ACL 30th May 2013

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30 May 2013

Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen speech to ACL event

ACL’s Jim Wallace writes in The Australian about persecuted Christians in Syria

Chris Bowen raises plight of Egypt’s coptic community in parliament

ACL welcomes recommendations in Qld palliative care report

ACL’s Managing Director Lyle Shelton says a Christian constitutency does exist

ACL welcomes PM’s bid to curb sports betting promotion

ACL Qld Conference hears from state and federal politicians

Queensland motel prostitution case succeeds in Court of Appeal

Tas petition to have abortion bill thrown out

Maxime Lagorce on the Political Spot about French marriage rally on Sunday

French marriage rally speech by President of La Manif Pour Tous

Father Robin Koning SJ on the Political Spot about new Life Issues Series

Worldview thinker to tour Australia

In the media – a wrap up of the last week’s commentary

Staying in touch with ACL

Slowly but surely, public policy is turning to put the needs of children first.

An encouraging sign was this week’s universal condemnation of live odds being broadcast during sporting events. While Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a good start in threatening the television stations with legislation if they didn’t act, gambling ads will still be allowed during half time and quarter time.

ACL was among those arguing for her to go further. We said no gambling ads should be aired before, during and immediately after sporting events so that children were not socialised into gambling. “If gambling ads of any kind are seen by children during TV time then the laws haven’t gone far enough,” said the Rev Tim Costello, head of the Churches Gambling Task Force.

On another front, it was good to see the UK Children’s Commissioner, Dr Maggie Atkinson, report last week that children are damaged by a diet of pornography.

“For years we have applied age restrictions to films at the cinema, but now we are permitting access to far more troubling imagery via the internet,” Dr Atkinson said.

Once the powerful gambling and pornography lobbies were untouchable. Now thanks to awakening community concern, policy is starting to be crafted which stymies their ambitions. This is good.

God bless,

Lyle Shelton
Managing Director

Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen speech to ACL event

Earlier this year the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, gave a speech to an Australian Christian Lobby event. His speech was an encouragement to the public benefit churches provide and relevant to the challenges in Australia.

ACL’s Jim Wallace writes in The Australian about persecuted Christians in Syria

The Australian Christian Lobby’s deputy chairman Jim Wallace had an opinion piece published in The Australian recently. An extended version of Mr Wallace’s piece, We can not abandon Syrian Christians was also published in MercatorNet.

Chris Bowen raises plight of Egypt’s coptic community in parliament

Last night the Federal Labor Member for McMahon Chris Bowen spoke about the plight of Copts in Egypt in the House of Representatives.

Click here for the transcript and for the video of his address

ACL welcomes recommendations in Qld palliative care report

Benjamin Franklin spoke of the inevitability of death with his famous words, “The only things certain in life are death and taxes.” However unpalatable the prospect is, every one of us will die. The late Steve Jobs said, “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.”

ACL’s Managing Director Lyle Shelton says a Christian constitutency does exist

Last week an opinion piece was published in ABC Religion and Ethics by Steph Judd titled What Christian constituency? Which burnt bridges? Kevin Rudd, the ACL and same-sex marriage. ACL’s Managing Director Lyle Shelton (pictured) responded with an opinion piece published called A Christian constituency does exist, and it should have a voice.

To read Lyle Shelton’s article click here

ACL welcomes PM’s bid to curb sports betting promotion

The Australian Christian Lobby has welcomed the Prime Minister’s crackdown on the promotion of betting odds during sports broadcasts. ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton said the television industry’s proposed curbs to live odds promotion should be extended to include a total ban on all gambling advertising before, during and after sporting broadcasts.

ACL Qld Conference hears from state and federal politicians

Videos from ACL Queensland Conference on the 4th of May are now available to watch online.

Click here

Queensland motel prostitution case succeeds in Court of Appeal

The Queensland Court of Appeal recently ruled that a Moranbah motel were able to preclude prostitution on their premises. As the proprietors explain in the media release below, they participated in two Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) prior to the judicial hearing over a three year period.

Tas petition to have abortion bill thrown out

A new abortion petition (this is the third one) is underway aimed at the Legislative Council. The petition seeks to have the Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill 2013 thrown out in its entirety. The petition closes on the 23rd June.

Maxime Lagorce on the Political Spot about French marriage rally on Sunday

Maxime Lagorce is a French marriage activist from La Manif Pour Tous Sydney. He spoke to the ACL’s Katherine Spackman about what La Manif Pour Tous stands for and the recent marriage protests that have been happening in France.