Category: News & Announcements

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News & Announcements

Wanted! A nuclear free future

Rev Steve Francis, Uniting Church Moderator says, “At Christmas, I am reminded of the angelic choir on the Galilean hillside, who in anticipating the birth of Christ sang a chorus of “Peace on Earth”. Uranium mining can lead to the growth of nuclear weapons, thus making the world a more dangerous place and a less peaceful world in which to live.”

Steve made the comments following the decision of the General Council of the Uniting Church in Australia, Western Australia on Monday 8 December, to call on the Federal and WA State Governments to ban the production, deployment, transfer and use of nuclear energy and weapons and reintroduce the uranium mining ban in Western Australia.

The Council also re-affirmed the commitment of the Uniting Church in Western Australia to divest from businesses and financial institutions involved in the production of nuclear weapons or nuclear energy and related exports, including uranium.

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Government makes Australia one of the world’s least generous nations

The Micah Challenge coalition strongly condemns the Government’s deep and unprecedented cuts to Australia’s aid program announced in today’s mid-year budget update by Treasurer Joe Hockey.

The cuts of $3.7 billion over four years come on top of $7.6 billion of cuts made by the Government in the May Budget. The aid budget will be cut by $1 billion next year, which is the largest ever cut made to aid in Australia’s history.

“We find it absolutely disgraceful that for the third time in 15 months the Abbott Government has broken its promises on aid and turned to our poorest neighbours to find their budget savings,” said Ben Thurley, Political Engagement Coordinator for Micah Challenge Australia.

By 2017-18 when the cuts come into full effect, Australia’s development assistance will fall to its lowest ever recorded level of just 21 cents in every $100 of national income.

This cut will make Australia one of the least generous aid donors in the world and further undermine the predictability, stability and effectiveness of Australia’s aid program.

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Uniting Church condemns strip searching of Christian protesters

The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) has condemned WA Police for strip searching Christian asylum-seeker advocates involved in a protest in Perth yesterday.

Several ministers of religion and lay workers including two from the UCA were detained by police after a prayer vigil at Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s office in Subiaco. The protesters from the group Love Makes a Way were part of a national day of action in MPs’ offices calling for all children in immigration detention to be released into the community.

After their arrest, one of the protesters involved says police at the Perth Watch House told them they would be forcibly stripped and searched for weapons or drugs if they refused a strip search order before being placed in a holding cell. A number of those searched were visibly distressed.

Moderator of the UCA Synod of Western Australia Rev Steve Francis says he’s appalled at the protesters’ treatment.

“WA Police have deliberately humiliated people engaged in a peaceful act of civil disobedience,” said Steve.

“Strip searching is an outrageous and offensive response to Christian concern for the vulnerable, and I will be seeking an urgent explanation from the WA Police Commissioner.”

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Love makes a way holds national day of action

Christian leaders across Australia are right now holding nationwide sit-ins inside the electoral offices of 7 Government politicians in 6 cities. In Perth, a sit-in prayer vigil is currently underway at the office of Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop. Included in the sit-in is two leaders from the Uniting Church in WA, Richard Telfer, First Third specialist, and Rev Bev Fabb chair of the Commission for Education for Discipleship and Leadership (CEDAL).

Today’s peaceful action of more than 50 church-goers is in response to reports that the Government is planning to send 25 babies — who were born on Australian soil to families seeking safety — to the Nauru detention centre. These Christian leaders come from the full breadth of the Australian church (including Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Anglican and others).

The Christian leaders are committed to remaining in the MPs’ offices until the Government publicly promises that no children will be detained offshore, and that all asylum-seeker children will be released into the Australian community with their families. Sit-ins are occurring in the Sydney office of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, as well as 6 other Government representatives in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane.

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A day of great moral failure

The Uniting Church in Australia has expressed its dismay at changes passed to the Migration and Maritime Powers Acts which will cause greater suffering for those vulnerable people seeking refuge in Australia.

“Today is a day of great moral failure for Australia,” said Uniting Church President, Rev Prof Andrew Dutney, in response to legislation that passed the Senate in the early hours of Friday morning.

“The Federal Government has now made it legal to punish the strangers that Jesus called Christians to welcome, simply for seeking our protection.”

These measures will only cause more suffering for refugees who have already suffered so much,” said Andrew.

The Uniting Church has long-standing concerns about the policies of successive governments which aim to punish and deter rather than protect people in need.

The legislation passed by the Senate grants unprecedented powers to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, placing the Minister’s decisions out of reach of the courts and giving him permission to act contrary to international law.

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GKI on the move

One of the outcomes of our recent Annual Meeting of the Presbytery and Synod of the Uniting Church in WA was the commitment to continue our partnership with the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI).

The partnership began over two decades ago and has led to the growth of the GKI Perth Uniting Church congregation in Mosman Park and a special Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that points to various ways we can co-operate and learn from each other.

IMG_0043Rosemary Hudson-Miller, acting general Secretary of the Uniting Church in WA, and I, moderator of the Uniting Church in WA, were very privileged to be able to visit Indonesia in September to  attend the GKI West Java Synod and sign the MOU. This was a tremendous privilege and richly rewarding for us. We were able to witness a church that is growing and dynamic in many areas of its life.

We stayed in the climatically cool Zuri Resort and Convention Center, owned by GKI, about three hours out of Jakarta, near Bogor in the mountains. It was very special being part of their synod  meetings. About 270 members attended from eight presbyteries across West Java.

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A letter from Australian religious leaders to the ABC

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Professor Andrew Dutney has joined with 28 other Australian religious leaders and their supporters to protest against the ABC’s cuts to religion programs.

As the ABC’s Board meets today to consider the proposed cuts to staff and programs, leaders such as the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne the Most Revd Dr Philip Freier and the Grand Mufti of Australia Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed have sought an urgent meeting to discuss how the proposed cuts will affect the place of religion on the national broadcaster.

In a letter to ABC Managing Director Mark Scott and Chairman Jim Spigelman, the leaders say they believe, “the faith and values we hold will always occupy a central part in the formation of our Australian national identity.”

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Church women say “Love Makes a Way!”

Eleven female church leaders were arrested at the electoral office of WA Senator Michaelia Cash, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women and Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection on Monday 24 November.

The women refused to leave the office until Senator Cash committed to a date when all 726 children in Immigration Detention Centres will be released. The women did not disrupt the business of the office, engaging in quiet prayer.  This sit-in was part of the Love Makes a Way movement which has seen more than 100 Christian leaders arrested this year.

Churches and their agencies in WA have offered to accommodate and support children and families in the community while their claims are being processed. This offer was rejected by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

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Juniper adds a new dimension to spiritual care

Juniper has long had a commitment to providing pastoral support to our residents, clients and staff expressed through Uniting Church Chaplains and arrangements with Uniting Church congregations.
In recent years Juniper has observed the huge increase in diversity in belief systems and spirituality within the Australian community and among their residents, clients and staff.

In light of these changes, Juniper has recently committed more resources to a new dimension of spiritual care by creating a new Pastoral and Spiritual Care Team to respond to the variety of pastoral and spiritual needs of its people.

The team has recently been appointed and comes together with skills, training and experience in chaplaincy, pastoral care and aged care and from different Christian denominational backgrounds.

They work across 17 of Juniper’s residential facilities in Perth and Northam providing one-on-one support for the different expressions of spirituality and spiritual journey amongst the residents and staff.

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Juniper salutes Senior Champion of the Year

A woman’s efforts to improve the lives of older Aboriginal people in the State’s far north have secured her WA’s premier seniors award.

Leading aged care and community service provider Juniper congratulated Ms Maureen Angus (62) who won the Juniper 2014 WA Seniors Champion Award on 8 November.

Maureen was elevated from a strong field of several category winners who in this year’s WA Seniors Awards were acknowledged for their service to older people.

From personal experience receiving at-home care Ms Angus knew others in her town could benefit from help, so she established a local community care service at Ardyaloon, a community of about 300 people located 2,446km from Perth on the tip of the Dampier Peninsula.

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