Ecumenical Social Justice Group

The Covid crisis has put the spotlight on a few political issues, one of which is the  precarious   health situation of Indigenous people   in Australia. This is in large part due to their systemic   institutional discrimination, the worst expression of which is the   huge over-representation   of the Indigenous prison population and the high number of   their deaths in custody.   And in spite of a Royal Commission inquiring into this situation 348 months ago and handing down more than 300 recommendations. Only a few of them have been implemented and since the publication of the report another 434 Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have died in custody.   What a shame! Most Australians have not really been concerned about this too much. However, race relations can change very quickly and the ongoing   Black Lives Matter movement shows that tolerance for racial discrimination, on the one hand, and lack of   scrutiny of the actions of the police, on the other, will no longe

Who we are:   We are a registered   charity and exist in the Western suburbs of Brisbane since 1995. We have ties to the major Christian nominations.  We link up with other groups advocating social justice    and engage in fundraising,    awareness raising campaigns and education. Donations to the group are not tax deductable.    We advocate for the environment and human rights for everyone, We believe in and pursue a culture of peace; We support the fair distribution of , and access to, goods, services and opportunities; We advocate justice that restores and rehabilitates rather than punishes; We work to eliminate problems and ignorance and foster compassion and understanding; We support and promote the rehabilitation of   disadvantaged   minorities; Our key concerns   for   2020   are ·          Human   rights ·          Refugees and asylum seekers (Australia’s policies towards them) ·            the environment   ·         

Some  Q uestions to the Australian   G overnment Regarding    Overseas   Aid Australia’s foreign aid is the most important means by which Australia can foster good relations with other countries, alleviate poverty, influence decisions, and promote stability, peace and development. This is especially true    for the Pacific island states     which have been heavily impacted    by climate change.   In poor countries the impact of global warming   - apart from   threatening the    survival, water   and     food   supplies - tends to create or intensify conflict to access of resources and, thereby, it strengthens the root causes of terrorism. Because of this it is imperative for Australia, whose small, neighbouring nations are very much impacted by climate change, to drastically increase foreign aid spending. Other countries (not only China) are, indeed doing this and Britain, for example, last year achieved the UN-set norm of   0.7 % of GNP - in spite of its econo

Written by Karin Chai If we don't change our actions we are going to bake.   In spite of worldwide efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions to 1.5% by 2050 the climate has already warmed by the 1 % from pre-industrial levels and is on track for at least a 2% rise by 2050   and a 3.5% rise by 2100, which   “already   exceeds   the tipping point which   could   push the world   on to an irreversible path   to a “hothouse earth” (Dunlop), even     with some efforts to cut down carbon emissions.(1)   Many predictions about global warming are over-optimistic because of the delayed impact of temperature changes and because models cannot take all factors (often unknown) and their interrelations into account, nor can they predict cumulative effects (2).   By the   time the   full long-term   impacts of climate change   are   known, it is too late to address   them. Thus the risk is immediate and requires a systematic, full scale approach across all industries and natio