6.50pm Sunday 31st January Readings Cinema, Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre (Corner of Pioneer Rd and Princess Highway Waurn Ponds)

Enjoy the fun of Bran Nue Dae, an Australian musical film staring some of Australia’s top actors and musicians, while supporting the employment of a Community Youth Development Worker to work with young aboriginal people through the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Congress Victoria.

Tickets are $15.  To purchase tickets contact Tess at mail@justact.org.au

Christian leaders in India sent a three point letter to the Prime Minister on 17 December urging him to act on a government commission that recommended increased rights for Christian and Muslim Dalit people. The leaders were concerned after a press report suggested that the government planed to bury the report by the government commission. The Christian leaders have urged the Prime Minister to table the report in the current session of parliament. They also want the government to inform the Supreme Court about its decision regarding the commission report.

The leaders sent their letter to other senior Indian Ministers and to the National Commission for Minorities. It said Christians and Muslims of Dalit origin have agitated now for 59 years urging the Government not to discriminate against them on the grounds of their religion. They are seeking the same political, economic and development privileges for Christian and Muslim Dalits as are extended to Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist Dalits.

The Wahid Institute, an Indonesian organisation set up by the late president Abdurrahman Wahid, has stated in its report on religious freedom and religious life in Indonesia that there were 93 recorded cases of religious intolerance in 2009 compared to 232 in 2008. The report states that police action against the perpetrators of religious intolerance contributed to the decline in the number of violations. The Indonesian Ulama Council, the hardline Islamic Defenders Front and Muslim forum were identified as organisations responsible for intolerance last year. The report can be accessed at the website.

In early October 2009 the European Union provided US$5.8 million to the Philippines Government to help stop extrajudicial executions and disappearance of human rights defenders. The funding covers an 18 month period until March 2011 and will establish a national monitoring system to help government and non-government groups track the progress in preventing extrajudicial execution.

More information on the situation.

On 23 November 2009, 57 women and men were massacred in Maguindanao, Mindanao in the Philippines.

Concepcion ‘Connie’ Brizuela of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, a human rights lawyer, was among the 22 women who were massacred. Two of the women victims were pregnant. At least five women were sexually molested before being murdered. Mass graves had been dug prior to the massacre being carried out, indicating the pre-meditated nature of the crime.

In the lead up to Christmas, The Age (23/12), reported on the exodus of Christians from the Middle East.

In Bethlehem the Christian population has dwindled from 80% of the population after WWII, to just 25% today. The report stated that in Jerusalem some Orthodox Jews spit on passers-by wearing crucifixes. In Gaza Christian shops have been firebombed. In Egypt a string of businesses owned by Coptic Christians were burnt down in riots in the southern province of Qena.

Due to the violence in the country, as many as 600,000 of Iraq’s one million Christians have fled the country following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.  Some of this violence has come from Islamic extremist groups.

Just before Christmas the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem endorsed the “Kairos Palestine” document that calls for and end to the occupation of Palestine by Israel. It calls on churches around the world to help bring an end to “our catastrophe”, referring to the plight of the Palestinian people.

This comes at a time when Christians are leaving the Middle East in record numbers.

TASMANIAN hair and beauty staff have received thousands of dollars after an inquiry found they were being ripped off in an industry which employs large numbers of young females and a significant number of apprentices.

Source – more of the article.

April 2010 update

To find out about Youth Allowance changes go to information from the National Union of Students  and the Commonwealth Government. Also note that from 1 April 2010, Equity and Merit-based scholarships have been made exempt from means testing. Full report can be found here.

Background information

JustAct has previously informed supporters that there have been positive changes in the area of much needed income support for those tertiary students suffering disadvantage.

Earlier this year the outlook was grim. The lowering the age of independence progressively for student income support was blocked by the Senate; as was the increases to the personal income test free area for students. The changes to assessable income in the area of privately funded equity or merit based scholarships looked like also meeting the same fate.  All of these measures were part of the previously rejected Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Income Support for Students) Bill. There was to be no effective change to Youth Allowance/Austudy, or privately funded scholarships of any nature. Thankfully things have changed – full report can be found here.

If you need further independent advice on Commonwealth income support go to the National Welfare Rights Network website and find out contact details for help in your part of Australia.

Jim Keady is the founder and captain of Team Sweat. Jim was born and raised at the Jersey Shore. He attended St. Rose Grammar School and then Christian Brothers Academy where he was a two-sport varsity athlete. Jim began to research Nike’s labour practices in light of his faith.

http://www.teamsweat.org/