Monthly Archives: August 2010
make poverty history in cook
On August 18 2010 Make Poverty History held an electoral forum in the Seat of Cook at which I was privileged to act as Chairperson. Here are the videos:
traumatic protection visas
“What [they] would be saying is that they have no place in Australia. They are only to be here temporarily … Can you imagine what temporary entry would mean for them? It would mean that people would never know whether they were able to remain here. There would be uncertainty, particularly in terms of the attention given to learning English, and in addressing the torture and trauma so they are healed from some of the tremendous physical and psychological wounds they have suffered. So, I regard [their] approach as being highly unconscionable in a way that most thinking people would clearly reject.”
A quote by Phillip Ruddock (then-Coalition Minister for Immigration) in 1998 referring to One Nation’s policies. Temporary Protection Visas were introduced by the Howard Coalition Government on October 20, 1999.
show me the money!
by Matt Anslow and Greg Attwells
(For this to make sense you should read our previous post, entitled Religion Sells)
While Jerry MacGuire may have screamed this now-iconic quote down the mouthpiece of a telephone as his cocky client bounced playfully on the other side of the line whilst encouraging him to say it “Louder Jerry!” the truth is that in the end it wasn’t the money which was important. It was family, relationships and even professional ethics that came out on top at the end of this classic flick named after its main protagonist.
Perhaps Jerry MacGuire can reveal something to us, the Church, in the terms of what we should value most. Keep Reading…
put your money where your mouth is/put a nail where your hand is
It is not secret that I find myself firmly opposed to the Coalition in regards to the Asylum Seeker issue. In fact I find their willingness to exploit the gullibility of people to be disgusting.
This article just makes things worse…
The question I want to raise this time is not related to the asylum seeker issue per se, but rather is more related to my own personal integrity (and those who might agree with my position or a similar one).
Would I, knowing that I could go to jail for doing so, stand up and do what I thought was right in the name of being compassionate?
Given that much of the current rhetoric about “illegal” immigrants is bizarrely absent of any actual legal backing, I would argue that those immigrants (particularly boat people) who are deemed “illegal” are mostly not so. If there is then no moral reason to treat such people with a lack of compassion, would I welcome them into my home? Even more confronting, would I welcome them knowing I could be deemed a concealer and harbourer of “illegals?” While this question is theoretical (for now at least…), it is not arbitrary…
Nor is it un-theological.
It is no secret that Jesus was executed on a Roman cross. It is however true that there is widespread ignorance about the meaning of that death. For first century people the Roman cross was a punishment reserved for “thieves,” which in that time referred not to robbers, but to political rebels. Jesus was executed as a political rebel. Why? Because he proclaimed and promoted a different empire.
The empire of God!
A different way of life. One in which compassion and mercy and justice and love were the dominating values rather than indifference and cruelty and inequality and fear.
The question is; how closely am I willing to follow Jesus?
Am I willing to rebel against a political system if I believe it to corrupt the values of the kingdom of God (and suffer the consequences of doing so)?
I hope so.
MCA
