News

Published: 14 September 2020

The Victorian Bar has expressed concern after viewing footage of the arrest of Ballarat woman Zoe Buhler.

Buhler was placed in handcuffs on incitement charges after she posted details of a Freedom Day protest on her Facebook page, despite informing police that she had an ultrasound appointment to attend in an hour and saying she was happy to delete the social media post.

“We recognise the importance of compliance with the law, but enforcement of those laws needs to be proportionate and consistent” said President of the Victorian Bar Wendy Harris QC.

The Bar said that the arrest and handcuffing of Zoe Buhler appeared disproportionate to the threat she presented:

The law in Victoria, explained by the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Court of Appeal in Slaveski v Victoria and Perkins v County Court of Victoria, is that a police officer is not entitled to use handcuffs on a person merely because an arrest has been made.  The footage of Ms Buhler’s arrest portrays no threat posed by her conduct which was suggestive of the need to apply handcuffs.   Consistency in the enforcement of the law is also critical; without it, confidence in the rule of law is undermined.  The Victorian Bar is concerned that the enforcement response to Ms Buhler’s conduct is apparently at odds with other reported and more measured responses by authorities to organisers or promoters of similar protests planned or carried out in contravention of public health directives.  

The Bar said that it had written to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, the Hon. Lisa Neville, to raise these matters of concern.

Published: 09 September 2020

You may have seen the video recording of the arrest of Zoe Lee Buhler by the Victorian police.

Zoe is a 27-year-old mother who was at home, dressed in her pyjamas when the police called with a search warrant. She was handcuffed and arrested for “incitement” while her children and partner watched. Zoe is pregnant and was due to have an ultrasound an hour later.

Caroline Overington, a columnist with The Australian, called Zoe’s arrest “dictatorial and dangerous.” Zoe’s alleged crime? She was one of thousands of people who have been frustrated with Victoria’s draconian lockdown laws. She put a post on Facebook about a “Freedom Day” in Ballarat last weekend.

The only reason we know about her arrest is that her partner live-streamed the incident until the police confiscated his mobile phone. How many other Victorian homes did police raid in this brutal way?

Murray Gleeson, former chief justice of the High Court of Australia, has said it would be wrong to use the procedure of arrest or warrant unless police reasonably suspect that the accused person would fail to turn up at court.

If Zoe had to be charged, why use the harsh process of handcuffs and arrest, rather than a simple summons? And why not simply accept Zoe’s offer to remove her Facebook post?

Victoria has “All the hallmarks of a police state” said an editorial in The Australian:

This time last year, the idea that any Australian police force would arrest and handcuff a pregnant woman at home in her pyjamas, in front of her children, in a provincial city, for a Facebook post, would have defied credulity.

The pandemic, however, has brought an incremental erosion of civil liberties, especially in Victoria. The heat has been turned up gradually, to the point Victorians are living a dystopian nightmare. House arrest for 23 hours a day, working (if they still have a job) at home while they homeschool children; an 8pm curfew; isolation if they live alone; no visiting friends or family. Many people, understandably, are too fraught to add another worry — the encroaching police state — to their burdens.

Others, alarmed that their state has crossed a dangerous line, are outraged. Professionals at the coalface, such as the medical practitioners who have signed a letter noting the dangers to citizens’ physical and mental health posed by restrictions, are increasingly concerned for the sick and vulnerable.

A serious problem with leaders who grasp draconian powers is that they are most reluctant to give them up. Dictator Dan, as some call him, has just secured a 6-month extension of his state of emergency. It narrowly passed the Victorian upper house, 20:19, last Wednesday.

It is time to draw a line in the sand.

Peter Downie
National Director - FamilyVoice Australia

Published: 01 September 2020

In a remarkable recent development that sets a standard for Australia and every nation, the leadership of Papua New Guinea has resolved to declare the country to be officially Christian.

This builds on Papua New Guinea’s recognition of its Christian heritage, as described in the preamble to its Constitution that was adopted upon independence from Australia in 1975:

We, the people of Papua New Guinea ... pledge ourselves to guard and pass on to those who come after us our noble traditions and the Christian principles that are ours now ... under the guiding hand of God, to be the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.

The country is highly Christianised, with around 70 per cent of people indicating personal faith in Jesus, in a culture that is steeped in Christian morality.

But in June 2020, a report issued by the PNG National Research Institute, concluded the country is not officially Christian.

The report's author, Dr Eugene Ezebilo, said that a country is Christian only when it has Christianity as the official national religion and features an established church. He cautioned that if PNG officially becomes a Christian nation it may dissuade non-Christian people from moving to PNG from overseas.

Papua New Guinea's National Executive Council in August 2020 approved a proposal to formally declare the country Christian under the Constitution, apparently in response to the report.

However, according to Dr Ezebilo, it is unlikely that a constitutional referendum will occur to effect any change.

FamilyVoice Australia spokesman David d’Lima said constitutional recognition of the Christian faith is a helpful feature for any nation, but ultimately does not make for a Christian country.

“Australia and Papua New Guinea have a rich Christian heritage and a constitutional recognition of the sovereignty of God,” he said.

“In Australia, the preamble declares the people to be humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God and the Father of Federation (Sir Henry Parkes) wrote in a column published in the Sydney Morning Herald on August 26, 1885, that we are pre-eminently a Christian people.

“But every nation, just like every person, is Christian only to the extent that Christ himself lays the claim - or not - as he explained when referring to sheep and goat nations,” David d’Lima said.

“Like any parent, we may well be proud of Papua New Guinea as our offspring nation that seeks to honour Christ.

“However, if we continue our headlong plunge into wrongdoing in Australia, we may eventually have to rely upon missionaries from PNG to re-evangelise our country.

“The ethical behaviour of PNG and its embrace of the Christian gospel is far better than Australia which has become increasingly sinful in its social behaviour and legal provisions in recent years.”

Published: 01 September 2020

Prince William with Catherine and their children

Becoming a father is often a life-changing experience.

Prince William said that becoming a father was one of the most amazing moments of life.  “Having children is the biggest life-changing moment, it really is.”

Freelance writer Rob Jenkins says that fathers can change the world, one child at a time.  He says to dads: “Resolve to improve the world one child at a time — starting with your own.”

Dr David Popenoe, Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University, says:

“Fathers are far more than just ‘second adults’ in the home. Involved fathers – especially biological fathers – bring positive benefits to their children that no other person is as likely to bring.

“They provide protection and economic support and male role models. They have a parenting style that is significantly different from that of a mother and that difference is important in healthy child development.”

That is because men and women are different. Both are equally important to children, but they parent a little differently.

The Christian ministry Focus on the Family has this to say:

“Dads … love their children more dangerously. That’s because they play ‘rougher’ and are more likely to encourage risk-taking. They provide kids with a broader diversity of social experiences.

“They also introduce them to a wider variety of methods of dealing with life. They tend to stress rules, justice, fairness, and duty in discipline.

“In this way, they teach children the objectivity and consequences of right and wrong. They give kids insight into the world of men. They prepare them for the challenges of life and demonstrate by example the meaning of respect between the sexes.”

Focus on the Family quotes parenting expert Dr Kyle Pruett who points out that while mothers and fathers are both physical with their children, fathers are typically physical in different ways. 

Fathers tend to play with their children, and mothers tend to care for them.  Generally speaking, fathers tickle more, they wrestle, and they throw their children in the air (while mothers warn, “Not so high!”). 

Fathers are louder at play, while mothers are quieter.  Mothers cuddle babies, and fathers bounce them.  Fathers roughhouse, while mothers are gentle.  Fathers encourage competition; mothers encourage equality.  Fathers encourage independence while mothers encourage security.

Fathering expert John Snarey notes that children who roughhouse with their fathers learn that biting, kicking and other forms of physical violence are not acceptable. They learn self-control by being told when “enough is enough” and when to “settle down”.  Fathers help girls and boys learn a healthy balance between timidity and aggression.  Children need mum’s softness, as well as dad’s roughhousing.  Both provide security and confidence in their own ways by communicating love and physical intimacy.

On Fathers Day – this coming Sunday – we celebrate the special place of fathers in our families and our society. I pray that the Lord will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, as in Malachi 4:6.

Peter Downie

National Director - FamilyVoice Australia