AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER * TOP QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY AN AGENT OF EXTREME ISLAM SAYS JUDGE * GOVERNOR GENERAL ELECT - WHO IS SHE AND WHAT DOES SHE BELIEVE * NOW THAT THE DUST HAS SETTLED WHAT DO WE MAKE OF THE 2020 SUMMIT ----------------------------------------------- TOP QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY AN AGENT OF EXTREME ISLAM SAYS JUDGE A Judge has likened Griffith University to hardline Islamic "madras's" in Pakistan - notorious for breeding radicals - and accused the Queensland institution of promoting a Muslim ideology espoused by Osama bin Laden. Queensland District Court judge Clive Wall also accused Griffith of becoming an "agent" through which the Saudi Arabian embassy was propagating extreme Islam. Judge Wall, a deputy judge advocate-general in the Australian Defence Force holding the rank of air commodore, said it was clear what brand of Islam the university would be teaching through its Saudi-funded Islamic Research Unit. "It would have to be Wahabism, similar to many of the madras's in Pakistan who receive funding from Saudi Arabia," he said. At least three of the suicide bombers responsible for the 2005 London bombings attended Pakistani madras's, which are considered indoctrination centres for Islamic extremism. It has been revealed that Griffith University asked the Saudi embassy in Australia for a $1.37m grant for its Islamic Research Unit, even telling the ambassador that certain elements of the controversial deal could be kept a secret. It was also revealed through documents that Griffith - described by vice-chancellor Ian O'Connor as the "university of choice" for Saudis - offered the embassy a chance to "discuss" ways in which the money could be used. Griffith University first received a $100,000 Saudi grant back in September last year. Griffith Islamic Research Unit director Mohamad Abdalla has rejected accusations the Saudi funding would be used to promote Wahabism, saying his centre was opposed to the hardline ideology and in favour of "moderate" Islam. But Judge Wall accused Griffith of becoming a Saudi stooge. "They're using the university as an agent to promote their bigoted brand of Islam," he said. "I'm concerned that a country which doesn't itself tolerate freedom of religion is promoting its own quite bigoted version here with the acquiescence of our learning institutions."This is the first time Judge Wall, who was appointed to the District Court in 1996, has publicly declared his views about the threat of Wahabism and aired his concerns about the Saudi Government's connections. Asked why he wanted to weigh in on the topic of Saudi funding, he said: "Like many people, I follow what's out there around the world and I was just concerned in particular about the source of the funding being Saudi Arabia. I'm concerned that a university which is in my area is not being entirely frank about what it's doing."Judge Wall accused Griffith's management of being "naive" in accepting Saudi funds, which have historically been linked to the propagation of fundamentalism. The Saudi Government is believed to have funnelled at least $120m into Australia since the 1970s to bankroll radical clerics, build mosques and propagate hardline Islam. "I don't think the university should be involved in any way with these people," Judge Wall said. "They (the Saudis) are not being simply altruistic," he said. "They don't give anything for benevolent reasons, there's always something behind it." September's grant prompted Judge Wall to inquire about the nature of the fund and how it was intended to be used. He wrote to Prof Ross Homel - then director of Griffith's key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance, which manages the Islamic unit - raising questions about the branch of Islam the university wanted to propagate."You have said that the Saudi grant to the Griffith Islamic Research Unit will be used to promote 'moderate Islam'," said Judge Wall in a letter to the University. "What do you mean by 'moderate Islam' and what do you understand is the difference between moderate Islam and Wahabi Islam?" Judge Wall's questions were hand-balled by Professor Homel to Dr Abdalla. But he never received an answer. "I'm a little concerned that I've received no response from the university to my letter," Judge Wall said. "They seem reluctant to discuss the matter." Source: Compiled by APN from media reports ----------------------------------------------- GOVERNOR GENERAL ELECT - WHO IS SHE AND WHAT DOES SHE BELIEVE Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced the current Queensland governor would replace Major General Michael Jeffery as the Queen's representative in September. Ms Bryce, also a prominent lawyer, academic and women's activist, will be the first woman to hold the role in its 107-year history. Quentin Alice Louise Bryce was born in Longreach Queensland in 1942, grew up in Ilfracombe and studied Law at the University of Queensland. A mother of five, she helped establish a childcare centre at Queensland University in the 1970s where she attended law lectures with her youngest child at her feet as she juggled five children aged under the age of seven. As a prominent feminist, she campaigned against plans to restrict abortion laws in Canberra in the 1990s and in favour of affirmative action. In accepting the appointment she said she was honoured to take on the role but would not be drawn on whether she would be the country's last governor-general with the election of the Rudd government reigniting speculation of Australia moving to a republic. "It's an issue for the Australian people and there will be a very robust and stimulating debate about that," she told reporters. In announcing her appointment Mr Rudd said "If you look at Quentin Bryce's CV and what she's done with her life, not only is she a person who's grown up in a tiny town in rural Australia, but she's a person who's succeeded in the law, a person who's lectured in law as one of the first female lecturers in law at university level in Australia, a person who then became federal sex discrimination commissioner, a person who headed a university college at the Uni of Sydney, a person who's achieved pre-eminence in her field."The choice of Ms Bryce has been welcomed by both sides of politics. But her career is not entirely without controversy. She was accused of sexism herself during her tenure as Sex Discrimination commissioner after Alexander Proudfoot, a doctor with the federal Health Department's Therapeutic Goods Administration, secured under freedom of information laws a case file from Ms Bryce on which she had written a note, "another example of a male wasting our time with trivia". It triggered several years of legal battles, which were ultimately dismissed.Australia's next governor-general is a pro-choice feminist and campaigner for childcare and maternity leave who believes women can have it all - although perhaps not at the same time. Widely regarded as a safe pair of hands, Ms Bryce, 65, is also a straight-talker. As chair of the National Childcare Accreditation Council, Ms Bryce once said: "There's a lot of garbage talked about work and family by businesses and by the women who work in them.""At a talk I gave to a group of career women, one got up and said she was thrilled because her employer had put in a breastfeeding room. As if that was all they had to do!" she said. "The young women around me want the same things in their futures that I wanted when I was 20," she once explained during her tenure as head of the Women's College at the University of Sydney. "When I embarked on this course in my early twenties - work, babies, husband - I had no doubt that I would be able to have it all," she said in 1998."Thirty years later, I know that you can have it all, but not at the same time. I often find myself telling ambitious, clever thirty-somethings that they can't hold down a full-time, demanding, professional role, have a second child and finish their MBA this year, as well as maintain all the other things that matter to them in their life. "I tell them not to be in a rush, to seize the day and seize the happiness of motherhood or concentrate on getting the promotion. But not both."As Sex Discrimination Commissioner, she campaigned for maternity leave for women whilst continuing to argue that women suffer numerous disadvantages by comparison with male workers. She has also raised concerns in the past over young women being quarantined in certain subjects at school. Few girls study maths, science or technical subjects at advanced levels. Consequently, few are qualified to proceed to training or jobs created by new technology or to tertiary studies which may lead to higher technological jobs," she said. Source: Compiled by APN from media reports ----------------------------------------------- NOW THAT THE DUST HAS SETTLED WHAT DO WE MAKE OF THE 2020 SUMMIT In his opening remarks to the 2020 Summit in Canberra, Kevin Rudd invoked the Bible, quoting the well-known Proverb "without a vision the people perish". While there has been much cynicism amongst conservative commentators about the Summit, the Prime Minister has urged Australians to "continue the conversation" through the 2020 website. It is hard to understand why the strippers' and prostitutes' union got a Summit guernsey along with 118 (out of the 1000 delegates) representatives of GetUp, a "progressive" grass-roots community advocacy organisation. On the other hand the communities and families' track was big on tackling homelessness, binge drinking and gambling through worthy ideas such as reducing poker machines, micro-finance for the poor, further regulating alcohol and innovative new ways of funding public housing. Of concern was the not-so-new idea of a bill or charter of rights The summit's governance section, which included charter of rights advocates such as law professor George Williams, decided to request a bill or charter of rights, but left open the form they thought this should take. The Australian Christian Lobby, along with many other Christian groups, is opposed to either a bill or charter of rights believing it would undermine democracy by, in effect, transferring the power to make laws away from a democratically elected Parliament to an unaccountable judiciary. They said "As many rights are conflicting and contentious, it is not conducive to a healthy democracy that such discretion rest with judges, rather than the elected Parliament." Even in recent weeks, some of the problems for Christian freedoms in having a bill or statute of rights have come to the fore. For example, the Victorian Government is currently reviewing exemptions to its Equal Opportunity Act to make sure they are compatible with its new charter of rights - putting at risk such important freedoms as allowing Christian schools and churches to only employ Christians. As former NSW Premier Bob Carr says "Churches are becoming aware their immunity from anti-discrimination laws - a justified immunity - will end with a charter or a bill of rights. Church leaders can democratically lobby parliaments and cabinets, but not non-elected, tenured judges." A bill or charter of rights can also be used as a Trojan horse for minority agendas. For example, a Sydney homosexual publication quoted 2020 Summit delegate David Marr as saying that "a charter or bill could allow the courts to strike down gay and lesbian discrimination". This appears to be viewed by the homosexual lobby as a possible method of obtaining same-sex civil unions or even marriage. The push for a bill or charter of rights has gained a lot of momentum from the 2020 Summit and it will take a concerted effort by Christians in opposing the possible introduction of such a bill to protect many current democratic and Christian freedoms. Source: Compiled by APN from various reports
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