Author: gordonmoyes.com

Australia needs to train 7,000 more nurses every year for the next 15 years, according a shelved Government report, even though cash-strapped hospitals already struggle to give existing students crucial experience with patients, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The report, obtained by the newspaper under freedom of information laws, calls for a big increase in university places while also noting that institutions are unable to take many more students because they cannot provide vital hospital training.

The report, which is produced by the joint State-Federal National Health Workforce Taskforce, forecasts how many extra places are needed each year to train enough nurses, doctors and other allied health professionals to serve the population by 2025. The report forecast a shortage next year of 11,822 nurses!

Jill White, Dean of the Sydney Nursing School at the University of Sydney, said the Government had known for a while that universities were unable to take more students because of the lack of access to patients in the courses.

“What we need to do is open up more clinical training places in the public and private sector”, Professor White told the Sydney Morning Herald. She said it was likely the Government would fund the extra places suggested by its taskforce, knowing that the universities were unable to take up the offers because of the shortage of clinical placements in hospitals. Ms White stated, “They’ll probably offer them knowing they won’t be taken up. It’s a significant frustration for everyone.”

Back in 2008, the NSW Government announced the establishment of a Child Pornography Working Party which will examine the artistic purposes defence in the context of child pornography. The report of the Child Pornography Working Party by the NSW Department of Justice and the Attorney General was released last month.

Under the recommendations, artistic merit can no longer be used as a defence for the use of images of children deemed to be pornographic. If the recommendations of the Working Party become law, any person producing, distributing or possessing such material could still argue artistic merit but once the material is ruled to be pornographic the defence would lapse.

NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said, “The working party’s report suggests that once such material has been found to be unlawfully pornographic, whether or not it is intended to be art, is irrelevant. Instead, the report recommends adopting Commonwealth provisions, which require that once a court has considered arguments that certain material is art and reached a determination that it is nevertheless unlawfully pornographic, no further defence of artistic merit is available”.

The definition of child pornography was recently broadened by the Crimes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Act 2008 which commenced on 1 January 2009. Child pornography is now legislatively defined as material that depicts or describes (or appears to depict or describe) in a manner that would in all the circumstances cause offence to reasonable persons, a person who is (or appears to be a child): a) engaged in sexual activity, or b) in a sexual context, or c) as the victim of torture, cruelty or physical abuse (whether or nor in a sexual context).

In addition, a new section was inserted that specifies any material that contains or displays an image of a person that has been altered or manipulated so that the person appears to be a child. During the second reading speech of the bill, the Attorney General explained the reasoning behind the further broadening of the definition: “…Images can also be manipulated to make ‘innocent’ photographs of children appear in a pornographic context, or to make a person in a sexual context appear to be a child…The Government makes no apologies in ensuring that all child pornographic images, whether ‘real’ or ‘pseudo’ are covered by this legislation…Furthermore, it is important to reduce the amount of this abhorrent material available to anyone with access to a computer”.

Dr Gordon Moyes supports the recommendations of the Child Pornography Working Party given that this is a huge community concern for families, and that children must be protected from such material. A final decision on these recommendations will not be made by Cabinet until the NSW Government receives responses from victims groups, the artistic community and the media.

3 February 2010.

The Federal Government is considering changing child custody laws that could make it harder for fathers to secure 50-50 custody if their children are under the age of two. The changes come after the release of a report commissioned by the Attorney General’s Department.

The “Evaluation of the 2006 Family Law Reforms” conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) was designed to examine changes to the Family Law Act (1975) enacted during the final term of the Howard Government.

The report was compiled with input from 24,000 parents who had gone through the system, and over 500 grandparents. Other contributors included experts in family law such as lawyers, judges, psychologists, and social workers.

According to the Attorney-General Robert McClelland, the report examined family law issues such as shared parenting and domestic violence. The report urged the Government to soften the law that deters parents, usually women, from making allegations of violence by the other parent in the Family Court.

Father’s groups are angered by the proposed move saying that the changes to shared parenting laws will create another stolen generation of children. Barry Williams, President, Lone Fathers’ Association of Australia (an organisation of more than 16,000 members) has vowed to oppose any changes to the current laws. He said, “The rights of children should be the most important factor. I have seen many children suffer because they have not been allowed contact with their fathers.”

Professor Alan Hayes, Director, AIFS, said “More than one million children currently live in separated families. The way in which separated couples resolve parenting arrangements, make decisions about their children and conduct their relationships all have significant and lasting impacts on their children’s lives…The message out of this evaluation is clear – ongoing conflict between separated parents leads to worse outcomes for children.”

One of the findings of the report included the Family Court being asked to apply a new “triage” system which will quickly assess urgent risks relating to domestic violence, relocation, substance abuse or mental health issues.

Rev Dr Gordon Moyes, Family First Member of New South Wales Parliament, said “I express my concern regarding any change to child custody laws that will make access harder for fathers. I also express my concern on the distressing issue of domestic violence, abusive relationships, and children who suffer as a result.”

He continued, “I support these proposed reforms that work towards greater security, stability and health in family life and relationships. Policies should focus on taking a more preventative approach and address the crux of the matter, and that is assisting people to build solid families and nurturing relationships free from violence.” END

A number of organisations are very upset, claiming that the Rudd government is promoting a fatherless society. What they are mad about is the December 2009 publication of a report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) to the Attorney-General’s Department and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) regarding its in-depth evaluation of the changes made in 2006 to the Australian family law system.

This evaluation had been commissioned by the Attorney General’s Department, and FaHCSIA. Accordingly, the AIFS undertook to conduct a wide range of surveys and interviews across the country, seeking feedback from 24,000 Australian parents who had gone through the system, as well as over 500 grandparents. In addition AIFS gathered feedback from the experts and professionals working in Australian family law. In addition they carefully analysed more than 1,700 court files and case studies.

The overall conclusion was that the family law system was working well, with increased use of family relationship services, a lower rate of court filings, and a trend of not going straight to the family court to resolve issues but seeking mediation first. It found that most people were able to work things out regarding the children by themselves in the first year.

There were, however, concerns about the reform’s effects on family dynamics in the situations with violence and abuse. The evaluation found that for an important minority of children equal care time between their two parents was a serious concern. But for children where there was no violence or abuse, equal care time was found to work well.

Professor Alan Hayes, the director of AIFS, says that “More than one million children currently live in separated families. The way in which separated couples resolve parenting arrangements, make decisions about their children and conduct their relationships all have significant and lasting impacts on their children’s lives for better or worse depending on how well they manage post-separation parenting. The message out of this evaluation is clear – ongoing conflict between separated parents leads to worse outcomes for children.”

The evaluation found that many Australian parents seriously misunderstand the various changes to the family law system, and seem to believe that ‘equal shared parental responsibility’ (which means shared decision making and financial support) allows for equal shared care – or 50/50 time. But this is wrong. It does not guarantee equal time access to the children. This basic misunderstanding of what the law actually calls for makes the situation much more complex, vexed and difficult for parents, relationship services professionals, lawyers and the courts.

Dr Hayes explains, “This misunderstanding is due in part to the way the notion of shared parental responsibility is expressed in the legislation. It has led to disillusionment among some fathers who find that it doesn’t automatically mean 50/50 care time. And indeed, the law was never intended to provide for shared care time in cases where there are safety concerns.

He went on, “”This misunderstanding is due in part to the way the notion of shared parental responsibility is expressed in the legislation. It has led to disillusionment among some fathers who find that it doesn’t automatically mean 50/50 care time. And indeed, the law was never intended to provide for shared care time in cases where there are safety concerns. Lawyers in particular have indicated that the 2006 reforms have promoted a focus on the parents’ rights rather than children’s needs and that the family law system doesn’t do enough to support arrangements that are suitable for a child’s particular level of development.”

Negotiating and deciding upon the parenting arrangements must be different for every couple, as every relationship has its own history, dynamics, and patterns. This study found that even after some years up to 10% of separated couples had still reached no satisfactory agreement over access to the children.

For those who had worked things out the use of counselling, mediation, family dispute resolution and lawyers was helpful, but nearly half of the parents found that just negotiating between themselves led to their best outcome. That group also expressed a belief in their own self-determination to a higher degree than others.

The report also looked into the after separation relationships between grandparents, grandchildren and the parents of these grandchildren. These family situations can be complex and fraught with anger. It is thought that maintaining these relationships ‘will not always be of benefit to the family’. It is likely that grandparents will “take sides”, probably of their own child, which could exacerbate the level of conflict between the parents and add immeasurably to the distress of the grandchildren. Research has demonstrated that grandchildren whose parents have separated are more likely to have contact with their maternal than paternal grandparents, except in unusual circumstances.

One of the purposes of the reforms was to lessen the likelihood for the parent’s separation to sever the relationship between children and their grandparents, or other significant people in their lives. So the 2006 law states that children have the right to spend time on a regular basis with the people who are significant to their care, welfare and development such as grandparents where this is consistent with the children’s best interests. I think that is a very good thing.

The breakdown of families is heart breaking, and leads to such suffering for all involved. All the human law, counsellors, family dispute resolvers, family courts, and lawyers cannot ever fully repair or make up for the deep wounding that occurs to all involved when families are destroyed: the mother, the father, each child, each grandparent. It is probably unrealistic for society to think that any external institution, or organisation, or even dozens of organisations, can undo the human harm dealt out by separation and divorce. But no one comes out of these situations truly satisfied; there is always compromise, on all sides.

I sympathise with the men’s and fathers’ groups that see the issues through a lens of male disadvantage, but after having read the evaluation I think the government is doing the best they can in an impossible situation. To me the real culprit is the original breakdown of the relationship. That is where all men can and need to take action, that is where you still have the power: to strengthen your marriages, your homes, your families so that you have a stronghold against the ruination that relationship breakdown inflicts on yourself and your loved ones.

You can read the full report at the AIFS website http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/fle/

Following the Nag Hammadi shooting incident outside a church in southern Egypt, in which six Coptic Christians and a Muslim security guard were killed, thousands of mourners gathered to support the grieving families at the funeral were sprayed with tear gas by government security forces. However, the three suspected perpetrators have now been arrested and are scheduled to stand trial on the 13th February 2010 in an emergency State Security Court.

After the attack, Christian and Muslim mobs demonstrated in several towns in the Qena province with some turning violent. There was reportedly damage to homes and businesses. When the police arrived they merely told the rioters to stop the violence and return to their homes. Last week the authorities detained several local teenagers, both Christian and Muslim, in response to widespread community complaints that there had not been enough done to stop the violence. Specific complaints were made by local Coptic Church leaders.

The Coptic Bishop has long been outspoken against discrimination. Following recent cases of sectarian violence the Bishop received direct threats, which he reported to the authorities. At that time he considered an incident of some kind very likely, but nothing was done to provide any additional security for him. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for providing security personnel for all churches but they failed to do so.

According to Middle East concern, church leaders believe that the Christian teenagers will be released only if they drop their complaints. However, to drop complaints in effect also drops the charges against the perpetrators of violence, which simply encourages further insults and attacks. On 15th January a group of Human Rights advocates travelling to Nag Hammadi were detained on arrival at the local train station, held for 24 hours then forced to return to Cairo.

The Congress of the United States wrote a letter to the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stating that this recent incident is indicative of the systematic pattern of violence against the Coptic Christian residents who constitute 10% of the Egyptian population, and encourages the Egyptian government to reverse the trend of failing to properly investigate and prosecute incidents against Coptic Christians. They also called upon the Egyptian government to address ongoing discriminatory practices including the difficulty in building and repairing churches, poor representation in certain government bodies, and security harassment of converts.

I sincerely support the prayers of our Coptic brothers and sisters in the hope that the authorities will now undertake decisive action to effectively address the persecution plaguing Christians in Egypt. It is time for the persecution to stop!

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in a community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Rev the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC

It is easy to list what poor, underprivileged children need. But what of competent privileged children? What more do smart and talented kids need?

‘Giftedness’ is generally defined as having an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) higher than 130 and indicates the potential for high achievement throughout life. Such people make up about 5% of the population.

However, there is more to giftedness than simply increased intelligence. There is also the general heightening of all the senses, bringing an acute awareness of touch, hearing, sight, smell and taste, making such children particularly sensitive to all forms of stimulation.

There is also a more complex process when dealing with information. All the different options and ramifications must be carefully thought through before decisive action can be taken. And the perfect outcome is desired – nothing less.

The gifted child will have an “atypical development throughout the lifespan in terms of awareness, perceptions, emotional responses and life experiences”. That is, the gifted person will always experience life differently and so they will have a different interpretation of life. So they are likely to do things differently as well.

According to the experts, gifted children may be characterised by these indications: unusual alertness, long attention span, high activity level, less need for sleep, keen sense of observation, extreme curiosity, excellent memory, advanced progression through developmental milestones, early onset of language, intense interest in books, rapid learning ability, sensitivity, both emotional and physical, intensity, preference for older companions, abstract reasoning and so on.

These characteristics of smart and talented children may lead to unhappiness in the child because it is a sad fact that other children tend to dislike the smart and talented child, who in turn is bored and frustrated by being grouped with his/her age cohort.

That may lead to ostracism and bullying. Such behaviour may even be reinforced by teachers, who in general are not gifted. The gifted child may become threatening in return, or may withdraw emotionally and fail in school because in truth it fails him/her. Such a child must be assisted to discover his/her own value and significance.

Therefore what such children need is recognition at an early age, sufficient stimulation and challenge to engage their faculties, opportunities to excel, acceptance, support and encouragement together with parental security to allow the development of a healthy self-esteem and a sense of personal significance.

Parents of gifted children usually have a real struggle to have their children appropriately tested and identified, then more years of struggle to get them appropriate schooling, and always the personal struggle of trying to help someone ‘fit in’ to a generally non-intellectual society that worships sports but who simply never will. In the country with the Tall Poppy Syndrome the gifted suffer even more than in cultures where intelligence is lauded.

Ironically the gifted child’s needs are much the same as a child with impairment (hearing, sight) and learning disability such as dyslexia. This is true also of children from a deprived background.

In my first inner Melbourne ministry, I had many young criminals on probation. They had broken into homes, stolen property, gone joy riding, wrecked other people’s cars, and smashed up public property. Most came from a large housing estate, with poor education, inadequate family support, and low self image. Yet they wanted other people to notice them.

So they committed very obvious crimes to draw attention to themselves. This meant they were always caught, giving them even greater public exposure, and when the local papers wrote horrifying stories of their vandalism and destruction, they were delighted!

Joe stopped at the public phone boxes outside the post office, and with his bare fist, smashed every pane of glass. Reg stole cars, stripped their parts and sold them to panel beaters. Leigh took the mufflers from his car and drove it past the police station making the loudest of noises. Barry, at fourteen, knifed a man in the stomach and ripped open his whole ribcage leaving him dead on the floor. They would do anything to attract attention, even if they had to pay for it in jail. For seven years they were among my first parish.

As part of my rehabilitation of these young men, I produced dramas. It was difficult. Once I said to Trevor, “I want you to play the part of a crippled boy in this drama. He has a twisted leg. It is a very important part. In fact he is the key character.” “You really mean that?” “Sure, you will be the leading actor.” He turned to his mates and shouted across the church hall; “Hey everybody, I’m going to be somebody!”

Trevor never realised the implications of what he was saying. The part he played was that of a boy who was physically crippled and who let his disability twist his whole outlook upon life and destroy all his relationships. Punishment would only make his behaviour worse. When his disability was healed, he had a new self image and a new sense of personal significance. Then he made a contribution to society. When he was right inside, he became right with the world. For now he was not a nobody, but a somebody.

The parallel was close to the boys. Gradually they began to see that through faith in Jesus Christ, their twisted lives could be healed, and they could find a new self image and sense of personal significance. Trevor was the first of all of those boys to commit his life to Jesus Christ, and to be baptised. They were no longer nobodies. They were somebodies! They were sons of God, right with God, and so right with the world.

Many advocate tackling the problem of destructive people with more punishment, greater restriction and increased intimidation. To the person with low self-esteem these condemnations and threats only reinforce their own opinion of themselves and make them worse. Ultimately we never improve society by stressing better standards of outward behaviour until we improve the person within. All social improvement comes from moral commitment.

That is why the two tables of the Ten Commandments are in order we are to put God first, worship Him alone, not take the name of the Lord in vain, worship Him weekly then honour our parents, respect human life, fulfil sexual relationships, and not steal, lie or envy others. If we are right inside, we behave correctly. If our motivation is right, our actions are right. Jesus put them in the right order: “The most important commandment is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’” (Mark 12:29 30)

Attempts to put social behaviour right without first changing the heart are doomed to failure. Atheistic communism tries to build a society without first renewing people spiritually, so it will always be a failure. Better people before a better world!

When we help people become new in Christ, we build a new self image and new relationship with others. This is fundamental to the future of our society. That is why evangelism accompanying social welfare is correct. Huge amounts of Government money is wasted improving social environments without changing the inside of the same people who go back into their new world and wreck it. I saw a generation of slum dwellers removed from their dreadful accommodation, and then later put back into the new high-rise concrete blocks of flats the Government built. The same people, unchanged, soon turned their new accommodation into high-rise slums. (We will look more closely at this in a later study.)

No indigenous race of people on earth suffer from such low self esteem as our Koori people. Their national sense of significance will never rise high until they have rights to education, employment, income, pensions, opportunity, land ownership as the rest of the Australian community. But none of these, including land rights, will of themselves, change their lot.

There must be spiritual renewal within the people to give them a sense of pride and identity which then will be seen in the use of their education, employment opportunities, income, pensions and land. Individual Aborigines have demonstrated that a sense of their own significance had enabled them to make a positive contribution to their own people and the rest of us.

Without inner significance every other benefit is squandered. So Family First supports the teaching of Aboriginal languages, culture, and skills, and encourages Christian Aborigines in showing the black community they no longer need be nobodies, but can become somebodies. Until a national recovery of spirit occurs possessions of every kind will be wasted. This isn’t an Aboriginal problem, but a human characteristic. Everyone needs to feel significant. Every nobody must become a somebody.

1. Everybody needs to feel they are significant

People do not have equal opportunities or abilities, but they have an equal need to feel significant. When children play, each one of them wants to be the captain, and to boast of their father’s importance. In my wartime childhood, just about every other child’s father was a general! My father was not in the Army, so I made up the tale that he was the boss of the police! So much more status than a pastry cook and baker!

Adults surround themselves with status symbols to create the image of significance through the abundance of their possessions. Older people seek reassurance of their continuing significance from their adult children, by saying, “Never mind me, I’m only your poor old mother. Go ahead and enjoy yourselves. Don’t care for me”. That is a desperate cry for reassurance of personal significance.

People suffering personal inferiority overcompensate by grasping for power and authority. The short, failed paperhanger who never rose above an army lieutenant, organised huge rallies where he could shout to the masses; “Look at me. I’m somebody!” and the crowds shouted back; “Heil Hitler! Hail Hitler!” Professor Alfred Adler said personal significance is a basic need in all of us.

2. Everybody tries somehow to be significant

Our need is simple but our methods of meeting it are complex. My street lads felt significant when, like a child lying on the floor kicking his heels in rage, they indulged in attention getting behaviour.

So is the woman who goes to a party in an absurdly low cut dress. Parties are the environment where many exaggerate their behaviour, lie about their achievements, and compete with one another over their significance. One woman, tired by the strain of people constantly trying to make impressions on others, sank wearily next to a little man who looked uncomfortable as he mopped his brow: “Thank heavens I’ve found somebody who’s a nobody!”

T.S. Eliot in “The Cocktail Party” writes:

“Half the harm that is done in this world
Is due to people who want to feel important.
They do not mean to do harm
for harm does not interest them,
Or they do not see it, or they justify it
Because they are absorbed with the endless struggle
To think well of themselves.”

Others feel significant when they surround themselves with social props, trying to find significance through status symbols. Others build up their sense of personal significance by magnifying difficulties they have overcome, or minimising resources they had at their disposal, both tactics designed to magnify their own contribution. Whatever the method, we each need to feel we are a somebody rather than a nobody.

3. Everybody can discover their true significance

It is possible to realise your own true significance. It does not come by your efforts to pump yourself up. That makes you look ridiculous: a frog in danger of exploding. Significance is discovered when we realise our own inadequacy and our utter dependence upon others and especially God.

Lorene was a young teenager in school who was very withdrawn from other students. She was completely isolated. She had bad eczema and acne on her face, and her kind English teacher took an interest in her.

He found out she was drinking alcohol alone in her bedroom. The teacher, Morris Morrison, spent time with her, helping her to understand poetry. She began to respond and co operate with Mr Morrison when she read two lines from Emily Dickinson: “I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you Nobody too?” In discovering that others were lonely and feeling insignificant, she found solace, and the start of recovery.

When we realise that we are nobodies, we leave enough room inside of ourselves for God to do His work. He made us. He loves us. And He wants us to be His very own.

Our importance lies not in our possessions, our achievements or our status. Kick away all of our props, our home, our job, our stimulants, our friendships, our status, our degrees and honours, accomplishments and awards and what is there left? Only what you are! Only the significance that God places upon you counts.

Some people will want to achieve personal worth and significance by leaving God out of the picture. But that just re-starts the cycle of using things to achieve significance. We have become a Somebody, not by what we possess, but by Who possesses us. We become a Somebody not because of our birth, but because of our re birth. We become a Somebody, not because of what we hold, but because of Who holds us.

We are creatures of God, made by Him. But through redemption we are recreated, born anew, as Jesus described it, so that we were no longer creatures of God but His children. We have been adopted into the family of God and made heirs of God, and joint heirs with the Son. We have been bought with a price, the life of Jesus. We have been redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus.

Centuries ago, a derelict, ill man, found in the streets, was taken before some surgeons who decided to experiment upon him. They spoke in their cultured Latin to each other: “What shall we do with this worthless fellow?” The frail man looked up at them, and said in equally cultured tones, “Call no man worthless for whom Christ died.” No one is insignificant whom the Son of God loves. He loved me, and gave Himself for me”, gasped an amazed Paul.

You are no longer a nobody! You are Somebody! Jesus loves you.

What does God require of us? People make up their own lists. Centuries ago Micah faced the same issue. What did the Lord require of Him? Sacrificial offerings, atonement for his sins, gifts to appease the Lord or bribes to win His favour? (Mic 6:6 “What the Lord requires is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.”

Nothing more is needed. We do not need a sacrifice, for Jesus is our sacrifice. We do not need an atonement for our sins, ‘for Christ has for sin atonement made’ as the old hymn says. What is required of us is that we practise justice, show love, and live in fellowship with God. That is required of each of us.

Even from those among us who are smart and talented. You may boast of your possessions, flaunt your talent, and shame the rest of us because you are so smart – and still be a nobody! Hear the good news: through your faith in Christ you can be changed from “Nobody” into “Somebody”!

The modern adaptation of Miguel Cervantes’ classic novel Don Quixote, in the musical The Man of La Mancha, beautifully illustrates the gospel of Jesus Christ. The author Dale Wasserman portrayed the ideal One as Don Quixote. The Man of La Mancha sees this harlot, this whore, this Mary Magdalene. Aldonza is her name. She’s a waitress by day and a prostitute by night. She serves the drunken camel drivers. The Man of La Mancha says to this whore, “My Lady.” She looks at him and exclaims, “Lady?” Some camel driver makes a pass at her and she squeals … laughs. The Man of La Mancha says, “Yes, you are My Lady, and I shall give you a new name. I shall call you Dulcinea. You are My Lady, My Lady, Dulcinea.”

Once, in distress, not comprehending him, when they are alone, she says, “Why do you do and say these things? Why do you treat me the way you do? What do you want from me? I know men. I’ve seen them all. I’ve had them all. They’re all the same. They all want something from me. Why do you call me Dulcinea? Why do you call me your Lady? What do you want?” He says, “I just want to call you what you are. .. You are My Lady, Dulcinea.”

Later there is a horrible scene backstage. You hear screams and she runs onto the stage. She has been cruelly raped. She is crying, hysterical, dirty and dishevelled.

Her blouse has been torn off and her skirt is ripped. He sees her and says compassionately, “My Lady, Dulcinea. Oh, My Lady, My Lady.” She cries. “Don’t call me a Lady. Oh God, don’t call me a Lady. Can’t you see me for what I am? I was born in a ditch by a mother who left me there naked and cold, too hungry to cry. I never blamed her. She left me there hoping I’d have the good sense to die. Don’t call me a Lady. I’m only a kitchen slut, reeking with sweat. I’m only a whore men use and forget. Don’t call me your Lady. I’m only Aldonza. I am nothing at all.” She runs into the night as he calls, “But you are My lady.” The curtain drops.

The curtain rises on the last act. The Man of La Mancha is dying, like our Lord, from a broken heart, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

To his deathbed comes a Spanish noble-lady with a mantilla of lace. She kneels, makes the sign of the cross, and prays. He opens his eyes and says. “Who are you?” She replies, “My Lord, don’t you remember? You sang your song to me, don’t you remember?

“To dream the impossible dream,
to fight the unbeatable foe,
to bear the unbearable sorrow,
to run where the brave dare not go.
To right the unrightable wrong,
to love pure and chaste from afar,
To try when your arms are too weary,
to reach the unreachable star!..’ My Lord, don’t you remember? You gave me a new name, you called me Dulcinea. I am your Lady.”

She stands proudly. His faith in her made her a brand new person. She became what he said she was. She had discovered her own self-worth and significance.

So Jesus Christ has loved you, has faith in you, has called you to leave your old ways. He believes in you, and has died upon a cross to forgive you of your sins.

What is required of you is more than your talent and intellect. We are to demonstrate justice, show love, and live in fellowship with God. Hear the good news: you can be changed from “Nobody” into “Somebody”!

You must respond to Him in humble faith and become the person He intends you to be, a child of God.

Rev the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC

On the route my wife and I walk early each morning is the front lawn of a neighbour’s house. There we watch every day for the resident Spur-winged Plovers. They are permanent residents in our area.

We watch Mr and Mrs Plover nesting every six months or so, sitting on their eggs, and caring for their chicks. It was only a few months ago when we were watching four balls of fluff, walking awkwardly over the lawn.

Now they are back on the same nests with another four eggs in the shallow nest. They come back every year to raise their chicks on the same spot.

There are usually around 3-4 speckled eggs in the nest. The parents are very protective of their chicks, and swoop on any who come too close. They can look very serious with their wings spread out, each with a small spur, the yellow flesh or wattle over their beaks puffed out, and with a pointed beak thrust out behind a lowered neck as they run towards the danger. Most dogs, cats and people retreat at their ground attack.

However, the plovers are unlikely to cause any harm, because most of the time when they swoop or attack they are bluffing. Often they threaten intruders by extending their wings and making a loud screeching cry as they make their frontal attack. But other times they retreat, trying to draw potential predators away from the nest by feigning injury, dragging their wings on the ground and pretending they are injured.

The Spur-winged plover is so named because it has a sharp, yellow, black-tipped spur on each wing. It is also known as the Masked lapwing and Masked plover. It is a long-legged wading bird with a black head, white belly and yellow facial wattles. Plovers are found Australia-wide. The Spur-winged plover is found mainly in South and Eastern Australia.

Spur-winged plovers are ground-nesting birds, and they usually have two to four chicks. These birds used to migrate from Australia to Siberia, where they could nest in peace without any predators around. However, they now breed in Australia, and so have to constantly defend their chicks against intruders.

Plover eggs are very well camouflaged. If there are plovers in your area, be careful not to step on the eggs or run them over with the lawn mower. My neighbour mows up to about a metre on all sides of their nest and they seem comfortable with that, except if his dog wanders over or if we pause near the front gate. Plovers will only swoop for about three weeks, so simply stay away from them during this time.

Plovers return to the same nesting site every year and place the nest in the exact same spot. When there are eggs in the nest (just a depression in the ground) the male stands guard and warns of anything approaching.

Masked Lapwings are also found in Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand. The New Zealand and New Caledonian populations have been formed from birds that have flown there from Australia.

The Masked Lapwing inhabits marshes, mudflats, beaches and grasslands. Our area is on the Central coast, but we also have the huge Tuggerah and Macquarie Lakes and lots of large water retention dams near creeks. They have long legs and the wide spread feet typical of waders.

In our urban area, filled with McMansions, the birds are used to human presence. So they tolerate close proximity but otherwise they are very wary of people, and seldom allow close approach.

Masked Lapwings – our plovers – feed on insects and their larvae, grubs and earthworms. Most food is obtained from just below the surface of the ground, but some may also be taken above the surface. Birds are normally seen feeding alone, in pairs or in small groups. Both sexes share the building of the nest, which is a simple scrape in the ground away from ground cover. This nest is often placed in inappropriate locations, such as school playing fields or the roofs of buildings.

Both sexes also incubate the eggs and care for the young birds. The young birds are born with a full covering of down and are able to leave the nest and feed themselves a few hours after hatching. They are lovely to watch, but just stand back. Mr and Mrs Plover do defend their home and offspring.

Rev the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC

Every now and again we are reminded of the continuing Christian/Muslim conflicts in the Sudan, in Nigeria, and in the Middle East. Most recently blood was shed in Jos, Nigeria, an area close by a seminary for training pastors I have supported.

Most reports of these violent conflicts have blamed the jihadists. The anti-Muslim groups in Australia always describe atrocities in such a manner. But reliable eyewitnesses are now saying that as people lost loved ones and began to retaliate, mistrust widened between the Christian and Muslim communities. Many Christian young people have taken up their machetes to gain revenge.

The majority of people in Jos, Muslim and Christian alike, live in peace and want to continue to live that way. In some areas of Nigeria the two religious groups have co-existed for decades. But the Government media is largely Muslim and their reports are often suspect. At least Christians make that complaint.

The fact is that both churches and mosques had been burned in the conflicts and young men on both sides have been murdered. Sometimes areas are reported as “Muslim” areas, but that is only because all Christians have been driven out. This is the same in the West Bank of Israel where Palestinian Christians have been driven out by Israeli settlers and the areas designated as “Jewish”. During the “Troubles” in Ireland both Catholic and Protestant Christians were involved in killing each other.

Last Sunday a Catholic Church was attacked and burned at a time when attackers could expect worshipers to be gathered. A Church of Christ in Northern Nigeria church was also burned that day. It would not be unlikely that other church burnings and retaliatory mosque burnings occurred during that time.

After Sunday’s violence, many parts of Jos experienced calm on Monday morning, with Muslims and Christians talking with each other like normal in some markets. Nevertheless, killings were occurring, and automatic weapons fire was being heard.

Violence reportedly increased on Tuesday, as word spread about the real numbers killed on Sunday. A seminarian from an evangelical seminary in Jos had been en route to his theological field assignment when Muslim rioters caught him and beat him to death; his body was brought in to the hospital while a group of seminarians was waiting for treatment.

Craig S. Keener, Professor of New Testament at Eastern University’s Palmer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania USA, says we must try to understand the sudden violence experienced by our brothers and sisters in the Middle Belt of Nigeria and to avoid the simplistic blame game. In time of conflict, the first thing to suffer is truth.

Nigerians have a lot to learn from their brothers, the Imam and the Pastor. At a time when many in the world are wondering whether friendly relations are possible between those of Muslim and Christian background, Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye are living proof that they are.

In the 1990s, the two men led opposing, armed militias, dedicated to defending their respective communities. In pitched battles, Pastor James lost his hand and Imam Ashafa’s spiritual mentor and two close relatives were killed. Now the two men are co-directors of the Muslim-Christian Interfaith Mediation Centre in their city of Kaduna, Northern Nigeria, leading task-forces to resolve conflicts across the country.

Rev the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC

In recent years, a series of emails have been widely circulated throughout Australia claiming to describe the social security entitlements of refugees, compared with those of other Australian residents. A common claim in these emails is that refugees in Australia receive higher social security benefits than age pensioners. Some also suggest that refugees receive free gifts such as houses. Claims of this kind are erroneous and appear to have caused some confusion in the community. They are often brought to the attention of certain senators and members by their constituents.

The information in the disputed email appears to have originated from emails that began to circulate in Canada in 2004. These were a response to a story in the Toronto Star in March 2004 about plans to settle hundreds of African refugees in smaller Canadian cities. The article had somewhat ambiguously described the amount of financial assistance that would be provided to the refugees by the Canadian Government.

This led one reader to incorrectly assume that the refugees would be receiving benefits at twice the rate of Canadian age pensioners. Based on this misunderstanding, the reader is thought to have then circulated an email condemning the level of benefits available to refugees in Canada, compared to that available to pensioners.

The claims then began to appear in emails and letters to the editor in other countries such as the US and Australia, with the names of those countries used in substitute for Canada. In August 2007, the then Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, described the emails as “junk” and urged people who receive them to “send them to the trash can”.

Refugees – that is, people who have been granted a Protection visa – do not receive higher benefits than other social security recipients. In general, Australian Government payments are only available to people who reside in Australia and are either Australian citizens or holders of permanent visas. When an asylum seeker is granted refugee status, they become permanent residents of Australia. They have the same entitlements as all other permanent residents. There are no special refugee payments or special rates of payments for refugees.

Most refugees are of working age. This means that the main form of assistance provided to refugees is Newstart Allowance (commonly known as unemployment benefits). To qualify for Newstart Allowance, a refugee needs to meet the same requirements as any other resident. This includes participation in activities designed to increase one’s chances of finding work and accepting work should it become available. There are no special or extra rates of Newstart Allowance for refugees.

As such, a single refugee receiving Newstart Allowance and sharing rented accommodation would currently receive $530.53 per fortnight (comprised of Newstart Allowance of $456.00 and Rent Assistance of $74.53). This is precisely the same amount that would be received by any other permanent resident of Australia receiving Newstart Allowance. Similarly, any refugees receiving other Australian Government payments such as Disability Support Pension or Age Pension receive such payments at precisely the same rate as is paid to all other permanent residents.

Therefore, there is no truth to claims made in emails circulated throughout Australia that refugees are entitled to higher benefits than other social security recipients. Refugees have the same entitlements as all other permanent residents – they do not receive special refugee payments or special rates of payment. The assistance to refugees and asylum seekers is longstanding and has bipartisan support. Such support is consistent the overall obligation and commitment by Australia to provide protection for refugees and resolve refugee situations.

Reference: Australian Government assistance to refugees: fact v fiction, Luke Buckmaster, Parliament of Australia, Background Note, December 2009.

While most Australians live well, there are some groups who are doing it very tough, according to this report. Approximately 5 per cent of Australians aged 15 years and over experience three or more types of disadvantage. While most Australians are employed, 15 per cent of all Australian children live in jobless families. Most Australians have high life expectancies but some groups, such as Indigenous people, have much lower expectancies (10 to 12 years lower).

To make matters worse for some Australians, disadvantage in one area is often shown to be associated with disadvantage in other respects. For example, the Board’s report finds that low income households often have poorer health and/or more difficulty accessing transport and other essential services.

35 per cent of people with low incomes reported fair or poor health compared to only 7 per cent with high incomes. 10 per cent of people with low incomes have difficulty accessing transport compared to only 1 per cent of people with high incomes. People with low incomes are also less likely to have access to the Internet at home (33 per cent compared to 85 per cent with high incomes).

Similarly, people living in areas of low socioeconomic status tend to have lower levels of involvement in many aspects of community life. People living in the most disadvantaged 20 per cent of regions are shown to be much more likely to be unemployed, more likely to have children who are developmentally vulnerable, less likely to have Year 12 or equivalent at ages 20 to 24, less likely to participate in a community group and less likely to have a say in decisions that affect them.

This report sets the baseline for measuring progress on reducing disadvantage in Australia and provides a platform for the Board to address the topic of breaking the cycle of disadvantage over the coming year. To read the Social Inclusion in Australia report, please click on http://www.socialinclusion.gov.au/Resources/Documents/SI_HowAusIsFaring.pdf

There are many professional societies that research childcare and the effect it has on the well-being, development and socialisation of children. One of these is the American-based National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, which carried out a 10-year study of what constituted excellent childcare and put together some recommendations for parents (and grandparents) who needed guidance in choosing the best for their young ones.

In today’s economic climate many mothers have to work, and therefore most children spend at least some time in childcare. So it is worth spending some time thinking about what it may mean to the children in your life. When you are in the market for childcare for your child there are a number of things to look for when assessing the centres you consider. Arrange to visit first, without your child, just to observe how they operate. Sit quietly out of the way, and do not attempt to interact with the children yourself, as that will change the dynamics you are there to evaluate. Don’t stay for just a few minutes; let them get used to your presence so they will act more naturally, as that is the behaviour that you need to evaluate.

Does the caregiver show an authentic positive attitude? Are they generally in a good mood, and interact in an encouraging way? Is he or she helpful and upbeat, ready with a smile? Are they unscary, and reassuring? These character and personality traits are very important, and should not be overshadowed by your focus on what it will cost, how easy it is to get to or the qualifications they may have obtained; it is the personality that will be interacting and influencing your child, and is of utmost importance in your selection.

Is the caregiver attentive to what the children in care say and do? Do they repeat the child’s words, comment on what has been said, and answer questions – or are they tuned out, focusing on other things? There is a big difference in merely being present and being a caregiver. An adult presence is often all you need for the short term so does not rule out anyone who just sits and reads, or knits, or texts their friends, but ideally you will find someone who is responsive and interactive with children, who likes and respects them, and who is patient and kind.

Does the caregiver encourage children to talk, to express themselves, to ask questions? Are they full of praise such as saying, “Well done!” and willing to create a pleasurable teaching opportunity by naming shapes, colours or objects? Does the caregiver tell stories, describe objects, or sing songs? All of these are good! Use of swear words is not good nor is complaining about the weather, the staff, the room, the selection of toys, or anything else; you want someone who is a positive role model. Does the caregiver encourage children to play together harmoniously, and reinforce shared activities? This type of environment encourages the child to grow, and learn, and build important life skills.

Some other features to note when assessing a childcare facility are the adult to child ratio (the more adults the better), play group size, and the hygiene habits of the carers – appropriate covering of mouth when coughing or sneezing, frequent hand washing, non-touching of mouths or noses of children unless followed by hand washing, clean facilities, appropriate storage and serving of food.

For more information you can visit:
http://www.he.utexas.edu/web/EECCR/images/booklet.pdf

Authors: David Matas and David Kilgour, Seraphim Editions, October 2009.

Consider this fact: China has the second-largest number of organ transplant operations in the world every year, even though they have no organised, official system of organ donations in place. How can that be?

This book gives us the answer in grim detail as the two Canadian authors report on their investigation into the widespread allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China. Falun Gong is the name of the traditional meditation and exercise practice that the Chinese regime has been persecuting for more than 10 years. Its teachings are derived from the practices of qigong, Buddhism and Taoism. Many thousands of practitioners have been arrested and sentenced to forced labor camps. Kilgour and Matas’ investigation offers 52 points of evidence showing how the Chinese regime has been killing Falun Gong practitioners for their organs to be sold to wealthy transplant patients who come to China as medical tourists.

Few now doubt the truth of the authors’ claims. The United Nations Committee against Torture in November 2008 stated that China “should immediately conduct or commission an independent investigation of the claims that some Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to torture and used for organ transplants and take measures, as appropriate, to ensure that those responsible for such abuses are prosecuted and punished.”

One of the author-investigators is David Kilgour, who served 27 years in the Canadian House of Commons. In May 2006, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Toronto. He is a Presbyterian who feels his faith challenges him to work for human rights, both at home and abroad. In his writings he has challenged the international community to respond to the plight of Darfur, as well as in Burma, and Zimbabwe. His co-author David Matas is a Human Rights lawyer. Both have a number of books to their credit.

Supporting the reports is a one-hour documentary film by Peter Rowe, “Beyond the Red Wall: The Persecution of Falun Gong”, that corroborates all the evidence collected by Kilgour and Matas. In it there is footage of Chinese officials who deny capturing, interrogating, beating, imprisoning, killing and selling the organs of thousands of practitioners of Falun Gong along with ample testimony of exactly that from eye-witnesses or spouses of those who participated in the forced surgical removal of organs from living victims.

Also speaking in the film is US Congresswoman from Florida, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who has introduced bills in the U.S. House of Representatives addressing the systematic eradication of Falun Gong carried out by the Chinese Government. Canadian reporter Ian Johnson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on Falun Gong in the Wall Street Journal also substantiates the authors’ claims.

This month the Swiss International Society for Human Rights awarded the authors the Society’s annual Human Rights prize for the courage and excellence of Bloody Harvest. In accepting it David Matas, said, “It is the voice of individuals around the world which is most likely to lead to respect for human rights.”

In 2006, Chinese hospital websites advertised perfectly matched organs and extremely short waiting times for organ transplants—as fast as one to two weeks. Dr. Franz Immer, the Director of Swiss Transplant explained why this was peculiar: “In Europe we wait, on average, two and a half to three years for a kidney, nine to 12 months for a heart or a liver.” In 2007, Dr. Immer was invited to attend a heart transplant surgery in Beijing but declined when he realized what the short waiting times implied regarding the source of the organs: they were being harvested to order.

Dr. Immer said, “We were quite interested in seeing a Chinese hospital, but then I suddenly realized that in Switzerland, the transplantations are never known in advance. It happens in the night or during the weekends, sometimes there are two to three of them in a row and sometimes there are none for a longer period of time. So this was the first time I saw the fact that obviously executions are being carried out, are being killed on a certain date in order to carry out the transplant surgeries.”

Despite international protests by such human rights advocacy groups as Amnesty International and courageous activists such as actor Richard Gere, the unspeakable crimes against humanity continue. And there are still many thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in labour camps across China. David Kilgour and David Matas continue to travel all over the world to raise awareness about their findings and to encourage active opposition by governments and the global community. This important book will help spread their message.

This Sunday, The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC and Clr Stephen Bali, Deputy Mayor of Blacktown City, will join members of the Blacktown community in officially opening Family Life Ministries and celebrating its service to the Blacktown community. The details of the event are as follows:

Date: Sunday 31 January 2010
Time: 9:45am to 10:45am (with celebrations to continue on until 3pm)
Address: Family Life Ministries, Unit 1, 55 Fourth Avenue, Blacktown

All are welcome to attend the official opening on Sunday.

The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC said; “Family Life Ministries is a major asset to the community. This centre is already making a difference in making the Blacktown community a happy and safe place for families. We all need community and support, which is why we need celebrate positive influences like Family Life Ministries that bring the community and people in need together to strengthen each other.”

The ceremony will commence with the unveiling of a commemorative plaque by The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC, Parliamentary Representative for Family First NSW.

This will be followed by Clr Stephen Bali, Deputy Mayor of Blacktown City presenting special school packs from Family Life Ministries for Doonside Technology High School to support hard working teachers and the Blacktown community. Clr Stephen Bali will also give community service awards to outstanding members of the Blacktown community.

Family Life Ministries is a church based in Blacktown. Reverend Ray McMartin, Senior Pastor of Family Life Ministries said, “Our focus is on families and their value within the church and the community. Family Life Ministries offers programs and resources that focus on families groups, women, men, teenagers, children, finance and relationship counselling.”

Where does your family derive its values? There are surveys constantly being taken about what Australians think and about what guides our actions.

The Australian Values survey was a very extensive coverage of Australian motivation, which was compared with that of thirty other countries where the same survey was undertaken. It will be repeated every decade to see how our belief systems change.

The Commonwealth Government has commissioned its own survey, and the Morgan Gallup Poll and the Saulwick poll produce commercial versions. The social welfare units attached to our universities likewise chart what we believe and what moves us. Hugh Mackay interprets our changing values to us in his book, “Reinventing Australia.”

“The values of a community depend largely upon families transmitting them from one generation to another. While values may be taught in church and school, they are transmitted very largely within families. Most people developed their value systems from oral transmission down through the generations.”

But with family life coming under many changes and blendings, with the churches speaking mixed messages on many matters of personal morality and sexuality, with the schools coming under pressure from many lobby groups, where do people learn their values?

Increasingly people are absorbing their values from television. That is why parents were recently warned about the influence TV cartoons can have on the violent behaviour of children. Teenagers have their value systems dramatically altered by films, videos and television. Perhaps, even more so in a way parents usually do not understand by their peer attitudes found on the social networking pages of Facebook and the like.

Adults are also influenced through continuously watching TV shows where issues of personal behaviour and morals are debated between guest and studio audiences hosted by people such as Ellen DeGeneris and Oprah Winfrey. Their influence is enormous. Many people live in a moral vacuum, and they take their values from whomever they happen to like. So entertainers can set a community’s moral values.

Many people do not realise that small volatile audiences and uninhibited guests arguing for various changes in our behaviour, beliefs and values, can affect the way they think and what they believe. They do not realise that television sets their morals.

Likewise the Internet, especially those sites that are immoral, set the values and standards for their viewers. Is TV influencing your family’s values?

A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than four out of five parents are concerned that their children are exposed to too much televised sex and violence—yet millions of youngsters are still enthusiastically watching hours of TV daily, with little or no supervision.

Most parents don’t spend the same amount of time with their children as the TV set does. It is clear that TV is a huge influence.

There are hundreds of academic and medical studies showing a connection between violence on TV and its impact on children, making them more violent, more likely to use vile language, more likely to experiment with sexuality, more defiant towards all adults (who are frequently shown as bumbling and foolish on TV, especially the fathers).

A US Surgeon General’s report concluded that 61% of all TV programming contains violence. According to the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), a child who watches three to four hours a day of non-educational TV will see about 8,000 small-screen murders by the time he or she completes grade school.

American children spend an average of 6 hours, 32 minutes each day watching TV or using other media (including the Internet, videotapes, video games, and radio). That’s more time than they devote to any other activity except sleep, according to the AAP.

Modern TV shows contain more sexual reference (and far less mere innuendo), blatant swearing, graphic violence and more offensive behaviours than in the past. If people expose themselves to these programs and the attitudes inherent in them they will be changed for the worse, by being desensitised, and by tolerating what once was intolerable. They may even begin to use such language or express such attitudes themselves. People become more like what they see modelled. If people spend time with a ‘rough crowd’, even if it is only via TV, they are going to be changed by it.

The shock value sought by TV producers wears off rapidly which means an increase in the level of unacceptable behaviour, in order to get a further response. TV programs in the past tended to be very sexist and to portray idealised traditional families, and to use stereotypes, which formed, and limited viewers’ imaginations and presumed knowledge about the real world.

More graphic violence is portrayed on the television than actually occurs in life, leading to a skewed perception about the real level of danger of the world.

TV also often depicts the healthier attitudes of society, such as how to exercise, why not to smoke, and how to drink without risk to health. In the past the ‘happy, social drunk’ was a stock comic character.

Smoking of tobacco has nearly disappeared whereas in the past it was ubiquitous and ‘cool’. More races, cultures and alternative lifestyles are now appearing on TV, which helps to reinforce the idea of a multicultural world, unlike the nearly all white, middle class seen on TV in the past.

Especially in childhood, but even in adulthood, you should choose your friends very carefully because you become more like those with whom you spend time, and that includes your TV buddies. Responsible parents will carefully monitor their children’s TV watching, to help form positive attitudes.

Many viewers just follow the trend, go with the flow, accept the views of the loudest. Their values are fluid, not fixed. Their most important belief systems blow with the winds of uncertainty. They have no reference point. No stable basis upon which to rest. They are lost in a world of change.

That is why God called the Jewish nation always back to His Law. That’s why it was codified into ten easy to remember commandments. That is why every year at Passover the Jewish people remember their roots. They were a people, a chosen people, a suffering people, no random selection of citizens, but a people of similar beliefs and values based upon the scriptures and the Old Testament Law.

Christians are not to be tossed about by every fad and fashionable thought. Their values are not accidentally caught from the latest TV show. Their have a value system that comes from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament, and taught within the worship of the church.

Christians are expected to understand what they believe and why, and to hold in maturity their values. Paul urged church leaders to teach and encourage individual Christians (Eph 4:13-16) “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

We are not to be tossed about by every latest moral fad or every belief system promoted on some TV show. We are to grow up, be mature in our thinking and beliefs. To help us, God has given us clear teaching in His word. Paul said: (2 Tim 3:13-17) “evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Christian and family values in a world where values blow from one trend to another operate from a basis of fixed belief. There are many values that are the basis for personal morality and others that uphold family life.

Christians have always resisted the idea that the Gospel can be domesticated, confined to one people, or held as the property of one state, culture, or race. Instead, they believe that in the person of Jesus Christ, God entered the world that was already His by creation; that the Gospel is relevant to every place and age; new to every newborn generation; and that no idyllic plateau exists where those under the mandate and call to witness to God’s redeeming love can arrive, sit back, and say that their work is done.

So the early Church preached the Gospel, spread the Gospel, taught the Gospel, gossipped the Gospel, used every method and means in the home, the marketplace, the city square, the public hall, the sporting arena and even unexpected events like an earthquake and a riot to evangelise people until they believed that Jesus Christ was Lord.

They also sought justice for the prisoner, the widow, the women who lacked social rights who were accepted as sisters and the slaves who were changed into brothers. They served the poor and needy, sewed clothes for those who had few, fed the hungry, visited the prisoner, nursed the sick, cared for the infants and the orphans, provided hospitality for the stranger and the widow in a way of compassion never before seen on earth.

The earth is one but the world is not. We all depend on one biosphere for sustaining our lives. Yet each community, each country, strives for survival and prosperity with little regard for its impact on others. Some consume the earth’s resources at a rate that would leave little for future generations. Others, many more in number, consume far too little and live with the prospect of hunger, squalor, disease, and early death.

Behind that bleak portrait lie some sordid statistics. More hungry people suffer in the world today than ever before in human history. One-fifth of the persons in Two-Thirds World nations are under-nourished; one-fifth in major industrial nations are overweight or obese. An hour’s worth of the military expenditures of all nations would immunise 3.5 million children who are destined to die from preventable infectious diseases. Some 25% of the world’s population use 79% of the available drugs and vaccines.

Today the dominant values of contemporary Australia are affluence, achievement, appearance, power, competition, consumption, individualism, status and so on.

Our Family First values are an alternative culture in our time. That is why we speak on political and economic matters. There are times when we must say “no”: “No” to Government programs that devalue people; “No” to groups who would turn our public streets into promotions of sexual exploitation as with the Gay Mardi Gras; “No” to the promotion of more forms of gambling to fund social programs; “No” to the legalisation of drugs that destroy the users.

That is why we have to promote ideas and programs that make for a more just and humane society. We have to draw ethical lines and raise probing moral questions. That is why we must suggest policies, procedures, and programs that value persons, why we seek to be catalysts for change.

We are not responsible for developing perfect or utopian social and economic systems, but we are responsible for caring for the planet and all life, especially the poorest and weakest.

These are the values that drive us: not found in the daytime talk programs of television, but inscribed on the pages of the Scriptures and passed down in the best of family traditions.

Recently I attended a seminar from one of the most seminal thinkers in business management in the world, Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School. He gave inspiring presentations ‘Winning Competitive Strategies in today’s shifting Global Marketplace’.

His books adorn the shelves of CEOs, heads of state, academics, and business school students alike. Countries and companies all over the world have embraced his theories on competition and strategy in the expanding global marketplace. His work has also been applied to a variety of important social issues, from the economic development of U.S. inner cities to environmental concerns.

Ten years earlier I had attended a high level course with Professor Porter on Strategy Change and I was interested in what had changed in the ten years since. Using his insights Wesley Mission had trebled its staff to 4,600 trained and competent employees and an annual budget of $180 million.

What new thing could I learn? I was surprised. The big new feature in business and economic development was the necessity of businesses to develop good value systems and an involvement in corporate social responsibility.

In other words, clients buy from companies who have good values and who practice them by serving society. Businesses are realizing they can improve shareholder value and profitability by developing a corporate spirit of virtue and usefulness much like a Church or Christian school.

On 22nd November 2000 the then Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon John Howard MP, gave a surprising address to the Melbourne Press Club on “Australian Values”. That address sparked wide debate across Australia that continues to this day.

Mr Howard said, “In a world driven by competitive pressures, national character is an important factor achieving prosperity. The Australian people have outstanding qualities which set us apart. There is an Australian Way – different and so often better than that of other comparable societies.”

He indicated four values we must maintain: Self Reliance. “We believe that “the only real freedom is a brave acceptance of unclouded individual responsibility”. Second, ‘A Fair Go’ to ensure equality of opportunity and equality of treatment, of ‘doing the right thing’ and ensuring that all Australians are given ‘a Fair Go’. Third, Pulling Together. Self reliance and the concept of a fair go are values prized by individuals, but Australians also have a particular way of seeing themselves collectively as a people. The notion of communities and families ‘pulling together’ is seen particularly in times of trouble or challenge.

We see it in the sheer scale of generosity when good causes seek support, when communities battle flood, bushfires and drought, and in the efforts of the volunteers at the Olympics. Fourth, ‘Having a Go’. Great achievement comes about only when people are animated by a sense of purpose. Calculated risk taking, creativity and having the courage of your convictions are innately part of the Australian psyche.

A few years ago The National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools saw all of the ministers of education of State and Federal Governments agreeing upon nine values for Australian Schooling that emerged from Australian school communities and from the National Goals for Schooling in Australia in the Twenty First Century.

Today they include care and compassion, a fair go, freedom, honesty, trustworthiness, integrity, respect, inclusion and tolerance. Nothing has driven parents so much to move students from government to non-government schools than the desire to find a school guided by the best of family values.

The Greeks described character firstly as the impression made in wax by a seal. It later evolved to be the ‘stamp’ of personality each of us possess. I don’t remember who was top of my class at school, but I do remember those who by their presence and participation made the lives of all of us much better.

In the adult world we celebrate financial, social and political success. But it is those who represent our best ideals whom we honour as moulding our collective identity. As parents we want many things for our children. Ultimately we want them to be well-adjusted adults committed to an ethic of service to others.

Professor Tony Lovat, pro-vice chancellor for education at the University of Newcastle referred to the fact that the “shift to religious schools dates from the 1920s when values-based education in public schools was replaced by a “strong secularism.” In his opinion, the large part of the reason for the heavy drift to private schooling came from the perceived role of private schools in shaping personal values.

Professor Lovat has explained values-based education is not the primary motivator of state schools. A secular emphasis is free to run loose in public schools whilst most religious schools have set themselves up on Christian foundations. If the rate of increase in non-government schools continues another five years, by 2012 more than half of all students will be in independent schools.

Parents want basic values prescriptively taught. Imperfect though each of us is as parents, we nonetheless expect schools to reinforce the values we believe important foundations for life. To be trustworthy, loyal, respectful, courteous, accountable, fair, compassionate and imbued with a deep sense of volunteerism are some of the virtues universal to the values that should inform education.

When parents find such behaviour and culture in schools – public or private, they are comfortable. If not, they move on. Each of us needs to be able to know right from wrong and act accordingly. Values must be taught in schools. Whatever our circumstances or levels of education, surely we want our children to be taught in a values-based framework.

A couple of years ago I hosted a luncheon at Parliament for some key people involved in education. I had invited the Minister of Education, a number of University Vice Chancellors (including Dr Terry Lovat quoted above) the heads of Catholic and Protestant educational commissions, outstanding Principals and lecturers in education, heads of education faculties and the like.

I wanted them to hear two people: Dr Nikolay D Nikandrov, Director of the Russian Academy of Education, head of all the universities in Russia and bearing oversight of Russia’s 33 million teachers, answerable only to President Putin personally; and Dr Olga Lutsenko, President of Global Kindness who has been conducting major conferences for educators from the European Union. Tens of thousands of educators have attended these.

The Eastern bloc countries are deeply concerned with the spiritual vacuum in their educational system. In the Ukraine, 15 million teachers are concerned about the lack of values among their students. The Global Kindness Foundation has discovered of a basis of dialogue with different faiths turning their nations back to spiritual foundations.

Interestingly, the basis for such values is accepted as the Bible. Muslim groups participating in the conferences have been accepting teaching the Bibles in their faith schools.

Dr Nikolay Nikandrov, an educationalist without peer in Russia, (Google his name) recently told Russian University Chancellors of the importance of universities including teaching the Bible in their courses. He told them, “You cannot call a person educated who does not know the Bible.” Can you imagine any leading educator saying that at such a conference in Australia?

The Russian Minister of Education asked Dr Olga Lutsenko, a leading educational official with the Academy of Educational Sciences in the USSR to develop a program for teaching morality in Russian Schools. In her research, she began reading the Bible and was spiritually transformed. She has developed the program of teaching values based upon the Bible throughout Russia and the Ukraine. Over 25,000 teachers have been trained in her methods. Her teaching organization is called the Global Kindness Foundation.

The educational authorities in China have investigated her methods, and have invited the Global Kindness Foundation to launch similar seminars across China. The Government of China has agreed to pay 90% of the costs for Bibles and for teacher’s expenses in attending these training programs.

The only word I can think of to describe my luncheon guests’ response was “gob smacked”!

Our values cannot come from television, the Internet or social networking. Family values, such as promoted by Family First, are a positive contribution to society.

Rev the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC

25 January 2010

Last week, Defence Minister John Faulkner has ordered the Defence Department to remove references to biblical passages marked on gunsights being used by Australian troops in Afghanistan.

References to New Testament verses were etched onto the gunsights by the American manufacturer, Trijicon, and the department said it was unaware of their meaning at the time of purchase. Trijicon has been inscribing references to Bible verses as part of the serial numbers on its products for more than 20 years, during which time they have been used by Australian troops as well as the US and British militaries.

The Pentagon said it was “disturbed” after reports emerged last week about the inscriptions. Both the US Marine Corps and the Army have launched a review. US Army spokesman Gary Tallman stated, “We were unaware of these coded biblical references until several days ago, the service branch currently has about 100,000 of the scopes in its inventory. It is not the policy of the Department of Defence to put religious reference of any kind on its equipment.”

Rev the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes, Member of the NSW Legislative Council, stated: “I endorse entirely the ADF’s decision to remove the coded Biblical reference to the scopes supplied on Army rifles. They are totally out of order on defence equipment. They could add a potentially damaging element to the Army’s service in the Middle East, bringing thought of religious crusades to the mind of the enemy.”

He explained, “Most Australians could not conceive of a weapons manufacturer adding such coded references to Biblical texts. But teaching in the American Southern States for more than a quarter of a century, alerts me to an American mind set among many conservative Christians and rifle shooters, who mix patriotism, shooting and Christianity together.”

“Unfortunately among many fundamentalist Christians in Australia, there is also to be found a love of patriotism, infantry and shooting, and a belief that Christianity entitles a nation to oppress people of all other faiths”, Dr Moyes continued.

He concluded, “The ADF is right to remove all such offensive references and in doing so they would have the support of all major Christian denominations in Australia, and all Defence Force Chaplains.” END.

This week we celebrate Australia Day. There seems a new pride in being Australian. In a way I could not have imagined fifteen years ago when we faced so much media pressure to change our flag, the Australian flag today is flown, waved and worn with pride as never in our history. The Aussie pride was noisily announced during the recent Test matches. Nothing is more dead in our society than that minority that want to change our flag!

I get an advanced copy of the list of people being honoured under the Australian honours system, and I take time to ring and write congratulations to twenty or thirty I know. We can be proud of these wonderful Australians who are recognised for their achievements.

They demonstrate what makes our country great. Any Australian can nominate a person to be honoured for what they have done for our community, and any citizen can be honoured. The task of choosing such Australians is a difficult one, and it is completely above all political and commercial influence.

I also think of those who are becoming citizens of our nation. Australia can be proud of its long tradition of immigration. For more than two hundred years our nation has been indebted to successive waves of immigration from different parts of the world. These new citizens have embraced our language, culture and institutions. We expect our new citizens and arrivals to give a first commitment to Australia. That is why the Australian Government is preparing new immigrants and citizens to understand Australian values and ethos.

Although people have different attitudes to our involvement in Afghanistan, asylum seekers, the boat people, Christmas Island Immigration clearing centre and the like we can understand why people want to come here from their war-torn countries. It was the same with European refugees after World War Two.

Further, as we celebrate this day we count it a privilege to be Australians, we pay respect to the first Australians — the indigenous people of this country — and we look to their full enjoyment of the benefits and the bounty that Australia brings to all of its citizens. We celebrate the immense joy and privilege of sharing membership of the great Australian family.

Forty years ago, after returning from my first visits to the United States, I called upon Australians to develop a similar pride in country, in our flag, and in our Christian heritage.

Everyone does not have to be the same and to hold the same views and values, but everyone should recognize our heritage and those who made our nation what it is today. There is no other place on the face of earth where we would rather be. Fellow Australians, we salute you.

Rev the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC

New research by Wesley Mission shows that a staggering 85 per cent of the community reports that schoolyard bullying had affected the way they had developed as adults.

Of more concern, the research shows that one in five adults surveyed said that bullying had a pure negative impact on their adult lives. Wesley Mission has found that the bullying experience has led to other issues such as substance abuse, regular sick leave, and in some cases ongoing need for psychiatric services and counselling.

These findings and the broader impact school bullying has on society – at both a social and economic level – clearly demonstrates the need for the issue to be given greater focus and support by the government and the wider community.

Dr Moyes was part of the recent Upper House inquiry into Bullying of Children and Young People. This inquiry was a positive first step towards tackling this complex issue. As the Committee Chair stated in the report, “School communities must receive more support and guidance if schools are to develop and implement successful, evidence-based responses to bullying and cyber bullying. The Committee does not believe that cyber bullying is simply a technical issue, but is instead a reflection of the broader social behaviours apparent in all forms of bullying.”

The latest Wesley Report “Give kids A chance: No one deserves to be left out” differs from much of the previous research on bullying as it looks at the long-term effects of bullying in adult life. It shows the damaging consequences of bullying, with victims reporting significant levels of withdrawal and isolation which inhibit their social skills development and lead to insecurity even in adult life.

In this report, Wesley Mission has emphasised that peer abuse is a complex personal, familial, education and social problem. As a result, bullying is not just a consideration for schools or parents; ending peer abuse is everyone’s responsibility. The major findings of the report found that:

• More than four-fifths of respondents (85 per cent) reported that the school-time bullying experience had affected the way they had developed as adults.
• Seven in ten adults said that the bullying experience had some form of negative impact.
• Pack bullying occurred mainly in high school and happened more frequently than bullying by individuals.
• Pack bullying went on for longer than bullying by individuals.
• Female victims (85 per cent) reported more emotional bullying than males (77 per cent).
• Victims were only willing to report emotional bullying when aggressive activities occurred or they were excluded from group activities lasted for a long time (58 per cent and 54 per cent respectively).
• Low self-esteem and lack of assertiveness were listed as the primary negative effects in adult life. This was followed by difficulties in building relationships of trust. Other problems included aggression and difficulty in controlling anger.
• Most victims in the sample seemed to be only willing to report emotional bullying when it persisted more than “often”. This is a disturbing result as it implied that victims were willing to put up with being ignored, teased and taunted.

The policy recommendations that came out of the report include the following:

• Stronger and more collaborative partnerships between the community services/welfare sector and local schools. Schools should have access to community-based welfare workers who work in partnership with schools by providing specialist support.

• Improved identification of bullying, with specific questions built into routine existing assessments of children by teachers and medical/social services providers and in teacher-parent contact.

• More programs to build up social skills in children in the early years.

• A clear line-of-sight reporting regime in schools from the first report of bullying to the resolution of the problem.

• Accredited anti-bullying and resilience programs at primary and secondary schools with emphasis on transition points at the start of the primary and secondary school where childhood vulnerabilities are high, within an unambiguous culture of respect.

• The introduction of funding for children suffering from any form of abuse, including bullying, so that they can rely on extra support in school.

• The expansion of extended and tailored family therapy programs so that parents learn to recognise when children are involved in bullying and can be taught to build up the key social skills that can defeat bullying.

• Support programs for adults who are suffering from the effects of childhood bullying such as unresolved problems of guilt, distrust and aggression.

Dr Moyes, along with other Family First members of Parliament in other states, is working very hard to campaign and educate the government, schools, and civil society about this growing problem. Family First calls on both the Commonwealth and State Governments to implement a whole of community and integrated approach to preventing and addressing bullying in our society.

Dr Moyes concluded, “Families are the lifeblood of our communities. We must take responsibility for what is going on in our schools, church and communities. Schools, the government and the community sector must work in tandem to address this serious social issue. Each one of us has a responsibility in contributing to breaking the bullying cycle experienced by our young people. Each child deserves the opportunity to reach their potential and to lead a fulfilling life.”

A survey conducted by Lifeline Australia shows an alarming number of Australians wrongly believe suicide was not preventable, highlighting the need for better education programs. A quarter of adults surveyed thought “suicide was mostly not preventable”. According to Lifeline’s Chief Executive, Dawn O’Neil, a range of measures such as reducing access to firearms, barbiturates and analgesics, detoxifying domestic gas and erecting barriers at particular jumping sites, has helped reduce suicide by specific means.

The suicide of a Newcastle University medical graduate has prompted a New South Wales hospital to review storage procedures for a local anaesthetic drug. Dr William Huynh died a year ago, two weeks before finishing his internship at Wagga Wagga Hospital in the state’s south. The state coroner ruled out an inquest, but a report says Dr Huynh used the drug Lignocaine to assist his suicide by hanging. But the coroner does not say where the 26-year-old intern obtained the drug, which is only available on doctors’ prescription.

Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt previously told Parliament, the Greater Southern Area Health Service is reviewing how schedule four drugs are stored, supplied and dispensed. The review will consider compliance with NSW Health policy on medication handling in public hospitals.

In a joint submission to a Senate inquiry into suicide, Lifeline argues that suicide prevention is not taken seriously enough. Lifeline, the 24 hour telephone counselling service, experienced its busiest days in years on Christmas Day last year. Between midnight on Christmas Day and midnight on January 2, the service received 9,948 calls, a 10 per cent increase on last year.

Ms O’Neil stated that suicide was the leading cause of death of men and women aged under 44. More people died from suicide than car accidents. The latest Bureau of Statistics figures show 1800 people killed themselves in 2007, although Lifeline says the figure is believed to be about 2500.

The Senate’s Community Affairs References Committee is inquiring into suicide, including personal and financial costs, the accuracy of reporting, and the effectiveness of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. The Lifeline submission said Australia just spent just 91 cents per head on prevention although suicide costs the nation at least $17.5 billion a year, about as much as road trauma. If you require assistance or counselling, please contact Lifeline on 131 114.

There are major concerns regarding the provision of both mainstream and Access courses at NSW TAFE campuses across the state.

Access courses refers to the programs that have been designed specifically for people with disabilities and include reasonable adjustments to meet the diverse needs of the students. Often Access programs are the only choice for many people with disabilities. The decline in availability will continue to have a detrimental impact on both the educational and vocational outcomes for some of the most disadvantaged members of our society.

Due to the commercialisation of both TAFE and the Vocational Education Training industry, many changes are occurring that directly impact on the availability and allocation of funding for courses. Some of the direct impacts for students with intellectual disability include:

• Less courses available at a suitable entry level – “TAFE institutes most commonly nominated the group of people with low literacy and numeracy skills as facing barriers to accessing and completing training” (Impact of TAFE Inclusiveness Strategies, NCVER 2008). Without such courses as the Access program and Certificate 1 & 2 Level courses, people with intellectual disability will be unable to access education that is suitable for their needs.

• No funding increases to provide direct support for learners such as assistance with completing assessments, time management and review sessions. Documentation provided from one of the largest TAFE NSW Institutes has indicated that since 2002 there has been a 150 per cent increase in the cost of disability assistance but no increase in budget allocation. In terms of hourly support it has meant that it can now only offer 6117 hours of support as opposed to the 15244 hours of support it offered in 2009.

• Staffing qualifications are downgraded to save on salaries and not all teachers are specialised in teaching people with learning difficulties. For example a teacher may only possess a certificate IV in training and assessment as opposed to a degree in special education.

• Some courses such as vocational certificates, are offered only for fee paying students through TAFE Plus, not TAFE NSW. This clearly presents a barrier for people on low incomes and further prolongs people’s transition to open employment positions.

• Reasonable adjustments are becoming seen as too costly and therefore courses are not tailored to meet individual learning needs.

It is critical that measures are developed that promote positive educational opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities – without TAFE people are left with very limited choices in private colleges and providers. Often these are simply not an option for people with intellectual disabilities due to the cost, entry level of the course, and the nonexistent disability support.

We call on the NSW Government to ensure that essential access to education remains available for people with intellectual disabilities. Educational pathways for people with intellectual disabilities must continue to be accessible, adequately funded, flexible, and have realistic allowances for support.

Without the support of TAFE NSW Teacher Consultants, people with intellectual disabilities would not have been able to pursue their studies successfully. TAFE NSW has long been a lead educator for people with intellectual disabilities, and it has provided people with intellectual disabilities being able to gain the skills and knowledge to gain employment, an adequate wage, and the entitlements that they require to have a decent quality of life.

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization, founded by volunteer doctors and nurses and dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through relief and development programs. Our emergency response team is in Haiti responding in force .

There are still thousands of patients seeking treatment of which approximately 80% are in need of surgery and are running out of time – especially with the tremendous aftershocks still devastating this country. The team is treating crush injuries, trauma, substantial wound care, shock and other critical cases with the few available supplies – And they’re in it for the long haul.

Ellie Brown from the International Medical Corps would love your help spreading the word by blogging or tweeting about IMC’s rescue efforts. They have put up a blogger friendly widget here on their website: http://www.imcworldwide.org/haiti

With the widget it’s really easy to let CVFV readers know that donating $10 to help the people of Haiti is as simple as sending a text message of the word “haiti” to 85944.