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

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

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.

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=5790 http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=5790#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:02:46 +0000 Social Policy Connections http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=5790 By Bill Frilay

It may be appropriate to take stock on where we are with this issue that Kevin Rudd described as the greatest moral challenge of our time (and which he subsequently ditched!).

We now have a carbon tax. It is impacting and will continue to impact significantly or substantially (depending on your definition) on our electricity and gas prices – as it is meant to do. After all, the idea is to change behaviours and reduce hydrocarbon emissions. But it is not likely to impact to a great extent on non-energy products; on these, the effect is indirect and diluted. The carbon tax is an interim solution to 2015, when it is planned to switch to an emissions trading scheme which would operate within and across borders (ie a company could buy and sell emissions certificates internationally). The Government recently passed legislation to put a floor on the price at which these emissions can be traded after 2015.

To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo Climate Change (Con?) by Crowcombe AI, flickr cc

Australia has so far escaped much of the havoc caused by the global financial crisis, but it is not immune to the effects of economic ideology, particularly free-market neoliberalism, which typically calls for reduced public spending, balanced budgets, wage and tax cuts, and a reduced role for governments. We can see the effects of these views, with the Victorian government recently announcing cuts of 4,200 public service jobs, and sharply reduced spending on TAFEs. The Queensland government is abolishing 14,000 public service jobs, many in health services, and reducing spending on social services and housing. Even the Commonwealth government is not immune to pressure, as it struggles to produce a surplus budget.

To read Bruce Duncan’s article in full, CLICK here. To read the article on the Eureka Street website, CLICK here.

Astonishing account of Santamaria organisations in South-East Asia

Frank Mount’s account of working for B A Santamaria in Asia will surprise many people greatly by the extent and influence of this anti-communist network. In Wrestling with Asia: A Memoir (Connor Court Publishing 2012), Mount records his activity organising the ‘Pacific Institute’, involving influential figures in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the Philippines, as well as with important  Church people. Mount writes that Santamaria cooperated closely with Brigadier Ted Serong, Australia’s military commander in Vietnam and creator of the Phoenix program of assassinations, who also became director of Santamaria’s Pacific Institute in Vietnam. Santamaria was advising Serong about seeking money to fund the Nhan-Xa Party in Vietnam, trying to tap into funds from the Catholic charitable collection in Australia, Project Compassion. After returning to Australia, Mount later broke with Santamaria, because he was embarrassed by Santamaria’s economic views. Mount’s book helps fill crucial gaps in the Santamaria story.

To read Kevin Peoples’ review in full, CLICK here.

Anne Tuohey.

This year’s Social Justice Statement from the Catholic Bishops of Australia is entitled The Gift of Family in Difficult Times. It describes a range of family issues which reinforce the unique contribution of families, and is a timely reminder of the many dimensions to family, including the diverse caring roles. While not surprising for a Church document, it is nonetheless disappointing that the issue of same-sex families is not discussed. Acknowledgement and respect, while not the same as acceptance, are always worthwhile first steps. To read this article in full, click HERE.

SPC Forum

Held at the Study Centre, Yarra Theological Union
34 Bedford Street, Box Hill
Tea/coffee and snacks provided afterwards

Critical planning issues facing our city
and the liveability of Melbourne

Kevin O’Connor

Professorial Fellow Urban Planning University of Melbourne

Wednesday 24 October 7pm

How do we really relate to the city of Melbourne? Kevin O’Connor argues that there are in fact five distinct Melbournes – the inner city, and, fanning out from the centre, areas in the east, west, north, and south. Why, then, do we maintain a monocentric view of our city, and what is wrong with this approach? For a flyer for this event, click HERE.

National Council of Churches: Peace in the Marketplace

Peace in the marketplace challenges us to reflect on and advocate for ways to promote change in our current world economic situation. This document is a valuable resource for anyone interested in social justice, particularly as it relates to economic policy. Quoting from the scriptures and from significant church, political, and community leaders, Peace in the Marketplace provides perspectives which challenge the status quo. Available from the National Council of Churches HERE. To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo Market in Mopti, Mali,West Africa Emilio Labrador, flickr cc.

Philip Blond’s ‘Big Society’ ideas

Extolled by its creator as a panacea for society’s ills is UK theologian and philosopher Philip Blond’s idea of the Big Society. In a world struggling with the polarities of wealth and poverty and a sense of impending doom, the concept of A Big Society suggests that at centre stage should be society rather than the economy. Blond’s ideas contain some thoughtful insights; readers may be interested in contributing to the analysis, and we welcome your comments. To read this article in full, click HERE.

Photo Susan Hect Boston GS Protest americans4financialreform, flickr cc

Books available at SPC

NEW! Social Justice: Fuller life in a fairer world by Bruce Duncan.
$35, or $28 for financial members, plus $5 postage and handling.

Sufficient for the Day: Towards a Sustainable Culture by Geoff Lacey. $20 plus postage.

Towards a Better World by Arthur Gibbs. $15 plus postage. an SPC member, Arthur worked as an economist.

Social Justice studies

Serious about social justice?

Consider study at the MCD University of Divinity and Yarra Theological Union on issues of the Bible and justice, human rights, war and peace, medical ethics, etc. For further information, click HERE.

Network events

Human Rights Matters! Conference

Wednesday 17 October 8:30 for 9:15am-5pm
Cardinal Knox Centre, 383 Albert Street, East Melbourne
To apply for bookings, click HERE.
Keynote Speakers. Dr Cassandra Goldie ACOSS Can we still be called the lucky country?  |  Beth Wilson Victorian Health Services Commissioner Human rights in relation to health |  Mark  Zirnsak Human Trafficking  |  Dr John Falzon St Vincent de Paul Learnings & possibilities. For the flyer for this event, click HERE.

The Community Placement Network (CPN) is an initiative of the Australian Homestay Network (AHN) to offer transitional (six weeks only) accommodation to eligible asylum seekers exiting immigration detention on a Bridging visa E (BVE).

Since its establishment on 8 May 2012, CPN has accommodated over 220 eligible BVE clients nationally.

Feedback from CPN hosts on their experience has been highly positive, specifically on the opportunity to learn about different cultures and the rewards of assisting asylum seekers with orientating and establishing themselves in the community.

Many hosts have been able to assist their guests with the search for medium-term accommodation, access to free English language classes, employment, and voluntary work.

Most BVE holders have moved on from their CPN accommodation prior to or at the conclusion of the placement, having found accommodation closer to work opportunities, friends, or community links. Some have entered a private board arrangement with their former CPN host.

Building on its initial success, the CPN will expand its host pool on a national basis to include increased regional CPN capacity.

If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a CPN host, you may wish to visit the CPN website at www.homestaynetwork.org/cpn for additional information and application processes.