Tag: Social Justice

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Social Impact

Just #BringThemHere

President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Stuart McMillan, has called on the Federal Government to take moral leadership and resolve the status of refugees on Manus Island in mainland Australia.

Hundreds of men who remained in the offshore detention centre after its closure on 31 October have been transported to new facilities by Papua New Guinean authorities. Their removal follows a tense stand-off in which the men initially refused to leave.

“Haven’t these people suffered enough? After all this time, is it still impossible for the Federal Government to show some compassion and bring them here?” said Stuart.

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Social Impact

Australian churches stand in unity for refugees in PNG

The National Council of Churches in Australia, Act for Peace and the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce stand together to bear witness to the suffering that Australia’s bipartisan refugee policy in regard to offshore processing, has caused.

They mourn the loss of justice for those refugees in Papua New Guinea (PNG) who are willing to put their own bodies in danger as the last cry of despair in the search for a safe future and pray for Australian Government leadership who may not have envisaged such suffering in re-enacting offshore processing, but who now cannot shy from the reality of the damage that has been done.

They are standing with the Manus Island and PNG people who are facing the presumption that they are not a safe and hospitable nation and cannot be trusted to host these vulnerable men and plead that if the men are to remain in PNG for now, that force is not used to relocate them and that the Australian Government contributes to securing their dignity and safety.

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Social Impact

Do not walk away from Manus Island refugees

Uniting Church in Australia President Stuart McMillan has called on the Australian Government to ensure the safety of refugees on Manus Island as the main detention facility is due to close today.

Around 600 refugees have refused to leave because they fear their safety outside of the Regional Processing Centre.

“Australia cannot walk away from its responsibility to guarantee the safety of these men who have already suffered so much uncertainty and fear,” said Stuart.

Water and electricity will be turned off and food and medical services will no longer be provided as the centre is shut down today.

The Australian Government plans to transfer the refugees to other accommodation closer to the island’s main town of Lorengau.

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News & Announcements

Challenged to see and hear

The annual Anti-Poverty Week Ecumenical Service was this year hosted by the Uniting Church WA at Uniting Church in the City, Wesley Perth, on Tuesday 17 October. Opening with a free soup lunch provided by UnitingCare West’s Food Rescue program and members of Forest Lakes Uniting Church, the service brought together people of different faiths and Christian denominations to pray and reflect on the issue of poverty in Australia.

The service is an event of the Ecumenical Social Justice Roundtable, including The Salvation Army, Quakers Australia, the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth, the Anglican Social Responsibilities Diocese of Perth, the Council of Churches WA, UnitingCare West and the Uniting Church WA Social Justice Commission. It is held each year during Anti-Poverty Week.

Mitchell Garlett, candidate for ministry with the Uniting Church WA and member of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC), delivered the welcome to country.

“I’d like to recognise God for trusting my people to look after the land for all these years,” he said. “My heart is happy that we are gathered here today in this place.”

Amanda Hunt, CEO of UnitingCare West shared the keynote address, highlighting the struggle many people in Australia face as they live under the poverty line on Newstart or Youth Allowance payments.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Surviving on Newstart: life below the poverty line

When we think of poverty, often images of global crisis, starvation and sleeping rough on the streets come to mind. For many of us here in Australia these images are of the ‘other’ – people elsewhere in the world. But poverty is a lot closer than we think. Poverty can look like having to choose between paying the mortgage or the kids’ much needed school uniform; paying the electricity bill or doing a full week’s worth of food shopping.

In Australia, 13.3% of people and 17.4% of children are living in poverty. This equates to nearly three million people Australia wide, according to the 2016 Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) Poverty in Australia report. The report found that 57.4% of those living in poverty relied on social security payments as their main income and 32% received wages as their main income.

It is probably not surprising to many of us that Centrelink’s Newstart payment, a fortnightly payment described as a ‘jobseeker allowance,’ is levelled at well below Australia’s poverty line. A single  adult with no dependent children can receive a maximum of $535.60 a fortnight on Newstart; a single adult with dependent children can receive $579.30. ACOSS reports that an Australian single adult earning less than $426.30 per week, or $852.60 a fortnight, is living under the poverty line.

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Social Impact

Calls for peace and safety for Rohingyan people

According to the United Nation’s Refugee Agency the UNHCR, there are now over 412,000 Rohingya refugees estimated to have fled to Bangladesh since 25 August. This is a massive humanitarian crisis in our region and according to Rev Steve Francis, Moderator of the Uniting Church WA, a situation requiring the urgent attention and action of world leaders.

The Moderator joined with a number of faith leaders on Saturday 16 September on the steps of Parliament House to add his voice for peace in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

“Aung San Suu Kyi has earned a Nobel Peace Prize for her work supporting democratic reforms for her people, so we know the capacity and willingness to work for peace is present – we now urge her to stand up for the Rohingyan people too. All people, no matter their ethnicity or religion deserve human rights,” Steve said.

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Social Impact

Newstart and Youth Allowance payments trapping people in a poverty cycle

The Uniting Church Western Australia has called on the Federal Government to make an immediate commitment to increase Newstart and Youth Allowance payments to allow thousands of vulnerable Australians to live in dignity above the poverty line.

The proposal was agreed at the church’s 41st Annual Synod over the weekend, with church members, congregations, schools and agencies urged to support the push and lobby their Federal Members as part of Anti-Poverty Week activities (Sunday 15 to Saturday 21 October 2017).

Rev Steve Francis, Moderator of the Uniting Church WA, said the current rate for Newstart and Youth Allowance was significantly below the ACOSS poverty line and change was needed urgently to help people break free of the poverty cycle.

“At Synod we unanimously agreed to lobby the Federal Government to commit to an immediate process to increase Newstart and Youth Allowance payments to provide recipients with the resources to live above the poverty line,” Steve said.

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Social Impact

We can do better than this cruel treatment

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Stuart McMillan, has condemned plans to cut Federal Government support from a group of asylum seekers living in the Australian community.

Widespread media reports suggest that several hundred asylum seekers transferred to Australia from offshore detention for medical reasons will be placed on new category ‘Final Departure Bridging E’ visa.

Those affected will be left with no income support and forced to move out of government-supported accommodation. They will also be expected to leave Australia or return to offshore detention after six months.

A third of those affected are children. More than 20 are women who are survivors of sexual assault or rape.

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News & Announcements

A budget of few blessings

The president of the Uniting Church in Australia, Stuart McMillan, says that, on balance, there is little to rejoice about in the 2017 Federal Budget.

“A two-year freeze on foreign aid, punitive new welfare measures including drug and alcohol testing for the unemployed, and the extension of income management just make life harder for the poor and most vulnerable,” said Stuart.

“In all this week’s commentary about winners and losers, we should remember that the poor are the ones who lose out most when governments neglect their needs. They are the ones who should be our focus.”

“Regrettably there are few blessings in this Budget for the poor in spirit, nor the prospect of the kind of support I’d expect of a wealthy developed nation like ours.”

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News & Announcements

Working together against modern slavery

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Stuart McMillan, has welcomed the combined advocacy efforts of ecumenical, interfaith and community partners in support of a Modern Slavery Act for Australia.

A coalition of organisations including the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania’s Justice and International Mission (JIM) Unit has recently lodged a submission with a Parliamentary Inquiry into a Modern Slavery Act.

The submission co-authored by JIM’s Dr Mark Zirnsak makes a strong case for greater transparency about slavery-like conditions in Australian supply chains, an area that the UK Government has legislated since 2015.

“As Christians we believe that human beings are made in the image of God. To enslave another human is an outrageous attack on human dignity,” said Stuart.

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