Lament for boat people

On Saturday, August 10th in Sydney, the Moderator of the NSW.ACT Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia led a lament for what has been done recently to ban all boat people from settling in Australia.

The lament, "Were you there when they turned the boats away?" was movingly sung.

This banning of all these courageous boat people has been initiated and endorsed by both the parties competing for government in this forthcoming Federal election.
In recent days, both these parties have been bullying us into voting for either of them to form a majority government so they can have the numbers to implement this inhumane policy.
They have formed a duopolistic cartel in order to exclude from the Australian Parliament any Member who would vote from conscience and not follow the party line.

It is to our shame that we are allowing whatever Government we elect to continue to treat asylum seekers as human trash to be swept under the rug of neighbouring nations weaker than ourselves.

The election appears to be close enough for these major parties to buy their votes from swinging seats to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

My prayer is that the good people of NSW will vote this time with conscience rather than with expediency. 

Delivering stronger borders?

Dear John Alexander, MHR for Bennelong

I cannot support your stated policy DELIVERING STRONGER BORDERS "We will deliver stronger borders where the boats are stopped - with tough and proven measures".

I am not alone in my position as you can see from this newsletter below which I include for you to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.

Begin forwarded message:

From: "UnitingJustice" <UnitingJustice@nat.uca.org.au> 

Subject: August Newsletter

Date: 13 August 2013 4:35:02 PM AEST

To: "cnridings@gmail.com" <cnridings@gmail.com>

Reply-To: UnitingJustice@nat.uca.org.au

You are receiving this newsletter because you are subscribed to UnitingJustice Australia e-news Having trouble reading this email? View it on your browser. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe Instantly. 13 August, 2013 In the office this month... Regional Resettlement Arrangement fact sheet A gross failure of compassion on asylum seekers Speaking truth to power about asylum seekers Lament for asylum seekers One year on from the Houston Report I Am A Boat Person... Are You? UnitingJustice News In the office this month... Since our last newsletter, the date for the federal election has been called for Saturday 7th September. The 2013 federal election resource - A Just Society: Your Faith, Your Voice, Your Vote - has been distrbuted to Synod offices throughout Australia and includes materials prepared by various Assembly and synod agencies and Uniting Church members. All of the resources are available online. There are also a limited number of printed copies available of the Booklet and the Hot Issues Briefs. Please contact your synod office for your copy. While A Just Society covers a range of important issues,  the focus of this newsletter is refugees and asylum seekers. The past several weeks have seen a number of important developments in this area of work for us here at UnitingJustice, and we wanted to share with you all a little of what we have been doing. Our National Director Rev. Elenie Poulos has had two great opinion pieces published that you can read here and here. And UCA President Rev Prof Andrew Dutney has had a wonderful piece featured on the ABC Religion & Ethics site. For those who would like to learn more about what the Uniting Church has to say about asylum seekers, you can download policy statements and Assembly resolutions from our website. Remember, if you would like any resources for your congregation, feel free to email us and we will do our best to help. back to top Regional Resettlement Arrangement fact sheet On Friday 19th July 2013, the governments of Australia & Papua New Guinea signed a Regional Resettlement Arrangement (RRA). This new agreement covers all asylum seekers - men, women and children - who arrive in Australian waters by boat. We do not want any asylum seekers to lose their lives on the journey by boat to Australia. However this "solution" is devoid of compassion. There are better ways. This fact sheet is the first of a series we will be producing as more details of the policy changes and their impact on asylum seekers become clear. back to top A gross failure of compassion on asylum seekers The Uniting Church in Australia has expressed its deep concern over the latest round of policy amendments designed to punish asylum seekers arriving by boat. Elenie noted that the most recent suite of policy changes is one of the most disproportionate responses witnessed in recent years. “Both major political parties are refusing to acknowledge the reality of the lives of those who arrive by boat. “People will continue to make dangerous journeys as long as they feel unsafe where they are. If we are serious about saving lives the focus must be on improving protection and conditions for asylum seekers in the countries in the region. “It is a fact that Australia receives less than 0.3% of refugees worldwide – a miniscule amount. And of those who do arrive, that over 90% of those seeking asylum are found to be fleeing persecution and in need of protection. “Today is the day we can say for certain that we have lost our moral compass when it comes to compassion for asylum seekers and refugees." A full copy of the media release is available online. back to top Speaking truth to power about asylum seekers Elenie, along with members of the Uniting Church who work with asylum seekers, has spoken out during a Federal Government caucus meeting in the Sydney suburb of Balmain. Elenie told assembled national media that the Government's policy of sending all asylum seekers arriving by boat to Papua New Guinea for resettlement was, "a gross abdication of our moral responsibility to care for people who come to us seeking protection." "Policies that intend to punish rather than protect are totally inappropriate. The decision to close ourselves off from helping people in need is immoral and should concern everyone. "We are very concerned about people drowning at sea but people will only stop getting on boats when they feel safe where they are. This is where the Government's energies should be focussed." Elenie rebutted the notion there was such a thing as "a queue" for asylum seekers. "The queue is a fabrication. There is no queue if you're a person in Syria who's had to flee your home. There is no queue in Afghanistan, in Iran and Iraq. "It's a very sad situation where we have politics overriding the care of people in need." A full copy of the media release is available online. back to top Lament for asylum seekers On Saturday 3 August more than 250 Uniting Church members from across Sydney gathered for a sombre hour-long service of lament at Australia’s harsh policies against asylum seekers. The Moderator of the NSW/ACT Synod Rev. Dr Brian Brown opened the service at Pitt Street Uniting Church by expressing deep concern for the well-being of those fleeing danger and oppression. “We are here to lament their dire plight, especially that, having experienced deep pain and loss at the beginning of their journeys, they are now facing rejection and utter hardship as well at the end of their search for freedom and security." At the end of the service candles were lit from the Christ candle and subsequently around the church, spreading light into darkness, before the Moderator led the congregation out on to the steps of the Church on Pitt Street for a brief public rendition of the liturgy. Speaking to media after the service Elenie said that Christians were called to treat every human being with dignity and respect. “Fear driven politics punishes vulnerable people and I hope that with services like today we can begin to embrace a politics of generosity, hope and love.” More services of lament are scheduled in other cities around the country in the weeks ahead. The liturgy written by Rev Dorothy McRae-McMahon, Rev Kent Crawford, Justin Whelan and Radhika Sukumar is available for download. Photos from the lament taken by UnitingJustice Australia Senior Policy Officer Siobhan Marren are also availableonline. back to top One year on from the Houston Report A year after the Australian Government's reintroduction of offshore detention of asylum seekers, the prospects for people fleeing persecution in the Asia-Pacific region are as bleak as they have ever been. While we have seen the Government take some positive steps over the past year, such as expanding the Refugee and Humanitarian Program to 20,000 places annually, its response to the recommendations of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers has largely focused on implementing punitive deterrence-based measures such as offshore processing, changes to family reunion policy and the denial of work rights to asylum seekers living in the community. Since Kevin Rudd's recent return to the Prime Ministership, we have seen the offshore detention policies taken much further with new agreements to transfer asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea and Nauru for processing and permanent settlement, despite the serious lack of protection capacity in either country. At the same time, the Government has done little to act on the Panel's recommendation that far more effort be put into building regional cooperation on refugee protection, despite the fact that this strategy offers to provide the only constructive and viable solution to complex protection challenges in our region. The Liberal-National Coalition's proposed policies offer even less hope than those being implemented by the Government. Regressive policies such as reintroducing Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs), maintaining offshore processing for all asylum seekers arriving by boat and cutting Australia's resettlement program will have serious consequences for the health and wellbeing of people seeking protection in Australia and further reduce access to durable solutions at a time when global protection needs are on the rise. Even more alarming are the Coalition's pledges to turn back boats, limit appeal rights for asylum seekers and deny all Sri Lankan asylum seekers access to Australia's protection systems. If implemented, these policies would place lives at risk and represent a direct breach of basic principles of international refugee and human rights law. A full copy of thje joint statement signed by 64 organisations across the country may be found on ourwebsite. back to top I Am A Boat Person... Are You? Since the First Fleet, Australia has been built on the back of immigration. From convicts looking for a second chance to families searching for a brighter future, hard-working immigrants have built this country brick by brick...and most arrived by boat. Asylum seekers are currently being portrayed as undesirable and illegal by many politicians. A new campaign is asking this to stop. As the world faces humanitarian crises on many fronts, it’s time to stand up. It’s time to stop demonising and start recognising, stop dividing and start uniting. I am a boat person... are you? Email (or facebook message) a photo of yourself holding a sign saying "I am a Boat Person" toaction@iamaboatperson.com. You can download a sign from iamaboatperson.com or be creative and make your own. Remember to find this wonderful group on facebook and find your photo once it's posted. Like the page and share with your friends.  Facebook: IAmABoatPerson Website: iamaboatperson.com Twitter: @iamaBoatPerson back to top This newsletter was brought to you by the Uniting Church in Australia Copyright © Uniting Church in Australia 2010

Business drives congestion!

Dear Editor

Mr John Alexander, MHR for Bennelong, has nominated reduction of traffic congestion through tax incentives as one of his top five achievements (NDT 10 July 2013) since taking office in 2010.

However, if anything, traffic congestion has increased since the previous Federal election so we will need to know exactly what has been achieved on his watch.

The nub of the matter is that business itself drives congestion. Business thrives on consumer critical mass therefore employees are forced to travel along already congested routes to and from work. Hence congestion keeps feeding upon itself and all transport planning can do is try vainly to catch up.

We need to hear more about these tax incentives that our sitting member and his rival candidates propose.

It is inevitable that congestion taxes must come to greater Sydney with corresponding tax deductions for business to flourish in regional areas outside the metropolitan area.

The people of Bennelong need breathing space and some one who will stand up for us against this disease of urban over-development and those who profit from it.

Yours faithfully,

Dominion?

Tidying up after some guests had departed from a holiday resort, the proprietors were heard to mutter to one other, “Some come for recreation. Others come to wreck creation.”

I think if God could be heard to mutter, he would surely lament over what those whom were said to be “made in his image” never cease to want to destroy what was created.

Now I’ve heard many arguments regarding the so-called Creation versus Evolution debates as if they were mutually exclusive. However, the “wow” factor emerges whether one reads the two stories from Genesis recently studied or from the magnificent documentaries one views on TV. God has been at work even as we wonder at the remarkable detail and process by which creatures have evolved over millennia right from the Big Bang.

The real debate is not so much over how the universe was made but what we do with it. Too often the instruction in Gen. 1:26 to “have dominion” over other creatures has been taken as an excuse to exploit all nature for what it is worth. Despite using possible oral traditions dating well back into Babylonian pre-history which, at least, shows the wisdom of describing creation in order, the Jewish priests, writing about 597BC, added some all-too-human arrogance.

There is more of a sense of stewardship in the second Genesis story where God takes the man and puts him in the Garden of Eden “to till it and keep it” (Gen 2:15). This story, based again on ancient folklore this time around the southern regions between Egypt and Arabia, began to be written down in the kingdom of Judah c900BC. We are given limits and we know what happens when the envelope is pushed too far.

By stressing the dominion rather than the stewardship, we human beings have irresponsibly brought our planet too far to the point of no return. Already there is doubt whether the new baby prince George will have any kingdom left to reign over.

           

            The more we study how our universe, including our planet, was made, the more fragile we see it to be when we keep on pushing that envelope. Every attempt to blow the whistle to stop and think what over-development does is met by scorn as if any use of the brake will take away people’s jobs. As if our destiny is to make our money out of cutting down and digging up the homes of fellow creatures.

            We keep thinking that employment is based on making money at the expense of man and nature rather than caring for humanity and creation. Have we lost the sense of vocation where we are called to be stewards of time, talent and treasure? We need no one to re-build the Titanic for we are fast working to pull the plug out of its bottom.

            Here in Australia, we are fast forgetting to care for those who seek refuge with us. We adulate the birth of a prince overseas who may have little impact on the way we live but treat as disposal human trash those who now dare to risk their lives to come here by boat. How can we be entrusted with nature when future citizens who can help rebuild our nation are denied what we take for granted?

            Where do we stop with this idea of “dominion” at the expense of the original “tilling and keeping”? Have another look at our creation stories and keep viewing those documentaries. It’s not what we believe about creation that we shall be held accountable but how we treat it that matters.