Defiant Opposition MPs allowed the Government to remove ”a blot on our statute book” billing refugees for their detention.

A lone Liberal senator, Judith Troeth, crossed the floor of Federal Parliament to scrap the debts only Australia imposed on people owed protection. But the retiring senator’s move captured the sentiment of more within her party but whose political ambitions stopped them from following her.

It is understood the Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, was not unhappy at the bill’s passage. (I respect this man, but … what on earth was this about?)

Since 1992, refugees have been required to reimburse the Government for the costs of their mandatory detention. Less than 3 per cent is ever recovered.  Last financial year the cost of chasing the debt exceeded the amount collected. The cancellation was supported by the Greens, the independent senator Nick Xenophon and Family First’s Senator Steve Fielding.  Refugee advocates and affected families were happy to see the debts wiped. ”It really rights a wrong,” the Refugee Council of Australia’s chief executive, Paul Power, said.

Masoud Shams, an Iranian refugee who suffers depression after four years in detention, was elated. His debt of $268,000 will now be cancelled. ”I’m actually very happy. I live in a country which is fair,” he said. ”The worst thing about detention is when you see the kids cutting themselves and people hanging. If a refugee comes to your country, treat them as human.”  Other Coalition senators including Russell Trood, Guy Barnett and Simon Birmingham silently backed the abolition of detention debts by abstaining from the vote.

Source: Compiled by APN from media reports

Posted via web from Preposterousness

It’s hard to shake that history without being pro-active even though for much of my life there was little visible sign of the tension that existed, and Moree has since become known as a centre for the communities of Aboriginal and European descent working together in employment, education and medical programs, and some progress in coming together to worship God as well.  It’s all a long way from perfect justice of course, but it is a journey that is being taken.

My father worked closely with the Aboriginal people in business and church, and I did the same (initially because it was footstep following, but then through love for these beautiful people) before moving to Sydney just over 5 years ago.  I’m now far removed from that world, and I miss it at times. So news like the following piques my interest, excites me, and makes me a little sad all at the same time…

Rev John Blacket of Khesed Ministries reports of signs of an incredible renewal among indigenous Australians and clear expectations that this move of God’s Spirit will impact non-indigenous Australians and migrants as well in this land.

Upon returning from a recent trip to Central Australia Mr Blacket said “Many young Aborigines in Central Australia and Arnhem Land have turned to Jesus Christ from drugs and petrol sniffing, worshipping the Lord in new songs in their own languages. There is deep repentance that we haven’t seen for over 25 years…

There is also a lot of prayer and symbolic acts for healing the land, and a move to work through deep cultural issues like we have never seen. So many of our dreams and heart cries of 20 years are beginning to happen!  But there is a need for a Holy Spirit inspired revelation of God’s word – both the Word and the Spirit together. There still tends to be too much of a divide between those clinging to the historical roots of missionary evangelical teaching and literal understanding of the Bible in rather legalistic ways – and those moving in a renewed understanding of the power of the Spirit that is often lacking in Scriptural foundation.”

The recent release of scriptures translated into Aboriginal languages is helping people to know and understand the Word of God.

Mr Blacket has requested prayer for continued revelation to flow through the Word of God of the power of His love to tear down the walls of division that continue to hinder the progress of healing that needs to occur in a number of communities.

Source: Khesed News via Australian Prayer Network

Posted via web from Shaping The (Posterous) Space

Last Sunday, we travelled up to the Blue Mountains after church. The Blue Mountains are one of our favourite places on earth, and are an easy drive.

Diane has some pics from the trip over at her blog, but I’m including one little bit of the day here.

We went to visit Cahill Lookout to view the early stages of sunset, before we headed on to Echo Point for the rest of it.

View Larger Map

I’d never been to this lookout before, and both Diane and I were impressed with the amount of birdlife that was evident through the song…even though we had difficulty spotting many birds at all.  They were all very well hidden in the scrub, though a few did make themselves known to us.

Some of said song is captured in this short vlog….though perhaps it should be a slog since the its mainly the song and not the video.  Anyhoo, enjoy the weird and wonderful world of Australian birdsong.  It’s shorter and less melodic than I would have liked…because the battery went flat literally seconds before beautiful melody was breaking out. D’oh!

One of the nation’s leading church-based charity groups, the Salvation Army, has been left off the committee that will oversee bushfire appeal funds. Despite raising more than $12 million for bushfire victims and already distributing $1.4 million in cash, the Salvation Army will not play a role in overseeing the operation of distributing the millions raised.

Opposition community services spokesman Tony Abbott called for the inclusion of the Salvation Army. “The Salvation Army are always there when times are tough, without any favouritism as to race or creed,” Mr Abbott said. “The Salvos are at least as active as any other welfare group. It is disappointing they aren’t being given a look-in at official level. “For some reason — maybe it is because of their Christian orientation, maybe because they were thought to be close to the Howard government — the Rudd Government is giving them the cold shoulder. It is wrong and it should stop immediately.”

Salvation Army spokesman Neil Venables said the organisation was ready to respond to any invitation. “We would hope that it’s not because of our Christian values and the perception that we were close to the previous government,” Major Venables said. “We were committed to working with the Howard government, as we are committed to working with the Rudd Government. “It is not about political persuasion; it is about how we most effectively fulfil our mission. At times like this, the Army has the ability to do its best work.”

Sources within the Salvation Army said many officers had been “gobsmacked and bewildered” by their failure to be included in government planning and co-ordination, including being omitted from the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund Advisory Panel. The administration costs of the official government-Red Cross appeal are being picked up by the Government, but the same offer has not been extended to the Salvation Army Bushfire Appeal.

Source: Compiled by APN from media reports

I really hope this is rectified.  The Salvation Army are one of the most trusted charity organisations in Australia (quite apart from being a church), and to exclude them from this process is foolishness.  This is especially so considering how much they have already contributed to the relief of the misery caused by the tragedy, and the overt Christianity of our Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd.   To be denied a mission field such as this strikes me as a real miscarriage of justice.

What do you think? Even if you don’t know much about the fires, or Australia, tell me how you think the government, the church and secular charity organisations shoud / can work together in times like these.

Thanks for reading and watching the beginnings of our little love story.  This blog will get back to more current space shaping next time…probably…

You know what to do if you think it should be otherwise.  And stalkers, this includes you…

Diane noted that we should talk less and say more in these things.  Too late now.

Disclaimer Note Thingy: I may or may not have said something about Tasmania which perpetuates a common, funny yet somewhat crude myth about the lovely people of that state.  I should note that both Diane and I love Tasmania – a lot – and have considered moving there (kind of).   One thing that prevents us from doing that is missing our church family, specifically knowing that God isn’t done with us where we are just yet. Another would be that they’re not likely to let me in again now…

This is as much for us as it is for you, so suck it up people

Seriously, we hope you enjoy it, but are also blessed by the (unspoken) background workings of God in bringing us together. We’re still working out exactly what He wants us to do that involved such massive life upheaval, but we know we’re on the right path. More patience is needed…more…patience…

History / Herstory – Part III from David Goodwin on Vimeo.

These were the very first words sent across the interwebs from Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland to Moree, New South Wales, Australia back in May 2001 by a Miss Diane Bruce to a Mr David Goodwin.

Before I really get into the story too deeply, I need to state how, even after all these years, I’m totally floored by how God was weaving this story together before we had any idea what was going on

I should also say that we are sickeningly sweet, so be prepared to get sugar-induced queasiness as you follow our tale.

We met at Christian Cafe, and PalTalk became our technology of choice back in the days when IM was still a little bit novel.  The silly Australian was immediately taken by the slight hints of self-deprecation evident in the opening text sent half way round the world by the lovely NornIrisher.  Her profile talked of passion for Jesus, a desire to be a history maker for God, and her recent study at the International Bible Training Institute in England. (NB: that link seems to be having issues right now…it is the right one though).

Then of course, there was the anticipation of that lovely voice.  Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t fall in love with her because of gorgeous voice, but it sure helped

I was housesitting for my sister’s mother-in-law (yes, that’s right, and henceforth known as SMIL) who was visiting said sister and her husband in Palau, where he was the chief local pilot (now there’s a whole other story).  SMIL had a substantial amount of pre-paid dial up to be used before the end of the month, so I took it upon myself to ensure there was none that got wasted and set about searching for a place to buy the impossible-to-find-in-Australia DVD of “Left Behind”.  I never found a place to  buy it (and I believe I’m not missing anything), but what I did find was Christian Cafe.

This was of some interest as I’d been through a time of enormous spiritual growth in the years prior, and while content with being single, I wanted to find my soul/helpmate who I was fairly sure didn’t live in outback Australia. Far more importantly though, the Christian Cafe site was based in Canada, so there were a lot of Canadians on the site.  Why did I care about that?  I was the holder of a 12 month Canadian work visa which I was planning to use the following year, and I knew no-one in Canada.  This might be a great way to help with the trip planning if nothing else.

But I didn’t meet anyone from Canada, just a couple of people on the US west coast, and one in Northern Ireland…

I don’t want each of these posts to get too long, and as this is now almost 600 words, I think it’s time to leave it til tomorrow

Sarah suggested we do a video post for some of this story telling series, and we might do that. Just not right this instant as Diane is working out how to use the shiny new (church-owned) MacBook Pro.  It’s pretty similar to our iMac (and naturally, TokBox was the first thing we did on it the other day), but none of that will get it set up ready to use as our multi-media hub for Sunday.  So Diane’s doing that…amidst deciding on the layout for her blog…which will be way better than mine when it begins OK, let’s just state that upfront

Anyway, further instalments in the History/Herstory saga to come…if anything’s unclear up to this point, you know what to do!

In fact, whenever people ask how @machroi and I met, we still look at each other and ‘argue’ over whose turn it is to tell the story this time.  We usually end up with a short-ish run through of the basics, but never get into much of the detail.  Even when they’d rather we did.

So, now that pretty much everyone who ever visits this blog has graduated to be a ‘real-life’ friend (making my 25 Things song a LIE), it’s probably time to tell you a little bit more about us, and in particular, how I managed to convince Northern Ireland to give up one of its’ greatest assets and entrust her into my care down here in Australia.

And more amazingly, she agreed !  Who’d leave this…

for this ?

So come around over the next few days, as the story unfolds…

And be sure to let me know if you have any
(1) questions about the story as revealed so far (not likely, but you’re always surprising me)
(2) suggestions on how this should be presented for maximum impact (whatever that means), or
(3) I have no idea what to ask for (3), it just needed a 3rd question…which it didn’t get…maybe next time…

And no spoilers if you read and comment, Cee