ACL compiles a daily media monitoring service of stories of interest to the Christian constituency relating to children, family, drugs and alcohol, marriage, human rights, religious freedom etc. Visit the ACL’s website each day to see what’s of interest in the news. Please note that selection of the articles does not represent ACL endorsement of the content.
Abortion
Woman dies after abortion clinic visit
Paul Millar and Nino Bucci – The Age
A 42-year-old woman died days after attending a controversial abortion clinic in Croydon last week. Authorities have confirmed that the woman was taken to the Box Hill Hospital where she died on Sunday, after earlier having ”a procedure at a private Croydon clinic”.
Bioethics
Bid to tackle HPV in boys
StarObserver
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) has announced a recommended extension of the National Immunisation Program for human papillomavirus (HPV) in boys, which will be provided to the federal Government for approval. PBAC rejected a submission by drug maker CSL in May to add the HPV vaccine Gardasil to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for use in males, which would reduce HPV-caused penile, head and neck cancers in men generally and anal cancers in gay men.
Children & Family
A verdict on the Family Court
The Daily Telegraph
More than four out of 10 frequent visitors to the Family Court do not believe their cases are handled fairly, according to a report released. The survey found that while 85 per cent of first time visitors to the court were satisfied their matter was handled fairly, that figure fell to only 55 per cent for people who were required to attend the court often.
Classification
This is why Syndicate was refused classification
Mark Serrels – Kotaku
We’ve just received a copy of the Classification Board’s report on Syndicate, which explains why the game was refused classification. Apparently the game allows players to not only decapitate enemies via the various different weapons available in the game, it also allows them to continue dismembering NPCs after the player has been killed.
Donor Conception & Surrogacy
Uterine transplants: a new frontier in science
Shari Rudavsky – Indy Star
In the early days of infertility research, scientists — flush with the promise of transplant medicine — wondered whether replacing the uterus would help women who were unable to conceive. But less invasive treatments proved feasible, and such research fell by the wayside. Now, a handful of researchers, including some at the Indiana University School of Medicine, are exploring whether uterine transplants might be able to help women who lack a womb to bear children.
Drugs & Alcohol
Philip Morris launches High Court fight
news.com
Tobacco giant Philip Morris has become the latest cigarette manufacturer to file a High Court challenge against the federal government’s plain packaging laws. Philip Morris says the laws, which passed parliament in late November, breach the Australian constitution because they seek to acquire the company’s property without providing compensation.
Marketing academic supports medics’ calls for controls on alcohol pricing
HealthCanal
Chris Hackley, Professor of Marketing at Royal Holloway, University of London, says that he believes the UK’s sharp increases in alcoholic liver disease among the under 35s is as a direct result of the marketing and pricing tactics used by the alcohol industry. The festive season sees a dramatic rise in alcohol consumption and around 70% of hospital admissions around this time of year are drink-related.
Homelessness
Call for better planning for Aboriginal homeless
Emma Wynne – ABC
A tent, and old car, or a humpy made of tarpaulins and scraps of wood. It’s not much, but some on the fringes of Kalgoorlie, it’s the only shelter they have. Every Christmas, the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder receives an influx of visitors from remote Aboriginal communities in the northern goldfields and Western desert.
Indigenous
Training for Aborigines ‘futile’ in closing jobs gap
Patrica Karvelas – The Australian
Indigenous people see attending endless training courses as futile, as they already have “heaps of certificates”, and job agencies funded by the Gillard government are doing the bare minimum to get Aborigines work. The findings are contained in a new report called Walk in My Shoes, which was commissioned by Generation One, a group devoted to ending disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in the space of a generation.
Indigenous Land Corporation heads into 2012 with new look board
Matt Brann – ABC
The Indigenous Land Corporation, which owns more than six million hectares across Australia, has had a serious shake-up in the boardroom, with more than half of its board members replaced. The corporation, which owns stations such as Roebuck Plains and Home Valley in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, has three new board members and a new chairperson.
Marriage
MP releases gay union repeal bill
Sunshine Coast Daily
Independent Member for Burnett Rob Messenger has released a copy of his private members Civil Partnerships Repeal Bill online and challenged the LNP leader Campbell Newman to allow his party’s members a conscience vote on the legislation. “If re-elected, I will present my Civil Partnerships Repeal Bill to the new parliament and will ask that Mr Newman put aside his personal support for gay marriage and allow a conscience vote for all LNP members,” Mr Messenger said.
Religious Freedom & Persecution
Pakistan: Christmas in prison
Eva-Maria Kolmann – ACN News
Life in a Pakistani prison is truly a punishment. Torture is the order of the day. Conditions in prison are terrible. There is only one washing facility for a hundred prisoners, and the cells are tiny and overcrowded. Some prisoners die from heat-stroke or from heart failure. In 2010 alone, 72 people in Pakistan died in prison. For Christians it is even far worse. They are already disadvantaged and oppressed in their “normal life”, but their situation in prison is even more precarious.
Iran Christians fear Christmas crackdown; Pastor still facing execution
Stefan J. Bos – BosNewsLife
Evangelical Christians in Iran fear a massive crackdown by security forces around Christmas and say Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani may be executed earlier than authorities suggest, a senior church official told BosNewsLife Monday, December 19. Firouz Khandjani, a council member of the pastor’s Church of Iran, said Iran’s judiciary “uses the Christmas time to detain and harass Christians, thinking the world may forget the believers as everyone is busy with Christmas shopping.”
Refugees
Opposition and Government still at odds over asylum policy
ABC
Debate between the Federal Government and the Opposition on asylum seeker policy has burst back into flame days after the sinking of a boat off Indonesia saw as many as 200 people drown. The stand-off is frustrating several religious leaders. The Australian Christian lobby’s Jim Wallace says there needs to be a bipartisan agreement to re-establish offshore processing.
Lib elders put heat on Abbott
Lenore Taylor and Kirsty Needham – The Age
Former immigration minister Philip Ruddock has added to the pressure on Tony Abbott to do a deal with Labor on asylum seekers, saying a compromise could include Labor’s preferred option of processing in Malaysia if that country formalised a promise not to return refugees to countries of persecution. And another former Howard government minister, Alexander Downer, has called for a deal, saying Mr Abbott should let his team of shadow ministers sit down and talk with government ministers to break the political impasse on offshore processing before Christmas.
Other
Christian faith a ‘surer basis for life’ than secular vision, says Pope
Catholic News
Pope Benedict has told the bishops of New Zealand and the South Pacific that the Christian faith provides the best foundation for society, and that promoting a new evangelisation is the best way to build a Christian culture, reports the Catholic News Agency.
The official video for Paul Mealor’s Wherever You Are by Military Wives with Gareth Malone
YouTube
Help the Military Wives raise money for two wonderful charities who work tirelessly to support the armed forces and their families. Buy the single and make this Christmas No 1 to make a difference to these wonderful people both at home and abroad.
