 |
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
 |
 |
 |
 |
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

|
 |