Notes from a crisis : comments from the Community Forum on Homelessness in #Ballarat

Cross-posted from Beside The Creek
The blog of the Ballarat Interfaith Network.

The above PowerPoint presentation

has been gathered and edited  from 

the feedback of participants at the Forum.

Not only can it be viewd on line -

it can be downloaded and screened.

Please give it wide coverage in your groups and associations/

Please encourage people to attend the next Forum on 9 October.

Details to be announced

On 21 August 2015, approximately 80 people gathered at the Eastwood Leisure Centre in Ballarat for a Forum on Homelessness. The place was packed. The place was lively. 

People working in organisations related to Homelessness were present. Some of these gave presentations of their work. Most of these were in government funded organisations but there were some present who received no government funding whatsoever and relied wholly on community support to fund their activities.  Prominent among the latter was The Soup Bus - a well known #Ballarat institution.  

A favourite of many people was Josh Wilkins, the founder of One Voice.  One Voice operates without government funding and provides free, clean shower facilities for homeless people.  Keep watch because there may be a #Ballarat version pop up thanks to the energies of local people.  A bus has already been given for the purpose but there is much more to be done before bus and showers can hit the road. Josh said that his ambition is to become like the community of Sant'Egidio in Italy who started small but now have moved on to providing health care and facilities.  

There were people from the general community who were concerned about Homelessness and who were seeking solutions to this grave problem. The forum was co-sponsored by Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council and Ballarat Interfaith Network. Many thanks to Father Constantine Osuchukwu (Treasurer, B.I.N. and Interfaith Officer, BRMC) and Margaret Lenan Ellis (Public Relations Officer, B.I.N.) who were at the forefront of organising the Forum and a special thanks for the great job that Father Constantine did in chairing proceedings.

If you attended, the Homelessness Forum or if you were prevented from attending, another gathering will be held on 9 October. Stay tuned for further details.

#Ballarat Forum on Constitutional Recognition of Australia's First Peoples - 29 September 2015

The City of Ballarat's Koorie Engagement Group (KEAG)

& Reconciliation Victoria

A Community Forum on the Approaching

National Referendum for 'Constitutional

Recognition of Australia's First Peoples'

Featuring

Keynote Speakers, followed by Q&A session

with community panel members made up of 

experts and community leaders.

Everyone is encouraged to join the conversation.

Tuesday 29 September 6.30pm to 8.30pm

Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka

(M.A.D.E.)

102 Stawell Street, Ballarat.

Entry is free.

A light supper will be provided.

Childcare facilities are available.

RSVP by 22 September 2015

Email: fionamachin@ballarat.vic.gov.au

Phone: 5320 5831

Indigenous referendum : Australians invited to join community 

conferences on recognition vote

Indigenous recognition: Abbott announces community consultation process

 Abbott, Shorten and Indigenous Leaders discuss recognition referendum - as it happened

NACCHO Referendum update : 

after meeting 40 Indigenous leaders communique from the PM and Opposition leader

Trust us :  

Patrick Dodson and Noel Pearson devise plan to save Indigenous  recognition referendum

Indigenous referendum: Noel Pearson says summit "stage-managed", left 'bitter taste' in mouth

The G20 Summit occurring in Brisbane : voices of the Anglican Communion speak out : message from Philip Freier, Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia & Archbishop of Melbourne

Anglican Communion voices speak out ahead of the G20 summit 

Posted on: November 13, 2014 4:17 PM 

The G20 is a forum for the governments and central bank governors 

from 20 major economies 

Photo Credit: G20 

By ACNS staff

Leading figures from the Anglican Communion are speaking out before and during this weekend’s G20 meeting in Brisbane, Australia, on a range of economic and development issues.

The G20 is a forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies that are said to account for around 85% of the gross world product, 80% of world trade and two-thirds of the world population.

 On the sidelines of the meeting will be people from countries not all represented in the G20, reminding world leaders that global growth should not come at the expense of the world's poorest people.

(l to r) Tagolyn Kabekabe and Abp Winston Halapua 
Photo Credit: ABM
 The Anglican Board of Mission (ABM) reports that the Archbishop of Polynesia, Winston Halapua is asking the G20 to consider how they might co-operate to minimise the impacts of climate change which are already being felt by people in the Pacific Islands.

The Anglican Alliance Regional facilitator for the Pacific will also be in Brisbane during the event. Tagolyn Kabekabe works with communities in the Solomon Islands who are experiencing the erosion of their homelands, poisoning of their food gardens by salt water and increasing exposure to extreme weather events.

Tagolyn represented the Anglican Communion, in particular those in the Pacific directly affected by climate change, at the C20 meeting – a civil society forum that met in June to feed in to the G20 discussions.

The Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, Dr Philip Freier, has issued a statement in which he warns global leaders that “failure to address these issues of economic security and justice will lead to more international conflict and reduce the possibility of human flourishing”. [His full statement is below]

ABM's Greg Henderson has been organising opportunities for people in Brisbane to meet Archbishop Winston and Tagolyn Kabekabe. He says that it is important for Australians to recognise that climate change is a justice issue, "because its impact is being felt most seriously by communities who have the least power to address the causes of anthropogenic warming".

According to the G20 website, the meeting's agenda has been built around the key themes of

• promoting stronger economic growth and employment outcomes 
• making the global economy more resilient to deal with future shocks 
• strengthening global institutions to ensure they reflect the new realities of the global economy.

For more about the G20’s priorities visit  

https://www.g20.org/g20_priorities  

Statement by Dr Philip Freier, 

Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia and Archbishop of Melbourne: 

The G20 meeting of the world’s 20 largest economies in Brisbane this weekend takes place in increasingly uncertain times. There are growing fears of global recession, rising international tensions and growing economic inequality between countries and within countries. 

 In the longer term there are vast challenges, such as managing climate change, global population growth and movement, international conflict, food security, water, and potential epidemics. 

It is essential that the countries taking part look beyond their own short-term national interests and seek to address these challenges in a concerted and effective way. I echo Pope Francis, who urged last week that the discussions move beyond declarations of principle to real improvements in the living conditions of poorer families and the reduction of all forms of unacceptable inequality. 

It will require good will and trust on all sides if the G20 summit is to achieve real progress, and it is the nature of international politics that no one wants to go first on such a path. Yet without a clear-sighted optimism, real change will be impossible. 

Failure to address these issues of economic security and justice will lead to more international conflict and reduce the possibility of human flourishing. They cannot be left to fester. The Anglican Church of Australia urges the G20 leaders to search for new and cooperative solutions that can work across the globe. To that end, we offer our support and prayers. 

 +Philip, Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia