MEDIA RELEASE



Wednesday 22 January 2014



The NSW Government’s resolve to tackle drug and alcohol-fuelled violence is understandable but more needs to be done to understand the causes of our society’s binge drinking culture and aggressive behaviours, the Australian Christian Lobby said today.



“To effectively deal with the problem, we need to better understand what motivates a large number of people to get drunk in public from week to week in our cities,” ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton said.



“As a society we need to be looking at ways of moving away from a binge drinking culture.



“Binge drinking combined with illicit drugs contributes to the violence we are seeing on our streets. It is the underlying roots of this culture that need more focus in the debate.



“There is nothing wrong with going out and having a good time, but drunkenness associated with this continues to cause harm and even death.



“Individuals need to take greater personal responsibility and we as a community need to be far more intentional about modelling moderate and safe consumption of alcohol. There is no reason why, with community resolve, that binge drinking could not go the same way as smoking in terms of social acceptance,” Mr Shelton said.



Mr Shelton welcomed changes to closing times for bottle shops and inner city venues and moves to increase police presence.



“The increased police powers in regard to precinct bans, increased on-the-spot fines, drug and alcohol testing of suspects appeared to be reasonable practical measures,” he said.



While community concern about lenient sentences was understandable, Mr Shelton said ACL was concerned that mandatory sentencing was not the solution.



ENDS

A brief summary of some of the issues currently facing Papua New Guinea, the role of the churches and possible responses.







Australia’s nearest neighbour Papua New Guinea (PNG) has inspiring terrain, unique flora & fauna and beautiful people. However, there are significant challenges in PNG concerning women, children and families which impact its society. This document provides a brief overview of the situation. It contains a number of hyperlinks to enable further research into the issues raised.



The issues

For women

The United Nations (UN) has stated that that violence against women in Papua New Guinea occurs at almost pandemic levels, with two in three women aged 15-24 providing sex in exchange for money, food and shelter. Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) has estimated that 70 percent of women in PNG will be raped or physically assaulted in their lifetime - potentially the worst place in the world for gender violence.



Recently an American woman was gang-raped. She said,

“This story should not come out just because I am white. My story should come out in the hopes that it empowers Papua New Guinean women to stand up and say no more violence against women in this country. I hope my story can make a change.”

Following the burning to death of a woman in the Highlands of PNG, many people, particularly women, have said enough is enough. The Remembering Kepari Leniata (Leniata Legacy) is one of the many campaigns now underway. The documentary film Papua New Guinea: Battered and Bruised provides further information. Note the important work of the City Mission PNG and Haus Ruth.



For children

Tragically many children are involved in sex work in PNG. A committee, including the PNG Trade Union Congress and the Young Women’s Christian Association noted that there is even child trafficking involving parents and guardians who sell their children to clients. The International Labour Organisation in Papua New Guinea found that children living in Port Moresby are being driven to prostitution, as the main bread winners for their families.



It is reported that in relation to child sex abuse, the statistics coming out of clinics in Lae are disturbing and that something needs to be done to address such high rates. The United Nations Children's Fund has noted that children in Papua New Guinea remain some of the most vulnerable children in the world. Many suffer from domestic violence or are victims of sexual assault.



Social media is reported as facilitating a growth in pornography for PNG youth. A Facebook page has been created to share knowledge and ideas to fight pornography in PNG, "a disease which is affecting adults and the younger generation in PNG”.



Concern by the church and others has been raised regarding drugs and pornography coming in from PNG’s western border.



The responses

National Haus Krai

Following the above serious incidents, a National Haus Krai was organised on 14 May 2013, to highlight increasing violence against women through rape, murder and allegations of witchcraft. There was a prayer vigil held throughout the night.



The churches of PNG played a significant part in organising the Haus Krai. Much of the proceedings involved church presentations and prayer.



During the Haus Krai the PNG Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill apologised for the violence against women and vowed to toughen penalties for offenders.  One of the toughened responses proposed was the reintroduction of the death penalty. The Catholic Church and others are opposed to that approach.



People have also marched in Brisbane's CBD to raise awareness of the violence in Papua New Guinea.



Sadly the violence continues with the recent torture and beheading of a female teacher.



What Australians can do

* Pray for the people of PNG

* Encourage PNG churches working in this area, including support for organisations such as the City Mission PNG

* Support the PNG Government through its High Commission and Consulates in Australia

* Seek that a portion of Australian Aid money to PNG be specifically directed towards these issues for the short, medium and long term

* Participate in, or organise, events such as the PNG800 Bike & Hike sponsored by the Christian Outreach Churches

* Visit PNG as a holiday and/or potential business destination

MEDIA RELEASE



For release: Wednesday, January 2, 2013



The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) today said the comments by Mr Ron Curry, chief executive officer of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA), illustrates just how poor the decision was by the Government to make a change to allow an R18+ classification for computer games in late 2012.



Managing Director of the ACL, Mr Jim Wallace, said that Mr Curry’s statement that the new category “was an acknowledgment that there should be content for the adults who play games” highlights the profit-making motive clouding the issue.



“Mr Curry is the chief executive officer of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association that represents the interests of its member companies in the computer and video games industry. Members include Microsoft, Nintendo, Sega, and Warner Brothers who clearly will make significant profits from this new classification category, and it is these profit-making interests that Mr Curry represents,” Mr Wallace said.



“What we now have is the same level of ‘high impact’ violence and sexually explicit material in films transferred to games. The highly repetitive and interactive nature of games means that the effect of this material will be even greater on those who play these games.” Mr Wallace continued, “the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Paediatrics have both warned that violent video games are causally related to later aggressive behavior in children and adolescents.”



“Notwithstanding the R18+ classification, like the MA15+ games it will only be a matter of time before these games also make their way into the hands of children,” Mr Wallace said.



 

This week SYN FM broadcast a spirited debate between Victorian Director Dan Flynn and Tim Colwill, founder of R18+ Games Australia, concerning video game violence and its effect on children.



Federal Government legislation has created a new category of R18+ Video games that will commence on 1 January 2013. State Governments are enacting enforcement legislation to reflect the change.



The levels of sex and violence standards contained in the new R18+ category have been set by guidelines determined by all State Attorneys- General.



ACL has consistently argued that its tentative support for the creation of the new R18+ category was on the basis that games currently inappropriately rated MA15+ be moved into the higher classification to send a clear message to parents and children that these games were extremely unsuitable for children.



New South Wales MP Greg Donnelly has reportedly stated that after the introduction of the new rating, steps will be taken to reclassify at least 50 games currently rated MA15+ to R18+,where those games were previously shoehorned into the MA15+ category



It is of the utmost importance that material that is currently refused classification (RC) retain that classification. It appears, from comments by Tim Colwill in this debate, that he agrees.

MEDIA RELEASE



For release: Wednesday, October 24th, 2012



The Australian Christian Lobby has called on the New South Wales government to take urgent action and prohibit the purchasing of sex following the suspected stabbing death of a man in a Sydney brothel last night.



ACL NSW Director David Hutt said it was time the state government tried a new approach to prostitution. “Legalised prostitution is a failed experiment,” Mr Hutt said.  “Last night’s tragedy is the latest in a long list of violent crimes connected with the New South Wales sex industry.”



Mr Hutt cautioned the government against its plans to introduce a brothel licensing regime.



“Queensland has already tried brothel licensing,” he said. “It didn’t work. Even after the introduction of brothel licensing, 90 per cent of prostitution in Queensland is carried out illegally.



“Brothel licensing won’t do anything to stem the tide of women being trafficked to Australia and forced into prostitution. It is time for a new approach.”



The Australian Christian Lobby recently made a submission to the NSW Government inquiry into brothel licensing and called on the state government to adopt the successful Nordic approach which prohibits the purchasing of sex.



Recent facts about prostitution in Australia:



·         July 2012 – Korean police arrested 18 pimps and traffickers allegedly involved in trafficking women to Australia



·         June 2012 – the US State Department identified Australia as a destination country for trafficked persons



·         June 2012 – NSW Land and Environment court overturned the City of Sydney’s refusal to grant a development application for Australia’s largest brothel



·         April 2012 – Watcheraporn Nantanhkum became the first person convicted of slavery in the Australian Capital Territory for holding a woman in sex-servitude



·         February 2012 – Federal police rescued three trafficked, Thai girls from a legal, Western Sydney brothel

Global Care Australia, the social justice and relief arm of Christian Outreach Centre (COC), is launching the first annual National Others Week (NOW) as part of a campaign aimed at developing a greater awareness of, and appreciation for, the people around us in our community.



NOW will run from October 29 to November 4, and will encourage Australians to focus on other people rather than themselves for seven days.



According to Global Care, dedicating one week a year to reminding people to care for others, is a “compassionate and humane answer to the violence, materialism and selfishness of our society.”



The Hon Kevin Andrews MP, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services, launched NOW in a ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra last Thursday, which was also attended by ACL’s Chief-of-Staff Lyle Shelton.



“Global Care’s motto is ‘mates helping mates’, and during this very special week, I want to encourage people everywhere to look beyond their own four walls, and just ‘be there’ for someone else – to be a ‘mate’ to them,” Mr Andrews said.

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) today backed the call of a Federal Parliamentary inquiry into youth violence for a review of film and TV classification categories, saying the classification system is out-of-touch with community standards and needs a major overhaul.

ACL Chief of Staff Lyle Shelton welcomed the Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth’s recognition of the contribution violence in the media is making to youth violence, although he said it was disappointing that greater inroads weren’t made by the inquiry into tackling the negative effects of drugs and alcohol on Australia’s young people.

“The committee’s recommendation on classification issues adds to the rising tide of concern over Australia’s classification system, which has effectively become a toothless tiger in safeguarding the community from an onslaught of sex and violence on our television screens, in our films, and in video games.

“There are very serious concerns over the effect the media environment is having in terms of sexualising young people and contributing to growing levels of youth violence,” Mr Shelton said.

“However we are well past the stage of tinkering around the edges. The classification system is broken and is in need of a complete overhaul.

“Stronger government regulation should be a priority – putting an end to a situation where the commercial interests of the media industry are being put ahead of the best interests of children.”

Media Contact: Glynis Quinlan on 0408 875 979.

Click here to read ACL's submission to the Federal Attorney-General's Department on R18+ games.

For release: December 15, 2009







Any moves to introduce an R18+ classification for computer games would be harmful for children and should be strongly rejected, the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) said today.



Commenting on the Federal Government’s release of a discussion paper on the topic, ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said it is difficult to understand how anyone could seriously advocate for excessively violent and sexual games to go on sale in Australia, at a time when newspapers are full of reports about too much violence in the community, particularly among young people.



“The introduction of such games into Australia would inevitably lead to some children playing and being influenced by these games - to the detriment of both their development and the wider society,” Mr Wallace said.



“The potential for violent interactive games to cause harm has only increased in recent years, as these games have become even more sophisticated and interactive,” he said.



“If any changes are to be made to the classification system it should only be to tighten up the MA15+ rating to ensure that games aren’t wrongly getting through in this category.”



Media Contact: Glynis Quinlan on 0408 875 979.