Australian Apology

Posted on February 13, 2008
Filed Under current affairs | 1 Comment

I think this apology by the Australian Prime Minister to the Aborigines is fantastic. We need to see more apologies like this in the world to people groups who have been hounded out of their homes, who have been treated appallingly, and who have been neglected and ignored by the world around them. I pray that the Australians are an example and inspiration to other countries in the world to stand up and make formal apologies to those they have let down. Likewise, I think we should learn from the wrongdoing in the treatment of various people groups around the world. We are all created and loved by the creator. I’d love the world to live in harmony, I know that’s not realistic, but I’d love to see it.

The following is the historic formal apology given to the Aboriginal people of Australia by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on behalf of its parliament and government. Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations - this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.

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Primaries

Posted on February 13, 2008
Filed Under current affairs | Leave a Comment

I think it’s Obama all the way now. Time will tell if change will take place, but I think history is about to be made.

Oh My Goodness

Posted on February 13, 2008
Filed Under family news | 9 Comments

Isn’t it amazing how a moment in your life can totally change the way life is, the way you feel and I guess even act, such as finding Christ, becoming a parent, getting the job you’ve always wanted and so on. Today we’ve had, what is for us, a defining moment in life which has totally changed our mood from one of “Is it ever going to happen?” to “WOOHOO!”. Most of you will laugh at this, but after two years and three months we have received our ninety day letter from the Canadian High Commission in London! This basically is a letter informing us that our application is about to be processed so we have ninety days to update our information. Following those ninety days our application will take about six months to go through - that means we might be out there before the end of 2008! Yey! I’m a mixture of emotions right now! Going through this process is so long, and you start to wonder if it is ever going to happen, and life does to a degree go on hold, you feel in limbo. I was praying on Monday evening, and I felt like God say that change is coming, well, I’m going to embrace that change :-) I want to scream from the rooftops, I want to laugh, I want to cry! An insignificant piece of information for you guys, but so the start of a life changing process for us.

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Will We See Change?

Posted on February 12, 2008
Filed Under thoughts | 3 Comments

Jonathan and I were talking this morning about church - kind of like the normal conversations we have! We talked about where it is all going, what change is happening etc. We know that small change is happening, there is a shift.  However, we contemplated if we would really see a change in our lifetime - as in major shift of thinking and doing, or would it more likely be something which our children (who are currently 8 and 6) or grandchildren will end up seeing? What do you think?

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New blog series

Posted on February 11, 2008
Filed Under blog | 2 Comments

Josh Brown has just begun a series called Challenging the Critiques of Emergent, which he will be addressing the common critiques of Emergent. The first post is called “A White Man’s World” in which he discusses the common claim that Emergent is a bunch of white guys sitting around discussing theology. It has already got a great discussion going on, do go and check it out if you have time.

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