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AFA conferences
QLD AFA State Conference:
Saturday 18 October 2003 @ Parliament House Annex, Brisbane
City
The conference assembled key leaders in the community
to speak on timely topics concerning the protection of family
as the vital piece of society. Family and marriage, as we all know, are
coming under
unprecedented pressure through political, economic and cultural
undercurrents. Few know how to respond to policy issues, and fewer still think ahead of the game
to shape the views of policy makers. The conference
sought to redress this gap with the theme:
"Re-establishing Family in Australian Social
Policy."
Summary
of papers from National AFA Conference, held on 4 October
2003 in Adelaide
Impromptus
4D Ultrasound scanning technology radically refines imagery
of a baby inside a mother's womb
Reference to this site was
forwarded by Dr Arthur Hartwig (past State President, QLD AFA).
Fetal hand grasps surgeon's hand
The picture of the decade so far? Reference to this site was
forwarded by Brisbane Catholic Church's
Auxiliary Bishop Brian Finnigan.
"One
of a kind 60 Minutes, 12 July 2003
Here's a real celebration of family, featuring an 11 year with remarkable nonchalance and
esteem. Tom Tennet was born with a
mysterious condition of excess skin. Here's some quotes Tom and his
mother:
- Asked how she felt when Tom was born, mother Debbie
Tennet said: "My heart was in my throat but at the
same time there was love there too and you just wanted
pick him up and cuddle him."
- Asked if it's important for him to look like his
friends, Tom Tennet said: "Not really." Why is
that? "Because I'm their friend and they don't care
what I look like." How do you feel about being called
"Rumple Wrinkle Skin" by your friends? "I
actually like it." Why is that? "I don't know. I
just do."
- Asked what he would change about himself, Tom Tennet said:
"Probably nothing, yeah."
"Man
awakens after 19-year coma"ABC Online, 9 July 2003
"The big lesson we can all learn from this is never give up on life. We never know what is in store."
Marriage
"The
Marriage Amendment"
The Editors, First Things, October 2003
The proposal of the 28th amendment to the US Constitution was born out of
US state laws being struck down by court decisions to recognise same-sex marriage.
Despite 37 out of 39 US states (for federal law) overwhelmingly
rejecting same-sex marriage, democratic process and the will of the people
are being usurped through judicial fiat. The "Marriage
Amendment", now with widespread support, proposes recognition of marital union
to man and woman, precluding recognition of same-sex marriage conferred outside
the US and judicial imposition of same-sex marriage or its equivalent. The editors
of America's most highly regarded religion and public affairs journal, First
Things, provide a well-nuanced justification for the amendment. It identifies the
recent swing of gay activists from a position of resistance
to marriage, to advocacy, wherein
marriage is reconstructed to allow polygamy and "polyamory" -
influential in the academic field of marriage and family law (widely documented
in the literature). Marriage, in the end, would become a private, not a public,
institution, and the rights and obligations publicly required would be skewed
against the essential thing these protect and
vaunt - children - the fruit of marriage.
"Media
Blackout"
Stanley Kurtz, National Online Review, 8 September 2003
The "Marriage Amendment" gets the silent treatment from the US media.
"Is
Marriage in Jeopardy?"
Glen T. Stanton, CitizenLink at Focus on Family, 27 August 2003
A wide-ranging, clear-thinking question-answer argumentation
against same-sex marriage and its claims. Here is a sample:
"Q: Isn’t it true that what kids need most are loving parents,
regardless of whether it’s a mother or father?
A: No. A child needs a
loving mother and father. A wealth of research over the past
30 years has shown us this. (However, same-sex marriage and
parenting intentionally deprive children of a mother or
father.) The most loving mother in the world cannot teach a
little boy how to be a man. Likewise, the most loving man
cannot teach a little girl how to be a woman. A gay man cannot
teach his son how to love and care for a woman. A lesbian
cannot teach her daughter how to love a man or know what to
look for in a good husband. Is love enough to help two gay
dads guide their daughter through her first menstrual cycle?
Like a mom, they cannot comfort her by sharing their first
experience. Little boys and girls need the loving daily
influence of both male and female parents to become who they
are meant to be."
"The
Libertarian Question"
Stanley Kurtz, National Online Review, 30 April 2003
The debate on same-sex marriage usually invites a clash of two
extremes: radical individualism versus traditional moralism.
Stanley Kurtz offers a persuasive mediation between the two
through the schema of shared ethos, the taboos which guard it,
and, and the laws, if any,
which embody and reinforce it. Even if laws are not enforced,
they sustain a taboo and therefore its ethos. Consider incest.
Why isn't consensual adult incest a private matter, and
therefore why is incest taboo? Because our collective taboo on
incest, including adult incest, serves to protect sexual abuse
against minors. Analogously, marriage has been protected by
several taboos against sexuality outside its confines. Kurtz
says homosexuality as a non-marital, non-reproductive
sexuality threatens the monogamous nature of marriage, which
in the past was enforced by anti-sodomy laws. Under greater
considerations for personal freedom, and greater sympathy for
gay rights, anti-sodomy laws have disappeared - which is a
good thing. However, extending gay rights to marriage, will
invite polygamy and "polyamory" - cutting into
monogamous marriage whose protective taboos (like adultery and
out-of-wedlock birth) have already been eroded in the last 40
years. Kurtz's conclusion: "The ongoing need
for shared social understandings on matters pertaining to the family and
sexuality does not fit neatly into the libertarian playbook. Social
and sexual taboos are the stuff of traditional societies. But the truth
is, so long as we live, not merely as isolated individuals, but in
families together, we shall be in need of social and sexual
taboos." Can we expect such reasoned dialogue to buffet
the upcoming debate-by-a-thousand-slogans? Dream on.
Divorce
"A
better way to break-up" Barry
Maley, Centre for Independent Studies, 5 September 2003
Introducing his Family Law Bill in 1975 as a replacement for
for the Matrimonial Causes Act, Senator Lionel Murphy
prophesied, "Mr President, this measure is a most
important social reform. It will affect the lives of
many." Since the advent of no-fault divorce where a
marital contract can be broken without any grievance from one
spouse, divorce has snow-balled to four times what it was,
and nearly one third of children now live apart from their
natural parents. Barry Maley calls not much for a return to
the glory days but an end to unilateral divorce whereby
divorce would require a joint application including an agreed
on settlement plan (factoring child custody) by both spouses.
In the case of serious misconduct or dispute, resolutions
would be determined in the court and reflected in settlement
plans . A survey of Maley's proposals yielded strong support
across different categories (especially divorced people). AFA
is currently investigating Maley's proposal in detail.
"Relocation
of Children After Parents' Divorce May Lead To Long-Term
Problems, Study Suggests" American
Psychological Association, 25 June 2003
The findings casts doubt on the current legal presumption
that a move by a custodial parent to a destination for the
moving parent's best interests, is also in the best interest
of the children that moves with them. This is the first study
to provide a concrete study on the effects of relocation of
children after divorce.
"Facts
are stacked against second marriages" Martin
Tierney, Irish Catholic, 4 June 2003
A study from the University of Chicago showed that
"there was no evidence that unhappily married adults who
divorced were typically any happier than unhappily married
people who stayed married." In a sample of 5232 married
adults of which 645 claimed to be unhappy, 167 were divorced
or separated - half were happy; while 478 stayed together -
two thirds were happy. This is consistent with British
surveys which show that the likelihood of separation
increases in proportion to interactions of marriage.
Parenting and child-care
"Time
to make it an open book" Julie
Buckingham, Sydney Morning Herald, 21 January 2004
Julie Buckingham, a researcher at the Centre for Independent
Studies, provides a less polemical perspective on John
Howard's concerns about public schools, following surveys of
Queensland and Victorian parents of non-government schools
citing "ethos" and academic performance as the most
important factors. Buckingham says that although parents are
not religious in the majority, the survey found that
the non-government schools, mostly Christian, are perceived
as engendering greater "ethos" than government
schools. The fastest growth lies in non-denomination specific
Christian schools. Buckingham says that performance measures
of schools (currently only end of year results) need to be
exposed as parents can only go off broader perceptions about
a school when considering it. A lack of information and the
suspicion it breeds draws parents to non-government schools.
It's a point also raised by John Howard, although Buckingham
stops short of explaining why suspicion is so pointed in the
first place, and why ethos and performance are profound
concerns for parents. Here Donnelly's analysis (see below) is
closer to the ground.
"Teacher
unions fail the grade" Kevin
Donnelly, The Australia, 21 January 2004
Education expert, Kevin Donnelly, provides the architectural
detail in support of PM
John Howard's claim that Australian public schools are
too politically correct, causing parents to favour private
schools. Donnelly, who's researched curriculum developments
in Australia and overseas extensively, traces the malaise to
teachers unions, renowned for being captured by the Left and
promoting an ideologically-driven, dumbed down educational
template. Under this, Australian society, the West and
capitalism, and the notion of student assessment, are
examples the socially unjust, maligned or banished in
syllabuses (witness the Australian Education Union 1993
policy). Enshrined on the other hand are liberalised sexual
education, gay sexual-orientation, the environment and
leftist political views. Incredibly, last year the scale to
which which unions inculturate the system was publicly
demonstrated when teachers were asked to argue against the
war on Iraq - culminating in street demonstrations during
school time (see Donnely's
article). In the final analysis says Donnelly, parents
are voting with their feet: 30% of school children now go to
private schools, with figure being 40% for years 11 and 12.
In addition, a government survey recently showed that more
than half Australian academics find first-year standards
falling compared to 5 to 10 years ago.
"A
Child's Hope" Rod Paige, National
Online Review, 9 September 2003
US Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, advocates school choice
through free-market economics: "If we want schools to
change, to become more productive, to become more efficient
and more effective, then we must promote and nurture school
creativity and innovation. By shielding schools from market
forces, we are preserving a status quo, which on the whole is
mediocre at best. We need to do something radical to shake up
the system."
"Study
Links Day Care, Behaviour Problems" Stuart
Sheppard, Focus on Family, 30 April 2003
A long-term US federal study has shown that behavioural
problems, mainly aggression related, occur in children in
proportion to the amount of time they spend in day-care. The
findings held for different variables: children from
different walks of life, the quality and type of day-care.
Response
to Courier Mail article "School no place for
religion" Anonymous, 21 August
2003
In a CM article on 20 August 2003, Christopher Bantick wrote
that reference to God and the Ten Commandments does not
belong in 21st century school education. Wrong, says, this
feisty response, not published in the CM, and forwarded to
QLD AFA by a concerned parent - and agnostic to boot. A
curriculum full of leftist obsessions offers no alternate to
timeless and universal values advanced by biblical moral
code, and does little to engage the complex social problems
confronting our schools.
"The
family is being down-sized and outsourced" Martin
Tierney, Irish Catholic, 20 August 2003
It's possible, if only in Ireland. A single politician
challenged the sex education ("your body is yours to
share with whom you choose") booklets of the Irish
Planning Association for 12-16 year olds, and had the project
pulled. Martin Tierney reflects on the usurpation of parental
responsibilities by state agencies, which in turn inculturate
worldviews and values on children without prior consent or
deliberation. Tierney's scorecard comes from Shakespeare
quote: "the voice of parents is the voice of gods, for
to their children they are heaven's lieutenants...."
"Health
Board doesn't get sex ed furore" David
Quinn, Irish Catholic, 9 July 2003
"Abstinence
makes the heart grow fonder" Sarah
McDonald, Irish Catholic, 25 June 2003
There are growing concerns about the sexual habits of Irish
young people. The State seems to have nothing to offer them
but condoms and a large drink culture is on. The result: high
incidence of sexual activity and increasing rates of sexually
transmitted diseases among teenagers. Sarah McDonald scales
the problem by looking at Britain which has one of the highest
rates of teenage pregnancy in the world, correlated to its
second highest usage of contraceptives (around 80% in 15-44
age bracket). A strong link between depression and sexual
activity for teenagers has also been found through a Heritage
Foundation (US) study. A better solution - teach promiscuity.
It works - look at Uganda. Its HIV/AIDS epidemic went from 30%
in the 1990s to 10%.
"Paedophilia
Inc." Phillip Adams, The Weekend Australian, 21-22 June 2003
When he's not busy bashing belief, churches and the "right", Phillip Adams
can sometimes make really useful reading. Here he contrasts
media hysteria over the paedophilia problem with the hypocrisy
of "sexualising" the teen and pre-teen image
pervading the advertising world ("corporate
paedophilia") and which has been absorbed in the
community without apparent concern. Added to this is
heightening Internet pornography and violence on TV exposed to
kids without impunity. Adams could have added that this
hypocrisy was played out when the age of sexual consent was
reduced in NSW while the media were giving then GG
Hollingsworth a mauling.
"Mommy Dearest"
Charlotte Hays, National Online Review, 4 February 2003
Allison Pearson's book "I don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother"
portrays a top-flight executive's tug-of-war between career and
family. The story gripped Britain earlier this year with a "Brigid Jones does motherhood" movie in the making.
Plenty of fodder for Charlotte Hays, editor of The Women's Quarterly,
to deliver a withering expose from the world of nauseating self-indulgence. Not for the PC-hearted.
Bioethics, culture of life, culture of death
"Stem
cells offer healthier hearts"
Amanda Dunn, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 October 2003
Through a collaboration between Melbourne University and Columbia University in New York,
a successful trial to alleviate heart disease was conducted for 5 patients. By inducing
adult stem cells from the bone marrow into the blood stream, isolating and extracting them,
and then injecting into the heart, angina in the patients was reduced significantly.
"IVF
Defects"
ABC Catalyst, 17 July 2003
Through a review of birth records in WA of IVF
babies, Australian epidemiologist Dr Carol Bower has delivered
a bombshell on the IVF industry by revealing that IVF babies
are twice as likely to have birth defects as normal births.
The finding comes despite 25 years of IVF operation and
confirms past warnings. Terminations of defective IVF embryos
were not factored into the study, only successfully born
babies. The findings will invite further studies on how the
comparison scales with age. As the reported indicated, such a
finding in unlikely to deter IVF parents.
"Poll
Results Lend Credence to America's Pro-Life Shift"
Bill Fancher American Family Association 15 July 2003
In a recent Wirthlin Worldwide poll, 68% Americans said they want to restore protection of
the unborn child. This survey is consistent with surveys in the last few years that show
that Americans are returning to pro-life.
"Dying Cause"
Wesley J. Smith, Discovery Institute, 20 May 2003
A US Gallup poll on assisted suicide shows declining support compared
to 6 years ago. An increased secular presence through disability groups (in
particular), medical professional bodies and the the pro-life movement have diverted attention away from the
religious stigmatisation of the debate, opening up concerns which cut swathe with the public -
e.g. assisted suicide used to cut high costs of looking after aged and debilitated patients in
hospitals. The negative publicity of Dr Death, Jack Kervorkian, is also revealing.
"Life: Defining the Beginning by the
End" Maureen L. Condic, First Things, May 2003
A stumbling block for pro-life and stem cell campaigns is the arbitrariness
of identifying human life left to criteria of appearance, ability or individual preference.
Neurobiologist Prof. Maureen Condic provides a powerful argument for life
at conception based on the biological understanding
of death. The distinguishing feature of
brain death, Condic points out, is the loss of integrated bodily function - the ability of the body's organs
and cells to be coordinated as a whole. An embryo does precisely this,
regulating cellular
specialisation and bodily development. (Not surprisingly, the hurdles encountered
with embryonic stem cell
research arise from the absence of the embryo, and the intractable problems
of replicating let alone
understanding embryonic coordination. (See an excellent precis
by Condic on stem cell biology).
Letter to Sunday Mail editor regarding
euthanasia
Sean Duffy, Sunday Mail, 7 April 2003
The President of Sunnybank District National Civic Council lets SM's Terry Sweetman know
that some people can trap the breakdown of social contract behind slogans like "right to die". Some people being
younger and thankfully smarter. Well done Sean!
"Practical
Hope"
Wesley J. Smith, National Online Review, 14 March 2003
Reported in the New York Times was another heart cure, but in this instance, "live",
not part of a trial. A boy's heart was punctured by a nail critically lowering his
ejection fraction (measure of blood pumped from the left ventricle). The local
doctors were planning a heart cure trial, and were forced to apply their technique for the
boy. Stem cells were isolated and extracted from the
blood and injected into the coronary artery. Heart muscle started to rebuild. The was report was significant, as
Wesley notes, because the Times had ignored dramatic adult stem cell cures from the
previous year.
"Roe in the Senate"
Ramesh Ponnuru, National Online Review, 14 March 2003
Pro-life support in the US Senate is on the rise with the passing of the
amendment for partial-birth-abortion
in March 2003.
Economics
"How taxation hits families"
Damien Tudehope, 5 April 2003
With the Senate Economic References
Committee calling for submissions on the structure and
distribution of the tax system, NSW State President
of the NCC, Damien Tudehope, explains how families have become big
losers through changes to the tax system in the
past 25 years. Tax inequity (no discrimination between
tax-payers with and without dependents) is discussed with
insights from Lucy Sullivan (Centre for
Independent Studies) and Tony Abbot. The need for income-splitting
or alternative rebating is identified.
"Love is not enough: towards the recovery of a family economics"
Alan Carlson, US Family Research Council, 21 Oct 2002
Dr Carlson, a Distinguished Fellow
for Family Policy Studies at the Family Research Council (US),
looks at the impacts on family through the
agrarian, industrial and modern ages, and the public policy factors that contributed to the strength and
weakness of "family economics", and ultimately wider
community. Especially since the 60s, the industrial impulse is no
longer the servant, but the master of families, Carlson observes, in
turn tearing down down healthy community. To remedy this,
four strategies are suggested: family and home supportive tax policy; bringing vital tasks or
functions home; new family-friendly, urban environments;
creating intentional communities.
Health / Medical
"The
Poor Suffer As UN Wages War on Science" Gregory
Conko and Henry I. Miller, Competitive Enterprise Institute,
6 October 2003
"Scientists
worldwide agree that GM is merely a refinement, or
improvement, over less precise and predictable genetic
techniques that have been used for centuries, but this
exquisite new means to develop plants with higher yields and
innovative traits will be blocked by the disincentive of
unnecessary regulations. Morally,
this is no different from permitting the construction of an
unsafe dam or knowingly administering a contaminated vaccine.
Countless people will needlessly suffer and die as a result
of the arbitrary, unscientific restrictions now imposed on
our ability to help them to help themselves. The UN and its
secretary-general should be held accountable for this human
rights catastrophe."
"Genetically
Modified Foods Are Nothing New" Gregory
Conko and Dr. C.S. Prakash, Competitive Enterprise Institute,
6 October 2003
Related to immediately above article: A detailed precis (5
page PDF) for the lay person.
"APA
Applauds Final Report on President's New Freedom Commission on
Mental Health" American
Psychological Association, 22 July 2003
"Mandatory Labelling is A Bad Idea"
Gregory Conko, Competitive Enterprise Institute, 27 February 2003
Stricter genetically modified
(GM) food labelling regulations are being proposed through the
EU. Food or animal feeds enhanced through protein or DNA
of GM organisms are considered GM. The objective of increasing consumer confidence
is bogus and will lead to effective censorship of some classes of GM foods.
Conko's argument is fourfold. Firstly, a post-hoc verification
of GM is not always possible (e.g. for oils) warranting a record-keeping
traceability of GM products from primary
produce to retail outlets. This will dramatically increase their
cost. Secondly, GM doesn't introduce a single health risk
compared to conventional produce. Thirdly, some classes of GM
foods long with us are exempt from labelling (e.g. wine, beer, cheese) and will remain so. Fourtly and relatedly,
labelling some foods and not others creates consumer confidence. Conko's conclusion? This is
more about European protectionism consumer concern. Demystifying for those unfamiliar with GM and baloney-breaking for those
who are.
Illicit drug management
"Random Drug Tests"
ABC Catalyst, 24 April 2003
Research is underway to implement random drug tests, given that drugs and marijuana in particular
account for more road deaths in Australia than alcohol.
Media / Internet
"A
"byte" out of spam, a bark at net porn"
QLD AFA media release, 25 July 2003
With Internet pornorgraphy increasing to epidemic levels courtesy of junk email
(spam),
QLD AFA is raising community awareness about the gravity of the problem, correlating it
with the harmful social effects that can result from a regular diet of hard-core net porn.
In contrast to X-rated material, net porn can be extreme
in violence (gang rape some of
is real not acted) and exploitation (child sex). Spam email contains links to
net porn sites, alluding content filtering software by changing
addresses of sites regularly. By crating proposed
anti-spamming to ban pornographic spam, the Government would
take an important step of cranking down on a problem which is
of major concern for parents.
More education for self-regulation in businesses and
homes is also needed.
Contact Senator Richard
Alston, Federal Minister for Communications, Information
technology and the Arts, letting him know of your concerns through PUBLIC VOICE.
"Australian Government to ban spam"
ZDNet Australia, 23 July 2003
Senator Richard Alston, Federal Minister for Communication,
IT and the Arts, announced that the Government plans to
introduce anti-spamming laws later this year. A number of
measures will be introduced for a general crackdown on spam,
such as explicit, reliable identification of the sender,
the ability for the receiver to opt-out of receiving
advertising email, and the banning of email harvesting. Penalties
will range from fines and infringement notices to the ability
to seek injunctions. The local initiative will also seek
cooperation globally to ban spam. Most anti-spamming legalisation,
seen in US state and federal laws, have failed to clean up
spam. QLD AFA advocates specific provisions for banning with pornographic
spam in a way which will encourage law enforcement as well as
market driven self-regulation (see "A Byte out of spam, a
bark at net porn" above).
"Ban pornographic spam"
QLD AFA media release, 8 July 2003
An earlier version of the above media release, which led to
radio interviews Alistair Barros (State President, QLD AFA)
had with ABC Radio in Brisbane and Wide Bay.
"Spam
That Ill O' The ISP: A Reality Check for Legislators"
"Regulating Youth
Access to Pornography"
Australia Institute, March 2003
The report discusses the extensive access to pornography by
teenagers (mainly males), escalated on Internet, despite
current censorship classification and regulatory mechanisms like
the ABA's Online Content Co-Regulatory Scheme (which
"blacklists" web sites deemed unsuitable for
children). It recommends a policy of opt-out content filtering
by Australian Internet Service Providers (e.g. Bigpond,
iPrimus), meaning that ISPs would run software to block access
to web sites containing pornography, unless adults opt-out
(based on specialised identifiers to ensure that younger
people don't do the opt-ing out). As support, it cites a
Newspoll survey where 93% of parents supported automatic
filtering at ISPs. While useful, this an one proposal, which
along with others need to be assessed for technical and social
perspectives. QLD AFA's identifies different options in "Regulating
Internet porn."
"Youth and
pornography in Australia"
Australia Institute, February 2003
This report should be read in conjunction with the Australia
Institute paper "Regulating Youth Access to Pornography" (just
above). It provides an insight into the increased extremity
and violence of Internet pornography over X-rated material,
correlating this with the risks in teenager psychological
development and later sexual aggression. Based on a Newspoll survey of teenagers,
it details the widespread access to pornographic content,
escalated on the Internet through a lack of regulations and
SPAM (or junk advertising) email which prompts teenagers who
don't otherwise seek pornographic material to easily link to
it.
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