Thanks to generous donors, we have been able to complete another YPAT program. After I visited several sessions and met some new and returning attendees, I reflected on what young Australians are facing. It can be hard to look at the world around us. Disengagement and apathy are rife. Anxiety dominates our personal lives and…
Australia has much to celebrate. From our beautiful fertile land to our (mostly) functional and (mostly) stable society and political order, Australia is a great place to live and raise a family. There are problems and challenges, but nowhere is perfect. Getting things as good as we can is something we all work on, in…
We’re coming up to the seventh of October, the first anniversary of Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel. Hamas called it the “Al-Aqsa Flood”. Israel calls it the “Black Sabbath”. At least 4,300 rockets were fired into Israel. Terrorists stormed music festivals, communities, and military bases, killing whoever they could and kidnapping and brutalising whoever was…
The Movement has been forming and informing leaders for nearly a century, and politics plays a key part in this. There is a lot of politics to discuss. Nationally, there is the growing anticipation of a federal election and a concern among voters about the housing crisis and the cost of living. In Queensland, there…
The world has changed since the formation of The Movement in the 1940s, but the principles it stands for — and the things it values — have not. The world is more fragmented than ever before. New technologies have changed how we perceive our world, how we understand it, and how we communicate this understanding to one another.…
Twenty-three years ago, when I was volunteering on a year of youth ministry travelling across South Australia, the world changed. The United States was attacked by al-Qaeda on September 11, triggering a multi-continent, multi-nation war against a range of conventional and unconventional foes. Many people, innocent and guilty, lost their lives. The successes of the…
Most of us move through life without needing to pay attention to the core principles upon which we operate. Principles are usually so widely respected in society that we don’t discuss them often, but do react passionately when they are disrespected or violated. These transgressions are what populate the pages of newspapers, and there have…
Over four decades now a significant part of the Movement’s work has centred around family policy, social outcomes of marriage, divorce, parenting, and related economics, particularly income-tax policies and financial support for those raising young children. Most of this work has come under the umbrella of the Australian Family Association, which was established by Movement…
I’m a fan of AUKUS. Nuclear-powered submarines seem to me to be a great way to keep Australia safe well into the future. Greater interaction with our British and American allies seems like a common-sense move in a world of increasing tension but also globalised interconnectedness. And the technology-sharing in Pillar II of the AUKUS…
I’ve written before in these Notes about how our democracy relies on our formed and informed involvement. The next question flowing from this is what to do about it. How do we act upon what we know so we can make a difference? This is not a simple question because it depends on where each…