As has been my tradition, every sermon that I preach will be posted here. This sermon, Honour God, was given at The Salvation Army Rochester on Sunday August 27, 2017. The Reading was Matthew 6:1-4. There are some things, as an officer, you learn to give up. Some, you’re aware of before you start. For example, I…
Tag: Australia
Letter to Mr Damian Drum, Federal Member for Murray
To Mr Drum, I am writing to you this evening regarding Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement today that any Asylum Seeker who arrived by boat after mid-2013 would be permanently banned from entering Australia (As reported by ABC News). I am horrified by this announcement. There are so many things wrong with this it makes…
Why the $7 co-payment is a bad idea
In last night’s budget, the Government announced a $7 co-payment for GP’s, as well as pathology, and a $5 co-contribution for medicines on the PBS. Now, $7 doesn’t seem like a lot, but the issue is, it’s not ever going to be $7. Sometimes, a GP can’t get everything they need just by looking at…
Lament for Manus
Our God, Our God, we have hit a low point in our nation. In our fear, we have put people in situations where they have faced the very thing they were fleeing. In our fear, we have caused people to be hurt, we have caused people to die and blamed it on the very people…
The importance of language
I’ve been reading Jim Wallis’ book, The Soul of Politics, and I got to one section and it really struck me how much it related to a recent change in tack in how the Australian Government treats Asylum Seekers. It’s from a section dealing with the inequality between gender, and Wallis tells a story from a…
An open letter to our new Prime Minister
Dear Mr Abbott, Firstly, congratulations on being elected our latest national leader. You ran a very professional campaign, and defeated an opposition who was trying hard not to implode, whilst trying to destroy themselves at the same time. So you are now the elected official to lead our country into the next three years. And…
An open letter to Tony Abbott
Dear Tony, I realise that you’re in the midst of a very busy election campaign, however I feel like I need to bring some things to your attention that need your swift and decisive action. Now I know you’re a man who likes to be portrayed as Australia’s next action hero, what with the bike…
What now for asylum seekers?
A couple of nights ago, I attended an event that looked at the issue of asylum seekers, and where to now. The event was very well attended – they were expecting about 30 people, but instead had about 100. One of the big things I took out of this was an understanding of the two…
A shameful day… but what else?
Yesterday, Kevin Rudd announced his new asylum seeker policy, which included as a major point the change that no asylum seeker arriving by boat would be settled in Australia, but instead they would be sent to Papua New Guinea, processed by the PNG Government, and settled in PNG. Another announcement today saw an announcement that…
