With only a few days until polling day, it's worth taking some time to seriously consider how you will vote in this Federal election and what issues are important to you.

It is not so much the choice you make; it is the character of that choice that really matters. 

How do you make choices about what's important? Whose needs do you consider?

A few weeks ago I wrote about how the focus on social inclusion has been lost since the last federal election. This void has still not been filled; all the parties lack substantial commitment to helping those at the very margins of society.

To help you be informed about others' needs, Anglicare Sydney has launched Election Fact Sheets on its website addressing; disability and carers, sustainable living, aged care and refugee housing.

The Election Fact Sheets include clear policy responses on theses issues and build on research released by Anglicare Sydney in July in the 2010 State of Sydney Report.

Clear policy responses to needs that are being ignored

We suggest a few clear policy responses that will help the most marginalised;

1. Funding for carers must be indexed annually and a greater range of in-home and community-based respite services funded;
2. Federal funding of case management services to provide better service coordination for those needing Emergency Relief;
3. Comprehensive reform of aged care to meet the explosion in demand for the full range of aged care and dementia services; and
4. Establishment of a refugee housing service to help refugee families find secure, long term housing.
Old problems meet inaction from Governments and churches

None of these needs are new. Nor are the suggested responses.

Which is why it's bemusing that political parties and individual Christians still bypass a commitment to act on social reform and prefer to just talk about it in general terms. 

Talk without action is not good enough; it is morally unacceptable and intellectually insufficient.

Talking about disadvantage won't make it disappear - a commitment to action, prayer and service will go a long way to making things better.

Clear needs demand a louder Christian voice

Take the needs of an ageing population, for example. 

Substantial, systemic reform of aged care and smart investment in co-ordinated community-based respite services has been absent from this Federal campaign.

For years we have known that the capacity of aged care services is limited and can't support the wave of baby boomers about to need these services.

We also know that the number of Australians with dementia is set to double by 2030, and much more needs to be done to support carers.

But where are the voices of those who love Jesus?

Add to this an unfounded fear of refugees, blindness to the pressing need for more public housing and carers crying out for basic support like indexation of their benefits. 

Again, who is speaking up? Where are the voices of those who love Jesus?

Valuable voting

Against this backdrop there is a sense that your vote counts for far more than your own interests.

Before you vote, look at the evidence of need and prayerfully consider which party will lead Australia with effective compassion for those who have greater needs than you.

In a broken world, those of us who love Christ must long for His return. While we wait, we are compelled to love our neighbours as ourselves and advocate for their needs as if He were coming back tomorrow - election day or not.

Peter Kell is the CEO of Anglicare Sydney