Rev Steve Francis, Moderator of the Uniting Church WA, alongside 22-year-old Alexandra Hutchinson and Hanamoa Vaitogi, member of Perth Samoan Uniting Church are encouraging church members to participate in the Global Climate Strike on Friday 20 September.
The Uniting Church National History Society Biennial Conference took place at the Centre for Theology and Ministry in Melbourne from 7 to 10 June.
The theme of the conference was ‘Finding a home in the Uniting Church?’ We reflected on what it means to belong to the Uniting Church in this day and age.
Over the two days 20 papers were presented by members of the society and interested historians. These papers covered a wide variety of subjects.
It’s time for the Synod of WA to elect a new Moderator. Watch this video to find out more.
Who do you know in the Uniting Church WA that could serve in this role? Who could you tap on the shoulder?
The discerning starts now, with you.
Nominations close 28 June, for more info email maureen.bourke@wa.uca.org.au
The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Dr Deidre Palmer, has encouraged Australians to put the urgent needs of others ahead of short-term self-interest, after the Federal Government delivered its 2019 Budget.
The Budget has promised, all going to plan, $158 billion in income tax cuts over a decade on the back of projected Budget surpluses.
Despite the positive projections though, the foreign aid budget has again been cut, and there is no improvement for Australians relying on welfare payments, particularly the Newstart allowance.
The Federal Minister for Families and Social Services, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP has notified the Uniting Church in Australia that the church has met the requirements to commence participation in the National Redress Scheme for people who experienced institutional child sexual abuse.
The scheme, operated by the Commonwealth Government, allows survivors to apply for counselling, a Redress payment of up to $150 000 and a direct personal response from the institution involved. Information on who can apply is set out on the National Redress Scheme website.
The Uniting Church in Australia has articulated its vision for a just, compassionate and inclusive nation in a new statement and resource.
In launching the statement, Dr Deidre Palmer, President of the Uniting Church in Australia, said the Uniting Church’s vision for Australia was a nation where all people and all creation could flourish.
“We believe that our participation in God’s mission calls us toward the transformation that God desires for us all, marked by reconciliation, love, justice, peace, abundance and flourishing for all people and the whole earth,” said Deidre.
“I remember being taught that if you did something wrong, you should admit it and try to make it right again,” says Rev Neil Wilkinson. “But will politicians follow this rule?”
Neil is referring to the unfair treatment of Uniting Church Ministers whose retirement incomes were slashed by Scott Morrison as Minister for Social Services in the Abbott government in 2015. The move was touted as reining in “public service fat-cats” who enjoyed generous superannuation as well as some aged pension. The policy change affected the way in which ‘defined benefit’ superannuation pensions were assessed for Centrelink purposes.
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.
St George’s Cathedral Perth will play host this weekend to a once-in-a-lifetime ecumenical commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the end of World War 1, and a commitment to making peace in 2018. The Perth Peacemaking Conference will bring together headline interstate presenters, local peace activists, and practical opportunities for peacemaking.
Kate Leaney, Social Justice Officer for the Uniting Church in Western Australia, has been one of the key organisers of the event along with other members of the Ecumenical Social Justice Roundtable.
The 42nd Annual Synod of the Uniting Church Western Australia, held over the weekend, called on the State Government to place high conservation value forests in secure national parks for the survival of threatened species.
The Uniting Church has a long held concern for the environment alongside its strong social justice stances arising out of its Christian belief that God, as the Creator of the universe, calls us into a special relationship with the creation – a relationship of mutuality and interdependence which seeks the reconciliation of all creation with God.
The Synod decided that given the uniqueness of the South-West forest ecosystems, the vulnerability of numerous threatened species endemic to the region, the relatively small areas of uncleared forests remaining and the need to mitigate against further damage to the climate system, the remaining South-West forests need to be protected from logging activities.