Daily News - 29 April 2015

Church can't turn its back on the mentally ill

Paul Jensen - Eureka Street

On Monday 13 and Tuesday 14 April, ABC's Australian Story and The 7:30 Report ran stories that highlighted the nation's poor mental health system, resulting too often in people reaching crisis point and taking their own lives. The stories were very human accounts of the dislocation and disorientation wreaked by mental illness.

These stories foreshadowed the release of the National Mental Health Commission's Review of Mental Health Programs and Services, and the addition of mental health as an agenda item for the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). The review highlights waste in the mental health system, ambiguous reports and the inability to determine whether real and substantial change has occurred.

Statement from the Archbishop of Sydney Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP on the Execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in Indonesia

Archdiocese of Sydney

Like most Australians I do not support capital punishment: there is enough violence in our world already without legal systems modelling it to others.

When the Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, and I made a joint appeal for clemency, we made it clear that we respected Indonesia's sovereignty and shared its condemnation of drug trafficking. We are all aware of the terrible damage drugs cause. But refusing even to entertain appeals for mercy - even after the pair had demonstrably turned their lives around - seemed to us to damage our neighbour's reputation for justice.

Persistent Disadvantage Revealed - BSL Report

Pro Bono News

Almost a quarter of people who lifted themselves out of poverty are poor again just one or two years later, according to a study by welfare Not for Profit, the Brotherhood of St Laurence.

The new study identifies Australians who are more vulnerable to falling into poverty and are more likely to remain poor, or “churn in and out of poverty”  — including older people and the long-term unemployed.

Among those who experienced poverty, the study found that more than 35 per cent of those who escaped it did not become poor again over 11 years, the time period analysed by the study. On the other hand 12 per cent were still poor after the 11 years had passed.

Nanny program is first instalment in Morrison’s child care revamp

Michelle Grattan - The Conversation

Labor has called on the government to say how it would ensure the quality of child care and protect working conditions in its $246 million two-year pilot scheme to subsidise nannies for shift workers and regional residents.

Opposition families spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said Labor wanted to see flexible childcare options, but the government should put out its full child care plan rather than crumbs of it.

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, announcing the pilot scheme, said 4000 nannies would care for 10,000 children in families who cannot readily access mainstream services. The program will start in January.

Unveiling the first part of the government’s broader child care reforms, Morrison said the means tested help would be directed especially to lower and middle income earners.