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.



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Children & Family

Paedophile gangs targeting children in state care in Victoria for sexual abuse

Dan Oakes - ABC

Organised gangs of men are sexually exploiting children in out-of-home care and enticing them into trading sex for money, drugs and alcohol. An ABC investigation has found children as young as 12 are being exploited by the men.

Report shines light on Queensland's childhood suicides

Amy Remeikis - Brisbane Times

A report has shown the alarming number of children in Queensland taking their own lives. It is the brutal statistic every Queenslander needs to know. Twenty-two children and young people aged between 12 and 17 years old suicided in Queensland during 2012-13. Twelve of those children were aged between 12 and 14, making suicide the leading cause of external deaths for that age group.

Drugs & Alcohol

Opposition health MP warns of further cuts to drug and alcohol agencies

Sarah Dingle - ABC

The Labor Party is warning that the Federal Government's axing of one of the country's longest-running drug and alcohol bodies could be the forerunner to more cuts in other health organisations.

Communities can't stop binge drinking on their own, says new study

Lucy Carroll - SMH

Community action and education campaigns fail to curb binge drinking, assaults and serious alcohol-related harm, an Australian-first study has found. Researchers say that without tighter legislation - including restrictions on availability, price and promotion of alcohol - basic action led by communities has no effect on dangerous drinking.

Education

Porn wars revisited as FOI reveals row between feminist academics 

Bernard Lane - The Australian

A skirmish in the porn wars is set to be revisited with the forced release of internal university documents following a public clash between two feminist academics. The documents include emails that media professor Catharine Lumby sent to University of NSW managers after a colleague, gender studies scholar Helen Pringle, published a 2011 critique of the Porn Report, a research project involving Professor Lumby.

Gambling

Effects of gambling are wide-ranging

Deb Greenslade - The Courier

The news that removing ATMs from poker machine venues has had no lasting impact is not surprising. Since poker machine gambling was introduced into Victoria in 1992, no government intervention has had a lasting impact on the rate of losses.

Homelessness & Poverty

Homelessness programs to run out of govt money soon

Hannah Busch - Sunshine Coast Daily

Government funding for homelessness programs on the Fraser Coast will run out in three months, with no new funding in sight to keep the vital services running. Youthcare Hervey Bay's homeless shelter for young men and women is one program at risk if a new funding agreement between the state and federal government is not reached.

Politics

Euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke to be a candidate in WA's Senate election re-run

News Ltd

Euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke will be one of the many micro-party candidates to stand at the re-run of the Senate election in Western Australia - but not Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Dr Nitschke and his Voluntary Euthanasia Party announced they would be running on April 5 to ``lead the charge in pushing politicians to take a stance on voluntary euthanasia''.

Tas Labor faces tough re-election task after 16 years

ABC

Any government in power for 16 years faces a tough task being re-elected. This weekend Tasmanians go to the polls after 16 years of Labor Government. Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings is trying to hold back the tide and she tells AM how her party plans to tackle health, education and unemployment.

Refugees

Reza Barati murder arrests expected within days

David Wroe, Sarah Whyte - The Age

Manus Island police say they are poised to charge several men with the murder of Reza Barati, the asylum seeker killed in a violent confrontation at the island's detention centre. Despite concerns about tensions in the centre, some of the suspects in Mr Barati's death are believed to be still working there alongside many other staff thought to have taken part in the violence.