I've been a little bit busy over the last few weeks with travel planing, applying for a job, and with work's 'biennial conference'. I've not really been able to do much else. This is sort of a random assortment of thoughts that have been running through my head over the last little while.
I mentioned on here before about Refugee Sunday. The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) has a speech by Julian Burnside QC 'Australia's Crimes Against Humanity' regarding the detention of Asylum Seekers in Australia. The issue has hit the news again as we have one boat that has breached our waters.
Yet, the government, the Australian government, my representatives want to overturn the High Court's decision that indefinite detention of children is illegal. Can someone explain that to me?
There is alot about the Australian nation that we can, and should be proud of; but its awfully hard to see at the moment. (There's another great piece in the Sydney Morning Herald by Hugh Mackay this weekend)
Yet, the front pages of our newspaper are not howling in protest, the majority of the public is in favour of our governments actions. So I ask, where to from here? Is this the Australia I am want to be a citizen of?
The other thing that has been on my mind lately has been related to the conference, a few of the sessions that I heard where on about the media, and its role in social policy issues. How can we get the media to re-examine the policy trends in our society, for example the Community's attitude to those on welfare payments and 'asylum seekers', our governments' (both State and Federal, both Liberal and Labour) attitude to education.
What's our role as members of our society in this?
And ... the subject for another post - as a Christian, how do we, or should we, register disapproval of our government.
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