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Large parts of the country are going through a difficult time due to the Coronavirus.

That’s why I believe the prime minister should hold a National Day of Prayer. 

There is a precedent for this in Australia and the US.

The year was 1838 and a severe drought threatened the livestock of the early colony of NSW. The colonists could not afford to lose any more animals because they were critical for their farming work and as a source of food. George Gipps was the governor of the colony at that time. Mr Gipps, a Bible believing Christian, called for a day of fasting and prayer to be held on Sunday, 2 November of that year. Two days later, on the 4 November, the drought broke and it rained so much that many people came down with the flu. This 9th Governor of our nation, in his first year of office, applied God’s wisdom in dealing with that drought crisis.

Abraham Lincoln in 1863, called for a special day to seek the Lord as the US was in a perilous state. 

We are in a national crisis with this pandemic, the states of NSW, Victoria and South Australia are in or have been in lockdown. 

The majority of our nation's population identify themselves as being Christian. Surely it is not unreasonable to seek prayer for the pandemic at this time.

In 1838 Governor Gipps rallied the nation around a unified, proactive strategy; I believe it would likewise be a worthy, unifying and positive strategy to call for the people of this nation to pray for Australia.

Please send a message to the Prime Minister urging him to call a National Day of Prayer. 

For family, faith and freedom,

Peter Downie
National Director - FamilyVoice

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Good news, the Great Barrier Reef is in good health! It has not been handed to the UN to control. We wish to thank the environment minister Sussan Ley for her sterling efforts in securing this great outcome. Great Barrier Reef avoids 'in danger' tag after Australian government lobbying convinces UNESCO - ABC News

We are asking her to put Peter Ridd in charge of preparing the reports necessary to stop it going to UN control next February when it will be reviewed again.

This news story took up half of the ABC 612 radio news at 7am 24/7/21. They said there was a mixed reaction to the news. The ABC only presented one side of the reaction, the bad side. They told us what Green Peace had said, they put on the Labour spokesperson who said we need a government who will protect the reef and then a very long section to Sarah Hanson Young from the Greens. Science and media doomsayers ignore good news on reef.

Putting Peter Ridd in charge would be a fitting reward for what he has gone through in his defence of freedom of speech and proper scientific evidence and reporting. 

Please send a message to environment minister Sussan Ley now.

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The efforts of all State governments and healthcare workers are to be commended in working to ‘saving lives’ under the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the efforts of the NSW State Government with lockdowns and restrictions in travel and work to saving lives, no thought is given to the NSW MP Alex Greenwich’s Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021 (VAD) introduced last week aimed at ‘ending lives’. The VAD bill is likely to be tabled on Thursday, 12 August 2021 with a view to it being debated in parliament in September 2021.

“The VAD Bill is a contradiction and belittles the efforts of State governments in NSW and QLD to ‘save lives’ given the fact that Voluntary Assisted Dying and Euthanasia is NOT Healthcare, is NOT Palliative Care, and is NOT Reverseable,” said Greg Bondar, NSW/ACT State Director at FamilyVoice Australia.

The VAD bill, if passed by NSW Parliament, would make the act of one person killing another legal in NSW. This is clearly ‘State-Sanctioned Suicide’ which makes a mockery of ‘suicide prevention’ and our ‘COVID-19 Saving Lives’ campaigns by the government, peak NSW organisations, families, Aged-Care centres and the medical profession.

“Proponents of the NSW VAD bill are nothing more than ‘political pharisees’ if they support saving lives under COVID-19 but not under euthanasia” added Greg Bondar.

If we value life, believe in hope, trust modern healthcare, and wish to give our loved ones a chance, then we must oppose any moves to legalise Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in NSW/QLD.

 

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Before the last election, Scott Morrison promised he would deliver religious freedom protections.

And yet, close to 800 days since the election in 2019, the Prime Minister is still yet to deliver.

Earlier this year FamilyVoice featured a webinar with the Hon. Kevin Andrews on religious freedom. 

Nearly 300 people registered on the night, but if you missed it you can catch up on our FamilyVoice YouTube channel.

Kevin paid tribute to the ongoing work of FamilyVoice. “It’s often been a tough battle, against the current zeitgeist which reigns supreme in the liberal media and elsewhere,” he said. “Your efforts, your prayerfulness, your thoughtfulness, your concern about the future of this country in a very real and substantive way – thank you very much!

He then noted that many Australians think there is religious freedom in Australia – in practice, as well as in law.

“But in fact there is very little protection of religious freedom here,” he said. “There is some protection in the federal Constitution, but not in the states.”

Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells speaks out

FamilyVoice’s Greg Bondar recently met with NSW Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells to discuss this critical issue.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells is a very strong supporter of religious freedom.  She has rightly pointed out that:

Australians of family and faith want to be able to live their lives in accordance with their faith and their convictions.  The growing body of cases in Australia of people facing harassment, intimidation and persecution because of their religious beliefs and actions highlights the need for positive religious freedom laws.  Some are even losing their livelihoods.

Indeed, since the 2017 same-sex marriage campaign and postal survey, people who hold and practice traditional values of marriage and family have been intimidated and harassed.

When freedom of speech, thought, conscience and belief is framed only as an “exemption” to other rights, they are “read down” against positive rights, rendering them subordinate to those other rights.  A regime of positive rights in the form of religious freedom legislation would give greater effect to the right to manifest one’s freedom of thought, conscience and belief as outlined in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

With a federal election fast approaching, it is incumbent that we maintain the pressure on the Federal Government to deliver on religious freedom.

I urge you to send a quick message to the Prime Minister telling him to please act immediately to protect this important right.
 

For family, faith and freedom,

Peter Downie - National Director

FamilyVoice Australia