Doctors support poker machine reform

The Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia has expressed deep concern at the number of Australians with gambling problems.  The effects of gambling addiction extend beyond the individual to their family, and include depression, relationship breakdown, bankruptcy, lowered productivity in the workplace, job loss, criminal behaviour, and suicide. Dr Michael Burke, executive officer of …

Alcohol sale reform in NSW

The NSW Government may be fast asleep when it comes to gambling reform, and Premier Barry O’Farrell has in the past resisted moves to curb excessive alcohol consumption. But many in our community will welcome a new bill, introduced by the government, to encourage the responsible sale of alcohol by establishing a three-strikes disciplinary system …

Help end human trafficking

Today is Abolitionist Sunday, celebrated in churches around Australia, with a focus on human trafficking and slavery – the buying and selling of people for exploitative labour or sexual slavery. Trafficking enslaves around 27 million people today, in countries worldwide.  Men, women and children are all vulnerable to human trafficking, driven by the demand for …

Today is Abolitionist Sunday

Today, Sunday November 20, is Abolitionist Sunday, and churches around Australia are celebrating and mobilising for action to end modern slavery. Two hundred years ago, Christians were at the forefront of efforts to abolish slavery.  Through the work of William Wilberforce and others, the evil tide was turned and slavery was eventually outlawed in the …

The new day

Sermon by Rod Benson, 13 November 2011 Romans 12:1-2 What’s your favourite time of day?  Mine is the dawn – even if I have to wake up earlier during Daylight Saving to experience it!  I love the new day – the freshness, the soft light, the furnace of the sun tearing through the bank of …