By Tony French.

On Saturday afternoons, I take to my couch. Not for a siesta, but to seek, with the weekend editions of the Age and Australian newspapers. What caught my attention was a report in the Australian (6 April) of a speech Rupert Murdoch had given as guest speaker on the 70th anniversary of the Institute of Public Affairs on 4 April 2013. The report, startlingly captioned Markets Radiate Morality, was juxtaposed with an equally eye-catching photograph of the patrician publisher himself. Up to now, I had been unaware of any agreed, let alone neo-liberal, nexus between markets and morality. Had this M&M radiance been obscured by my socialist presuppositions that morality and markets are generally thought to occur on different planets? To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo McCain speech on economic crisis 9/19/08 by mattlehrer, flickr cc.

SPC Forum

Ms Ged Kearney

President of the ACTU

And Professor Brian Howe

University of Melbourne Centre for Public Policy

The future of work

Tuesday 28 May 7:30pm

Held at the Study Centre, Yarra Theological Union, 34 Bedford Street, Box Hill
Light refreshments offered afterwards.

Professor Howe was Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (1991-95), a member of the Federal Cabinet (1984-96), and held a range of Ministerial portfolios in the fields of Defence, Social Security, Health, Housing, and Community Services. His administration of these portfolios was distinguished by major policy initiatives in Social Security reform of family payments and the introduction of Child Support, the National Mental Health Strategy, and the Commonwealth Dental Scheme. He was also responsible for important Commonwealth State initiatives such as the Commonwealth State Disability Agreement and the Building Better Cities program.

Elected President of the ACTU in 2010, Ged (Gerardine) Kearney was a registered nurse before becoming manager of the Clinical Nursing Education Department at Austin Health. In 2008, she was elected Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, with its 200,000 members. She believes that unions should not be concerned only with experience at work, but with improving the lives of all Australians. She grew up in Richmond, the second youngest of nine, and has four children of her own aged from 16 to 23.

What I have learned about the churches & public policy

By Pat Power, Bishop Emeritus

Guest speaker at Social Policy Connections Forum 17 April 2013

Based in Canberra as auxiliary Catholic bishop for 27 years, Bishop Pat Power played a key role in civil and political affairs. He has been committed to promoting social consciousness, and to developing collaboration with other churches and religious groups. While acknowledging significant advances in human wellbeing in Australia, Bishop Pat said the churches still have much work to do to support disadvantaged groups, especially among Indigenous Australians, refugees and asylum seekers, and others struggling against hardship. To read this article in full, click HERE.

New Board members for SPC

Michael Liddy & Tony French

We are delighted to welcome two new members to SPC’s Board of Management.

Tony French is a lawyer who has written our sparkling editorial for May on Mr Rupert Murdoch’s views on markets and morality. We will profile Tony in a future issue of this newsletter.

Our second new Board member – Michael Liddy – has had a 35-year career as a forensic scientist, and in teaching forensic science at La Trobe, Charles Sturt, and Deakin universities where he held honorary appointments as Adjunct Professor.

Michael has been a member of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Victoria for over 12 years, as a member of the Donvale Conference. He has been President of the Eastern Central Council for over 3.5 years, and on the Society’s Victorian State Council. He has served on several St V de P committees, including chairing the committee overseeing the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepoint in Melbourne, raising awareness of the issues facing more than 100,000 who are homeless or sleeping rough in our cities, and raising funds to support the works of the Society and VincentCare to assist the homeless. Michael was the respondent to Robert Fitzgerald, who presented the 2013 Ozanam Lecture in Melbourne.

Michael’s interests are in the Society’s social justice advocacy, enhancing members’ mission, and supporting initiatives to help those in greatest need.

Martin Flanagan

Spirituality in a secular society

Presented by the John Wallis Foundation. Continuing the vision and mission of the Missionary Sisters of Service.

11 June 2013 7-9pm

Madeleine Centre, Genazzano FCJ college, 301 Cotham Road, Kew.
Bookings at www.trybooking.com/45769, email Bonita at johnwallisfoundation@gmail.com, or call 03 9873 5520.
Adults $15, Concession $10.

Human rights & the NT Intervention : Issues facing NT Aboriginal people

With Michele Harris from concerned Australians

Monday 13 May 2013 7:30-9:30pm

St John’s Coghlan Centre, 494 Maroondah Highway, Mitcham
Enter via Elizabeth Street (Melway 48/J9). Parking available in school grounds.
RSVP by 10 May to Pia Pagotto 9887 3096, or Howard Tankey howardtankey@iprimus.com.au.

Michele Harris has engaged in human rights work for many years in Australia and overseas. concerned Australians, in association with the St John Social Justice Group, the Combined Churches Social Justice Group Whitehorse, and Whitehorse friends for Reconciliation are hosting this free information evening. Copies of A Decision to Discriminate will be available. To order a copy, view www.concernedaustralians.com.au.

Positions Vacant

Director (CEO)
Creative Ministries Network

CMN is a faith-based community and agency of UnitingCare in Victoria and Tasmania, committed to integrating arts-based activities into programs dedicated to healing, justice, and reconciliation. Obtain a position description and apply HERE, or call Paula Bradshaw on 03 9251 5477.

Project Officer (part-time)
Office for Justice & Peace, Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

Contact Mark Clark on 03 9926 5710 or see cam.org.au/jobs.aspx.

Help support SPC

SPC relies on donations to expand the conversation about social justice

You can help by making a donation in one of these ways…

- Send your cheque or money order to our office at PO Box 505, Box Hill, Victoria 3128
- Transfer by Internet to Social Policy Connections Inc, BSB 083159, Account 792617040, referencing your surname and phone number
- Donate by credit card, using the DONATE form on our website.

Books available at SPC

Social Justice: Fuller life in a fairer world

By Bruce Duncan

$35, or $28 for financial members of SPC, plus $5 postage and handling.
Outlines social justice in the Scriptures, how later generations lived these values, and issues today of the economic crisis, equity, global poverty, hunger, climate change, peace, and indigenous issues. It highlights the contributions of Frederick Ozanam, Barbara Ward, Rosemary Goldie, Helder Camara, Joseph Cardijn, and Aboriginal activist ‘Mum Shirl’.

Sufficient for the Day: Towards a
Sustainable Culture

By Geoff Lacey

$20 plus postage.

“Geoff Lacey has something new and important to say about the roots of the environmental crisis and the way forward. His combination of deep reflection and practical attention to problems provides a much-needed corrective to a sustainability debate dominated by narrow economic perspectives.” Paul Mees, Senior Lecturer in Planning at RMIT.

Towards a Better World

By Arthur Gibbs

$15 plus postage.

An SPC member, Arthur worked as an economist. “Towards a Better World is a cautionary tale of what can happen when world leaders and corporations jump on an ideological bandwagon with little reflection about the long-term consequences for all.” Anne Tuohey.

Social Policy Connections featured video

Bishop Pat Power

What I have learned about the churches & public policy

To read Bishop Power’s address in full, click HERE.

Click HERE if the video does not display properly
Click HERE to view more SPC videos

On Saturday afternoons, I take to my couch. Not for a siesta, but to seek. Laden with the weekend editions of the Age and Australian newspapers, I try, you see, to make some sort of sense of the week’s events, hoping to arrive at a consensus between their competing commentaries. More and more, I find there’s a lot more writing in the Australian, decreasingly and depressingly so in the Age. It is correspondingly becoming increasingly arduous to reach a balanced view. At times, quantity can tend to overwhelm the reader and his opinions.

But what caught my attention was a report in the Australian (Saturday 6 April) of a speech Rupert Murdoch had given to the Institute of Public Affairs on 4 April 2013. A conservative ‘think tank’, the IPA was celebrating its 70^th anniversary, and Rupert was its guest speaker. The report, startlingly captioned Markets Radiate Morality, was juxtaposed with an equally eye-catching photograph of the patrician publisher himself. Nothing at all about the IPA’s anniversary or Rupert’s speech was reported in the Age, thereby vindicating the morality of my even-handed purchase of both papers.

To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo McCain speech on economic crisis 9/19/08 by mattlehrer, flickr cc.

Very disturbing questions are arising from reports of Australian intelligence officers rebutting claims by former prime minister, John Howard, that their advice supported allegations of an imminent threat from
Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.

Howard repeatedly claimed that he had clear and conclusive evidence about the imminent threat from Saddam’s weapons, and on this basis decided to join the invasion of Iraq in 2003, along with the USA and Britain. No other country joined this invasion, not even erstwhile US allies like Canada and New Zealand.

Howard and others in his government later maintained that they were surprised no weapons of mass destruction were found following the invasion.

This apologia has been blown apart by revelations that intelligence agencies advised the Australian government that Saddam’s regime had very few chemical or biological weapons left, and was not an imminent danger to other countries. Moreover, there was no evidence that Saddam had been involved in terrorist attacks on the United States, despite claims to the contrary.

Former Liberal Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, is among a group of eminent Australians calling for an enquiry into Australia’s involvement in the Iraq war. Such calls will likely become much increasingly insistent, as it appears that the  Howard government deliberately misled the Australian people into the war against the advice of its own intelligence agencies. As Fraser said, “the war was begun on the basis of a lie”. In response to Howard’s address at the Lowy Institute on 9 April, the secretary of the Intelligence Committee from 2002 to 2007, Margaret Swieringa, replied in an explosive article in the Ageon 12 April:“None of the government’s arguments were supported by the intelligence presented to it by its own agencies. None of these arguments were true.”

The implications of these revelations are very serious: that government leaders manipulated intelligence reports as pretexts for the invasion of Iraq, in defiance of international law and violating key criteria of the western tradition of just war, on which international relations and peacekeeping rely so heavily.

Not only did these leaders deliberately, it seems, mislead the Australian people, they did so in the face of widespread opposition from leading thinkers, huge mass protests, and the concerns of most churches and social policy connections religious networks internationally. Pope John Paul II himself led the Catholic Church in opposing the invasion, with the support of all the major bishops’ conferences  hroughout the world, including that of the USA itself.

The churches have historically been key custodians of the just war tradition to constrain violence and warfare. Yet for the first time in our history, Howard took Australia to war against firm opposition from the churches.

Many people at the time supported the war in Iraq on the presumption that the government must have had very reliable information on which to base its decision, even if it had not fully revealed this. It is now very clear that this was not the case. The reasons the Howard government adduced were simply spurious.

Many of those who had studied the debate closely already knew this. There was a wealth of information from highly reputable institutes and expert commentators, challenging the claims of the Bush Administration and the British Blair government about Saddam having weapons of mass destruction, posing an imminent threat, and being linked to Al Qaeda.

Before the war I assembled such data in a 17,000- word pamphlet, War on Iraq: Is it Just? published by the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, rebutting the arguments for war. How is it that my critique was so accurate, while the Howard government could be so wrong? My point is, the truth was not hard to determine.

The responsibility does not lie with Howard alone. Others were implicated in this collapse of moral values and judgement, including membersof his government (some of them still in office),their advisers, and sections of the media.What accountability will there now be for all this,with such savage consequences for millions of people worldwide? Australia could have played a constructive role in restraining the United States and Britain from this venture. Instead, our government encouraged the rush to war.

The full import of the apparent deceit of the Howard government has yet to hit home to Australians. If it is true that our government deliberately misled our country on such a grave issue, is it acceptable that those responsible can simply walk away, with no accountability whatever?

As Dr Margaret Beavis from the Medical Association for the Prevention of War pointed out in the Age on 12 April, how do we ensure that a future prime minister no longer has the power to involve Australia in war?

And what of the media and commentators who campaigned so diligently on the case for war, particularly in the Murdoch press and other media networks? Was it simply a means to make money from the media, or
ideology and political manoeuvring? Is there no accountability here either?

Dr Bruce Duncan lectures in history and social ethics in the MCD University of Divinity, including courses on war and peace.

To read this article in full, click HERE.

Image:March against war in Iraq by Flyover Living, flickr cc

Bishop Emeritus

Guest speaker at Social Policy Connections forum on 17 April 2013 in Box Hill

“Growing up in Queanbeyan, adjacent to Canberra, I never took exception to its nickname, ‘Struggletown’. My father politely pointed out that Queanbeyan was the mother of Canberra, and it was simply a case of the child outgrowing the parent. In my boyhood in the post-World War II days, Queanbeyan welcomed many refugees from war-torn Europe, and my parents were great examples to me of caring for the battlers. Dad was a Justice of the Peace, and not only did he witness the signatures of the ‘New Australians’ on their documents, but he also helped them to navigate their way through potentially difficult waters. He adopted a similar role as a member of the St Vincent de Paul Society and in community activities. My mother welcomed all comers into our home and showed them unconditional love.

To stand up for the poor, even as a child, was second nature to me, and one of the motivations which led me to consider becoming a priest. From my early days in the priesthood, I had some great role models in promoting justice and respect for the people I was privileged to serve. In many ways, it was the struggling people themselves who gave me some of the best lessons in life.”

To read this article in full, click HERE.

 Bishop Power on Pope Francis and reform in the Church

The tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq fell on 19 March, but one wonders if we have learned the lessons from that war. To mark the anniversary in Iraq, a bomb killed 50 people and wounded many more. For a country of 24.6 million in 2003 (31 million in 2012), the constant random killing and violence seem endless.

We know now, of course, that the two major pretexts for the invasion were at least erroneous, if not outright lies: that Iraq was intent on building weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear ones, and that it was implicated in the terrorist attacks on the United States.

To read this article in full, click HERE.

Readers of this newsletter will be aware of the new leadership of worldwide Christians that we have just seen installed. Just how has this taken place, and what will it mean?

You may be wondering just what Jorge Mario Bergoglio, elected Pope on 13 March, will bring as the 266th Bishop of Rome. Others might be wondering just what Justin Welby, installed as Archbishop of Canterbury on 21 March, will bring as the 105th occupant of the Chair of Saint Augustine.

It’s been observed that rarely have these two positions been occupied by such similar individuals as the immediate predecessors of the new Pope and the new ’Cantuar’ (as the Archbishop of Canterbury is known by the  Anglican cognoscenti). Both Pope Benedict and Archbishop Rowan Williams are highly regarded scholars, both are described as introverts, both have been known to carry very seriously the weight of their high office and the major challenges confronting them. Both were in their respective roles for roughly the same period.

Their respective successors seem to be very different — and it is a well known factor in organisations that new appointments regularly reflect qualities seen as deficiencies, or even weaknesses, in their immediate predecessors.

So, what of these newly installed successors, their backgrounds, how they were appointed, and most significantly, what challenges do they face as they take up their roles as Christian leaders in 2013?

To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo His Holiness Pope Francis by Christus Vincent, flickr cc.

Note This article was written prior to Stephen Smith’s announcements concerning Australia’s commitments in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has been described as ‘the graveyard of empires’. The British suffered defeats there before reaching agreement on the border between India and Afghanistan during the great empire game with Russia in the 19th century. The former Soviet Union, too, had its nose well and truly bloodied when it invaded and occupied in 1979-883. The country is made up of tribal regions – only in 1747 did a leader of the Pushtun form a confederacy, and not until the 1830s did it take on the appearance of a single nation. Yet violence seems endemic; a hostile geographical environment hinders communications; the climate is very harsh; and above all there seems a fierceness in the people who defend their lands. It is traditionally peopled by regional tribes headed by warlords.

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, 
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains,
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier. 
Rudyard Kipling The Young British Soldier

To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo courtesy San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, flickr cc.

What will Jorge Mario Bergoglio, elected Pope Francis on 13 March, bring as the 266th Bishop of Rome? Others might be wondering just what Justin Welby, installed as Archbishop of Canterbury on 21 March, will bring as the 105th occupant of the Chair of Saint Augustine. To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo His Holiness Pope Francis by Christus Vincent, flickr cc.

SPC Forum

Emeritus Bishop Pat Power

What I have learned about the churches & public policy

Wednesday 17 April 7:30pm
Held at the Study Centre, Yarra Theological Union, 34 Bedford Street, Box Hill
Tea/coffee and snacks provided afterwards.

What has the Iraq war taught us?

By Bruce Duncan

The tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq fell on 19 March, but one wonders if we have learned the lessons from that war. To mark the anniversary in Iraq, a bomb killed 50 people and wounded many more. For a country of 24.6 million in 2003 (31 million in 2012), the constant random killing and violence seem endless. We know now, of course, that the two major pretexts for the invasion were at least erroneous, if not outright lies: that Iraq was intent on building weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear ones, and that it was implicated in the terrorist attacks on the United States. To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo by Jayel Aheram, flickr cc.

Afghanistan – what should we do?

By Bill Frilay

Afghanistan has been described as ‘the graveyard of empires’. The British suffered defeats there before reaching agreement on the border between India and Afghanistan during the great empire game with Russia in the 19^th century. The former Soviet Union, too, had its nose well and truly bloodied when it invaded and occupied in 1979-88. The country is made up of tribal regions – only in 1747 did a leader of the Pushtun form a confederacy, and not until the 1830s did it take on the appearance of a single nation. Yet violence seems endemic; a hostile geographical environment hinders communications; the climate is very harsh; and above all there seems a fierceness in the people who defend their lands. It is traditionally peopled by regional tribes headed by warlords. Read this article by Bill Frilay on our website, or click HERE.

Photo courtesy San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, flickr cc.

Help Support SPC

SPC relies on donations to expand the conversation about social justice
You can help by making a donation in one of these ways…
- Send your cheque or money order to our office at PO Box 505, Box Hill, Victoria 3128
- Transfer by Internet to Social Policy Connections Inc, BSB 083159, Account 792617040, referencing your surname and phone number
- Donate by credit card, using the DONATE form on our website.

Books available at SPC

Email admin@socialpolicyconnections.com.au to place your order.

NEW! Social Justice: Fuller life in a fairer world 
By Bruce Duncan

$35, or $28 for financial members of SPC, plus $5 postage and handling.
Outlines social justice in the Scriptures, how later generations lived these values, and issues today of the economic crisis, equity, global poverty, hunger, climate change, peace, and indigenous issues. It highlights the contributions of Frederick Ozanam, Barbara Ward, Rosemary Goldie, Helder Camara, Joseph Cardijn, and Aboriginal activist ‘Mum Shirl’.

Sufficient for the Day: Towards a Sustainable Culture

By Geoff Lacey. $20 plus postage.
“Geoff Lacey has something new and important to say about the roots of the environmental crisis and the way forward. His combination of deep reflection and practical attention to problems provides a much-needed corrective to a sustainability debate dominated by narrow economic perspectives.” Paul Mees, Senior Lecturer in Planning at RMIT.

Towards a Better World

By Arthur Gibbs. $15 plus postage.
An SPC member, Arthur worked as an economist. “Towards a Better World is a cautionary tale of what can happen when world leaders and corporations jump on an ideological bandwagon with little reflection about the long-term consequences for all.” Anne Tuohey.

Social Policy Connections featured video

Bishop Vincent Long launches Bruce Duncan’s Social Justice: fuller life in a fairer world

Click HERE to watch the video.

Click HERE to view more SPC videos.

]]> http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?feed=rss2&p=6077 0 http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6065 http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6065#comments Thu, 21 Mar 2013 03:24:19 +0000 Social Policy Connections http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6065 By John  Bottomley

The Australian church and the nation both face difficult times. National reconciliation, the place of worship in contemporary mission, injustice at work through work-related death, grief, and bullying, the tension between business and theological understandings of corporate governance, and the suffering brought by post-traumatic stress to victims and perpetrators of violence – all these challenge the foundations of modern life.

The book of Isaiah brings together prophetic words about trust and justice in times of difficulty, words of hope in times of captivity, and words of judgment as the community reshapes its life after overwhelmingly tough times.

While a great distance lies between contemporary Australia and the situations of ancient Israel evident in Isaiah, the poetic structure of voices in Isaiah can speak across that distance. Both the authors have listened to Isaiah’s ancient voice as well as to the voices of those struggling with today’s difficult times in ways that call the church to rethink with imagination its prophetic role in society. Included in the text is the play Prophet and Loss by Jane Woollard.

To order this book, click HERE.

“This book shows how concern for social justice is central to Christian faith, as the Scriptures insist. Jesus is the prophet of justice par excellence. As he declares in the Last Judgement scene in Matthew 25, God identifies with the sick, hungry, naked, the stranger. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man again emphasises that God takes very seriously our response to the poor …

To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo Bishop Vincent Long.