Religion & Ethics Australia Daily

A twice-weekly public affairs review from the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College

No. 016, 7-9 December 2004  ² edited by Rod Benson

News reports

Aboriginal issues

An end to sit-down money and an emphasis on economic independence and “behavioural contracts” to reduce domestic violence will be promoted by prominent members of John Howard’s National Indigenous Council when it meets for the first time today. Aust 8 Dec 04

Paul Kelly writes on why Aboriginal leaders have “veered right” towards mutual obligation, suggesting that the transformation of Aboriginal politics has been driven by the convincing nature of John Howard’s election win and the failure of the progressive Left’s policy agenda over a generation. Aust 8 Dec 04 *

The federal government’s rhetoric on indigenous affairs masks a dictatorial policy, writes Larissa Brennan, professor of law and indigenous studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. SMH 8 Dec 04

Members of John Howard’s new National Indigenous Council were asked at their inaugural meeting yesterday to consider radical plans to put black communities on behavioural contracts in return for healthcare, education, dole money and services. Aust 9 Dec 04

Alcohol

Australians have a distorted view of their alcohol consumption and what most consider normal drinking is actually harmful, says Emeritus Professor and chairman of the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation Ian Webster. “Eighty per cent of alcohol consumed in Australia today is consumed at risky levels,” he said. “That’s accepted as normal and it ought not to be.”

Aust 9 Dec 04 *

Anglican Church – Sydney

Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, a “post-Christian” fellow-traveller, launched the new book Memoirs of a Loose Canon, by former Anglican Dean of Sydney, Stuart Babbage. SMH 9 Dec 04

Baptists – US

Two dozen former Southern Baptist Convention chief executives met in Atlanta on 4 December at the call of Duke K. McCall, former president of the Baptist World Alliance. “Our purpose is to retain Southern Baptist participation in and support of the Baptist World Alliance,” said McCall. “We function within Baptist freedom and the autonomy of every Christian church. The BWA has inspired and instructed world Baptists in their intention to be biblical Christian witnesses to our Savior Jesus Christ.” McCall emphasized several points:

1. We are not in a battle with anyone.

2. We want to support Baptist organizations and churches that serve God and witness to Jesus as Lord.

3. We do not speak for or represent any group we may have served in the past, but we are individuals with a past history who speak and act on the basis of that past experience.

4. Our concern is the vitality of Baptist witness under the Great Commission of our Lord . We have sometimes striven for a reputation for orthodoxy, a worthy goal, but love for our neighbor is an even more effective witness.

5. We serve the Baptist World Alliance . because it has inspired and instructed world Baptists in their intention to be Biblical Christian witnesses to our Savior Jesus Christ.

6. We have been inspired and instructed in the past by our brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we have worked in the BWA. We have not always agreed, but we have tried to speak “the truth in love.”

7. The SBC withdrawal from BWA membership does not require any individual or church, or Baptist association to sever that Christian relation to the BWA. We do not counsel any individual or church to withdraw from the SBC. Media release 9 Dec 04

Bible – general

The Bible made it into the top three in ABC TV’s My Favourite Book last Sunday. The Bible Society NSW released sales figures showing that a total of 1.65 million copies of the Bible, New Testament or a Bible portion had been sold in Australia in the past 12 months, making its number three spot well deserved. Media release 7 Dec 04

Christmas

The anti-Christmas drive is out of touch with people of all beliefs, writes Miranda Devine. SMH 9 Dec 04

Corporate governance

The Australian Accounting Standards Board may water down requirements for detailed disclosure of top executive pay packets in response to a backlash by large companies, and because the accounting standard and company law overlap. AFR 8 Dec 04

Environment

The Victorian government has stalled in its bid to champion a national greenhouse emissions trading scheme and has ruled out launching its own state-based system unless it can broker a deal with all states and territories. AFR 8 Dec 04

Australia’s refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol will compromise our effectiveness in critical negotiations on global climate change policy post-2012, but a different approach on climate change would advance Australia’s interests, argues John Stanford, director of the Allen Consulting Group. AFR 8 Dec 04 *

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top advisor warns Australia not to sign the “Kyoto treaty smokescreen.” Aust 9 Dec 04 *

Ethics – business – Australia

When Adam Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations that trying to stop people of the same trade from conspiring to raise prices was impossible by any means consistent with liberty or justice, he “clearly didn’t reckon with some features of modern business that weren’t anticipated in the 18th century. These include: the post-Enron climate of rectitude in all matters of corporate governance; the way corporations churn executives and erode their loyalty in the scramble to stay competitive; and the competition regulator’s weapon of offering leniency to the first participant in a cartel to bare all.” The AFR leader comments on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s pursuit of Amcor chief executive Russell Jones for alleged price fixing. AFR 9 Dec 04

The long-running saga over James Hardie’s failure to provide for thousands of future asbestos disease victims could soon be over, after the company and the ACTU made major concessions in critical negotiations. ACTU secretary Greg Combet is understood to have agreed to the principle of a cap on how much of Hardie’s annual cash flow will go towards meeting claims, and the company is understood to have agreed to put up to $200 million into a “buffer” fund to ensure there will be money to meet claims for two or three years, even if Hardie makes no profit during that period. Aust 9 Dec 04

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission dismissed complaints from Queensland fruit growers about cartel behaviour in the cardboard box manufacturing industry nearly two years before Amcor revealed it had been involved in illegal market-fixing. Aust 9 Dec 04

Ethics – government

A $200,000 handout to a major competitive horse event has landed Veterans Affairs Minister De-Anne Kelly in a new row over the Coalition’s regional grants scheme. Aust 8 Dec 04

South Australia’s Auditor-General has performed an extraordinary about-face, conceding yesterday that ousted top public servant Kate Lennon told him about a briefing he had given the state Attorney-General on a secret “slush fund” used to hide million s from Treasury.

Aust 9 Dec 04

Fraud

Credit card fraud no longer tops the list of consumer concerns about e-trading, software advances have reduced security risks, and e-trade comes naturally to the “younger generation.” But improved security has not eliminated the threat of credit card fraud. AFR 9 Dec 04

Homosexual rights

Gay and lesbian New Zealand couples will today get the right to formalise their relationships in civil ceremonies. The rights, likely to be passed by a firm majority today, allows couples to have a church ceremony and the right to claim superannuation and pension rights, as well as next-of-kin status and control over a partner’s medical treatment. Aust 9 Dec 04

Judiciary

Some judges should be condemned as workplace bullies and needlessly humiliate lawyers as they “play to the gallery,” Sydney barrister Jeff Phillips, SC, claimed in a speech to a recent Law Society seminar. SMH 9 Dec 04

Rape victims can throw up or be brought to tears by the tactics of opposing lawyers, writes Edmund Tadros.

SMH 9 Dec 04 *

Marketing

Virgin Mobile has broken ranks with the $11 billion mobile phone industry by vowing not to target children younger than 10 in its marketing. SMH 9 Dec 04

Religious liberty

In Sri Lanka, the JHU, a political party made up of Buddhist monks, is proposing amendments to the constitution, enshrining Buddhism as the official state religion and prohibiting the conversion of Buddhists. The monks are also threatening to start a fast-unto-death on 12 December if the government has not met their demands about the JHU’s proposed Anti-Conversion Bill. RLP Prayer Bulletin 8 Dec 04

Ukrainians return to the polls on 26 December to vote again on the presidential run-off between the pro-Soviet Victor Yanukovych and the anti-corruption campaigner, freedom advocate and reformer, Victor Yushchenko. Christians in Ukraine ask us to pray that peace and justice will prevail. In the words of Hryhorii Komendant (26 Nov 2004), President of the All-Ukraine Union of the Association of Evangelical Baptists: “The power of prayer can change for the better, not only the life of a person, but the fate of a country.” RLP Prayer Bulletin 8 Dec 04

Technology

Telstra is developing a mobile phone aimed at children as young as four. The phone comes attached to a chain designed to be worn around the neck and features bright colours, flashing lights and large buttons pre-programmed to dial certain numbers such as “mum,” “dad,” and “home.” It is understood that, like Tamagotchi cyber pets, the phone may have to be looked after by its owner. “You’d have to feed it and love it,” a Telstra insider said. Sydney’s Child 27 Dec 2004-25 Jan 2005

Work

Late-parenting women need more help to juggle work and family, writes Ross Fitzgerald. Aust 9 Dec 04 *

Workplace relations

The federal government’s preferred form of individual workplace agreements is becoming more widespread than previously thought, placing new pressure on Labor to abandon its broad opposition to the Coalition’s industrial relations policies. About 380,000 people, or 4 per cent of salary and wage earners, now work under Australian Workplace Agreements, new figures show. SMH 9 Dec 04

Other items of interest

John Boykin critiques the mould into which consumerism and materialism have shaped Christmas. http://jmm.org.au/articles/14012.htm

Here’s an idea for Christmas! Buy Nothing Christmas is an initiative started by Canadian Mennonites but open to everyone with a thirst for change and a desire for action. http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/

US clergy ranked seventh in an annual Gallup Poll survey on honesty and ethical standards of certain professions, ahead of judges, day-care providers and bankers but behind police, doctors and military officers. http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=5076

Australasian Bioethics Information produces BioEdge, a weekly review of cutting-edge international bioethics news and comment. BioEdge articles occasionally feature in READ, but for regular in-depth coverage of bioethics information from around the world, it’s worth subscribing. http://www.australasianbioethics.org/Newsletters/currentbioedge.html

READ is published by the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College, 120 Herring Rd, Eastwood NSW 2122 AUSTRALIA. Telephone (02) 9878 0201. The content and views expressed in articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College or the Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT. Subscription is free. To subscribe, email with the words “subscribe to READ” in the subject line. You may use the same email address to request more information. Abbreviations: AFR=The Australian Financial Review; Aust=The Australian; SMH=The Sydney Morning Herald.