Religion & Ethics Australia Daily

A twice-weekly public affairs review from the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College

No. 013, 26-29 November 2004 ² compiled by Rod Benson

News reports

Aboriginal issues

Michael Long’s march to Canberra should be in support of more practical ways of helping indigenous Australians, argues Peter Howson. Aust 26 Nov 04

Abortion

Stymied by the Prime Minister over his push for an official inquiry into abortion, federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has received a formal request from the Opposition to disclose facts and figures about the number of terminations in Australia. Aust 26 Nov 04

Australia’s Catholic leaders have made a belated entry into the abortion debate, announcing a taskforce to look at ways of increasing support for women who are considering abortion. SMH 26 Nov 04

The church needs to win the moral debate and raise public awareness before it can persuade governments to outlaw abortion, says Sydney Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen. He conceded that the churches had no chance of winning political concessions on abortion. SMH 27-28 Nov 04

Adoption

Australian women are reluctant to give up their babies, resulting in low national adoption rates, while those from overseas have soared to a ten-year high. There were only 132 local adoptions in 2003-04, and 370 inter-country adoptions in the same period. Aust 26 Nov 04

Ageing

The GST will have to rise to pay for Australia’s ageing population, according to tax experts. Aust 26 Nov 04

The problems of an ageing population are known, but the answers are not so obvious, reports Cherelle Murphy. Weekend AFR 27-28 Nov 04

Ross Gittins comments on the Productivity Commission’s report on Australia’s ageing population. SMH 27-28 Nov 04

By the middle of the century there will be 1.6 million Australians aged 85 or older, and health care costs will rise significantly. A century ago, only one per cent of the population was aged 65-plus. Weekend Aust 27-28 Nov 04

Radical health reform is needed to cope with an ageing population and, with control of both houses of parliament from next July, John Howard is uniquely placed to implement it. Weekend Aust 27-28 Nov 04

Bioethics – stem cells

A South Korean woman paralysed for 20 years is walking again after scientists say they repaired her damaged spine using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. Aust 29 Nov 04; SMH 29 Nov 04

Biotechnology

The Queensland government has defended its aggressive approach to biotechnology investment against criticism from business, saying the $1.5 billion investment was the future of the Queensland economy. AFR 29 Nov 04

Censorship

Banning 9 Songs will encourage the debate on explicit movie scenes, writes Rachel Williams. She also notes that, under new Office of Film and Literature Classification Board guidelines, there is no limit to the detail a filmmaker may include in order to depict sexual violence, if the sexual violence is implied and “justified by context.” SMH 26 Nov 04

Christmas

Linda Morris explores Christian attempts to keep Santa and shopping at a distance in the celebration of Christ’s birth. “I’m happy for traders to sell what they like but don’t try to sugar coat it with Christian meaning,” Dr Gordon Moyes, superintendent of Sydney’s Wesley Mission, said. SMH 29 Nov 04

Consumerism

South Africa’s black elites are living lives unimaginable a decade ago, and resentment is building. Aust 26 Nov 04

Environment

Australian farmers are being made to carry an unfair share of responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, writes Mick Keogh, executive director of the independent think tank the Australian Farm Institute. AFR 29 Nov 04

Evolution

Craig Venter, the man credited with having mapped the human genome, rejects the randomness of evolution as postulated by Charles Darwin. “All our genetic codes of all the species are designed for continual change and evolution.” But evolution is “much more sophisticated than blind randomness,” he said, quoted by David James in an essay on evolutionary design. AFR 26 Nov 04

Ethics – business – Australia

The foundation set up by James Hardie to compensate asbestos victims said it was preparing to sue the building company and its former executives over a $1.5 billion shortfall for people injured by its products. AFR 26 Nov 04

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is investigating James Hardie Industries for allegedly misleading the NSW Supreme Court in cancelling $1.9 billion of assets it promised would be available for asbestos disease victims. Weekend Aust 27-28 Nov 04

Executive salaries

Chairman of Coca-Cola Amatil David Gonski suggests that most people in business are motivated in part by money but the amount of money they receive is a measure of esteem; it’s about being seen as better than the next chief executive. SMH 26 Nov 04

Family

Affluent middle-class parents are being blamed for the emergence of a generation of fat, lazy and out-of-control offspring, a new book claims. Aust 29 Nov 04

Gambling

The South Australian upper house passed a bill including a reduction in the number of poker machines by 3000, but it awaits debate by the lower house. Aust 26 Nov 04

An ageing population will halt rising state revenue from gambling, and the states have been warned that they cannot rely on ever-increasing revenue from gambling taxes. SMH 27-28 Nov 04

Piracy

Australia is at the centre of a legal fight as record companies seek to stop music downloads from the internet. Weekend AFR 27-28 Nov 04

Politics – Australia

Ian Marsh, professor of government at the University of Sydney, proposes a new role for parliament, arguing that “the familiar competitive two-party system is now itself a principal obstacle to the capacity of Australians to exercise wise policy choice. AFR 26 Nov 04

Politics & faith – Australia

Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Kevin Rudd organised a meeting of colleagues last week to discuss Labor and Christianity, drawing almost one-third of caucus. “The challenge for us is to get out a very clear message that God isn’t a wholly owned subsidiary of the Liberal Party,” he said. Weekend Aust 27-28 Nov 04

Politics & faith – general

The radical Christian right has it wrong about families and morality, says former Clinton cabinet member Robert Reich. “I’m not suggesting Hollywood or pornographic images are OK . But the more basic threat to families is the relentless economy [putting] families under more stress than ever before,” he said. A more productive response from the Christian right would be to advocate for more child care and family leave and more job security, he said. Weekend AFR 27-28 Nov 04

Pollution

The SMH leader agrees that asbestos checks should be a condition of approvals for all demolition, renovation or building, but observes that this does not cover the problem of householders who undertake DIY work that does not require council approval. SMH 26 Nov 04

Pornography

Senior police mistakenly sent images of child pornography to almost 2000 NSW public school principals due to unsuccessful cropping of images being used to identify victims of child abuse. Aust 26 Nov 04

The recent national crackdown on child pornography exposed the need for legal reform and closer screening of people in positions of responsibility, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said. The Age 29 Nov 04

Poverty

In Sydney on Nov 24, Opportunity International and World Vision jointly launched a Micro Enterprise Development project to fight global poverty by providing small business loans, training, mentoring and support to aspiring entrepreneurs in developing countries. Media release.

Road deaths

Julie-Anne Davies asks whether curfews, bans, education and scare campaigns will counter the lethal mix of powerful cars, irresponsible advertising, alcohol and testosterone leading to an increased death toll among young drivers. The Bulletin 16 Nov 04

Roman Catholic Church

John Cornwall publishes revealing extracts from his forthcoming biography of Pope John Paul II. Weekend Aust Magazine 27-28 Nov 04

Social justice

Taya Fabijanic suggests ways for citizens to change the world without leaving home, including political activism through weblogs. SMH 27-28 Nov 04

Spirituality

Andrew Cornell writes at length on the rise and rise of Christian religion in so-called secular Australia.

AFR Magazine Nov 04

Suicide

Suicide is the main cause of fatal injury in NSW, with 3822 suicide-related deaths between 1998 and 2002. Next highest were motor vehicle accidents with 2765 deaths and poisoning/unintentional overdose with 1118 deaths in the same period. SMH 26 Nov 04

Volunteers

Volunteers have been ordered to stop claiming income tax deductions for the costs of their activities in a tax office blitz that could cripple community and charity work.

Aust 29 Nov 04

War

After George Friedman, Frank Devine argues Australian troops are in Iraq because the US believes Iraq is, from a military point of view, the most strategic single country in the Middle East from which to apply pressure to “jihadist campaigns”. Iraq shares borders with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Iran. Aust 26 Nov 04

Australia alone will refuse to sign a non-aggression pact with the Association of South-East Asian Nations. Prime Minister John Howard claimed the pact could undermine Australia’s alliance with the US and curb Canberra’s ability to criticise human rights abuses. SMH 27-28 Nov 04

Australia has refused to sign the ASEAN Treaty on Amity and Co-operation. Prime Minister John Howard described the treaty as a product of the Cold War and not relevant to Australia. AFR 29 Nov 04

Workplace safety

Almost half the sailors in the Australian navy believe their lives are being put at risk by officers more interested in meeting deadlines than safety standards. Aust 26 Nov 04

Other items of interest

Miguel de la Torra reports on how pro-life and pro-choice advocates in the abortion debate in the US are beginning to work together to achieve economic change to alleviate pressure on women who choose abortion. In the process, “maybe both groups can learn how to talk to each other, rather than at each other,” he adds. http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=5033

Leading Anglican intellectual and bishop N.T. Wright – aka Tom – talks with Stephen Crittenden about justification, homosexuality and Christ as the end of the Torah.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s1243268.htm

Benedictine monk Jeremy Driscoll writes on the Christian witness of celebrated Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz. http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0411/articles/driscoll.htm

READ is published by the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College, 120 Herring Rd, Eastwood NSW 2122 AUSTRALIA. Telephone (02) 9878 0201. The content of READ and the views expressed in articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College or the Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT. Subscription is free. To subscribe, email with the words “subscribe to READ” in the subject line. Use the same email address to request more information. Copies of original articles are available on request. Abbreviations: AFR=The Australian Financial Review; Aust=The Australian; SMH=The Sydney Morning Herald.

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