JourneyOnline
What’s coming up
Annual Palm Sunday Rally
This year’s Palm Sunday Rally for Peace and Refugees will be held on Sunday 14 April, from 2-4 pm, at Speakers corner, outside Queensland Parliament, corner George and Alice Streets. Speakers will include Aran Mylvaganam, co-founder of Tamil Council of Australia and Professor Susan Harris-Rimmer, Griffith University. The themes are “Justice for refugees; peace not war” and “Bring them here”.
Come on Uniting Church: let us stand up together for refugees and peace in our region and the whole world. Look for the Uniting Church banner. Bring signs.
In the run up to the federal election the Palm Sunday Rally for Peace and Refugees will help deliver the message to all politicians that we want a fair society that welcomes refugees.
Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month
Every year in Queensland, the month of May has a focus on raising community awareness of domestic and family violence in order to send a clear message that violence of this sort will not be tolerated. There are lots of things you can do as a community and as individuals to participate in this campaign. You can organise an event in your own community. A state-wide events calendar is here. Online resources to help you are also available: brochures, posters, wallet cards.
The week in review
New campaign for Indigenous Australians – mental health
Suicide Prevention organisation RU OK have launched a new campaign that aims to lower the suicide rate among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The “Stronger Together” campaign encourages First Peoples to talk to those in their mob about how they are feeling and have the difficult conversations about mental health. There are helpful hints, multiple video and written stories and a kit of helpful resources to get everyone talking.
Consultation – Sexual Violence Prevention Framework
Sexual violence has a significant and profound impact on individuals, families and communities in Queensland. It can affect people of all ages, genders and backgrounds, and occurs in a range of settings. Sexual violence can have far-reaching health, social, emotional and economic impacts on victims, survivors, their families, friends and workplaces, and the broader community. The Queensland Government has a range of consultation activities and they want to hear from people in the community about preventing and responding to sexual violence, by 30 April.
There is an online survey and a youth engagement strategy; there will be community forums in Townsville, Mount Isa, Rockhampton, Toowoomba, Bundaberg and Sunshine Coast. A background paper has been prepared. Written submissions can also be made.
Queensland Youth eHub
This is an online space for young people to have a say about issues that affect you. As projects and activities are developed under the state government’s Queensland Youth Strategy, you can join the conversation through forums, polls, crowd-sourcing ideas and feedback. They want to hear from you!
Best technology for fighting climate change?
Forests are the most powerful and efficient carbon-capture system on the planet. So far, there has tended to be a focus on reducing fossil fuel consumption through technology and/or policy as climate solutions. While these proposals are of course essential to reducing man-made emissions, they have overshadowed the most powerful and cost-efficient carbon-capture technology the world has yet seen – forests. Natural climate solutions, including forests, can help us achieve 37 per cent of our climate target. Read more here.
The Burnside Conversations – watch the new web series
This is an extension of the conversations Julian Burnside had with the global human rights leaders featured in Border Politics. RymerChilds Documentary are excited to get the series out to the broader community and we believe it will add to the debate about asylum seekers, human rights and democracy. We would like you to think of The Burnside Conversations as a set of tools supporting an argument for the vital preservation of human rights in our world.
Call to action
Ethical Fashion Guide now on your phone!
Baptist World Aid has created an End Poverty App to celebrate 60 years of working to end poverty, and the Ethical Fashion Guide is on it. Search for the “End Poverty” app on your mobile. When the 2019 Guide is released in mid-April it will automatically update and you’ll be able to shop ethically wherever you are. Fantastic! Watch this video explaining the app.
Volunteers from CALD backgrounds needed
The Ethnic Communities Council Queensland (ECCQ) operates aged care through Diversicare. Their Community Visitors Scheme (CVS) engages volunteers from CALD backgrounds to make regular visits to older people from similar backgrounds living in residential facilities who are socially isolated or are at risk of social isolation or loneliness.
We are currently seeking volunteers who would benefit from ongoing friendship. Volunteering as a community visitor can be a rewarding experience. By forging friendship with an older person you have a chance to make a positive difference to their life – as well as your own.
