A budget of spin, ideology and lacking vision.

Tuesday night's Federal budget reinforced the views of many Australians, of all political leanings, of the lack of leadership, integrity and vision to be found among our elected leaders. While the views expressed from many quarters in both the Government and opposition may be sincerly held, it is clear that vision and compassion are not at the top of this budget. The tampering with Medicare is short sighted and deceitful, likewise the $80 billion cuts to education and health leave the responsible and caring citizen dismayed. Further  the cuts to overseas aid, assisting some of the most disadvantaged people on the planet , the unemployed and those with a disability at home leave us all diminished . Why appoint a committee of audit  that does not include a cross section of expertise other than business?  There is little brave or affirming in cutting support programs to the most disadvantaged or placing a temporary tax on those able to afford it . As most economists noted prior to the budget, Australia's economy is not in crisis and while steps may need to be taken to priorities future spending attention also needs to be given to the GST and other forms of revenue raising. Australians do not support wasteful expenditure but are willing to pay more tax for the common good.

This budget is entirely political and driven by the influence of market economists and big business while deprived of the need for a vigorous community debate about the future shape of Australian society and our global responsibilities as being one of the richest countries in the world. It should be remembered that the discipline of economics does not profess a moral code nor address the common good.  Where will those who are denied a disability pension find work? Where will young people find work? How will reducing the minimum wage enable families to secure housing and to care for their children? With the reduction in the funding of schools and health services what quality of life can be guaranteed for future generations? How will this decision ensure that we invest in future generations?  At a time when property values are rising faster than incomes are there not  opportunities for new sources of income.?What  other tough choices should be considered in the future that enables the needs of an aging population to be met ?

The challenge for us all is now to find a way in our democracy to bring back intergrity and compassion as hallmarks of political debate and policy . Both a political and community campaign to lift our heights above the immediate and the idealogical to a commitment to the common good and what it means to be human in the world today. Surely this is more than economics and ideology ?

Justice: Reclaiming the Voice of Theology in the Public Sphere

Attached is a PDF of the lecture that I gave on Justice at the 2014 Trinity Summer School. It is a PDF file that can be downloaded.

Click to Read (PDF)

Cheers, Ray.

Where is our heart soul and vision for Australia? 

If we are to believe today's Federal government Australia is on the brink of economic chaos and disaster. Their agenda is clear to soften the Australian people up for an austerity budget, based not on sound economic policy but on idealogy that rewards the captains and corporates at the expense of those who have little choice and who will be the victims of cost cutting Unemployed people do not create unemployment. This occurs as a result of government fiscal and monetary policy as well as decisions made in corporate board meetings.

 The  Federal Government  clearly believe they have a mandate for such action after their win in the September 2013 election. Cuts have already been made to Australia's Overseas Aid program including the sacking of staff and the cancellation of millions  of dollars earmarked for community agencies providing much local infrastructure and support to communities. Climate change reform is off the agenda while services to homeless people, the aged, Australia's indigenous people, asylum seekers and children have now been earmarked for cuts. Both the community and the Australian governments appear to have forgotten that the country has more wealth than at any time in its history and the economy is not in dire straights or falling apart. Instead it appears that as a nation we have inwardly turned in on ourselves to ensure that personal privilege and self interest remains the agenda of the day. 

The greater threat to Australia's future is a lack of vision and longterm strategies instead of short term initiatives designed to ensure re election in the future. Instead of cutting essential services in education, health, public transport, indigenous affairs and housing, strategies are required to strengthen and build employment opportunities for present and future generations who will be unable to rely on traditional manufacturing industries . Policies are required to treat with justice asylum seekers and refugees. Constructive and honest engagement with the issue of climate change as a matter of urgency  should be high on the government's priority list rather than the negative and dishonest treatment of the science data. In the area of health the medicare levy should be raised . Business concessions should be reviewed alongside tax evasion especially in the light of growing profits and healthy corporate balance sheets. The Trillion Dollar superannuation  industry should be required to invest a set percentage  in  Australian infrastructure as an adjunct to the substantial tax breaks given to individuals who have invested in super. This could be a win for both the nation and the individuals. Increased tax rates should also be considered on high income earners, and Executive pay rates limited to the same increase granted to ordinary workers .

Australians need to face up to the challenges and see that we all have a responsibility to ensure the well being of the whole community. Cutting essential services affecting those least able to afford them  instead of raising taxes and reviewing corporate welfare may seem more politically acceptable to our politicians but it should be not be accepted as the way forward nor as a way of the future for a well resourced  nation of people.  

Advent Christmas 2013

Advent  Christmas 2013

The news of the death of Nelson Mandela has seen a flurry of words, and expressions of sadness and celebration from people of all walks of life across the world.  His ability to forgive and to offer hope will be his most poignant legacy and model of leadership to be emulated by all of us no matter our status or level of responsibility. He will be remembered as one of the greatest leaders in modern times, after he himself experienced abuse, exploitation, degradation and humiliation, including 27 years' imprisonment, at the hands of the political elite in South Africa. Like most black South Africans, he was subject to the  cruel apartheid regime of the white minority South African government who maintained power by denying the vast majority of africans rights to education, health, housing and the vote. Black South Africans under successive apartheid governments were regarded as second class citizens and continually suffered on account of their colour.  It is reported that, on his release from prison, Mandela believed that unless he was able to forgive the treatment he had received from  the police and political authorities he would remain a prisoner in his own mind and be unable to move forward.

Many who have commented on Mandela's contribution to the rebuilding of South Africa recognise that much is still to be done in order  to ensure that all are treated equally, and receive education, housing, properly paid  employment  and access to health services.  This is undoubtedly true, but Mandela's concern for the other, his words of forgiveness, his humour and ability to relate to all people shine out as his legacy and contribution  to building  a better and more just global community. He lived a Christ-like life in his relationship with others, while his own failures and sadness remain part of who he was and how, in his later years, he lived life. In his inaugural address as President of South Africa he spoke about the capacity of everyone to be a light to the world and the responsibility we all have  of not hiding our own talents. Mandela was a man of hope and his legacy will continue.

Hope is central to the meaning of Advent as we move to the celebration of God coming among us in human form at Christmas. Each season of Advent, I scan the newspapers, and now social media, for messages and writings that reflect words of anticipation and hope for a more just world where the broken and dispirited are welcomed and the bounty of our nation shared . In recent times there has been a growing number of articles suggesting that we need as a community to look for more at Christmas than parties, family gatherings and gift giving. These sentiments stand in stark contrast to the endless crass commercials urging us to spend, spend, spend, as though our whole future as a nation depends upon retail therapy as the antidote to our anxiety and unhappiness.

The essence of Christmas is more than family gatherings , although these are important. The essence of the Christmas story encapsulates the whole human experience including rejection, alienation, fragility, abuse, loneliness, love, forgiveness and hope. Each of these can be found in the account of the birth of the babe in Bethlehem recalled each Christmas. Mandela showed in his own life the great capacity for forgiveness, the need for personal reflection, the setting aside of hurt and pain experienced in the past in order to embrace the future and offer hope . His life was Christ like and a call to us all to act with justice and love .

Christmas is  a time for the celebration of the human potential that is within us all. It is a time for not just words, but actions. It is a time for our own political leaders, for all who exercise leadership, to deliver more than words and to seek to build our common life together on forgiveness and hope for everyone . This claim is at the heart of the Christian message at Christmas, but it equally applies to a multicultural and secular observance of the times.  Christmas condemns all acts of abuse, terrorism, greed and exploitation.  With the birth of the Christ child at Christmas, God dwells among and with the people of all nations and seeks to encourage us to dwell with Him in building a world of hope for all.

So be it this Christmas.

Position Paper on Migrant Children and Youth: A Global Crisis

Attached is a position paper on the subject of Migrant Children and Youth as a discussion document.

I have contributed to this document in my role as Board member of the IFCW and as part of my outreach contribution from Trinity College Theological School. The document is to be discussed at a meeting of the IFCW in October in New York.

Download paper here: Position Paper Link

Victorian Council Of Churches Forum, 29 July 2013

Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this forum this morning. Victoria has a long tradition of being involved and initiating services for people who experience a range of disabilities, who are disadvantaged, or who have been shunned and made outcasts of society because of their behaviour, mental health or criminal actions.

Two early examples of these agencies are the Melbourtne City Mission and the St James’ Ladies Benevolent Society. In the intervening years, other churches also responded to the needs of children and families with a pattern of service delivery across the metropolitan area of Melbourne and rural Victoria.  Many of these agencies still remain strong, while others have have amalgamated to form new entities, such as Anglicare, Catholic Care, Uniting Care, and the Salvation Army.

Today, whether the agency is small or large, they are often complex organizations with partnerships, links to government, various connections to their church hierarchy, strong in service delivery while having a declining volunteer and staff basis grounded in their respective churches.  Most were established by employing dedicated Christian volunteers and staff.  None could survive today employing only staff or volunteers who have a faith perspective.  While there may be some in the sector who are saddened by this, I suggest the contrary view, that the sector has been enriched and challenged by this new wave of professionals, and the role of agencies today would be greatly diminished without them.  This new professional group has opened the eyes of agencies to different types of services, a range of readily accessible research, a commitment to human rights and new partnerships. Without these attributes, today’s faith-based agencies would be the poorer.

Let me briefly summarise what I want to share with you this morning:

1. Agencies represented in this room have charisma, meant in the biblical sense, not of charm, but wisdom, experience, commitment for the long haul, working with the most disadvantaged (prisoners, the homeless, those with a mental illness)

2.  We have a narrative that frames our approach: a story of redemption, of hope, of reconciliation and sitting with those who are rejected by society.  We represent and embody in our practice and service a mission exemplified in the stories of the Good Samaritan, the Feeding of the Five Thousand, and the Prodigal Son.  We have a distinctive story to tell and share. Our approach and belief is that every person has the capacity to change and grow. Agencies in the sector are not only about service provision, but also provide opportunities for personal and social transformation, as the principles of restorative justice spell out.

3.  We deliver the goods.  Once we did this with our own resources, while today it is in partnership with government.  Part of our mission is to ensure the active sharing of the resources of this great land through advocacy, perseverance, and beliefs of people like yourselves here today.

4.  A key element of our history has been the central place of the Christian meta-narrative, the story that speaks of the overwhelming generosity of God.  I want to suggest and challenge you all to consider how this narrative fits and sits with your agency today.  My own assessment is that the narrative is often camouflaged, ignored, or presented in what I call ‘religious speak’.  Advocacy statements are often in no way dissimilar to those of a non-faith-based agency.  Theological reflection is at a minimum.  That is how it appears, I suggest, in public statements, annual reports, and brochures.  The narrative, the Christian foundations and principles that undergird an agency’s history and rationale are divorced from the words and deeds.  Our ability as leaders in the sector, our ability to influence the agenda must value-add to public discourse or service delivery.

5.  Change will continue to occur across the sector as our community changes. Peter Shergold’s Committee of Review will without doubt explore myths and facts of the sector.  Increased government funds will mean greater accountability.  Agencies in this sector, however, as I have already said, are not proxy government departments, as some public servants think, acting as though the agencies are at their beck and call.

We are much more than the cleaner who comes in to pick up shattered lives.

1. We inform social policy by being a voice for the voiceless.

2. We add on our own resources to government-funded services.

3. We ask the tough questions when a voiceless minority is being ignored or exploited.

4.  We are on the side of the poor and disadvantaged.

5. We bring a moral dimension to discussions in the public arena.

6. We invest in infrastructure and people.

Here I am reminded again of the question that Alice asked the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland:

         “Which way do I go to get out of here?”

 The White Rabbit replied, “That depends.”

“Depends on what?” said Alice.

“Depends which way you want to go,” replied the White Rabbit.

In conclusion, I want to suggest to you today that our way forward is to be a vibrant and prophetic part of the reawakening of the Australian community, an exemplar of vision, hope and a ‘hands-on’ approach.  “Without a vision the people perish,” says the ancient sage.  Jesus calls us to the building of God’s Kingdom.  It remains as true today as then.

In his inaugural speech as President of South Africa in 1994, Nelson Mandela spoke these words.  Let me leave them with you.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant?”

Actually, who are you NOT to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn’t help the world.

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

I challenge us all to imagine what we could be.

Voting In September 2013

How will you vote this year in the forthcoming  September Federal election? What criteria will you use to decide who to vote for and what are the crucial issues that will determine your vote?  If the polls are a reliable guideline Australians have already made up their minds which way they will vote and the likely outcome is an Abbot lead coalition. It appears that the posturing and lobbying , the rolling out of new policies by either side of politics  will have little if any influence on how we will vote.  A  commitment to the common good and issues of justice and concern for those most in need rate only as side stories and not fully debated within the public space and as being crucial to defining who we are as a nation and our hopes for the future.  Day by day media comments by those who call themselves political analysts , the Federal Press gallery included,  often  present our polticians as entertainment reporting their comments in a demeaning way and coloured by the journalists own political leanings. Others report with minimal details leaving the listener or viewer unsure or even confused about the  issue. Headlines that do not reflect an accurate account of the policy outlined and are sensational lack integrity.

Few  journalists attempt  to evaluate and analyse policies with out an already predetermined  position  nor  seem to understand the complexity of political life and the many competing demands that politicians face in responding to the ethical, social and economic  challenges  of the day. If they do, they ignore many of these issues and instead continue to  offer  to the public limited factual news and more opinion. Many newspaper and media editors, proprietors and journalists all appear to believe they know what is best for our society and how  to achieve it, often denouncing the advice and knowledge of experts with  their own idealogical viewpoint without substance. For the average voter  the challenge is to sift  through the mountain of commentary and to decide that which is helpful and to discard the rest.

  Recent comments by senior corporate  bankers and retail giants that suggest that caring for the disabled and poor is something we cannot afford at the present  and who are opposed to any form of tax increase , while they themselves draw large salaries, is a disturbing trend and suggests a growing divide between the haves and have nots. Wealth is increasingly capturing the public and political debates necessary for a healthy democracy. while less well resourced and community groups struggle for space and time in the media. Economic justice for all , where the common wealth is shared among all Australians has become unpopular among the  new elite of the nation. 

For the average voter what  then can we use as the criteria or guidelines to decide how we vote.?Self interest or pragmatism is one and a voice for the common good another  Vote we must because men and women of times before us have fought for our freedom and our right to participate, to govern ourselves for all Australians.  Not to vote at all is not an option and also a statement that we are not responsible for the state of the nation.

 Politicians alone are not responsible for the lack of good public debate. We all have a role to play. Increasingly many voices are now calling for attention to core values as the basis for sound public policy that does does not support  self interest. Issues  of climate change  affecting the life of the planet and its inhabitants is not a matter of opinion but fact. The plight of refuges and asylum seekers is not a problem but the cry of displaced and exploited people.  The place of work is not only about earning an income and  paying as little as possible for labour but also about identity and hope. The values of honesty, transparency, compassion justice and mercy are not to be seen as added extras and only important when you are caught or  in extreme emergencies.  Social cohesion may be at risk in Australia if we do not set aside ideology for the sake of me rather than embrace policies for the we.

Australia has a stable democracy the envy of many nations. The challenge for us is to preserve it for the future and not let ourselves be captured by an elite that puts self before all.