“Phoenix Rising” from “Under The Floor Boards” art project commissioned by Uniting Care Ballarat.

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Adding to the strain is the ongoing debate about pre-commitment with regards to pokies and how the government is trying curb Australia’s addiction to these machines.

Whilst this debate rages locally, the online elephant in the room appears to be the constant presence of overseas online gambling sites that are targeting Australian gamblers.

Today Peter was joined by Mark Henley from Uniting Care to talk about the rising cost of electricity and the harmful effects that various forms of gambling can have on families.

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Mark Henley

Greens ACT Senate candidate Lin Hatfield Dodds is the ex head of Uniting Care Australia and Chair of ACOSS. Both of these organisations have a parasitic connection to marginalised people using us as tokens to leverage financial advantage from an ever overburdened taxpayer. Both together with their affiliates have a long history of enjoying the attentive ear of both sides of politics. We only became aware of her history after the election and we therefore were not able to get this information out. If she is the Greens lead person on Marginalisation and welfare then the country can look forward to the Greens supporting more expensive and ineffective band aids which do not address the causes of marginalisation, but are extremely beneficial revenue wise for entities such as Uniting Care. That is what ACOSS and Uniting Care specialise in.

The Australian Greens also have a policy commitment to keep public service jobs secure. This includes the bureaucratic brainiacs who have under the Howard and Rudd-Gillard governments orchestrated indigenous family invasions under the guise of protecting children -and using those children as tokens to collect millions of dollars without delivering outcomes which exceed or even meet those which would reasonably be expected in the circumstances from which the child was removed.

The third issue I have with Greens policy is its support of a higher income tax regime and lower GST. This is in my view regressive and especially detrimental to the very constituency which the Greens seek to represent. A progressive option is to implement an extension of the miners super tax to include a similar tax on similar profit excesses across the business spectrum. Banking and Financial Institutions for example. Then theres the issue of why churches should be exempt from paying their fair share in taxes,yet receive far more generous benefits than any taxpayer. And the potential for a development supertax offset to fund social housing acquisition. This would seem to me to be more in tune with Greens constituencies aspirations and their capacity to keep paying ever more burdensome and onerous taxes.

Meanwhile, congratulations to all Greens and Greens supporters for your resounding victories in this 2010 Federal Election.I hope you get the opportunity to use your new balance of responsibility wisely.

We Stop short of endorsing YOTs, due to its contractual mandatory reporting obligations to DOCs.We do have a couple of issues with some things they do, but lets not detract from the successes they have.It may be useful for intending donors to know the following;
a) As a Department of Communities contracted service provider, YOTs are required
to make mandatory reports on Youth and Families.The reports are used by
NSW Communities to persecute, or yes,blackmail families into complying with
their whimsical idea of how families should be.Youth are NOT told that these
reports are being made,or of the possible legal implications for their siblings
parents or family.They are also NOT told that these same mandatory reports
may be used to stateabduct their future new born baby.Case Workers present
as “social workers who help you”.Their is a clear moral and possible untested
legal conflict in this process. This is a NSW Communities policy for all who deal
with children.
b) Like all NSW Communities Service Providers,YOTs is extremely well funded by
NSW Communities.About $6000 per “inmate,per week.”They are also
understood to attract further funding from other government agencies and
some corporate support.In our view they are a well funded business,not a
charity.

c) Youth Off The Streets is a branch of Uniting Church

Make your support decision with the above info in mind.

Persons wishing to donate to their Gold Coin Appeal can do so at Martin Place tomorrow (Friday 30th April) morning or on their website Youth Off The Streets-Donations

We have no association with Youth off the Streets, or any organisation opposed to them. We vehemently oppose NSW Communities #familyterrorism and #childstealing for profit. Its government driven #humantrafficking.

Photos and updates are available here.

Meanwhile, Ken Pullen of the Christian Venues Association said that they have a membership of thirty eight Conference Centres and Camps in Victoria, reports Ramon Williams, special for ASSIST News Service. Twenty three of these are located in the currently fire affected areas of that state. From amongst the 23, the following have been lost: Camp Narbethong at Narbethong, ESA Camping & Conference Centre and El Kanah at Marysville. Mobile Mission Maintenance Headquarters at Whittlesea (MMM support Christian ministries and have been members of our association for many years). It is believed that Breakaway Camps at Taggerty has also been lost.

A further two centers remain not contactable, and a number are still threatened or on alert.

The situation remains volatile with changing winds and it is feared that many more properties and some camps will remain under threat for up to 14 days.

Reports of damage to churches are now filtering through.

The Uniting Church at Kinglake (54km/33 miles NE of Melbourne) survived; the fate of the Marysville church is unknown but presumed grim. “We lost church members, which is worse,” said the Uniting Church’s Victorian media director, Kim Cain. “We are concentrating on the pastoral response at this stage. Uniting Care put a mobile kindergarten at one emergency relief centre to let the children play out their grief and anger.”

The Catholic Church, too, lost its churches at Kinglake and Marysville.

Rev Norm Hart and his wife Patti, of the Anglican Christ Church, Marysville, have lost their church, their home and their parish. Barney Schwartz, writing in The Age newspaper, Melbourne, said: “The Marysville Anglican parish has been obliterated. But they are determined the church will continue.” When water and power returned, those left would gather at someone’s house, said Mrs Hart.

Rev. Stephen Holmes of St Peter’s Anglican Church, Kinglake, feels helpless. His 1923 church no longer exists, nor does most of his parish. “It’s devastating, it’s unbelievable; it’s worse than Iraq — it’s just carnage,” he said. “I’ve been talking to people, hugging people, listening to people, whatever I can do.”

At least one church, Diamond Valley Baptist Church, has opened its doors to co-ordinate volunteers & deliveries of food, clothing and any other useful items.

Calls for Prayer

Ian Worby, CEO of United Christian Broadcasters has called for everyone to “pause for a special time of prayer for our nation and the victims of these terrible events” on Wednesday, Feb 11, at 12.30pm, via their network of radio stations across Australia.

The Rev Chris Moroney, Senior Minister at St Andrew’s Anglican Cathedral, Sydney announced that a Special Prayer Service for the Victorian Bushfire Disaster will be held, at 6pm on Wednesday February 11. Rev Moroney said: “We will gather to express our concern and sympathy for all the victims of the bushfire disaster. We will pray for each one to know God’s care and comfort and healing. We will hear the latest news about the tragic events and hear about relief efforts. We will also be taking up a collection for the Archbishop’s Emergency Bushfire Appeal.

Warrnambool’s Anglican Church in Victoria, will hold a half-hour ecumenical service from 12.30pm today (Tuesday) to remember the fire victims.

Christchurch Anglican Cathedral in Darwin, Northern Territory, has already launched prayers for the whole of this week and other churches are expected to take similar initiatives.

Report from the Christian Telegraph