National Civic Council

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The National Civic Council (NCC) is a grass roots political organization in Australia.^[1] Founded by B. A. "Bob" Santamaria in 1942, it was originally known as the Catholic Social Studies Movement (or simply "The Movement").^[2] The NCC publishes a fortnightly current affairs magazine, News Weekly.

The NCC promotes policy which: protects the integrity of human life from conception until natural death; regards the family (not the individual) as the most basic unit of society; respects the principle of subsidiarity (decentralism); fosters patriotism (local industry, national sovereignty, low foreign debt); and encourages the living-out of Judeo-Christian ethics. It is usually considered socially conservative, while in economics it is critical of both socialist and economic-rationalist trends.

History

The Catholic Social Studies Movement (which would be renamed the NCC in 1957), was founded by Santamaria in 1942. Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, it worked closely with the Industrial Groups which had been formed within the Australian Labor Party to combat the influence and infiltration of the Communist Party in trade unions.

By 1953, the Industrial Groups had managed to greatly diminish communist power within the unions. At the time, the then Labor leader, Doc Evatt, was appreciative of these efforts. However, when Labor narrowly lost the election the following year, Evatt denounced Santamaria (who at that time was still relatively unknown) and alleged a conspiracy to take over the ALP. Opinions differ as to whether Santamaria was, in fact, plotting a takeover of the ALP, or whether this was just communist disinformation spread for the purpose of sowing discord and exploiting religious divisions within the ALP.

Following the Labor "Split" in 1955 between the ALP and newly formed DLP, in which numerous Catholics were expelled from the ALP, Santamaria also found himself offside with a number of prominent churchmen who, having a comfortable relationship with Labor, did not appreciate his political activism. Consequently, Santamaria was asked to remove the word 'Catholic' from the organization's title, hence a new name: the National Civic Council.

Publications and influence

The NCC publishes a fortnightly magazine, News Weekly.

While conservative on many social issues, the NCC is firmly opposed to so-called 'conservative economics' that which is associated with Liberal/National party reforms of this century (which followed Hawke/Keating reforms) best described as neo-liberal economics.^[3]

Tony Abbott, who was Australia's Prime Minister from 2013 to 2015, became interested in politics in 1976 after attending a National Civic Council conference.^[4] Abbott represented the Democratic Club in the 1970s, which was sponsored by the NCC.^[5]^[6] Gerard Henderson describes the NCC as Abbott's "original spiritual and political home in politics".^[7]

The Australian Family Association (AFA) is an affiliate of the NCC which maintains a high profile on a range of social issues.

Organisation

The NCC has offices in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth.^[8]

Following Santamaria's death in February 1998, Peter Westmore was elected National President of the NCC. He served in that role for two decades, and was succeeded by Patrick J. Byrne in 2018. In 2023, Luke McCormack was elected to the top job. There are also a number of state presidents, who co-ordinate local groups in each state.

References

^ Wilkinson, Marian; Michelmore, Karen (16 March 2015). "House of Cards". Four Corners. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021.
^ Wilkinson, M; Michelmore, K; Christodoulou, M (16 March 2015). "Christian group NCC orchestrated email spam campaign supporting Tony Abbott ahead of spill". ABC News. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
^ "What We Stand For". National Civic Council. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
^ Andrew Clark (27 April 2012). "Tony Abbott's higher calling". Smart Investor. Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
^ Catherine Freyne (5 September 2013). "Shadow boxing: Abbott's battle against 'Marxists' at the University of Sydney". Hindsight. ABC Radio National. Tony Abbott recounts in Battlelines that as a student politician in the late 1970s he represented the Democratic Club which was sponsored by Bob Santamaria's anti-communist National Civic Council. The Democratic Club wasn't the only conservative club on campus. Abbott writes that in this period, 'a grand coalition of NCC, right-wing ALP, Jewish and Liberal students was working against the "land rights for gay whales" type of activist who'd dominated student political bodies since the Vietnam War era'.
^ Ross Fitzgerald (13 October 2012). "How Tony Abbott laboured over choice of party". The Australian.
^ Gerard Henderson (30 January 2015). "Bernard Keane's racial taunt; Tony Wright's humour malfunction: MWD 255". The Australian. Archived from the original on 28 March 2015.
^ "Contact - News Weekly". National Civic Council. Retrieved 8 June 2021.