National News

Nungalinya College in Darwin, Northern Territory, is celebrating 40 years as an Indigenous Christian college providing training for Indigenous Christians throughout Australia. The college has grown over the years as a unique partnership of the Uniting, Anglican and Catholic churches empowering Indigenous people to take up leadership in their communities and churches. In 2013 there were over 300 students enrolled ...

The Uniting Church in Australia has expressed distress at reports of chemical weapons attacks in Syria earlier this week. President of the Uniting Church Assembly, Rev Dr Andrew Dutney, has called on the church to join him in praying for those affected by the attacks in Damascus. “We mourn with the families of those who were killed in these deplorable ...

The Uniting Church in Australia has expressed concern about plans to send asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea (PNG) for assessment and resettlement. Dianne Jensen reports. The policy was announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill in Brisbane on 19 July. The agreement, which will be in place for at least the next 12 months, ...

Working for a just society is an integral part of the Uniting Church. In the lead-up to the federal election UnitingJustice calls Christians to vote ethically. “As Christians, we have a responsibility to think carefully and cast our vote with the needs of the most vulnerable in mind,” says UnitingJustice National Director, Rev Elenie Poulos. As the justice unit of ...

The Great Barrier Reef’s delicate ecosystem is under continued strain. Katie Lewis reports. The decision to add the Great Barrier Reef to UNESCO’s World Heritage in Danger list has been deferred to 2014. Louise Mathieson from Greenpeace says the decision gives the Queensland and Federal governments a chance to improve the quality of the reef and wind back port developments. ...

National Director of UnitingJustice Rev Elenie Poulos and members of the Uniting Church who work with asylum seekers have spoken out on the sidelines of a Federal Government Caucus meeting in the Sydney suburb of Balmain. Ms Poulos told assembled national media that the Government's policy of sending all asylum seekers arriving by boat to Papua New Guinea for resettlement ...

The Uniting Church in Australia has expressed its deep concern over the latest round of policy amendments designed to punish asylum seekers arriving by boat. President of the Uniting Church Assembly Rev Dr Andrew Dutney spoke of his dismay at the extreme abdication of responsibility demonstrated by the new arrangements announced by Prime Minister Rudd. “We now see firmly entrenched ...

Rev Professor Andrew Dutney, the President of the Uniting Church Assembly, has called on Australians to show due respect for each other’s faith, after a Muslim MP was vilified for choosing to swear his oath of office on the Koran. Western Sydney MP Ed Husic became the first Australian Federal Member of Parliament to take his ministerial oath on the ...

Former moderator Rev Dr David Pitman has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, one of six Uniting Church members in Queensland to receive honours in the Queen's Birthday 2013 Honours List announced today by the Governor-General, Her Excellency the Honourable Quentin Bryce. In addition to twice being elected moderator, Dr Pitman currently sits on the UnitingCare Queensland ...

A joint conference between members of the Australian Islamic Cultural Centre (AICC) and the Uniting Church in Australia Assembly was hosted by Al-Faisal College in Auburn on the 17 April 2013. The Assembly's Working Group on Relations with Other Faiths brought together fifteen ministers from around Australia who joined Muslim leaders, scholars and teachers to discuss the theme 'to Love ...