Join Uniting Network Australia this Sunday 5 February for Pride March Victoria

3 February 2012

Pride March Victoria recognises and celebrates the people and events that inspire the courage, solidarity, pride, diversity and strong sense of community of Victoria's gay, lesbian, bisexual, intersex and transgender people.

This year's Pride March will be held on Sunday 5th February 2012.

Uniting Network Australia will be marching with their banner and invites you to march along with them.

Assembly from noon (on the corner of Lakeside Drive and Fitzroy Street). March starts at 2pm precisely. Group number 33. Contact Damien on 0418 511 562. Click here for directions to Assembly.

This year's international theme is "Pride links us together".

Click here for more information about Pride March and the event this Sunday.

Victorian Government should drop mandatory sentencing for young people

3 February 2012

The Justice and International Mission Unit is running a campaign to ask the Victorian Government to drop the idea of having mandatory minimum sentences for young people committing serious offences.

The JIM unit encourages those interested in this issue to promote this through various networks and on associated organisational websites.

Click here to visit the petition page.

Fair Work Australia equal pay decision welcome

2 February 2012

UnitingCare Australia’s National Director Lin Hatfield Dodds said today social services staff can now look forward to adequate wages for the essential work they do.

“Funding this important claim must not come at the expense of vital social services,” Ms Hatfield Dodds said.

“The reality is that if there is no commitment from relevant parties to fund the agreement, agencies will have no choice but to cut services and rationalise staff.

“People who work in community services are highly valued by the people they care for, by families, communities and by their employers.”

For media enquiries, contact Judith Tokley on 0408 824 306 or 02 6249 6717.

 

Read the full story here.

UCCO cautiously welcomes Coalition support for NDIS

1 February 2012

UnitingCare Community Options (UCCO) has welcomed the Federal Opposition’s conditional support for the introduction of a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), but believes it falls well short of being the firm commitment required to make this important social reform a reality.

 

Read the full story here.

Welcome work begins on fairer superannuation arrangements

1 February 2012

UnitingCare Australia’s National Director Lin Hatfield Dodds has welcomed the announcement yesterday of a high level group to advise the Federal Government on equity issues in Australia’s superannuation system.

Ms Hatfield Dodds said the deep inequities in our superannuation system were outlined in a UnitingCare Australia discussion paper – What Price Dignity – released ahead of the Government's Tax Forum in Canberra in October last year.

 

Read the full story here.

Family Camp 2012 registration now open

23 January 2012

Synod's Family Camp gives you the opportunity to enjoy a flexible program and have a holiday together.

Meet other Uniting Church families, explore your faith and create an opportunity for your children to share the experience of Christian community with lots of other kids.

This year's theme is Peacemaking at home.

Where: Adekate Lodge, Creswick Dean Road, Via Creswick VIC 3363.
When: 7pm Friday 9 March until 1pm Monday 12 March
Cost: $90 per adult, $60 per child

 

Click here to find out more or register for the camp.

UnitingCare calls on poker machine industry to commit on mandatory precommitment

23 January 2012

UnitingCare Australia National Director Lin Hatfield Dodds said today it's deeply disappointing that our federal politicians were unable to agree to evidence based reform, and action mandatory precommitment in this parliamentary term.

“UnitingCare Australia calls on the poker machine industry to commit to the implementation of mandatory precommitment when the ACT trial returns positive outcomes,” Ms Hatfield Dodds said.

“The human cost of the obscene pokies profit is just too high."

 

Read the full story here.

Uniting Church supports constitutional change

20 January 2012

The Uniting Church in Australia believes that today’s report from the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People signals a landmark opportunity in our journey towards reconciliation.

"This will ensure that all Australians are aware of the importance and value of Constitutional recognition of the First Peoples for everyone in our society," said Rev Ken Sumner, the National Chairperson of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.

"We now have a Preamble which speaks honestly about our past and looks forward with hope to our future," said President of the Church, Rev Alistair Macrae.

"It has enabled us to imagine our new shared destiny together."

 

Read the full story here.

Uniting Church launches Typhoon Washi Appeal

20 December 2011

The Uniting Church in Australia has launched an emergency appeal in response to the devastating impact of Typhoon Sendong (Washi) that stuck southern Philippines on Friday, December 17, 2011.

Kerry Enright, National Director, UnitingWorld said “Flooding has brought devastation and death to Mindanao in the Season people were preparing to celebrate new life."

 

Click here to donate to UnitingWorld's Typhoon Washi Appeal through SHARE.

Alternatively phone 1800 668 426 or send a cheque or money order to SHARE, PO Box 24154, Melbourne, Vic, 3001.

It’s official, new Cornish College

14 December 2011

Cornish College will be officially recognised as an independent Uniting Church school on Friday 16 December, marking the end of a tumultuous period for the Bangholme based campus.

In March it was announced the St Leonard’s College campus would close at the end of this year due to financial reasons, much to the dismay of the local community.

Initial attempts by a dedicated group of parents to save the school did not succeed, however the Uniting Church was able to broker a deal to save the campus’s future in July.

The new Cornish College has had a significant boost in enrolments for the 2012 school year and will unveil a brand-new school uniform acknowledging its fresh start.