nasty court battle with former party treasurer Charles Knox, resulted in Nile being locked out of the party’s headquarters. In a note to his supporters after his party was dissolved, Nile apologised, saying “key governance issues in our party, as well as the character and intentions of members and supporters of this party, have been misunderstood”. “This is not the end of Christians in politics but indeed a new beginning. I, along with my team, are registering a new political party, Christ in Government (Fred Nile Alliance).”
Silvana Nile has been preselected to represent Nile’s new party at the state election. Nile met her at a Christian Democratic Party meeting, describing it as “love at first sight”. They married at St Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney, where guests included then O’Farrell government ministers Mike Baird, Greg Smith and Duncan Gay and Labor’s former leader Luke Foley and retiring MP Walt Secord. The best man was then upper house Liberal MP David Clarke. In April last year, Nile announced he would retire within months, nominating Lyle Shelton, a self-described culture warrior, anti-same-sex marriage campaigner and former Australian Christian Lobby boss to replace him. Nile later rescinded Shelton’s endorsement and announced he would complete his term.
Source: Compiled by APN from media reports
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