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An open letter to the PM,
from Bishop Manning
In response to this year’s Federal Budget, Bishop Kevin Manning wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, published in Catholic Outlook, June 2005.
Dear Mr Howard,
As the Bishop of a Diocese with a considerable population of Indigenous Australians and a number of extremely socially disadvantaged areas, the annual Federal Budget is of great importance.
My congratulations on the boost in funding for marriage education and your support for relationship counselling. Education and early intervention into troubled relationships are of considerable importance in saving families from separation and divorce. This will be most welcome to the Catholic Church’s social welfare agency, Centacare, which provides extensive marriage and family counselling in the Diocese.
The 80,000 additional childcare places and the additional childcare fee assistance will be a help to families with both parents working. The bonus for carers, although a one off, is recognition of the role they play in our society.
Funding for additional vocational education and training, and extra places in language, literacy and numeracy programs are most welcome.
Additional expenditure on housing and health for Indigenous people is to be applauded but much more needs to be done. The staff of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in Penrith are always in search of housing for their clients.
While the 2005 Budget has a number of helpful initiatives I find it difficult to understand why, in a time of such affluence, with a $9 billion surplus, money should be dispensed in tax cuts rather than invested in health, education and infrastructure.
Hardly a day goes by without revelations of overcrowding, course cutting and job insecurity in the tertiary education sector.
The cutting of the Medicare Safety Net leaves poor families even more vulnerable.
The limited provision for drought relief in the Budget seems extraordinary and I hope this will be rectified as a result of the Parkes summit.
Full article
hat tip to CWN News Bytes
from Bishop Manning
In response to this year’s Federal Budget, Bishop Kevin Manning wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, published in Catholic Outlook, June 2005.
Dear Mr Howard,
As the Bishop of a Diocese with a considerable population of Indigenous Australians and a number of extremely socially disadvantaged areas, the annual Federal Budget is of great importance.
My congratulations on the boost in funding for marriage education and your support for relationship counselling. Education and early intervention into troubled relationships are of considerable importance in saving families from separation and divorce. This will be most welcome to the Catholic Church’s social welfare agency, Centacare, which provides extensive marriage and family counselling in the Diocese.
The 80,000 additional childcare places and the additional childcare fee assistance will be a help to families with both parents working. The bonus for carers, although a one off, is recognition of the role they play in our society.
Funding for additional vocational education and training, and extra places in language, literacy and numeracy programs are most welcome.
Additional expenditure on housing and health for Indigenous people is to be applauded but much more needs to be done. The staff of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in Penrith are always in search of housing for their clients.
While the 2005 Budget has a number of helpful initiatives I find it difficult to understand why, in a time of such affluence, with a $9 billion surplus, money should be dispensed in tax cuts rather than invested in health, education and infrastructure.
Hardly a day goes by without revelations of overcrowding, course cutting and job insecurity in the tertiary education sector.
The cutting of the Medicare Safety Net leaves poor families even more vulnerable.
The limited provision for drought relief in the Budget seems extraordinary and I hope this will be rectified as a result of the Parkes summit.
Full article
hat tip to CWN News Bytes