The Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce is urging the newly elected Federal Government and Prime Minister Scott Morrison to resolve the plight of the 1000+ refugees in Manus and Nauru, some of whom are now in Australia.
In a letter signed by numerous religious leaders across Australia, they write: “Let them settle here.”
Around 60 people gathered at Busselton Uniting Church on Sunday 26 May to commemorate Sorry Day, a national day to remember Australia’s Stolen Generations.
The service was co-ordinated by Rev Andrew Broadbent, Minister at Busselton Uniting Church, and supported by local churches.
On arrival at the service, visitors were given a Native Hibiscus silk flower, a symbol of the Stolen Generations. According to the Kimberley Stolen Generation Aboriginal Corporation, this flower was chosen as a national symbol because it is found widely across Australia; its colours denote compassion and spiritual healing, and it is a survivor.
Around 30 passionate people took to the Perth hills on Sunday 19 May to take part in the Trek for Timor. Walking from Kalamunda Uniting Church to Foothills St Martin’s Uniting Church in Forrestfield, the group were raising money for Lafaek Diak’s mobile health clinic.
Lafaek Diak translates in English to the Good Crocodile Foundation. It works towards providing access to quality education, healthcare and sustainable food security for people in Timor-Leste, and is one of the Uniting Church WA’s international partner organisations.
Faith leaders from different traditions in Western Australia have responded to the Federal Government’s Budget by calling for stronger, co-ordinated action on climate change from both Federal and State Governments, as well as industry and the community.
Leaders from more than five religious traditions met in Perth today following the handing down of the Federal Budget, to say that the Budget, as a statement of our national priorities, does not adequately address the climate emergency we are facing.
The Uniting Church WA wholeheartedly welcomes the Premier’s commitment to reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal people in custody, and calls for further action.
The Uniting Church WA (UCA WA) welcomes recent news that Premier Mark McGowan will make reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal people in custody a key priority of this Government. The Uniting Church Western Australia has a long history of advocacy regarding prison justice and the over-representation of Aboriginal people in custody.
The UCA WA believes that Western Australia’s high incarceration rate, particularly the persistent and growing over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the justice system necessitates an urgent overhaul of Western Australia’s policies relating to the criminal justice system. The UCA WA has advocated for improvements to the West Australian justice system, including calls for an end to mandatory sentencing, ending the practice of imprisoning people for unpaid fines, and reforms to the processing of women and vulnerable people, for more than 15 years.
Canberra is a bit of a strange place. Beautiful surrounds with an abundance of wealthier-than-most public servants, along with a somewhat Truman Show-like perfect design and apparently an invisible semi-permeable dome over the entire place (aka the Canberra bubble).
But if Canberra is peculiar, then Parliament House is another universe altogether. Like a self-sufficient satellite orbiting afar, once inside, lost in endless corridors and its mirrored layout, I wondered at times if we were still on planet Earth.
Kairos Prison Ministry Australia is an interdenominational International Christian ministry reaching out to incarcerated individuals, their families and those who work with them; to bring sustainable meaning and Christian hope in the place of loneliness, isolation and despair.
Kairos Inside is a three to five day short course run in the prisons and Kairos Outside is a weekend (free of charge to guests) for women who have been impacted by the justice system, including having had or still has a member of the family in prison. The team provides a safe environment over a weekend where guests are given an opportunity to interact with other families without shame or judgement.
In the week of Sunday 7 to 14 October, Christians from the Uniting, Anglican and Catholic Churches, as well as other traditions joined their efforts with a global faith-inspired response to the climate crisis. This comes as good news after the disturbing Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)special report, Global Warming of 1.5°C.
The report details how action to address climate change is urgent.
This week, from Sunday 14 to Saturday 20 October, is Anti-Poverty Week. Rev Sophia Lizares, Chaplain at UnitingCare West offers Revive readers this reflection. UnitingCare West is a Uniting Church WA agency providing care and support to many of WA’s most vulnerable people.
There are more slaves on Earth today than at any other time in history.
‘Slave’ is a word that sounds so ancient… so distant. It evokes images of bare backed men working in fields under the watchful gaze of slave masters and women cooking and cleaning for wealthy families in far off lands.
But today, slavery is much closer to home. While the majority of slavery in our world today revolves around labour exploitation, across Asia, slavery often looks like a little girl (or boy), born in rural poverty, sent to the city at age twelve or thirteen on the premise of finding work to help her family survive. With no other options, she survives by selling the only thing she owns, her body, for the pleasure of men.