The Record

Winter 2011

Hype over asylum seekers doesn’t match the reality page 6

poetry

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The Vagrant I met him down near Squalor Lane, Where drunks and druggies dwell; With sallow skin and sunken eyes And a voice that was tuned in hell.

“Good-day” said I, “Good-day” said he “Can you spare me a dollar or two?

I haven’t eaten for quite some time, I’m not as lucky as you.”

He took the fiver I offered him; Not a word of thanks did he say; Just mumbling something under his breath, He stumbled and staggered away.

Now I often ponder the fate of those Condemned to survive on the street; And to scavenge all day in garbage bins In search of a scrap to eat.

Who try to sleep on a wooden bench Exposed to the cold and the rain, With a bottle of plonk in a brown paper bag, Relief from the sorrow and pain.

I never heard that voice again, His time had come to die, And they found him down by the river bank, Where the whispering willows sigh.

And still they sigh in the gentle breeze For the lonely vagrant man, Who seldom knew the warmth of a smile Or the touch of a caring hand.

And they plead for the poor ones of the earth; “Can’t you spare a dollar or two, They live with hunger all their days, They are not as lucky as you.”

The St. Vincent de Paul “poor box” is in the foyer of the church. Can YOU spare a dollar or two?

Jim Cleary Mooroolbark Conference, Victoria

In this issue The Society is a lay Catholic organisation that aspires to live the Gospel message by serving Christ in the poor with love, respect, justice, hope and joy, and by working to shape a more just and compassionate society.

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Poetry Inspirational poems.

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Frontlines From the National President Anthony Thornton.

This logo represents the hand of Christ that blesses the cup, the hand of love that offers the cup, and the hand of suffering that receives the cup.

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News in brief News from the Society and beyond.

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Hype over asylum seekers doesn’t match the reality The asylum seeker issue need not be as complicated as it made out to be, writes Suzie Stollznow.

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Harm minimisation A ‘hand up’ for problem gamblers by Steve Doyle.

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Clemente program puts university within reach The Society combines with Australian Catholic University and Mission Australia to help break the cycle of poverty through tertiary education.

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The National Immersion Program: More than meets the eye Vincentian Glenn Colla tells of his experience living with the Nganmarriyanga community, Northern Territory.

The Record is published four times a year by the St Vincent de Paul Society National Council of Australia.

National Council of Australia PO Box 243, Deakin West, ACT, 2600 Contact: Donna Scheerlinck Phone: 02 6202 1200 Email: admin@svdpnatcl.org.au Web: vinnies.org.au Editors: Rebecca Comini and Arlene Eastman The Record is overseen by an editorial committee comprising Rebecca Comini and Dr John Falzon.

Advertising: Donna Scheerlinck Phone: 02 6202 1200 Email: admin@svdpnatcl.org.au Design: Jeremy Yuen / Ramesh Weereratne Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne Catholic Communications

PO Box 146, East Melbourne

Victoria, 8002 Phone: 03 9926 5759 Web: www.cam.org.au/communications Printing: Doran Printing

46 Industrial Drive, Braeside

Victoria, 3195 Phone: 03 9587 4333 Email: sales@doran.com.au Web: www.doran.com.au The St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia wishes to acknowledge that we are on Aboriginal land. We pay respects to all traditional custodians.

This publication may contain images of deceased members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. They are used with the greatest respect and appreciation.

13-16 Assist a Student Supporter Newsletter 2011 The annual newsletter of the Assist a Student program.

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18-19 Created by tenants for tenents The story of a community health survey by Michael Thorn.

20-21 Stories from the Struggletown library Dr John Falzon on the 2011 Federal Budget 22-23 The penalisation of people living in poverty In Australia, and in many parts of the world, people living in poverty face tremendous penalties, writes James Farrell.

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From the archives: Brothers and sisters In the 1880s and 1890s, women’ were involved in the Society through their own ladies associations, sewing guilds and conferences, writes Michael Moran.

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The Mail Letters to the Editor

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Reflection The Bible of the Poor by Matthew and Luke

Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers.

Cover photo: www.sxc.hu/profile/hellosa

T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

Reasons to smile: self-esteem and dental issues How one conference is helping to provide dental treatments to those in need.

frontlines | anthony thornton

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When in Ireland...

Welcome to this edition of The Record. I am writing this just after returning to Australia from a meeting of the International Council General of the St Vincent de Paul Society. This was my first time representing Australia and I have to say that I was given a very warm reception by our Vincentian sisters and brothers from across the globe.

We met in Dublin, but the atmosphere was completely cosmopolitan since our gathering was a rainbow of nations.

We spent long hours in meeting, with the aid of interpreters and with an abundance of good will and openness to each other.

The whole experience really changed my outlook on things and l would like to share a little of this with you.

First of all, I was confronted by the sheer enormity of the challenges faced by Vincentians in countries crushed by the weight of incredible poverty and sadness.

The beautiful thing about this, however, was the utter joy and goodness of spirit of the Vincentians in these countries. They were absolutely committed to giving their all and to using their meagre resources to do something beautiful for God by being uncompromisingly on the side of the poor and oppressed. I found myself, being from such a prosperous country, feeling deeply inspired and deeply humbled.

It made me reflect on what it means to be a Vincentian; on what our priorities should be; on what should be uppermost in our thoughts and hearts. How easy it is for us to get caught up in energy-wasting internal politics and disputes and on wasteful divisions and territorial attitudes of possessiveness and pettiness!

I met, for example, a great guy from Lebanon, who explained to me how they minister to the poor through a health clinic.

His neighbour was the representative from Palestine who faced not only the grinding poverty of his people but also brutal oppression by the Israeli government. He spoke movingly of the plight of Jerusalem, so sacred to our Christian story.

Secondly, I could feel the vision of Frederic Ozanam and his young companions. Here indeed was a global network of love and charity. Like all loving relationships, of course, it’s not perfect. Far from it! I have always believed, however, that the perfect is the enemy of the good.

If we spend too much time agonising over our imperfections, personally or collectively, we will only be creating massive obstacles to our ability to do some good. And in the end, what else are we here for but to simply do some good.

Time and time again I could feel the sense amongst these diverse brothers and sisters

that they had a strong ethic of solidarity between the nations. On reflection I realised that Australia, as an island nation, can be particularly insular. Unlike most of the rest of the world, we don’t share borders with other nations. We can tend to feel that the only problems that really matter are our problems and that we don’t need anyone else’s problems. I think that this attitude goes some way to explain our appalling treatment of asylum seekers, and I commend the cover story to you on this burning issue. In a perverse way, it also goes towards explaining the way that the First Peoples of Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, have been, and continue to be, treated like strangers in their own land. We need to do a great deal of work to change the way we think about Australia and, in doing so, change the way we think about our relationship with the rest of the world.

We could start, I would suggest, by feeling a greater sense of friendship and support for our immediate neighbours in South-East Asia and the Pacific!

I’ve included a few photographs to try and give you a taste of what I was privileged to experience in Dublin. And yes, I confess I did enjoy one or two Stouts! As they say: When in Ireland... ◆ Anthony Thornton National President st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

news in brief

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Vinnies elects new National President Anthony Thornton, a Shanghai-born Canberran, was elected in March as the new President of the St Vincent de Paul Society National Council of Australia.

Mr Thornton was awarded an MBE for his service in the RAAF and has been a member of the St Vincent de Paul Society for 17 years. He was formerly the President of the Society’s Canberra-Goulburn Central Council and, more recently, the Society’s National Secretary.

Mr Thornton said he looked forward to leading the Society in Australia for the next four years.

“We’ve never done this with any fanfare and we’re not about to start.

“We will, however, continue to be a strong voice for the people who have been pushed to the edges of Australian society: people doing it tough on pensions and benefits, people in low-paid work, people who are homeless, people who live with a mental illness, asylum seekers and members of the First Peoples who have been dispossessed and excluded.”

Mr Thornton said he looks forward to listening to the people on the ground and working closely with them to build a more just and compassionate Australia. ◆

“We are ordinary people lending a hand to anyone in need,” he said.

Inspirational Mini Vinnies

By Dr John Falzon I was visiting the Blue Mountains on the Queens Birthday long weekend and had the great joy of visiting this wonderful street stall in Springwood, run by these four inspiring Mini Vinnies members. I thought I would share the photo with you.

For anyone who thinks that these dedicated Vincentians are the social activists of tomorrow, think again.

They are actually the social activists of today. ◆

A Story thAt needS remembering!

Stories of De La Salle Brothers caught behind the Iron Curtain – abused, imprisoned, separated, spied upon and restricted in their ability to work as Brothers. They remained faithful, and now work again with youth, fulfilling De La Salle’s hope that his followers would be brothers to one another and brothers to the young.

BroTherS To one AnoTher rrp $24.95 (incl GST) Available from your religious bookstore or direct from the publisher.

David Lovell Publishing Po Box 44 east Kew 3102 tel/fax 03 9859 0000

T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

CEOs get a wintery taste of homelessness

Condemning the asylum seeker swap deal

The Vinnies CEO Sleepout was a huge success across Australia this year.

Held on the night of 16 June, over 1000 CEOs slept out, raising $4 million for the Society’s homelessness services. More importantly, however, the event was a powerful symbol of the community’s concern about the scandal of persistent homelessness in an affluent country.

Now, more than ever, the Society is committed to call for housing for all as a fundamental human right. ◆

The St Vincent de Paul Society National Council, along with many other organisations, has endorsed the following statement regarding the Federal Government’s ‘Malaysia solution’ for asylum seekers. The ‘Maylasia Deal Statement’ was agreed in at the UNSW Centre for Refugee Research’s Refugee Conference 2011, held 14-17 June.

We strongly urge the UNHCR to condemn a swap deal that would see 800 asylum seekers sent from a country that has signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, Australia, to a non-signatory country, Malaysia.

consultation is the way forward Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must be listened to when it comes to improving quality of life outcomes and better services in their communities, according to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda.

Marking four years since the former Coalition Government announced the fiveyear Northern Territory Emergency Response which suspended the Racial Discrimination Act, banned pornography and alcohol, compulsorily acquired land and compulsorily managed the income of Indigenous people in 73 prescribed communities, Commissioner Gooda said it was time to go back to basics.

“We were told the Little Children Are Sacred Report was the driving force for the Intervention which had protecting women and children as its top priority,” Commissioner Gooda said.

“One of the fundamental problems with the Intervention is that it didn’t implement the report’s first recommendation which was that Aboriginal people had to be consulted.”

Commissioner Gooda acknowledged that the Intervention had delivered some benefits,

such as more resources for policing and infrastructure but he said these improvements were the basic supports that other parts of Australia had always had and which were taken for granted there.

“We need to maintain these efforts but we need to be targeted and we need to be talking to the people whose lives are most directly affected by these things,” Commissioner Gooda said.

Commissioner Gooda said the challenge ahead was overcoming the hurt caused by the Intervention which treated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people differently from the rest of Australia.

“It gives me no pleasure to say that I fear the relationships between governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been badly damaged by the Intervention and we need to repair these relationships urgently.

“The Intervention is scheduled to finish in August next year. Now’s the time to correct what didn’t work and build on what did,” he said. ◆ Source: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/about/ media/media_releases/2011/52_11.html

This agreement not only breaches Australia’s international law obligations to protect those seeking asylum but directly undermines UNHCR’s core mandate in a number of significant respects. Firstly, the fundamental rights of those fleeing persecution and seeking protection from a Convention country, including those set out in EXCOM Conclusion 28, will be denied, setting a dangerous global precedent. Secondly, those being removed will be denied the prospect of any real durable solution and instead face the very real prospect of ongoing human rights abuses. Thirdly, by overtly politicising resettlement this agreement further undermines a principled approach to resettlement, based on compelling need, rather than a resettlement state’s vested political interests. Finally, given Australia has stated it will not resettle any of the 800 removed, it will undoubtedly separate families, undermining UNHCR’s attempts to ensure ‘derivative status’ applies to vulnerable women and children.

This agreement also has the potential to legitimise the current treatment of asylum seekers and refugees in Malaysia, a practice that falls seriously below international human rights standards as set out in Articles 2 to 34 of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Again, we strongly urge UNHCR to condemn this agreement. ◆

st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

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asylum seekers | suzie stollznow

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Hype over asylum seekers doesn’t match the reality

By Suzie Stollznow According to the Federal Government, we have an asylum seeker ‘problem’. Malaysia is part of the proposed solution. The proposal means that, over four years, Australia will accept 4000 refugees who are currently living in Malaysia and who have been assessed by the United Nation’s refugee agency, the UNHCR. In exchange, Malaysia will take in 800 people who have arrived by boat in Australia, seeking our protection (asylum seekers).

In Malaysia, they will be sent to the back of the ‘queue’ and will need to be assessed by the UNHCR. This, we are told, will send a clear message to people smugglers and would-be asylum seekers not to come to Australia. On paper, this arrangement may sound suitable; however, the success of this initiative relies heavily on the public misconception in Australia that we have an asylum seeker ‘problem’.

When I read the barrage of press releases and media reports on this issue, I am struck immediately by two things: the language used, and how a government can overcomplicate a simple issue.

First, the language: we are told we need to ‘stop the boats’; we are told that we have an increase in ‘irregular maritime arrivals’; we have a ‘problem’; there are ‘people smugglers’. The Federal Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, said, “The problem with this deal is that for every one they take, we take five of theirs and we pay for the whole lot.”

T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

It is easy to speak of stopping the boats because a boat is just that, a boat. As Vincentians, we can’t help but ask, “Who is on the boats? Who are we stopping when we stop the boats? Who are we trading with Malaysia??”.

that we must have limits and this is certainly the case. However, not everyone wants to come. Australia has only a small number of asylum claims annually, approximately two per cent of the industrialised world’s asylum claims.

It is shocking to remember that we are talking about people. Worse, we are talking about people who, in the main, desperately need our help. So desperately, that they risk their lives on a dangerous boat journey because they believe that, if they stay where they are, their lives will be at an even greater risk.

As a signatory to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention), Australia has an obligation to accept people who arrive on our shore and ask for our protection. But even the word, ‘obligation’, belies the true significance of the issue.

People in danger are asking for assistance, often with children, or unaccompanied children, and we focus on obligation.

We are a prosperous country with a high standard of living. We instruct our children to value the importance of sharing and to respect other children in the playground but when people come to us in need, we speak of obligation.

Perhaps as individuals, we could swap the word ‘obligation’ with the word ‘desire’. We desire to assist people who come to our shore in need of assistance.

Countries in the developing world host the majority of refugees and asylum seekers. Pakistan, Congo, Zimbabwe, Syrian Arab Republic and Kenya all have numbers of asylum seekers in the hundreds of thousands. Countries such as the UK, US, Canada, France and Sweden all have much higher numbers of asylum applications. Even if you look at per capita applications of asylum, in 2010 Belgium had approximately half the population of Australia (10 million people), but approximately double the number of asylum applications (19,900).

Australia last year received 8,150 asylum applications, 5,315 of which were boat arrivals. In the 2011-12 Budget, the overall migration program in Australia increased to 185,000. If we take last year’s boat arrivals as a measure, which is a generous estimate given that this year’s boat arrivals are significantly lower than last year’s, then boat arrivals constitute only .02 per cent of our overall migration program. Any which way you look at it, we have very small numbers of asylum seekers, boat people, irregular maritime arrivals, boats.

Secondly, successive Federal Governments have overcomplicated a relatively simple issue. Opponents of this view will explain

It is difficult to see why, as a country that has signed on to the refugee convention and has an annual rate of asylum

“Who is on the boats? Who are we stopping when we stop the boats? Who are we trading with Malaysia?”

In June 2010, Amnesty International released a report, Abused and Abandoned: Refugees Denied Rights in Malaysia, which describes abuse, exploitation and arrest.

Asylum seekers in detention lack sufficient food and drinking water, and children are held with adults in filthy and overcrowded conditions.

with this agreement. Additionally, it has not ruled out sending children and unaccompanied minors to Malaysia.

Whilst the final documentation is yet to be released, interviews with the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen, indicate that the intention is to send all people who arrive by boat, including unaccompanied minors and children, to Malaysia. The Amnesty report also highlights that children and unaccompanied minors are not exempt from detention and one woman reported only being able to raise the money to visit her 15-year-old son three times in a year.

The report also highlights that asylum seekers in Malaysia are recognised as illegal because Malaysia has not signed the Convention. Illegal entry to Malaysia is a crime punishable by caning. Can our government guarantee that the asylum seekers who are being sent to Malaysia will not be subjected to the same treatment as the other 92,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia who are randomly arrested and subject to caning by the People’s Volunteer Corps. Australian and Malaysian refugee advocates believe that it will not be possible to make such a guarantee. In summary, the Amnesty report (conducted six months before the government’s ‘Malaysia solution’ was first mentioned in public) states: “Malaysia’s resettlement needs far outweigh capacity.”

The detail of the agreement is yet to be released, and some of these issues may be addressed; however, the question remains, has Australian compassion drifted so far from assisting a stranger in need that we now see individuals, women and children who come to us, asking for protection for their lives, as “irregular maritime arrivals”?

Concerns regarding the evils of people smugglers and the dangerous boat journey to get to Australia merely detract from the core issue. Where there is a market for people to escape persecution, there will always be people smugglers (probably acting out of compassion and a desire for profit in equal measure) and dangerous journeys. The core issue remains that the people on the boats that we are deterring are just that: people.

Despite the many reports and concerns highlighted by the UNHCR, the Australian Government is persisting

The issue need not be as complicated as it has consistently been made in Australia.

The low numbers of asylum seekers

applications that is less than one per cent of its total migration program, we are then considering expensive solutions that involve swapping vulnerable people with a country with a seriously questionable human rights record, particularly in regard to asylum seekers.

who apply for protection can be held in detention until security clearances and health checks are completed and then released to live in the community until their protection claims are assessed.

Even if each individual and family received only a basic living allowance, the financial costs, the emotional toll and the potential risk of harm would be far less than under the current policy of indefinite detention and a complicated ‘Malaysia solution’ (or ‘Pacific solution’ for that matter). Recently, a university student asked me “if it’s that simple and the numbers of applications are so low, why is it all such a big deal?” The debate has become politicised and for that we can blame our politicians. But for the failure to stand up and say “as Australians we desire to assist those in need”, we can only blame ourselves.

We have an obligation under the Refugee Convention, yes; but more than that, shouldn’t we want to assist? Wouldn’t we do the same if we were in their shoes and feared for the lives of our kids? Don’t we remind our children to welcome the new person in school? With bipartisan support for deterrence mechanisms, our only hope is that Australians will rise above the hype and rally in support of those who seek our protection. As Vincentians, let’s lead the way in offering a hand up to this relatively tiny group of people in need. ◆ Suzie Stollznow is the Migrant and Refugees State Coordinator of the NSW State Council. st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

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topic harm |minimisation author | steve doyle

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Harm Minimisation

A “Hand Up” For Problem Gamblers

By Steve Doyle “I stole from friends or borrowed money with concocted stories to hide my gambling losses; I had become a pretty despicable person.

Over the years, I knew my gambling was out of control, but I didn’t want to stop. In the 1990s, I met up with an old friend; he gave me somewhere to live and I have lived with him ever since. I have lied and stolen from him in order to keep gambling; every time he has accepted me back and tried to help me with my gambling. I am sure if it wasn’t for him I would not be alive today. In 2002, after a very heavy gambling session where I lost $7,000 in two days at the casino, I finally realised I had hit rock bottom. I started attending Gamblers Anonymous. I found a fellowship where I wasn’t judged and realised I wasn’t the only gambler.”

From Problem Gambling – More than a matter of winners and losers, St Vincent de Paul Society, NSW, 2010.

T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

Much attention in the media recently has focused on the efforts of independent MP Andrew Wilkie to pressure the Federal Government into taking effective action on gambling reform. Mike Steketee (The Australian, 28 May 2011) draws our attention to the fact that Australians are the world’s biggest losers in respect to gambling, losing $US1,300 for every resident (excluding tourists) aged 17 and over. He goes on to present “staggering” statistics on gambling in Australia and a very cogent argument in support of Mr Wilkie’s crusade for reform of the gaming industry.

What, you may ask, has this to do with the mission of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia? The mission and vision of our Society speak about serving Christ in the poor and “working to create a more just and compassionate Australian society... encouraging them (the poor) to take control of their own destiny.” In this

article, I will attempt to relate these words to the efforts of the Queensland State Social Justice Committee in supporting and advocating for gambling reform in our community. Firstly though, I would like to emphasise that we do not support a prohibition on gambling, viewing it as a legitimate recreational activity, provided it is properly regulated. Our goal is minimising the harm to families in the context of addressing the issues of social disadvantage that make gambling an attractive option for those who can least afford it. Education, mental health, employment and housing all play a vital role here.

In 2010, Dr Andy Marks, Senior Research Officer for the St Vincent de Paul Society in New South Wales, published a research paper entitled Problem Gambling – More than a matter of winners and losers. Dr Marks’s paper examines the findings of the 2010 Productivity Commission Report

“You must not be content with tiding the poor over the poverty crisis. You must study their condition and the injustices which brought about such poverty, with the aim of a long-term improvement.”

– Blessed Frederic Ozanam

into Gambling in regard to the Society’s role in dealing with problem gambling and its relationship to socio-economic disadvantage. He said not-for-profit social service agencies like the Society are most likely to become involved at the stage where gambling becomes a problem.

The 2010 Productivity Commission Report into Gambling found the social costs of problem gambling to be at an estimated $4.7 billion per year. These social costs include suicide, depression, relationship breakdown, lowered work productivity, job loss, bankruptcy and crime. Gaming machines were shown to account for 65 per cent of total expenditure on gambling and 75-80 per cent of problem gambling.

Problem gamblers were said to number 115,000, with another 280 000 categorised to be “at moderate risk”. (This number is all the more staggering when you consider family members and acquaintances

including workmates who are affected by the problem gambler’s behaviour.)

Problem gamblers are estimated to contribute a 40 per cent share of gambling machine losses, which Mike Steketee argues “...goes a long way to explaining the virulent campaign the industry has mounted against reform proposals.”

In the Queensland Community Sector Position Statement Regarding Queensland’s Responsible Gambling Strategy, September 2009, there is a clear demonstration of dangerously high concentrations of poker machines in areas of low socio-economic and indigenous communities. It is therefore clear to our Queensland State Social Justice Committee that a significant social justice issue exists in that those bearing the greatest burden of harm from problem gambling are those who can afford it least and are those who our Society seeks to serve.

Harm minimisation recommendations of the Productivity Commission Report that are supported by our organisation include: • The amount of cash that players can feed into machines at any one time should be limited to $20 (currently up to $10,000).

• There are strong grounds to lower the betting limit to around $1 per ‘button push’ instead of the current $5-$10.

• Shutdown periods for gaming in hotels and clubs are too brief and mostly at the wrong times. They should commence earlier and be of longer duration.

• Better warnings and other information in venues would help.

• Relocating ATMs away from gaming floors and imposing a $250 daily cash withdrawal limit in gaming venues would help some gamblers.

• Problem gambling counselling services have worked well overall. But there is a need for enhanced training and better service coordination.

• Mandatory pre-commitments should be introduced.

In December 2010, the Society released its National Policy of the St Vincent de Paul Society – Harm Minimisation in the Poker Machine Industry, endorsing these recommendations. In February this year, National CEO John Falzon and myself made written and spoken submissions on behalf of the Society to the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform. In March, Cath News (21-25 March) reported that the Catholic Church, which had previously been notably silent in regard to this issue, had come on board to participate in an Australian Churches’ Gambling Taskforce urging gambling reform.

Mandatory pre-commitment measures are the subject of currently proposed legislation. They would empower problem gamblers who have impulse control difficulties to make a rational decision, away from the carefully engineered enticements and distractions of gaming venues (such as alcohol), about how much they are prepared to lose, and lock them out of machines once the limit had been reached. Research has shown that problem gamblers are capable of such rational limitations and that these are beneficial.

Surely this aligns with the Society’s philosophy of a hand up and “encouraging them to take control of their own destiny.”

Mandatory pre-commitment will lead the way in the implementation of effective gambling reform measures recommended continued on page 10 ▶ st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

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harm minimisation

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◀ continued from page 9 by the Productivity Commission. Such measures would enable a gaming machine industry that does not continue to develop and sustain itself at the expense of the most vulnerable in our community.

However, there will be strong resistance to this legislation by the powerful gaming machine lobby (represented by those who produce and market gaming machines, as well as licensed clubs and pubs that operate them) and a great reluctance to implement it on the part of state governments that derive a large proportion of their income from gambling revenue (11 per cent in Queensland in 2008-09) and are supported by large donations made to political parties by the gaming machine lobby. This strong resistance to legislation demonstrates just how dependent the industry is on problem gambling for its revenue.

The arguments put forward to oppose the legislation include the loss of benefits to sporting and community organisations and the decline in services and amenities offered to patrons of licensed clubs and pubs, resulting from loss of revenue. We need to weigh up the benefits against the social costs of problem gambling, and to consider that Western Australia, which has very few poker machines (1750 compared to 97,065 in NSW, and these restricted to casinos) is still able to support high levels of community and sporting participation with a much lower incidence of problem gambling, according to the Productivity Commission report.

Charities (including our Society) and community organisations benefit from grants made by the gaming communitybenefit funds of the various state governments. These funds, however, only serve to legitimise gambling, while returning only a small proportion of revenue so derived to the community (1.18 per cent in Queensland in 2008-09).

Arguments about the economic benefits and employment opportunities provided by the gaming machine industry that would be put at risk by the legislation can be countered by the increased spending and employment opportunities created in other sectors such as housing and T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

Gambling references to consider Churches launch taskforce for gambling reform, Cath News, 23 March 2011, www. cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25565.

Marks, Dr Andy, Problem Gambling – More than a matter of winners and losers, SVDP NSW, August 2010, www. vinnies.org.au/files/NSW/SocialJustice/ Problem%20Gambling%20-%20 Socila%20Justice%20Report.pdf National Policy of the St Vincent De Paul Society – Harm Minimisation in the Poker Machine Industry, December 2010, www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/ gamblingreform_ctte/precommitment_ scheme/submissions.htm Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform, First Report, The design and implementation of a mandatory system for electronic gaming machines, May 2001, www.aph.gov.au/ senate/committee/gamblingreform_ ctte/precommitment_scheme/report/ index.htm 2010 Productivity Commission Report into Gambling, June 2010, www.pc.gov.au/ projects/inquiry/gambling-2009/report

retail, where income will flow towards more socially desirable avenues of spendingSo what can Vincentians do to minimise the effects of gambling and give a hand up to families suffering the effects of problem gambling? As always in our home visitations, we need to treat those we assist with love, respect, hope and joy, recognising the presence of Christ in them, regardless of their circumstances. We need to listen to their stories and, when we become aware of problem gambling contributing to their circumstances, we need to refer them to the appropriate counselling and assistance, such as Gamblers Anonymous or www.gamblinghelpservices.com.au.

Any case studies that you encounter in your visitations would be very valuable to us in our quest for justice. They are very powerful tools: more powerful than statistics, I would suggest, in our work of advocacy. Please forward them to us at

Queensland Community Sector Position Statement Regarding Queensland’s Responsible Gambling Strategy, September 2009 www.qcoss.org.au/sites/ default/files/QLD%20Community%20 Sector%20Statement%20on%20 Gambling%20Sept09.pdf Steketee, Mike, We’re happy to lead the world in gambling, The Australian, 28 May 2011, www.theaustralian.com. au/national-affairs/were-happy-tolead-the-world-in-gambling/storyfn59niix-1226063969816.

Submission on behalf of St Vincent de Paul Queensland Social Justice Committee to the Senate Committee on gambling reform, January 2011, www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/ gamblingreform_ctte/precommitment_ scheme/submissions.htm.

Submission to the Joint Select Committee on Gambling reform Inquiry into pre-commitments scheme, 2011, http://www.vinnies.org.au/files/NAT/ SocialJustice/2010/Submission_to_the_ Joint_Select_Committee_on_Gambling_ Reform_Inquiry.pdf

social.justice@svdpqld.org.au, minus any details that could identify the client. Please raise awareness within your conference of this issue by sharing reading and reflection on this article and the references mentioned below. In terms of advocacy, every Vincentian, indeed every Australian citizen, has a role to play in contacting their federal and state representatives in Parliament and making known your support for the implementation of effective harm minimisation measures for gambling, as recommended by the Productivity Commission and the Society’s National Policy. I can assure you that your voice matters a great deal to your local representative, for that is how this agenda has advanced so far in recent times, under the leadership of independent politicians with a social conscience like Andrew Wilkie and Senator Nick Xenophon. ◆ Steve Doyle is the Social Justice Committee Chair, St Vincent de Paul Society, Queensland.

education | margie dimech

Clemente program puts university within reach

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By Margie Dimech Michael Hackett was 16 when his family moved to Australia from the Philippines. Facing racism and peer pressure, as well as adjusting to his new regional home, the transition proved difficult for the teen, and his school work suffered.

Barely managing to finish high school, as an adult, Michael never felt capable enough to complete tertiary study. It wasn’t until a friend mentioned a unique opportunity that would allow Michael to study as a part of The Clemente Australia Program that he entertained the idea of further study.

Clemente provides university-level education for disadvantaged and marginalised people in Australia. The unique venture, coordinated by the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in association with the St Vincent de Paul Society and Mission Australia, aims to break the cycle of poverty by re-engaging its students, in a meaningful way, both socially and economically.

The 36-year old started studying with Clemente in 2010 and has found the program to be life changing.

“I had my reservations about starting study. I thought it would be too difficult,” said Michael.

“After my first class I felt so enlightened. I was surrounded by people who had different opinions and, discussing them together, I found my interest just grew and grew.”

“It has been such a positive experience for me. I have something to focus on, I really enjoy learning and meeting new people and I am proud to tell people that I am a university student.”

Mary Campbell, who coordinates the program at ACU’s Melbourne Campus, believes the program has immeasurable benefit for its students.

“The achievement of studying at a university level for someone who has been living on the edge of society is truly transformative,” she said.

From left: Clemente Program supporter Nicole Grimwood with recent graduates Jay Daniels, Miranda Madgewick, Anne Jenkins, Fran Opperman and Suzanne Hunt-Tuzo and Relations Coordinator Mary Campbell.

“Clemente Australia is fundamentally different from the traditional outreach model, where experts provide services to disadvantaged people. Instead, Clemente is a strengths-based model, which assumes that the adults in the program have the capability to shape their own goals and improve their life choices. “

of the course, and their willingness and ability to participate in the necessary studies are discussed.”

The subjects undertaken are usually humanities and have the same related content, readings and assessment tasks as mainstream undergraduate students. Class sizes are kept small to ensure students’ learning needs are able to be addressed.

Students also participate in ‘shared learning’ sessions staffed by volunteer ‘learning partners’ from the business, community and corporate sectors.

Research into the effects of the program has found that students become more independent, have improved long-term well-being, and are socially and are more economically engaged in society.

Upon the successful completion of four units, students receive a Certificate in Liberal Studies, and graduating students can undertake further study at university or TAFE or seek employment.

“My learning partners have both been corporate lawyers,” said Michael. “They are very smart and help me broaden my understanding of the course content.”

Clemente Australia programs are adapted from the model of education developed by author Earl Shorris in New York. The first course was offered in 1995 in Manhattan and is currently run in eight locations across Australia. ACU has been running the program since 2008 and has recently seen six students graduate, something that Michael hopes to do in the next year.

Clemente students must be over 18 years old and have a desire to learn, explained Mary.

“I am in the process of finishing my second unit of the four unit course,” he said. ◆

“Admission to each course includes an interview process, whereby potential students are informed as to the nature

This article was first published in Kairos Catholic Journal (www.cam.org.au/kairos) on 12 June 2011 and is reprinted with permission. st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

immersion | glenn colla

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The National Immersion Program – More than Meets the Eye

Photos from the 2011 National Immersion Program.

By Glenn Colla Once a year, Vincentians Australia-wide are invited to apply for the National Immersion Program.

This program is a two-week experience living with Indigenous Australians at Nganmarriyanga Community, 300 kilometres southwest of Darwin, where the Community Council invites us to run school holiday activities for primary school-aged children.

Before travelling to the community, we were given cross-cultural training. It was difficult to put aside all that I had heard about our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, but that was key to getting the full experience.

We were also treated with something very special: a Mass with the Catholic Aboriginal Community at St Martin de Porres in Darwin. There, we had just a glimpse of what real community is about, as Mass was extended to accommodate 15 minutes of ‘the sign of peace’. As we went about greeting each and every person in the church, I remember thinking that it would be hard to feel unwelcome there.

T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

When we explained that we were heading down to the Nganmarriyanga Community, I could see many smile knowingly.

A short, one-hour flight later, we arrived in Nganmarriyanga, where we were met by friendly locals at the airstrip. My first impression, when I saw adults and children fishing for their dinner on the billabong, was that I’d opened the door to a whole new world. We do go fishing down south, but it was evident that fishing in Nganmarriyanga was very much a family and community ritual, not just a pastime.

In the community, the people go about doing regular things: children attend school and parents go shopping, just like where I live. In fact, I could see immediately that we weren’t that dissimilar at all. Each day those on the Immersion Program lived and worked as a small team – who came to be known as ‘the Vinnies Mob’ to the children in the community.

We prayed, ate together, and planned our time with the children. Getting to know the kids was easy – it was almost surreal how accepted we all felt by the entire community. They eagerly anticipated our

activities and left no question unasked as they learned about us.

My motivation for applying was to satisfy my need to understand the disparity on my doorstep. I needed, as Blessed Frederic Ozanam once put it, to “go to visit the garrets in which the poor live; sit at the bedside of the dying, feel the cold which they feel, and learn from their own lips the causes of their woes”.

By the end, I had come to understand what he had really meant – that there is much more to our Aboriginal brothers and sisters than one could ever imagine; that one could never really learn or understand fully the reality of their lives. I’d learned that reading books and watching programs about Aboriginal people could not teach me the riches that I needed to learn about their culture, and I, from my experience, had only learned the tip of the iceberg.

If you haven’t yet applied, I recommend you get involved. This Immersion Program will change your life. ◆ Glenn Colla is the Regional President of the Altona Regional Council, Victoria

Assist a Student Supporter newsletter – 2011

rogram . p p i h s r n schola cle of poverty o i t a c u d An e g the cy n i k a e r at b aimed Welcome to the Assist A Student Newsletter for 2011 It is now over a decade since the Assist a Student (AAS) program began. Not only have the fruits been enormous, but the program continues to have a positive impact on the development of people in poverty in our partner countries.

Volunteer members of the St Vincent de Paul Society in these countries, who help to distribute the educational subsidies, cannot speak highly enough of the program. They have seen, first-hand, the difference it has made to the lives of many individuals, families and their communities. Recipients of the AAS program from 10 years ago are now living proof of how an education can bring about success and happiness by breaking the poverty cycle.

Our past AAS recipients are now teachers, engineers, doctors, tradespeople and midwives, to name just a few occupations; they are now helping their families, villages and communities to become self-sufficient. Most of the past AAS recipients voluntarily join the Society in their country as a way to say ’thank you.’ They say that it is their small way in which they can give something back to the community.

These volunteers are now also greatly promoting the AAS program in their own communities. They are also trying to assist additional students and families who are not able to join the program, because demand for educational assistance in our partner countries in the Asia-Pacific region is far greater than we are able to meet.

Our challenge to all Australians is to help ensure that no child is prevented from attending school because of their poverty. This basic human right is also one of the international ‘Millennium Development Goals’, MDG No. 2: Achieve universal primary education. Yet so many thousands of children in our Asia-Pacific region, so close to us in Australia, are still not able to have this basic human right met.

Let us pledge to do the best we can to promote and support the AAS program as individuals, in our families, work places, communities, sporting and recreational clubs, Churches and parishes, schools etc.

On that note, the Society would like to particularly acknowledge and thank the number of schools in Australia who work hard to raise funds for this educational program, as being teachers, students and parents themselves, they are able to appreciate the importance of education.

Danusia Kaska National Overseas Partnership and Development Officer st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

Distribution of Assist a Student subsidies Each country distributes the AAS subsidies according to the needs of the child or family Attending school involves additional costs, even once fees are paid, and parents in our partner countries often cannot afford to meet these costs.

In East Timor, the AAS subsidies are used by staff to purchase the uniforms, shoes, school bags and stationary for the students, pay their school fees and transport costs to and from school.

In India, the equivalent of the A$70 is given to the student in Indian Rupees. Students are usually children that the local St Vincent de Paul conference has ‘adopted’, as the child has no parents, family or relatives. The families assisted by the AAS program are living under the poverty line. The subsidies assist children in primary level and also through to tertiary education, such as for nursing studies to help communities in need.

Frequently Asked Questions 1. Can we choose the student?

The students supported are chosen by members of the St Vincent de Paul Society in our overseas partner countries. We do not interfere with that process. Scholarships are allocated according to needs across our partner countries to ensure a fair allocation of the funds.

2. Can we choose the country of the student?

The project runs in specific countries in which the St Vincent de Paul Society operates. From each country, we receive of the numbers of applications that they have approved. We try to distribute scholarships as fairly as possible between the countries. Scholarships are, therefore, allocated according to the status of the ‘waiting list’ to ensure fair allocation, which means that supporters cannot choose the country of the student.

3. Can we have the same student each year?

Students are not necessarily given the scholarships in consecutive years. The scholarships are allocated according to needs. Therefore, as the situation of a family/community changes, the need for scholarships may also change.

T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

In Indonesia, the funds are given to children identified as needing assistance by the local St Vincent de Paul conference.

In Fiji, the AAS funds are distributed also to students from struggling families on their lists through their local conferences.

The students use these for school fees, school uniforms, sports fees, gear or uniforms, book fees, building funds etc.

Local volunteers visit the students in their schools to see how they are progressing.

The assistance covers all stages of education from pre-School through to tertiary education. We may not cover the total amount of fees allocated by the institution, but we are able to assist with part payment for a student.

4. How is the scholarship money used?

The scholarship enables the student to continue his/her education/training for one year. Every cent of the A$70 donation goes towards the student you support. The donation is used for tuition/school or course fees, uniforms, books, stationary, travel to school and other materials.

5. What information do supporters receive about the student?

For each A$70, the supporter receives a certificate with the student’s name, country and course of study. A complimentary copy of the St Vincent de Paul Society’s national magazine, The Record, with an Assist A Student newsletter inserted, will be sent annually. Due to privacy laws, photographs and addresses of students are not provided.

6. Are there administration costs?

One of the program’s strongest and most attractive goals is that administration costs are kept to an absolute minimum to ensure nothing is deducted from each A$70 donation to the student. Therefore, the program is kept as simple as possible. For further information, visit www.vinnies.org.au.

7. I would like to support a girl. Is that possible?

To maintain low administration costs of the program, students are randomly matched with donors. It is not possible to allocate preferences.

8. Why does it take time to receive the certificate?

Sometimes, for many varied reasons, it takes longer than expected for the Society in Australia to receive the student names from the overseas partner countries and this may delay the production and distribution of certificates.

9. How is the privacy of the students protected?

Photographs and addresses of the students are not provided to supporters, in order to protect the students’ privacy and dignity under the Rule of the St Vincent de Paul Society.

Stories from students in India In September last year some Australian members of the St Vincent de Paul Society had the privilege to attend the International PANASCO Conference in India, and then to visit our Indian St Vincent de Paul Society members These are some of the students that we met while on our travels, who are being supported by the AAS program.

This man in this photo was a student supported by the AAS program. He has now joined the St Vincent de Paul Society. He studied and completed his teaching degree, thanks to the support of the program, and is now working as a zoology teacher.

A thank you from Kiribati In Kiribati, through the program, we sponsored 300 students from Years 9 to 12 at Sacred Heart High School. Here is a letter of thanks:

On behalf of the school, I would like to say a very big thank you for the (Assist a Student) money we have received for school fees.

Thank you to those who have contributed to the fund. They have been very generous and have big hearts. Very much appreciated.

God bless you all.

This man and his son are from Kerala State in India. The father is currently continuing his studies in engineering, thanks to the support of the AAS program. He is in his final year of study and when he finishes he will be able to obtain an engineering job, which means he will be able to support his family and community. He has also joined the St Vincent de Paul Society in India.

My Dearest Benefactors, Peace and Good Will!

It is my pleasure of having you, supporting always in my studies since third year high school until now in college level. I will always say of my unending thanks to you mostly to the Lord our God for giving me the opportunities to continue my studies and giving me a chance to fulfill my dreams in life. Now, I already finished third year level in college and I wanted to continue and finish the remaining year in Bachelors degree. I am knocking your big hearts to continue the support of my studies, I promise that I always put in my heart and mind to value all the helps and supports, spiritually or financially by always doing good things in school and to all the people around me and I do not forget to help those people in need.

Last semester, I had experienced and learned on how to market if you have your own hotel and restaurant. The teacher assigned us to chose some hotels and interview the manager and staffs, by that, I learned a lot from them and this could help much more to myself. You know my dear benefactors, I loved my course, and I hope and pray that somedy I will get a good job.

Thank you very much.. May the Lord God bless you always.

Kindly regards, Sincerely, Eric st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

Focus on East Timor (Timor Leste) Population: 1,100,000

East Timor is the newest and poorest country in the Asia-Pacific region

Capital City: Dili

Interesting facts:

Only an hour plane ride from Darwin, yet worlds away in its extreme poverty, East Timor continues to suffer the after-effects of a decades-long struggle for independence from Indonesia, which damaged infrastructure and displaced thousands of civilians.

Area:

14,609 sq km (5,641 sq miles)

Life Expectancy:

Men = 60 years Women = 62 years

In a personal trip taken by Vincentian, Danusia Kaska, to this poverty-stricken country in 2010, she was repeatedly implored to help with the education of the children of Timor Leste. A year later, we are now assisting the students with the AAS program, and their appreciation cannot be measured in words.

Population aged 0-14 years, 2009:

45%.

Education in this new country is vital to its establishment and continuing development, now and for the future.

49.9% of people live on less than $1US a day

Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 66.7 in 2010 GDP (Per Capita): Adult literacy rate:

$520 (2008 est.)

50.1%

(source: UN official country profile data, 2010)

Yes, I want to Assist a Student today!

Payment method:  My cheque is enclosed, payable to ‘St Vincent de Paul Society’ OR  Debit my credit card (details below)

 I am an individual assisting a student; or  I am assisting a student on behalf of a group Name (group or individual): Contact name (for group): Telephone:

 Mastercard  Visa Card Expiry: /

Address: Suburb: State:

Name on Card:

Postcode:

Email: I would like to donate:  $70  $140  $210 OR  $ Thank you for your support.

Signature: Please complete your details and send to:

SVDP National Council of Australia PO Box 243, Deakin West, ACT, 2600

good works | mal nolan

Reasons to smile: self esteem and dental issues

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“In the past three years, 113 people have received dental treatment and about two thirds of this has involved full dentures.”

By Mal Nolan Sacred Heart Conference assists people in two of the seven parishes of the central Victorian city of Bendigo. The parishes involved have substantial public housing areas and a generally low socioeconomic population composition. There is a constant heavy demand for assistance, particularly with food, but also with many other areas.

As a result of close association with our clients, we became aware several years ago that many of them had major dental problems. As might be expected, this often led to their feeling embarrassed in public, causing withdrawal into themselves with a reduction in their sense of self esteem.

This was an obvious problem in seeking employment.

One of our more senior members, George, decided that he would take a special interest in this situation and see if things could be improved. We had all heard the horror stories often reported in newspapers of the great delays – often years – in obtaining dental treatment through the public system. Initially, it was difficult to discover exactly what the

situation was in regard to the availability of public dental services. Reference to information on web pages and in various publications often left us none the wiser!

We also discovered later that there is often a considerable difference between information stated in official documents and the situation on the ground. It was clear that a lot of perseverance and personal investigation of the local scene was going to be needed if progress was to be made.

George spent a lot of time visiting a number of dental surgeries in the area and getting to know the staff. He was able to do this successfully because he has that rare ability, well developed over many years in the Mallee region of western Victoria, of being able to relate to people of all types. While the local public dental clinic, a state supported body, is the initial point of contact with clients seeking treatment, there are also some private dentists who agree to undertake public work at reduced fees, and it transpired that about a quarter of the assistance finally obtained was from these dentists. Most of the cases that George handled were of such a type that initial assessment placed them in the highest priority for attention. This meant that, in

the majority of cases, successful dental work was completed within a few months of first contact.

In the past three years, 113 people have received dental treatment and about two thirds of this has involved full dentures.

In the majority of these cases, George has accompanied the person to the surgery, often involving several visits. We have paid the minimal fees required under the public dental scheme, generally $24 for the first visit. The charge for full dentures has been about $120 and all treatment is capped at this amount. We are very grateful to a member of the parish who heard about this activity and provided a substantial amount of the funds required.

We feel that the exercise has been immensely worthwhile. Those who have received treatment have been most grateful, sometimes visiting us to report to George on how they look! Lately, we have obtained a new mobile phone for conference use and some of our members have joked that, since it has a camera, George will now be able to have a ‘before’ and ‘after’ record! ◆ Mal Nolan is a member of the Sacred Heart (Cathedral) Conference in Bendigo, Victoria. st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

topic | author housing | michael thorn

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Created by Tenants for Tenants:

The Story of a Community Health Survey The order of society is based on two virtues: justice and charity. However, justice presupposes a lot of love already, for one needs to love a man a great deal in order to respect his rights, which limit our rights, and his liberty, which hampers our liberty. Justice has its limits whereas charity knows none.

– Blessed Frederic Ozanam

By Michael Thorn As a community worker, one of the outcomes strived for is embarking upon a local project initiated by local residents. Better still; the outcomes of such a project are ones that are favourable to the initiators.

Working with the Animation Project, I have engaged with a variety of local community projects with public housing tenants across the Campbelltown region of NSW. The Animation Project, run by the Society, has supported local residents to make positive social change over the past decade. In recent years, however, as the State Government rolls out a number of redevelopment programs on public housing estates, these local community projects have taken on a social justice edge.

Estate redevelopment is now being carried out in each of the public housing estates that I engage with. This creates an environment where a local public housing tenant’s understanding of community, and how a resident might act within their community, is in a constant state of flux T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

and revision. This is not the fault of the resident who has been advised by the government that they will most likely need to be relocated to another estate, pending the redevelopment.

This can be tough news for the resident to take. Many have entered into a public housing lease with the expectation that this will be their house for life. As the years unfold, they get to know their local neighbourhood: the people living in their street, the shops and services and familiar modes of public transport that they rely upon to survive, family and social networks. All of these supports unravel when a resident is told he or she must relocate and “start again”.

A public housing tenant’s idea of what a community is about suddenly becomes uncertain and precarious, as unexpected change is brought upon them.

It is this sense of uncertainty and anxiety brought forth by estate redevelopment that a group of local residents has chosen to identify and address. In 2009, a group of residents living on the Macquarie

Fields public housing estate, conducted a community health survey on the estate to study the effects of this uncertainty and anxiety.

This was in response to the 2008 announcement by the NSW Government that the Macquarie Fields estate would be redeveloped. Called the ‘Sales Program’, the redevelopment strategy involved refurbishing public housing stock on the estate for the eventual purposes of selling this housing off into the open market. Prior to this announcement, the estate had gained much notoriety and negative stigma due a public disturbance in 2005.

When the Sales Program was announced, many local residents felt a sense of trepidation over what would happen to their housing tenure. This was mixed with a sense of anger, knowing that the government was undertaking redevelopment not to preserve public housing, but rather as a move to push a sizeable chunk of public housing stock into private homeownership.

Long-term residents felt this way because they had a sense of pride and ownership in their homes, as well as in the local neighbourhoods, which they had played their own part in developing over the years.

This community would be lost forever in the name of ‘economic progress’.

At the start of 2009, a group of Macquarie Fields public housing tenants were not only observing a negative response of estate residents to the news of estate redevelopment, but also wanting to confirm and capture this sentiment in a manner that would receive public attention. In turn, there was hope that this would give a whole collection of people a voice where they would not otherwise be heard.

The group of residents approached the Macarthur Housing Coalition (MHC), a regional group comprised of public housing tenants and community service providers from across Campbelltown.

Macquarie Fields residents were aware of previous work that MHC members had undertaken on the redevelopment of the Minto public housing estate, involving a community impact report that highlighted the impact of redevelopment upon the community life.

Macquarie Fields residents asked the MHC if a similar project could be embarked upon in response to the Sales Program. The MHC delegated a working group to coordinate and administer a community health survey on the Macquarie Fields public housing estate, the purposes of which were to see how local residents were thinking and feeling, due to pending estate redevelopment.

Comprising the working group were public housing tenants from the Macquarie Fields estate, staff from the Animation Project, and researchers from the firm Judith Stubbs and Associates, who offered their resources to the working group on a pro bono basis. The St Vincent de Paul Society funded the project that the working group was to undertake.

The working group prepared the survey, and later that year the survey was administered onto the Macquarie Fields public housing estate, concentrating on the 250 homes that were part of the first stage of the Sales Program (there are

from the estate, while others were willing 1300 households on the Macquarie Fields to continue to find ways of keeping that estate). The findings of the survey were publicised at a public meeting in Macquarie which was familiar to them.

Fields in June 2010, and found the following: Shortly after the government announcement to defer houses on • 47 per cent of those surveyed were 55 the Macquarie Fields estate from years or older • 69 per cent had lived in Macquarie Fields redevelopment, Animation held a debriefing session with members of the for 10 years or more survey working group. Resident members • 72 per cent of those whose house was for of the group mentioned five main lessons sale had planned to live in Macquarie that arose when participating in the survey Fields for 10 years or more project: • 44 per cent reported a change in health and wellbeing after the redevelopment was • Participants of the working group observed that the local community was announced experiencing a grieving process since • 58 per cent reported stress, anxiety or hearing of the redevelopment; worry about the redevelopment • Participants noticed feelings of • 49 per cent had good or positive things to powerlessness and resignation among say about the redevelopment neighbours; • 71 per cent had bad or negative things to • While some people were ready to move say about the redevelopment. on, others were not ready, mainly due to living on the estate for more than 20 Whilst there was a mixture of responses years; from local residents regarding the redevelopment, the findings suggested that • Participants understood such people as residents who felt their general wellbeing going though good and bad times over was being affected by redevelopment the years, but ultimately they (as put were more likely to be older, had lived on by a resident working group member) the estate for a long-term basis, or had “don’t feel like starting over again”; and, strong connections to the community • By undertaking the survey, participants and local area. This had confirmed the found that people valued their Housing earlier observation by local residents that NSW house as a “home being more redevelopment had impacted negatively than a house”, and it was felt that on residents, but particularly among those this was overlooked when Housing with a significant stake within their own NSW was coordinating the estate neighbourhoods. redevelopment.

The findings of this survey attracted the interests of State Government and, by August 2010, local residents had gained a favourable outcome: deferment of approximately 30-40 households from the Sales Program until 2015. This was welcomed as a victory by the local residents taking part in the survey working group.

For the volunteer surveyors, it was very powerful to hear the personal stories of residents. There was also the advantage of respondents seeing other residents administering the survey, and so respondents were inclined to feel safe and reveal a more personal account of their experiences.

Ultimately, what the working group participants thought they were seeing was a sense of collective ‘grief ’ among estate residents: some had resigned to moving

The overall intention of the survey working group was to organise and coordinate a community research project driven by public housing residents. Whilst service providers did collaborate, the right for the residents to decide upon the direction of the project was respected, and the residents set the project’s main aims and objectives.

What drove this project was a desire of the working group to use the findings to create a social justice outcome for local public housing tenants. It is a prime example of disadvantaged people working together, in their own interests, to improve outcomes for themselves and their communities. It is justice together with charity, as prescribed by Ozanam. ◆ Michael Thorn is a Community Worker with the Animation Project. st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

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justice | john falzon

“It was in the libraries, both school and municipal, where I did most of my learning.”

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Stories from the Struggletown Library

By Dr John Falzon There was a liberal use of corporal punishment in my high school.

It was in Blacktown in the late 1970s. We were seen as a loutish bunch of lads who needed a firm hand. Most of us copped a taste of the strap or the cane from time to time, even running a bit of a competition to see how many ‘cuts’ we could notch up from any one teacher. It never seemed unusual to any of us, even though at times the violence was brutal and gratuitous.

I don’t feel the least bit of pain in remembering any of this but one thing is clear: it did absolutely nothing to help my education.

It was in the libraries, both school and municipal, where I did most of my learning.

I had a deeply enriching time there and feel a debt of gratitude to the librarians and to those who championed the cause of public libraries.

I don’t know what drove me to the libraries, but I am certain it was not the stick.

Why, I wonder, in these more enlightened times, do we continue to see a class-based approach to the education and training of people who are living on the edges of the economy; a class-based approach that begins, moreover, with the assumption that the more disadvantaged you are classified as being, the more you need to be controlled and coerced?

The 2011 Federal Budget solemnly proclaims the Government’s faith in the virtues of education and training, primarily, it must be said, to prepare you for the even higher T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

virtue of work, spruiked with true Calvinist conviction. The urgency with which we must get potential workers into the labour market is intoned as a matter of national emergency.

It’s funny how quickly we are meant to forget that many of these people were seen as expendable and surplus to the needs of capital in times past. Others have been injured while on the job, sometimes after years of hard and unrewarding work.

It appears to matter little. All are bundled together by Government, Opposition, and the other dismal cheer-leaders for paternalism, as being in need of at least a little nudge, if not a firm hand. The people, and, let’s admit it, entire locations, that have been previously judged to be surplus populations, are now described as the unwilling workers that the nation is crying out for.

Along with the financial penalty stick and the humiliation stick, they are also subjected to the stick of tiresome moralising; told in no uncertain terms that the time has come for them to take responsibility for a change.

The Government and business community are doing all that they can to help you (so the narrative goes). Now you’ve got an obligation to help yourself and stop being dependent on the state.

This discourse is as inaccurate as it is offensive. It ignores the real stories that are happening in real places. Instead, it wallows in the shameful rhetoric of welfare-bashing.

A strong, flexible, social security system, one that actually delivers social security rather

than insecurity and vilification, is essential if we are to build a fairer Australia. A good social security system, however, is not in itself the answer. It should be a means to social, economic and political inclusion, rather than an end in itself.

‘Welfare’, as the Americans like to call it, is neither the problem nor the solution, any more than hospitals are the cause of illness or, indeed, the creators of good health for society. You wouldn’t want to be without hospitals, would you? And neither should we acquiesce to the whittling away of a robust social security system. Especially not under the guise of forcing people to learn and be trained.

The Government can threaten with all the sticks under the sun but this will not lead people to learning. They can suspend a young mother’s entire income if they want. This will cause hardship for both mother and child and it will mean that the young woman will need to get assistance from her extended family or friends, neighbours or a charity. But will it instil a desire to learn? It will not.

It will, on the other hand, teach the young woman a little bit about society. It will teach her that she is of little value and that she is able to be controlled and disciplined and made to ask for charity. It will teach her, perhaps, how to develop innovative ways of survival; how to work within, or around, the social security system. It will teach her many things about where she sits in the social order; things that I fervently hope she will one day challenge, critique and, with others, undo.

During the welfare-to-work measures imposed by the Howard Government, a fascinating report, entitled Much Obliged, was written by Mark Considine from the University of Melbourne, Gavin Dufty from the St Vincent de Paul Society, and Stephen Ziguras from the Brotherhood of St Laurence.

Their research, which received far too little recognition, demonstrated that increasing compliance measures under the hallowed banner of mutual obligation did little to actually facilitate employment participation.

In their survey of the experience of disadvantaged job-seekers, they found: Contrary to the aims of active labour market policy, the emphasis on compulsory activities appears to generate avoidance and resentment.

While people may comply, these requirements are in practice not a means to finding work, but rather a necessity for remaining eligible for benefits. In effect, then, the system operates for many disadvantaged job seekers not as ‘welfare to work’ but ‘welfare as work’.

And poorly paid work, at that: since 1996 our unemployment benefit has fallen from 54 per cent to 45 per cent of the after-tax minimum wage.

You don’t create a smart and confident Australia by taking to people with the stick or keeping them below the poverty line.

This might have sat well with the moral prescriptions of the mid to late 19th century and it might be a clever way of scoring political points, but it will not build a stronger, smarter economy or a fairer society.

sometimes a matter of one stick fits all. Some of the most innovative attempts at social policy involve creating different sizes and shapes of sticks. Not the kind of diversity we hope for!

Disability advocacy groups have been good at explaining the concept of the social relations of disability, whereby the negative impact of disability is constructed and exacerbated by the barriers our socio-economic formation erects, especially in regard to economic and social participation.

This is a useful conceptual framework and is profoundly applicable to all who are condemned for the sin of un-productivity.

People are made and pulled apart by social and economic structures that dehumanise, compartmentalise, destroy, humiliate and blame.

We build walls around people on the basis of their race, class, gender or disability. The same people are then condemned for lacking the ‘aspiration’ to scale these walls.

With both sides of politics singing the praises of ‘tough love’ in the months preceding the Budget, we would have been surprised had there not been anything there that smacked of coercion and paternalism. The Budget wasn’t all negative; not by a long stretch. The investment in mental health is groundbreaking. I do hope, however, that the punitive treatment of people on social security benefits will not cause greater problems with mental health.

But let us, with unabashed nerdiness, return to A harsher welfare compliance regime and the extension of compulsory income management my beloved library. are measures that assume that if you are One of the great attractions of the library was disadvantaged your problem is idleness. its diversity. All sorts of books sat next to each Idleness is not the problem. The problem is other, offering all sorts of windows onto the entrenched inequality. world. When, one time, I asked the school The fact remains that for a single unemployed librarian to explain the torn-out page from Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground person, the battle to survive on $34 a day in Britain, she told me that one of the Brothers is waged from below the poverty line. The Government is right to look at this and say performed this act of censorship because that life should be better, but wrong to claim there was a rude word in one of the poems.

Of course, I had no choice then but to save up that the answer lies in making life harder. and buy a copy and yes, it is still on my shelf.

I am very hopeful that, during this time of How welcome it would be to see a greater diversity of responses to the diversity of stories that bring people into the social security system and the labour market; how good to see no more pages torn out of people’s stories — no more pretence about the conditions in which people are struggling. Sadly, it’s

low unemployment, many people will find jobs. The story is not, however, as simple as it seems. Unemployment rates are still high in some locations and among certain age groups.

Professor Bill Mitchell of the University of Newcastle’s Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) reminds us:

The evidence continues to show that the Australian labour market continues to fail our teenagers (15-19 year-olds) and exclude them from employment growth. Teenage employment growth in the last month remained negative, losing 500 jobs (net) — loss of 5000 full-time jobs and gain of 4500 part-time jobs. The overall decline in teenage employment has been a continuing trend over the last few years.

At a time when we keep emphasising the future challenges facing the nation in terms of an ageing population and rising dependency ratios, the economy still fails to provide enough work (and on-the-job experience) for our teenagers who are our future workforce...

It makes a mockery of those (like the bank economists and our politicians) who claim we are close to full employment. An economy that excludes its active teenagers from any employment growth at all is not one that is using its existing capacity to its potential. An economy that sheds 73,000 jobs that were formerly held by teenagers (including 72,000 full-time jobs) is nowhere near full employment.

I am confident that, no matter how hard the forces of coercion and control are arraigned to break people, people will continue to be resilient in the face of oppression. We are all broken in some ways, but out of our shared brokenness we shall create a new kind of society.

The women and men who are currently not listened to still have their stories, still carry the knowledge of what has happened, what is happening, and what needs to happen.

Another kind of world is possible because of the truth that is told by those who live on the margins. And if we look a little bit closer, we will see that the ‘margins’ are actually at the heart of our society. It all depends on where you stand.

Finally, I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude and solidarity with all the community organisations working with, and on the side of, people who are pushed to the margins. There is a natural affinity among all who listen to the stories of the people on the margins and who work to nurture the seeds of a new society growing from those stories. ◆ D r John Falzon is the Chief Executive Officer of the St Vincent de Paul Society National Council of Australia.

This article was published in Eureka Street (www.eurekastreet.com.au) on 24 May 2011 and is reprinted with permission. st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

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poverty topic | author | james farrell

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The Penalisation of People Living in Poverty

The reality is that people are penalised for living in poverty in Australia.

We’ve had a number of clients who live in rooming houses call us over the past couple of years because they’ve been evicted into homelessness. The most common reason is that the property they’re living in can be renovated and sold to people who can afford to buy in the trendy inner-suburbs.

One of them was Kristy. We couldn’t help Kristy stay in her home but we were able to find somewhere for her to stay while she tried to find some long-term accommodation, which is difficult, given our current housing affordability crisis.

Take Rob, who is homeless and has major kidney problems. Rob tried to access a dialysis machine, but was unable to borrow one. Instead, he has to travel for an hour on public transport every third day to come to a hospital (where he feels as though he’s treated rudely) for his treatment, then spend another hour on public transport to get back to his marginal accommodation.

When our lawyers first started this program in Melbourne 10 years ago, we met Dan, who had been living on the streets for years.

Because Dan didn’t have anywhere safe to call home, he’d hang around Flinders Street Station, sometimes having a drink with his friends and, generally, without a train ticket.

Dan had accumulated over $100,000 worth of fines because he was punished for being homeless.

Deb’s homeless ex-husband used to stay at her house one night a week to spend some time with their daughter. Centrelink cut off Deb’s parenting payment, as they deemed that she and her husband were in a “marriage-like relationship”. We were forced to use legal action to reinstate her rights.

Recently, I attended an expert research workshop in Geneva with the International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP).

The ICHRP is examining the penalisation of people living in poverty, and will inform a report to the United Nations General Assembly later this year.

The reality is that people are penalised for living in poverty in Australia.

As the only Australian attendee, I listened to stories from Kenya, India, Canada,

By James Farrell Each week, teams of lawyers around the country visit soup kitchens, crisis shelters and other welfare agencies to provide advice and assistance to some of the 105,000 Australians who experience homelessness every night.

While we can’t always find them a roof, we can help them address some of the other barriers they face.

T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

Argentina, the USA, Brazil, South Africa and others and was shocked by many of the stories people were telling. I wasn’t shocked by the impacts of poverty on people in these far-off places; I was shocked by how much of it reflected the experiences of the people we work with every day in Melbourne and around Victoria.

The aim of the ICHRP project is to identify and combat the increasing tendency to penalise people living in extreme poverty around the world through criminal and non-criminal measures. The four key themes that we explored included: • Penalising poverty through criminal and non-criminal measures: the impact of laws, regulations, or practices that penalise or criminalise the use of public spaces or other behaviours and actions of people who are homeless, lack adequate housing or live and work on the streets/ public spaces (Dan).

• Governance of urban spaces and urban planning: laws, regulations and practices with respect to zoning, urban beautification and redevelopment have considerable impacts on the redevelopment of land occupied by poor people (Kristy).

???

“Poverty is a relative concept used to describe the people 23 in a society that cannot afford the essentials that most people take for granted. While many Australians juggle payments of bills, people living in poverty have to make difficult choices – such as skipping a meal to pay for a child’s textbooks.”

• Public health: focusing on ways public health policies may disproportionately impact on persons living in poverty, especially measures such as restrictions on freedom of movement, forced treatment, involuntary institutionalisation and surveillance (Rob).

• Governance and policing of welfare: developments in the governance and administration of welfare measures and institutions that disproportionately affect people in poverty, especially their liberty, dignity and privacy (Deb).

We think that we live in the lucky country, and generally we do. But in Australia, like many other parts of the world, people living in poverty face tremendous penalties.

The Australian Council of Social Service defines poverty as follows: “Poverty is a relative concept used to describe the people in a society that cannot afford the essentials that most people take for granted. While many Australians juggle payments of bills, people living in poverty have to make difficult choices – such as skipping a meal to pay for a child’s textbooks.”

In Australia, the term “poverty” refers to those whose living standards fall below an overall community standard. People

living in poverty not only have low levels of income; they also miss out on opportunities and resources that most take for granted, such as adequate health and dental care, housing, education, employment opportunities, food and recreation.

In Australia, as in many other parts of the world, people living in poverty face tremendous penalties.

Part of understanding this issue relates to income poverty and the significant difference between income support payments (pensions, unemployment payments, youth/student payments) and the Henderson Poverty Line. The poverty line measures how much individuals and families require to cover essential living costs. In 2008, the National Welfare Rights Network identified that a single unemployed adult received benefits at 26 per cent below the poverty line and an independent student was paid at approximately 38 per cent below.

But understanding poverty should not be restricted to consideration of income.

It’s hard to disagree with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who has said that “poverty erodes or nullifies economic and social rights such as the right to health, adequate housing, food and safe water, and the right

to education. The same is true of civil and political rights such as the right to a fair trial, political participation and security of the person.” In other words, being poor affects everything, and we see this every day with the people we assist.

The United Nations defines poverty by adopting a “capability approach”, which essentially considers the well-being of an individual and their ability to “do or be” certain things. In addition to the concept of “inadequate command over economic resources”, this approach also involves the identification of “certain basic capabilities that would be common to all – for example, being adequately nourished, being adequately clothed and sheltered, preventable morbidity, taking part in the life of a community, and being able to appear in public with dignity.”

An understanding of poverty must address health, shelter, public participation, human dignity and income. But most of all, an understanding of poverty demands that we do not punish people like Dan, Deb, Kristy and Rob, simply for being poor. ◆ James Farrell is Manager/Principal Lawyer of the PILCH Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic.

Names have been changed.

This article was first published in www.rightnow.org.au on 29 May and is reprinted with permission. st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

archives | michael moran

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Brothers and Sisters The Society’s annual reports in the 1880s-1890s describe these Associations as “great aids” and “excellent auxiliaries” to the men of the St Vincent de Paul Society, but in fact the women were doing similar work in their own right. In the words of an 1890 report, “these (Associations) have been bravely carrying on the work of charity, by visiting and assisting the poor in many ways and particularly the female poor, who have received liberal aid in food, clothes, and kind words from the good workers in charity’s cause.”

By Michael Moran The cardinal virtues number four but, unfortunately, attention to history is not one of them. If it were, the Society would have kept better record of its early years. Instead, our beginnings were soon lost from memory.

The earliest St Vincent de Paul conferences in Australia – Melbourne in 1854 and Perth in 1865 – were forgotten by the 1880s. There was a conference at Portland, Victoria, too, from as early as 1869, of which little is known but that it existed.

In the late 19th century, members of the Society believed that their history began in Sydney in 1881. They celebrated a Silver Jubilee in 1906. The forgotten Melbourne Conference of 1854 was not rediscovered until the 1930s. But if the Brothers of the Society could forget their own early history, the long history of women in the Society passed them by too.

In the 1880s and 1890s, women were involved with the Society under various names – Ladies’ Associations of Charity, Sewing Guilds, Conferences – and with different kinds of constitutional status.

Some were associated in an informal way with men’s conferences; some eventually became formally aggregated to the international headquarters of the women’s St Vincent de Paul Society in Bologna.

Regardless of name, they did the same kind of work as the men, often with a focus on women in need.

The Geelong Ladies’ Conference, founded in 1874, was the first women’s conference in Australia, or at least the first that we can be sure of. Its members, some 50 women at St Mary of the Angels, operated under the auspices of Archdeacon Patrick Joseph Slattery (1830-1903).

Archdeacon Slattery lived at St Mary’s. He was a noted controversialist in the cause of Catholic education, who in 1875 threatened to lead an armed uprising against the “zealots and sectaries” of colonial secular authority. To the newspapers of the day, he was a “clerical firebrand”, at best “excitable”, T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

Grandma Breheny

at worst “seditious”. He had served as priest at Daylesford where, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, he was known to use a horsewhip to settle quarrels.

He was also noted for his generosity. When he died, it was remarked: “His charity was of the open-handed kind, which needed a check-rein rather than a stimulant.” He was particularly generous to the local women’s conference of the Society.

Members of the Geelong Ladies’ Conference visited the poor and sick. There is some suggestion that at first they worked for the relief of “the indigent Catholic poor” or “the deserving poor of the Catholic persuasion” rather than for all, regardless of creed. Soon there were other Victorian Ladies’ Conferences at Sandhurst (1883) and Ballarat (1884). These dates are worth keeping in mind when we remember that the men’s Society became firmly established in Victoria only in 1885.

In Sydney, Ladies’ Associations and Sewing Guilds often bore saints’ names: the Ladies’ Association of St Anne in Charles Gordon O’Neill’s parish at Church Hill; St Elizabeth’s Society at Pyrmont; the Ladies’ Association of St Martha and the Lady Almoners of the Sacred Heart.

Like the Geelong Ladies Conference, the Associations were, at least nominally, under the direction of the parish priests.

In the early 1900s, the women’s Society became strongly established in South Australia. In 1906, parish sewing guilds became affiliated with the Society under the leadership of Mrs Bridget Breheny of Barton Terrace, North Adelaide. The Brehenys were a prominent brewing family with breweries in several Australian states. Mrs Breheny (1865-1941) of St Laurence’s parish, a “tall, stately, gracious lady” and a founder of the Catholic Women’s League, was elected first National President of the women’s Society in 1910.

The Ladies blossomed. By 1909, there were 17 conferences in Adelaide alone.

We see them in a newspaper report from Wattle Day in 1912, visiting the inmates of the Destitute Asylum in Adelaide on a Saturday afternoon: “Songs and recitations were rendered. Each inmate received a spray of wattle. Afternoon tea was served.”

The St Vincent de Paul Ladies in Adelaide were not the only visitors at the Destitute Asylum. Other groups with names like ‘The Willing Workers Company’, ‘St Mary’s Mission of Hope’, ‘the Women’s Christian Temperance Union’ and ‘the Ladies’ Diocesan Society’, did similar work.

The men and women of the Society finally joined forces in 1968. Mrs Breheny’s successor, Elizabeth Bazeley of Adelaide, became the first woman to serve on the conjoined National Council. Let us hope that the history of her predecessors does not slip from memory. ◆ Michael Moran is the National Council Archivist.

letters

the mail

25 CEO sleepouts; and an appeal to us, the public, to consider reducing our standard of living for the sake of others, could make a new Melbourne night shelter a reality.

A Syd Tutton Overnight Accommodation Centre in Melbourne, named in his honour, would be a most fitting memorial.

Kevin Slattery, Hawthorn Conference, Victoria

Memorial to Syd Tutton Among the many tributes deservedly accorded to our late National President, much has been said and written about Syd’s passion for those on the margins of society.

Not so stressed was Syd’s often expressed concern for the ones suffering from a lack of appropriate and affordable housing and the plight of the homeless.

Following the redevelopment of the old ‘night shelters’ in Melbourne in the 1990s (including our own Ozanam House), with the aim of providing longer, supported accommodation for those with complex needs and a variety of social disadvantages, no overnight emergency accommodation now exists in the city.

In a 1999 issue of the Victorian Society magazine, Viewpoint, Syd wrote, “We must be challenged to be social reformers, as was Ozanam, and housing is an essential.”

He challenged the Society to research the need for, and if a need existed, to provide, night shelters in Melbourne.

“How often today”, he wrote, “do we hear Christians criticising the violence, the vulgarity and the lack of spiritual values in our society? But they are often blind to their own wealth and the very spiritual challenge which might well involve a reduction in their own living standards for the sake of helping others.”

Funds from the Federal Government, which is committed to reducing the numbers of homeless; monies raised from the very successful

Reflecting on Vincentian ideals Bouquets to everyone involved with The Record (Autumn 2011).

It is a gem. How sad am I, never to have met Syd Tutton.

What magic it would have been to chat to him at my table.The “Heart and Soul” article by Andy Hamilton SJ , the sentiments expressed in Syd’s obituary

by Dr John Falzon and his final thoughts as featured in “Frontlines” leaves us with much to contemplate on our future delivery of St Vincent de Paul ideals.

This Record discusses so many issues pertinent to today’s life – excellent articles on social inclusion and exclusion written

by Frank Brennan SJ and Dr John Falzon.

I sincerely hope all members read this publication cover to cover.

Mainstream journalism is very noisy and drowns out the quiet voice.

As we care for our fellow human beings in need, let us keep the compassion of Jesus and the evangelical simplicity of Syd Tutton ever present within our Society.

PS This issue has kept me so engrossed, my husband has had time to clean our windows without me. Please keep up this high standard.

There are a few more household chores I would like to pass up!

Joan Huhn, Our Lady’s Conference, Wangaratta South, Victoria

Christian values the only answer In October 2009, I commented on Dr John Falzon’s article entitled “Your liberation is bound up with Mine”, in which he stated that unless the current social system and its structures are

changed for the better, nothing will improve the plight of the poor in Australia. Taking stock nearly two years later, things have got worse, especially where asylum seekers are concerned.

In the latest Record, (Autumn 2011) he has written quite eloquently about refugees in detention, and clearly identifies the root problem in our affluent society, namely, attitude. The majority view is that they should not be here, and though much of this perception stems from ignorance, there is definitely a growing trend of antagonism towards refugees, more notably if they are Muslim.

Dr Falzon says, “this attitude to asylum seekers is symptomatic of an even bigger cancer growing in the guts of our modern prosperous society, the insidious and imagined divide between the deserving and undeserving.” This is quite true.

However, the more people pay only lip service to Christianity and ignore its teachings, more is the danger of this attitude escalating in an amoral environment.

One has only to examine the agendas of the Labor Party and the Greens to note their anti-Christian values. A return to true Christianity is the only answer.

Les Fern Nightcliff, Northern Territory The Record welcomes letters but we reserve the right to edit them for legal reasons, space or clarity. Articles will be published only if full name and address and telephone numbers are provided, although the address will be withheld from publication if so requested.

Post to: The Record, PO Box 243, Deakin West ACT 2600 or email to admin@ svdpnatcl.org.au.

Everyone whose letter is published will receive a free book courtesy of David Lovell Publishing.

st v i n c e n t d e pa u l s o c i e ty a u st r a l i a

reflection

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“The Bible of the Poor”

by Matthew and Luke

From the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible

the right use of money

Luke 16:10-15, 19-31

“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and wealth.” The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him.

So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God...

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.

The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is

the last judgement

Matthew 25:31-46

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger

T h e r e co r d | w i n t e r 2011

and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” ◆

comforted here, and you are in agony.

Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house, – for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ◆

the early christian community ACts 4:32-34 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. ◆

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