Category: ethics


NSW Government should serve the people

Filed under: ethics, gambling, NSW politics — Leave a comment
April 16, 2012

The gambling industry has claimed victory in the war against poker machines, and in its relentless efforts to coax more and more Australian families and communities into parting with cash they cannot do without.

The Gillard Government, despised beyond redemption by many Australians, breathed a sigh of relief when Clubs Australia decided it was happy with proposed watered-down reforms that will do little to help people at risk of gambling addiction.

And the cost to the clubs was just $3.5 million.

But it’s a hollow victory.  The clubs and hotels may have won a battle, but they will not win the war.

The churches and community organisations backing gambling reform will never accept defeat.  We will continue fighting on behalf of ordinary people to stop the loss, and we will not rest until the gambling industry is brought to its knees by state and federal governments that serve the people rather than their corporate sugar daddies.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 15 Apr 2012.

Comment

Carbon emissions reduction and ethics

Filed under: climate change, ethics, pollution — Leave a comment
April 16, 2012

The Australian government is in the business of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent by 2020, and by 15 per cent below 2000 levels within two years if “major developing economies commit to substantially restrain emissions” and take on commitments similar to ours.

Well, they look like doing so.

The cheapest way for Australia to reduce carbon emissions is through emissions trading, because businesses can simply buy permits from overseas. But, as Alan Kohler pointed out in Climate Spectator on Wednesday, that raises a moral dilemma: climate change is global, so it doesn’t matter where a tonne of carbon is removed, but is it acceptable for Australia to simply pay other countries to reduce carbon emissions, and not do the same ourselves?

Is it right to buy and preserve forests in, say, Borneo so we can continue running coal-fired power stations? Ultimately, the answer has to be no.  But it comes at a significant financial and lifestyle cost to Australians.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 1 Apr 2012.

Comment

Ethics needs a strong philosophical foundation

Filed under: education, ethics, NSW politics — 2 Comments
March 17, 2012

The NSW Government is conducting an inquiry into the proposed repeal of legislation to allow ethics classes to be taught in state schools.  The NSW Council of Churches has called for significant legislative reforms including an independent review of the controversial classes with a report to Parliament before the date of the next state election.

Christians believe that God has revealed himself to humankind in Creation, in the Bible, and through Jesus Christ, and that this divine revelation provides the best foundation for ethical deliberation and moral development.

The Council cannot support any school ethics program that deliberately prohibits a child from learning certain spiritual and ethical truths when forming his or her moral compass.

The prospect of large numbers of young children determining their own basis for morality and ethical decision making, intentionally excluded from proper consideration of the Christian foundations for ethics, is a problem for society and not a solution.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 18 Mar 2012.

Comment

Ethics curriculum deeply flawed

Filed under: education, ethics, NSW politics — Leave a comment
March 17, 2012

An inquiry is underway into a bill introduced by the Rev Fred Nile last year to repeal the legislation allowing ethics classes to be taught in NSW state schools.

The NSW Council of Churches has recommended significant reforms to the legislation, in particular an independent review of all aspects of ethics classes.  The previous so-called independent report into trial ethics classes released in October 2010 confirmed serious problems relating to principles and processes previously identified by churches, SRE providers and others.

On curriculum issues, the Council of Churches takes the view that ethics involves more than making good decisions.   Ethics includes actively developing virtues, and resisting vices, in the context of a community of persons.  This is best achieved in settings beyond the classroom, and to narrative rather than didactic approaches to teaching – which is why religious communities and sacred scriptures offer such important resources for ethics education.

If ethics classes are to stay in NSW schools, there will need to be significant changes to the curriculum.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 11 Mar 2012.

Comment

Ethics involves more than outcomes

Filed under: ethics, NSW politics — Leave a comment
March 12, 2012

One of the concerns the NSW Council of Churches has about ethics classes in NSW schools is an emphasis on consequentialist ethical theories – approaches to ethics that focus on outcomes or usefulness as the primary basis for ethical decision making.

Consequentialism is one of a range of basic approaches to ethics, and needs to be balanced by other approaches such as duty-based ethics, and communitarianism (ethics based on relational principles that shape a good and healthy society). 

Ethics is about right actions and intentions, and right relationships, as well as right outcomes.

Most Christians would agree that moral authority is derived from various sources, primarily from sacred Scripture but also from the application of tradition, reason, experience and emotion. 

An ethics curriculum that relies on reason and experience alone is a curriculum that severely limits the moral formation and citizenship education of students.  It’s like driving a car that only lets you steer in one direction.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 4 March 2012.

Comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.