Opinion

I am a Christian and like many other Christians I support the development of federal human rights legislation. I sincerely hope that the National Human Rights Consultation Committee makes such a recommendation to the Federal Government. When the Committee finally delivers its report, I may or may not agree with the conclusions it reaches. It may disappoint me, but I ...

Today, 21 May, is the UN World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. I used to think that my life and family were all of one culture and background. Nothing that I learned in school here or in the United Kingdom ever challenged that. Sameness, conformity and assimilation were taken for granted: they were the norm by which ...

Sigmund Freud once said that the only feeling that doesn’t lie is anxiety. This is a hard thing for us to hear, because no feeling terrifies us more than anxiety. And that’s why we avoid it like the plague. Anxiety disrupts our carefully constructed and managed zones of comfort, and confronts us with the harsh realities of the world without. ...

Paul Vallely and Giles Fraser have recently advanced exactly the same argument, about exactly the same issue, using exactly the same dismissive phrase, in exactly the same newspaper. A conspiracy? If someone was as inclined as they appear to be to see conspiracies everywhere (in their case, secular ones), s/he might think so. But the routine overheated commentator’s temptation to ...

UnitingCare Australia’s National Director was invited to an early preview of the Federal Budget in the Treasury Budget lock-up in Canberra yesterday. Here are her notes and initial evaluation: “Overall Budget direction solid – it delivers in spades for job creation and for major infrastructure investment – but despite the rhetoric, there’s very little for Australia’s most disadvantaged (or for ...

Two months ago Australians were deeply moved by the tragic fires that swept through parts of Victoria. We extended our sympathy and assistance to the victims of those fires. People gave generously to the bush fires fund to help those in great need. While questions concerning the origin of these fires are now being asked, it was the victims’ wellbeing ...

FRANCESCO BERNADONE from the Italian village of Assisi, known today as St Francis of Assisi, is honoured throughout the world as the man who turned his back on a life as the lecherous and lazy son of a wealthy cloth merchant. His life of service, devotion, transparency, and voluntary poverty continues to inspire us today. Yet Francis struggled with a ...

AFTER BEING swamped by a group of beggars (some of them children and many missing a limb) on a beach in Cambodia, a friend of mine realised his wallet had been stolen.With nowhere to report the crime, he decided to live on the US$20 he had in his pocket for the following two weeks.After all, these beggars – the victims ...

NO ONE likes to receive charity. Well, maybe not ‘no one’. I remember a man who wanted charity just after I arrived in Clermont as a new minister. There was a knock on the front door and before me stood a man who said he wanted some money. He told me a sorry tale about needing to go to Rockhampton ...

Easter Hope in a financially fallen world.The global financial crisis, fires and floods at home, violence and abject poverty overseas: all are signs of a deeply fallen world.  Yet, as our Churches celebrate Easter this year, we affirm the mystery of God’s saving grace, born precisely out of suffering, destruction and death.  Recent events have confirmed that true security is ...