Category: Social Impact

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Social Impact

Church leaders oppose Roe 8

This morning, a group of religious leaders from the Uniting Church WA, Catholic ministers, the Anglican Social Responsibilities Commission and Churches of Christ in WA joined Indigenous leaders to oppose the construction of the controversial Roe 8 highway through the Beeliar Wetlands.

Rev Ivan Clark, Uniting Church WA minister, and Rev Sealin Garlett, minister with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress were interviewed by media, including with Channel 7 and a live cross to the national Today Show on Channel 9.

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Racist remarks condemned

The president of the Uniting Church in Australia, Stuart McMillan, has condemned racist comments made by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton about Lebanese Muslim Australians.

Peter Dutton has suggested that the arrival of Lebanese Muslims in the 1970s is partly to blame for a small number of Australians joining ISIS/Daesh as foreign fighters.

“Mr Dutton’s remarks unfairly stigmatise one migrant community and serve only to promote division and undermine our vibrant multicultural society,” said Stuart.

“We need to name that for what it is – racism.”

“Mr Dutton’s attacks also defy common sense. No single generation can be held to account for the actions of future generations.

“Political leaders need to uphold and promote what is good about our society. The Immigration Minister has a special responsibility in this regard but he has failed us all.

“The Uniting Church stands in total opposition to all forms of racism as incompatible with the Christian faith.  [Assembly resolution 85.162]

“Comments that provoke fear, misunderstanding and distrust only serve to divide and isolate Australians from each other,” said Stuart.

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Uniting Church WA calls for new policy on social reinvestment

The Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Western Australia, has agreed at its annual meeting to support a change in WA’s approach to criminal justice, asking to move towards a more holistic, prevention-based approach that prioritises cultural, social and emotional wellbeing for people at risk of incarceration.

The Uniting Church WA will write to the West Australian Premier and Opposition Leader requesting their support.

The persistent and growing over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the justice system, particularly among young people in Western Australia, necessitates an urgent overhaul of West Australia’s policies relating to the criminal justice system.

The Uniting Church WA is a member of the Social Reinvestment WA working group along with leading agencies and organisations.

Social Reinvestment is a holistic and evidence based approach to improving community safety, the wellbeing of families and individuals, and reducing the number of people ending up in prison. The approach is based on the three complementary pillars of Smart Justice, Safe Communities and Healthy Families.

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WA needs to show its support for asylum seekers

At its annual meeting held over the weekend, the Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Western Australia decided to step up its advocacy for people in Western Australia who are seeking asylum.

The Synod agreed to write to the West Australian Premier and Opposition Leader expressing their dismay that some children in WA are not automatically entitled to enrol in state schools while their families are making an application for asylum. The church will also write to Uniting Church schools in WA, requesting them to consider education programs for asylum seekers and refugees.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child requires Australia to recognise the right to education of everyone under the age of 18 years. Australia is therefore committed to making education compulsory and free for all and the Western Australian government needs to make sure our public schools are providing that service. While arrangements have been made with the Catholic Education system, this is not always an appropriate solution for students, especially if they live far from allocated schools.

The Uniting Church WA will also request that asylum seekers and refugees without sufficient income will be granted concession status for use on public transport in WA. Other states already provide these basic education services and transport concessions to include asylum seekers, but Western Australia does not.

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UnitingCare Australia calls on re-elected government to prioritise investment in vulnerable people

UnitingCare Australia has congratulated the Turnbull Government on its election victory and calls on the Prime Minister to lead renewed efforts to address key issues affecting the lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians.

“We believe that the close election result has demonstrated that a focus on jobs, growth and business, while vital, is too one-dimensional for our community,” UnitingCare Australia National Committee Chair, Peter Bicknell said.

“This term is an opportunity for the Government to increase investment in people and the services needed to grow productivity and build a decent future for all.

“We particularly encourage the Government to commit to new directions in aged care funding, housing affordability and homelessness, unemployment, and early childhood education,” Peter said.

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Church leaders urge candidates to support stronger action on global poverty

Church leaders from various denominations across Swan met with candidates for the upcoming federal election to voice their support for a more generous and effective aid program that helps fight poverty in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Over a ‘meet and greet’ Afternoon Tea at Victoria Park and Districts Star Street Uniting Church, Christian leaders discussed Australia’s response to global poverty with the attending candidates Labor Tammy Solonec, Greens Sarah Nielson-Harvey, Labor Senator Sue Lines and Senator candidate Jacque Kruger and prayed for all candidates running in the upcoming federal election.

The event, supported by Micah Australia, a coalition of Christian churches and aid organisations, aimed to show candidates the strong support for aid in Swan.

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Homeless charities call for targets to halve homelessness by 2015

The largest providers of homelessness services across Australia joined forces to call on all political parties to make reducing homelessness a national priority.

In a joint letter to the four party leaders, the major charities Anglicare, Mission Australia, Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul, UnitingCare Australia and Wesley Mission demanded a commitment to halving homelessness by 2025.

The organisations have also launched a petition to generate public support for the campaign during the Federal Election and invited the party leaders to a forum with their clients in June.

On any given night over 100,000 Australians are homeless – including over 44, 000 children or young people. And each year more than 200,000 people seek help from homelessness services.

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Together in solidarity to protect peaceful protest

A large and passionate crowd, including a varied range of community groups, gathered at WA’s State Parliament House yesterday to stand together to defend their right to peaceful protest.

The State Government’s proposed Criminal Code Amendment (Prevention of Lawful Activity) Bill 2015 proposes to criminalise the possession of a ‘thing’ at a protest and introduces fines of up to $24 000 or 24 months imprisonment.

Many community groups fear the bill will prevent people from raising their voices in peaceful protest. They also claim the bill reverses the onus of proof, meaning protesters can be presumed to have criminal intent, rather than being innocent until proven guilty. The Uniting Church WA and a number of other community groups have signed a statement supporting the Protect Peaceful Protest campaign and has been engaged as a prominent member of the coalition for more than 12 months.

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The post-Paris challenge for the climate

After plenty of consternation, a previous failed attempt and monumental public pressure, the leaders of 196 nations signed the Paris Agreement in December sealing a global commitment to tackle climate change.

World leaders have committed their nations to keeping temperatures “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.”

This really is a landmark agreement that is both encouraging and challenging. It is a time to celebrate, but also a time to be rolling up sleeves, because fulfilling the commitment will take considerable effort.

Given that the individual pledges currently offered by the signatory countries will only combine to limit temperature rise to 2.7°C, there is still plenty of work to align the pledges with the overall commitment. Australia is no exception. We will need to find bigger cuts to our carbon emissions than the current reduction targets of 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030, if we are to contribute our fair share and move up from third last on the Climate Change Performance Index.

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Standing together to save Beeliar wetlands

The Roe 8 highway extension has been a controversial issue amongst the local community in Cockburn and surrounding areas for a number of years. The State Government of Western Australia has proposed to extend Roe highway from Kwinana Freeway through the Beeliar Wetlands including around Bibra Lake, in an aim to ease transport for trucks heading to the Fremantle port.

The community, including the City of Cockburn, has shown massive support for the ‘Rethink the Link’ campaign, which opposes the State Government’s proposal and offers an alternative. Supporters of the campaign have recently had success, as plans for construction have been stalled due to the Environmental Protection Authority’s assessment of the area being deemed invalid by the Supreme Court. The State Government of WA have recently announced that they will appeal this decision, meaning the fight is not over yet.

Rev Sealin Garlett, minister at Coolbellup Uniting Church, is well established and respected in the City of Cockburn, and is also a member of the city’s Aboriginal Reference Group. Much of the community campaign against the highway extension has been out of concern for the local ecosystem, which will be hugely impacted under the proposal. Sealin also adds to this conversation that the area is culturally significant for Nyungar people.

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