AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER * FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REJECTS RIGHTS FOR HOMOSEXUALS * MORE YOUNG WOMEN TURNING TO VIOLENCE A WORRYING TREND FOR THE FUTURE. ----------------------------------------------- FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REJECTS RIGHTS FOR HOMOSEXUALS John Howard has told his partyroom gay and lesbian couples should not be given the same rights as defacto heterosexual couples. Mr Howard was responding to backbencher Warren Entsch, who asked him to make a quick decision on the issue cabinet left to the Prime Minister's discretion three weeks ago. Mr Howard told Mr Entsch that the issue was "complicated" and he did not believe in giving homosexuals and lesbians equal treatment. Moderate federal Liberal MPs, including Mr Entsch, fellow Queenslander Peter Lindsay and Victorian Greg Hunt, have for the past two years pushed colleagues to end the legal discrimination of same-sex couple in key areas, such as superannuation and public service pensions. Following a heated discussion in cabinet late last month, Mr Howard decided to make the final ruling on whether homosexuals and lesbians would be given equal rights under commonwealth law. Conservative ministers had argued it was not a high priority and that they had been inundated by opposition to major reform. Ministers were also concerned at the expense of reforms - millions of dollars in extra social security payments. But Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Employment Minister Joe Hockey, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock supported the reforms. Mr Turnbull and Mr Hockey are understood to have argued that with large numbers of gay voters in their Sydney electorates, Wentworth and North Sydney, reform could not be put off. A Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report reveals 58 federal laws deny same-sex couples and families basic financial and work-related entitlements. Source: Compiled by APN from media reports. ----------------------------------------------- MORE YOUNG WOMEN TURNING TO VIOLENCE A WORRYING TREND FOR THE FUTURE. As more young women see recourse to violence as a norm, the downstream effect for many of tomorrow's families is ominously bleak, says Chris Meney, director of the Marriage and Family Office of the Catholic archdiocese of Sydney. Figures compiled by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research show the number of violent assaults committed by girls in NSW has risen dramatically over the past decade - far faster than among boys - with offenders more likely to use hard drugs than their male counterparts. The number of girls aged between 10 and 17 involved in assaults has increased by about 66 per cent over the decade, to 3159 a year - equivalent to about nine attacks a day. While boys continue to commit more violent assaults - a total of 7278 last year - the rate of increase is almost twice as fast among girls in the age group. Among women aged 18 or over, the increase in the number of attacks in the past decade, to more than 11,000 last year alone, is almost four times that of men. Mr Meney said the fact that women who have traditionally been the "custodians of the importance of relationality" in family and community life are now engaging in destructive violence at an escalating rate should cause us to pause and reflect. "If we can help young people to see that self-discipline and self-sacrifice are not just social niceties, then we will have done a great service in the cause of our own children's marriages and in the interests of our grandchildren," he said. Studies across Australia show female offenders reported higher rates of drug use than men, with NSW showing a higher incidence of heroin and other stimulants among girls aged 14-18 than boys. Source: Catholic Weekly. http://www.ausprayernet.org.au/ September 19, 2007
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