National News

On 6 June 2011, The Uniting Church in Australia became a signatory to the following statement: The Australian debate about asylum policy has now degenerated to the point where the central argument seems to be about which inhumane policy will cause the least suffering. Neither indefinite detention in the Pacific nor sending asylum seekers to uncertainty in Malaysia can be ...

Twenty thousand people including volunteers, organisers and guests were evacuated from Easterfest when Queens Park flooded on Easter Saturday evening. The evacuation followed after the main tent partially collapsed during a torrential downfall. Easterfest CEO Isaac Moody said he is appreciative of the “amazing crew and volunteers” during this unexpected event. “These situations are never easy. It was pouring rain ...

The Uniting Church in Australia has today written to all Federal Labor parliamentarians, expressing its shock at the cruel and punitive plan to ‘swap’ refugees with Malaysia. The Church’s National Director for justice, Rev. Elenie Poulos, said, “It is one of the truly low points in Australian politics that a Government has made a deal to trade people like commodities. ...

The Uniting Church in Australia is dismayed at reports that the Government is planning to re-open the detention centre on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, Uniting Church President, Rev. Alistair Macrae, said. “We are extremely concerned that the Government is proposing a ‘Pacific Solution Take Two’ that will shift Australia’s burden of caring for a relatively small number of asylum ...

FORMER UNITING Church president and one of the world’s leading scholars and promoters of interfaith dialogue, Rev Professor James Haire AM KSJ, was awarded Australian Catholic University’s highest honour, Doctor of the University, in Sydney on 5 April. He received the award in recognition of his service to the community, particularly through his contributions to interfaith dialogue. Originally from Belfast, ...

THE AUSTRALIAN Churches Gambling Taskforce said today that mandatory pre commitment technology on all poker machines will limit the economic and social impact of problem gambling on individuals, families and communities by helping problem gamblers help themselves. Taskforce chair, Rev Tim Costello made the comments ahead of the launch of what promises to be an aggressive, well funded campaign by the ...

ONCE AGAIN Uniting Churches all over the country are getting ready for the 2011 National Church Life Survey – for which each denomination will be allocated a survey month from September to November. The National Church Life Survey (NCLS) is a tool that provides churches with evidence based insight to equip them for ministry and mission. It has helped participating ...

AUSTRALIA’S MAJOR churches met at a national forum in Canberra on 22 March to launch the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce amid calls for urgent action on gambling reform. Senior representatives from the Uniting, Catholic, Baptist and Anglican churches and The Salvation Army attended along with senior representatives from the church-based social services peak bodies. Existing gambling taskforces were also represented. ...

THE UNITING Church in Australia has expressed its horror at the excessive use of force against asylum seekers on Christmas Island in mid-March. On 17 March the President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Alistair Macrae said, “The confirmation by the Immigration Minister that ‘beanbag’ bullets, along with tear gas, were used against an unarmed group of people partaking ...

THE UNITING Church in Australia has raised more than one million dollars in aid of flood victims in Queensland, Victoria, northern New South Wales and Western Australia. The President’s Appeal was launched by the Assembly in cooperation with the Queensland Synod and Lifeline Community Care Queensland, in immediate response to the flooding that devastated parts of rural Queensland, Brisbane and ...