Christian lobby welcomes Victorian Government’s change of heart on religious freedom
21/09 Australian Christian Lobby Media Release | The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) today welcomed the Victorian Government’s change of heart in recognising the need to protect religious freedom in proposed changes to the Equal Opportunity Act 1995.
ACL Victorian Director Rob Ward said some of the options canvassed as part of a review of exceptions and exemptions to the Act would, had they been implemented, have had serious repercussions for churches, church schools and church-related organisations.
Feminists messing up for sisters
Janet Albrechtsen | ... Their constant cries of discrimination often do women no favours. Three decades ago, feminists maintained that equality in the workplace depended on universal child care for children and full-time work for women. Anything less was discrimination. Never mind that many women wanted to work part time to combine the cherished role of rearing children.
Having finally caught up with the notion that many women want this, the latest feminist demand is that part-time work be regarded as some kind of new human right.
Last week, The Sydney Morning Herald reported a woman’s tale of discrimination woe. Rebecca Salter was offered the position of assistant principal at a primary school in Sydney’s inner west. The job offer was withdrawn when she revealed that she was returning from maternity leave and wanted to work part time. NSW opposition spokeswoman for women and former sex discrimination commissioner Pru Goward said it was “an open and shut case” of discrimination.
Is it too much to expect a former sex discrimination commissioner to stop with the stereotypes? The school, Marrickville West Primary, wanted a full-time assistant principal. Not unreasonably, some jobs cannot be done as well, or at all, on a part-time basis. That’s not evil, unlawful discrimination against women. That’s life, as even Plibersek acknowledged amid last week’s parliamentary melee.
Interview with Jim Middleton, News Hour, Australia Network - Subject: G20
28/09 Peter Costello .com |MR COSTELLO:I think the most important thing to come out of Pittsburgh is the declaration that the G-20 will become the premier gathering of leaders looking at economic issues. Up until now the G-7 or G-8 has tried to keep itself separate but the acknowledgement that you must now bring in the developing world - China, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and that the G-20 should now be the premier body dealing with economic issues is really welcome. And it is a good thing for Australia because Australia is part of the G-20. We are not part of the G-7 or the G-8.
MIDDLETON: What about the argument though that it is simply too big a body to manage the world economy that it would have been better simply to have added China and India say as the emerging economic powerhouses to the G-8?
MR COSTELLO: Well there will be people that will try and narrow down the number of countries that take part. I think if the Europeans had had their way they would have brought in Brazil, Russia, India and China. But the great thing is that we already had the G-20 established. We already had the framework in place and so that gave the opportunity to use this as the Forum rather than try and set up another Form say a G-13 or G-14 which would have excluded Australia.
MIDDLETON: What about the agenda - a fairly ambitious agenda I would have to say that the G-20 have set themselves for managing the economy, the world economy, emerging from the latest financial crisis. Is it realisable?
MR COSTELLO: I think the G-20 will be a Forum for discussing economic policy and that will be its importance. It can also give drive to actually reforming the international financial institutions which have staff and liquidity - that is the IMF and the World Bank. So the G-20 will give an impetus for the reform of those institutions but it won't be a lending institution. The G-20 will be at its best when it meets together on an informal but regular basis to discuss economic policy and if need be to ensure that there is coordination going on for economic policy. ...."
Australia loses great champion of the unborn - Charles Hugh Francis AM QC RFD (1924-2009)
Obituary. Charles Hugh Francis AM QC RFD (July 15, 1924 - August 14, 2009).
Distinguished barrister, former parliamentarian and long-time champion of the unborn, Charles Francis AM QC RFD, died at 12 midday, Friday, August 14, aged 85.
Charles grew up in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges in the township of Belgrave, where his father was the local doctor. Charles was sent to board at Camberwell Grammar and then to Melbourne Grammar.
After leaving school, he joined the RAAF and served as an air-gunner during World War II. He received a commission and, after the war, rose to the rank of group captain, later serving as deputy judge advocate general.
After the war, as a returned serviceman, Charles studied law, arts and commerce at Melbourne University and graduated in all three. He was admitted to the bar in 1948
ARCHIVES: AUSTRALIAN HISTORY: Why Australia's Christian heritage matters
August 1995, Charles Francis | I want to discuss a much-neglected area of Australian history - our Christian heritage. To me it is a matter of regret that, in 1988, when we celebrated our bi-centenary, very little reference at all was made to that heritage nor to its considerable contribution to our nationhood.
No doubt this was in part due to modern theories of the interpretation of history, theories which emerged in the second and third decades of the 20th century and which blossomed in the 1940s and '50s, when history came to be interpreted primarily in economic terms rather than in terms of the influence of particular men.
Labor’s way of silencing debt dissent
Janet Albrechtsen |THIS week the Greens did something out of the ordinary. They expressed concern that the Rudd government is spending too much money. Not famous for their economic credentials, it is a refreshingly fine idea from the Greens. We do need debate about whether it’s time to pull back on stimulus spending that threatens to leave the country in massive debt for decades to come. So let’s hear from the head of Treasury to reassess Australia’s economic position, says Bob Brown. The Treasurer says the unanimous decision of the G20 finance ministers in London is to continue the stimulus. In other words, the debate is over. The government has spoken.
It is a curious and chilling notion that a debate, any debate, can be over. But this seems to be the way the Rudd government likes it. Seen through the prism of politics, you’d expect the ruling party to espouse the idea that their word is the final word. But from an intellectual stance, it’s about as bone-headed as you can get.
There is no doubt that the early stimulus packages were successful in boosting spending and staving off recession. Throw enough money at consumers and they will spend more. But remember this: according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Rudd’s stimulus package - equivalent to 4.6 per cent of gross domestic product - is one of the largest in the developed world. Only South Korea and the US have pumped more money into their economies. Hence, the need for a legitimate debate about the size and length of Rudd’s spending, mismanagement and inefficiencies, not to mention whether the government’s broader spending measures amount to a political stimulus for the Kevin 2010 campaign, rather than an economic one.
Yet, from the outset, the Rudd government’s response has been phony. The Prime Minister adopted the mantra of false choice. It was a case of either do it our way or do nothing, said Rudd, when he has been questioned about his intervention in the economy.
G20 - it's the new G8
25/08 SMH.com.au | The Group of 20 developed and developing nations - of which Australia is a member - is to become the world's main economic forum, the White House announced today as leaders attended a summit in Pittsburgh.
March for the Babies - October 10, 2009
Saltshakers | On October 10, 2008, the Victorian government passed the Abortion Law Reform Act, one of the most extreme abortion laws in the world.
This eliminated all legal protection for Victorian children until the moment of birth.
The 'March for the Babies' is being held one year after that shameful event to remember the passing of this abortion law.
- Remembering the 20,000 babies who are killed in Victoria every year before they are born.
- Remembering the babies of one in three pregnancies.
PLEASE - Mark this date in your diary and plan to join this march.Bring all your friends, colleagues... anyone and everyone
For more information visit the March for Babies website
Labor has more to gain if the election is after July
23/09 Peter Costello.com|Kevin Rudd does not want a double dissolution election over his carbon pollution reduction scheme, which is why he is asking the Opposition to come up with proposed amendments. He wants to incorporate any reasonable amendments and get the Coalition to pass the bill.
Rudd knows when energy prices start rising, when food and services cost more as a result of the Government's scheme, the public is going to get tetchy. He wants to be able to say the scheme was bipartisan. He wants to say no one should blame him or Labor for price rises or lost jobs because the Coalition had exactly the same approach and without their support it would never have been introduced.
If Rudd truly wanted a double dissolution, he would not be asking for amendments. He would insist on a take-it-or-leave-it approach. If the Coalition takes it, he gets his model. If it leaves it, he gets his election trigger. But he gets that only if his bill is rejected in its current form. If the Government accepts any amendments, it loses that option.
A government wants as many options as possible and it would not lightly disregard the chance of a double dissolution. But what does it mean in practical terms?
A government can hold an election for the House of Representatives any time. But it can take only half the Senate to an election after July. If a government calls an election for the house in the first half of the year, it will still have to hold a half Senate election - separately - after July. That hasn't happened since 1970.
The Government has the option of a house and half-Senate election in the second half of the year. The double dissolution gives it the option of a house and full-Senate election in the first half of the year. What's the difference? Six months.
Continued at Peter Costello.com [PDF version] ....
Federal Labor called on to uphold marriage election promise
21/09 Australian Christian Lobby Media Release | The Australian Christian Lobby has called on the Federal Government to honour its election commitment to uphold marriage between a man and a woman in the face of reports the ACT Labor caucus has decided to back a Greens bill which mimics marriage.
ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said he expected the Federal Government to intervene to ensure the election commitment was honoured.
Groups unite to highlight abortion tragedy
19/09 Australian Christian Lobby Media Release | In a move to highlight the tragedy of babies being aborted at an age when they could survive outside the womb, a number of family and pro-life groups have joined forces to advertise their concerns in a major metropolitan newspaper.
The advertisement uses last weekend’s Weekend Australian Magazine imagery of a baby born just 23 weeks into a pregnancy to graphically point out that the picture confirms the inhumanity of aborting the same, or older, babies.
VIEW THE ADVERT AS SHOWN IN THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE
Saving babies who could live
18/09 Family Voice Australia, Media Release |Pro-family, pro-life groups including FamilyVoice Australia have joined forces to highlight the tragedy of Australian babies who are being aborted at an age when they could survive outside the womb.
... FamilyVoice Australia research officer Ros Phillips said most people do not stop to think about what is happening in an abortion. “When late (second trimester) abortions are performed, there is a real live baby in the womb who is moving, kicking and feeling pain,” she said.
Family Policies That Work
The Hon. Kevin Andrews MP,
Federal Member for Menzies | A presentation to the World Congress of Families, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 12, 2009.
Functional families are crucial for the raising of children and the stability of society.
What is happening with families?
At the first World Congress of Families at Prague in 1997, I summarised those patterns that pointed to a decline in marriage and a weakening of family life:
· People are marrying less;
· Those couples who marry do so at an older age;
· There has been a dramatic increase in divorce;
· The number of children involved in divorce has continued to grow since the early 1970s;
· The rates of remarriage have fallen over the past 20 years;
· Families are having fewer children;
· The proportion of children born out of wedlock has increased dramatically;
· There has been a marked increase in the proportion of single parent families;
· Families increasingly have both parents in the paid workforce; and
· In most nations, the population is ageing
A decade later, it is timely to review these trends. As the appended charts indicate, generally birth rates and marriage rates have continued to fall, pre-marital cohabitation has become the norm in most countries, the median age of first marriage has risen, divorce rates have increased, out-of-wedlock births have grown, as has the proportion of sole-parent families, and the population continues to age
Call to tame down TV sex and violence
18/09 Australian Christian Lobby Media Release | In the face of growing levels of sex and violence on TV, the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) today launched a Tame the Tube campaign aimed squarely at commercial television’s lax code of practice.
The campaign is designed to activate people to have their say on declining TV standards and to rebuff industry moves to not only further weaken TV standards but to stifle public complaints in the process.
DOCS lost starved girl, 7, for five years
15/09 Gemma Jones, The Daily Telegraph | THE catalogue of neglect by DOCS of a girl, 7, who starved to death can be revealed for the first time in an internal review of its dismal failings. Caseworkers failed to lay eyes on the girl for more than five years before she died, despite knowing she was at serious risk.
An internal DOCS review of the death of the girl, who can be known only as "Ebony", said she had become "invisible". The saddest failures happened in the lead-up to her death in November. One caseworker who handled her file in 2007 left DOCS before completing a family assessment.
GOVERNMENT TURNS BLIND EYE TO ALLEGED WAR CRIMINAL
14/09 Family First | ... “I can’t believe Guy Campos has been allowed to just walk out of the country when the Rudd Government knows full well the war crimes that he’s been accused of,” Senator Fielding said.
“The Rudd government has sent a dangerous message to the rest of the world that we welcome alleged war criminals in Australia because we have no interest in bringing them to justice.”
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has spent a year investigating Mr Campos over allegations relating to torture in East Timor in the 1990s. “Australia might have signed the Geneva Convention, but when it comes to actioning its obligations it’s chosen to turn a blind eye,” Senator Fielding said.
NSW: Third new Cabinet in one year as Rees reshuffles again
15/09 The Daily Telegraph | THE revolving door of the NSW ministry keeps on spinning, with the swearing in yesterday of yet another Rees Cabinet. It was the third new Cabinet in just over a year and the 30th change to a major portfolio in the past four years.
Since Bob Carr retired in 2005 there have been no less than six police ministers, five health ministers, five environment ministers, four roads ministers and four education ministers. Premier Nathan Rees promised it would be the last change before the election, barring any further ministerial misconduct, incompetence or attempted political coups.
‘Don’t undermine marriage – put child’s interests first’
13/09 The Catholic Weekly | Marriage is a total, exclusive and permanent commitment between one man and one woman and is a union oriented towards having children, says Chris Meney, director of the Life, Marriage and Family Centre for the Sydney archdiocese.
He said society should encourage this understanding and privilege marriage.
“It should not merely accord it equivalent status with other forms of adult relationships,” he said. “It is time to be serious about placing the interests of children at the forefront of social policy by preferentially supporting marriage and to cease allowing the wants and desires of individuals to corrode a social institution that is so vital for child wellbeing.”
Memo to future MPs: don't leave your run too late
09/09 Peter Costello.com|Even before the Liberal Party opened nominations for the north shore seat of Bradfield, Arthur Sinodinos, former chief of staff to John Howard, ruled himself out as a candidate. "I know the sacrifices involved in a serious political career," he said.
With a decade of experience as a staffer at the highest level, Sinodinos would make an enormous contribution to political life. But he is right. There are huge sacrifices. And no one can be criticised for taking them into account.
It may be that Sinodinos is not ready for an election right now. But there is another opportunity that will come up next year - the seat of Bennelong. Stanley Bruce is the only prime minister apart from John Howard to lose his own seat at an election. Bruce won it back the next time round.
Obviously, Howard will not seek to do the same. The seat is on a margin of 1.4 per cent. The Coalition cannot win the election unless it wins in Bennelong. It would be a fitting tribute to his old boss if Sinodinos could nominate and win Bennelong back for the Liberal Party.
In a newspaper column last week, Sinodinos made some generous suggestions about career options I should consider. So I feel relaxed about giving him some advice in return: don't leave your political run too late.
Continued at Peter Costello.com [PDF version] ....
RESEARCH SHOWS THE $16bn ALCOHOL TOLL STARTS YOUNG
09/09 Family First | The Rudd Government needs to act now to address Australia’s $16 billion alcohol toll following the release of research by Roy Morgan, Family First Leader Senator Steve Fielding said today.
The research released today found that more than 12 million Australians were not aware of the guidelines which advise that the safest option for teenagers is to delay drinking for as long as possible.
“To have more than half the population unaware of the new national guidelines on the responsible consumption of alcohol is simply shocking,” Senator Fielding said. “Medical research shows the earlier a person starts drinking, the more likely it is they will have problems with alcohol later in life.
Protecting Children from Pornography
09/09 Speech:
The Hon. Scott Morrison MP,
Federal Member for Cook | On Tuesday we recognised White Balloon Day and the important work that Bravehearts do in preventing child sexual assault in remote, rural and regional areas.
Our attention was similarly and shockingly drawn to this issue when the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse issued their 2007 Little children are sacred’ report. In that report we learned of the destructive and evil influence of pornography in remote Indigenous communities —particularly for children who are exposed to this material as the report says:… as a way to encourage and prepare children for sex or grooming.
In response to our collective sense of outrage, despair and resolve, the Howard government acted with the Northern Territory intervention and banned pornographic material from these communities. As I said when the current government introduced further legislation on these matters, none of us are immune from the evil impact of pornography.
ROXON A DISAPPOINTING NO SHOW AT HOMEBIRTH RALLY: FIELDING
07/09 Family First | Family First Leader Senator Steve Fielding says he was deeply disappointed that the Health Minister Nicola Roxon did not come and listen to the concerns of those rallying against the Rudd Government’s changes to homebirth indemnity insurance at Parliament House today.
“The Rudd Government acknowledges it made an error in essentially making homebirths illegal when it announced at the 11th hour that it would give homebirth midwives a two-year reprieve from its changes,” Senator Fielding said.
“First these women protested out the front of the Health Minister’s Melbourne office, then outside Parliament House today. But do you think Nicola Roxon could take five minutes out of her day to talk and listen? No.
“The Rudd Government needs to guarantee that women will be able to continue giving birth at home with the assistance of a registered midwife once the two-year reprieve has expired.
'State has no right to ‘change’ marriage'
6/09 The Catholic Weekly | Marriage is not simply a loving, committed relationship between two people, but a “unique kind of physical and emotional union” which is open to the possibility of new life, says the Archbishop of Sydney, George Cardinal Pell.
In the Sydney archdiocese’s submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s Inquiry into the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2009, the cardinal said marriage makes a “unique and irreplaceable contribution to society” because a stable, loving marriage provides the best conditions for raising children.
Call for Queensland parliamentary inquiry into botched abortion cruelty
02/09 Australian Christian Lobby Media Release | The unforgivable inhumanity of 19 Queensland babies being born alive and then left to die following botched abortions in 2007 reveals the human face of Australia’s alarming abortion statistics, the Australian Christian Lobby said today.
ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace called for a Queensland parliamentary inquiry into late-term abortion practices and the ethics, morality and legality of leaving babies to die when premature babies – sometimes at a similar stage of development – are being cared for in neonatal wards.
“This is an issue from which we cannot simply turn our faces. Babies are now surviving in some places at 22 weeks gestation and above, while research supports the proposition that unborn babies feel pain by at least 20 weeks gestation. Is it right that babies of the same age are being cruelly left to experience pain and death when they could be helped and given a chance at life? How long are legislators and pro-abortion activists going to pretend these aren’t real people with a right to live? How selfish and cruel are their agendas?
NSW: O'Farrell intent on forcing early election
02/09 AAP | THE NSW Opposition has vowed to force an early state election with a vote of no-confidence in the Labor Government ... Adding to the Labor Government's woes, John Della Bosca resigned his health portfolio yesterday after a newspaper revealed his affair with a woman half his age. Mr Della Bosca's resignation follows a string of scandals for the Labor government - including former minister Milton Orkopoulos being found guilty of offering teenage boys cash, heroin and marijuana and luring them into sex acts with him in his parliamentary office.
NSW : John Della Bosca in sex scandal
01/09 News.com.au | NEW South Wales Health Minister John Della Bosca resigned last night, just hours after he was revealed to have been embroiled in a sex scandal.
Mr Della Bosca decided to quit as Health Minister after The Daily Telegraph put a list of questions to him outlining a six-month affair he had this year with a 26-year-old woman
TASMANIA: Pollies vote to deny kids a dad
Australian Christian Lobby Newsletter | In a blow for the rights of children, the Tasmanian Lower House today passed a bill which would create biological fiction and dismiss the presumption that a child has a father.
The Relationships (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2009 aims to amend the Status of Children Act 1974 so that the partner of a lesbian women who has conceived through IVF is also recognised as the child’s parent – in other words saying that the child has two mothers but no father.
Making a Stand: An Australian Charter of Rights
We the undersigned are opposed to a Charter of Rights which would allow judges to determine if laws are incompatible with human rights. We support the protection of human rights, especially those of the most vulnerable in our society, but we wish to see elected representatives of the people, not unelected judges, remain responsible for the protection of human rights. We note that this system has already made Australia one of the freest countries in the world with a human rights record the envy of people all over the world. We call upon the Australian Parliament to:
a. reject a Charter of Rights orb. not enact a Charter without a referendum.
To Sign this Petition on the Make A Stand website
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Interview with Jim Middleton, News Hour, Australia Network - Subject: G20 
Australia loses great champion of the unborn - Charles Hugh Francis AM QC RFD (1924-2009) 
March for the Babies - October 10, 2009
Family Policies That Work 
GOVERNMENT TURNS BLIND EYE TO ALLEGED WAR CRIMINAL
15/09 The Daily Telegraph
Protecting Children from Pornography
