Notes: Monday, March 28-Friday, July 1, 2016 (part 1 of 2)

1. "ParentsNext will assist parents with young children in planning for future employment by arranging activities and connecting parents to local services to prepare them for work by the time their children are at school."

The quotation, including its italics, in that headline comes from the Media Release "ParentsNext - helping parents with young children prepare for work", dated Wednesday, January 6, 2016, issued by The Hon. Sen. Michaelia Cash (Federal Minister for Employment, Minister for Women, and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service), downloaded from the Employment portfolio Minister’s Media Centre website:

https://ministers.employment.gov.au/cash/parentsnext-helping-parents-young-children-prepare-work-0

See also

• the "Parents Next" (sic) "landing page" at H.M.A. Government's Department of Employment website:
  
  http://www.employment.gov.au/parentsnext

• the "Grant Guidelines for ParentsNext", available here:
  
  http://www.employment.gov.au/information-grant-guidelines-parentsnext
  
  or go straight hither:
  
  https://docs.employment.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/grant_guidelines_for_parentsnext.pdf
  
  In Chapter 2 ("About ParentsNext"), §2.1 ("Introduction"), p. 2 (8 in your reader), that document notes that "[f]or many people, in particular, many women, becoming a parent can involve more time spent caring for children and less time in the paid workforce."

• the "Q & As for the Applications for Grant Funding for ParentsNext" (also called "ParentsNext Grant Funding Proposal Question and Answers"), available here:
  
  http://www.employment.gov.au/information-grant-guidelines-parentsnext
  
  or go straight hither:
  
  https://docs.employment.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/parentsnext_q_and_as_2.pdf
  
  This document notes, like the Grant Guidelines, that "[f]or many people, particularly women, becoming a parent can involve more time spent caring for children and less time in the paid workforce" (p. 3, §1.4), and question 1.24 (p. 7) says, in part, "[w]e have run projects in the past and some women did not have child care as they have not been eligible for child care with Centrelink".

• the "Grant Guidelines for ParentsNext Webinar" PowerPoint presentation, available here:
  
  https://docs.employment.gov.au/node/35611
  
  The fifth slide, headed "Policy rationale", has a bullet point saying "Added impetus: Australia’s G20 commitment to reduce the gap between male and female labour force participation.", and the text accompanying that slide goes into a little more detail, noting, among other things, that "it is expected that the majority of parents in ParentsNext will be women"

Labels: economic rationalism, economics, family, feminism, work

2. In one respect, The Greens are a better friend (or at least less of an enemy) to large families than Labor and the Liberals are.

I refer in that headline to The Greens' opposition to the abolition of the large-family supplement. See The Australian Greens Dissenting Report in the Senate's Community Affairs Legislation Committee's February 2016 report on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Family Measures) Bill 2015 [Provisions]:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Family_Measures/Report

See also the respective speeches of Senn. Fifield, Moore, and Siewert recorded in the Hansard for Wednesday, February 24, 2016 (under "Social Services Legislation Amendment (Family Measures) Bill 2015" under the two "BILLS" tabs at the left of your screen when you go to the following webpage):

http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2Faf5e9bce-9bd9-45dc-bd87-c1d5218a5d66%2F0000%22

Labels: economics, family, tax

3. Mr. Lawrence on Family Tax Benefit B and horizontal equity:

… What we point out in paragraph 27 of our submission is that family tax benefit B is a hybrid kind of payment.

There was an interesting article by Judith Sloan in The Australian about a month ago where she talked about family tax benefit part B. She framed it, at least part of it, in terms of a tax relief measure. What she was saying—and other people have said this but she perhaps crystallised it—is that family tax benefit B is a provision that gives some horizontal equity to the tax system. In Australia, as we well know, we do not have family tax. The family is not a unit and the household is not a unit for tax purposes. Prime Minister Howard was very good in articulating the basis for giving some support to families through the tax system. His point was, and the same with Judith Sloane, that if somebody is prepared to give part of their income to support somebody else then they should get some recognition for it. There should be some tax relief, because it has a social value. If we give a donation to an organisation that looks after homeless children, we get a tax deduction for it, because it is recognised in the system that there is an advantage in that for society. Civil society, or the institution of society, is enhanced by the sharing of income.

So you get this notion of horizontal equity. We have used the tax rebate originally as one means of modifying the implications of just having an individual as a tax unit. What we now have is a hybrid. It makes it a bit difficult sometimes to work out how you should deal with it. Our view is that because there is a value in looking after children in the home and because there is an argument in support of horizontal equity then in principle there should be no cut-off point in the support. But the reality is that if you are going to support the people at the bottom, the most vulnerable, you might not be able to afford that benefit. If you reduce it back, you might lose the obvious horizontal tax equity features. That is an issue that I think has to be taken into account in this debate and it sometimes can be confusing as to how you deal with it.
[my ellipsis symbol,
Hansard transcript of a public hearing, on February 18, 2016, for the Senate's Community Affairs Legislation Committee's inquiry into the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Family Payments Structural Reform and Participation Measures) Bill (No. 2) 2015 (the quotation comes from Mr. Brian Lawrence, who represented the Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations (A.C.C.E.R.)):
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22committees%2Fcommsen%2F9b2b26ff-6726-4185-935e-06385bc5c0aa%2F0000%22
(A.C.C.E.R.'s submission is available at Parliament's website (but Mr. Lawrence seems to have had in mind section, rather than page, 27, on p. 8):
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Family_Payments_No_2/Submissions)]

Labels: economics, family, tax

4. Some recent items regarding "respectful relationships"

4.1 Mr. Muehlenberg on Early Childhood Australia (E.C.A.) and its Start Early "teaching resource"

See the blog posts "Get Your Hands Off Our Children" by Mr. Bill Muehlenberg, dated March 6, 2016, downloaded from his CultureWatch blog:

http://billmuehlenberg.com/2016/03/06/when-the-wicked-target-our-children/

and "The Sexual Anarchists Targeting Our Children", by the same author, dated March 8, 2016, downloaded from the same website:

http://billmuehlenberg.com/2016/03/08/the-sexual-anarchists-targeting-our-children/

There is a Start Early homepage at E.C.A.'s website:

http://startearly.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Labels: childcare, education, feminism, G.L.B.T., morals, multiculturalism, relativism, sex ed

4.2 Stop it at the start (a "$30 million national campaign designed to help break the cycle of violence against women and their children") "will unite families and communities around young people to positively influence attitudes towards respectful relationships and gender equality."

The quotations in that headline come from the media release "Stop it at the start", dated April 20, 2016, downloaded from the Federal Minister for Women's website (the latter quotation was attributed directly to the Minister, The Hon. Sen. Michaelia Cash):

http://ministers.dpmc.gov.au/cash/2016/stop-it-start

(That media release is also available at the official Federal Minister for Social Services website:

http://christianporter.dss.gov.au/media-releases/stop-it-at-the-start)

See also the transcript "Stop it at the Start - Campaign Launch Press Conference", dated April 20, 2016, downloaded from the same website:

http://ministers.dpmc.gov.au/cash/2016/stop-it-start-campaign-launch-press-conference

(and also available at the other website:

http://christianporter.dss.gov.au/transcripts/stop-it-at-the-start-campaign-launch-press-conference)

In that transcript, Sen. Cash also reminds her audience of how

last year the Women’s Safety Ministers, we wrote to the Education Ministers, and we recommended that Respectful Relationships, that programme, be imbedded in the school curriculum. We were very pleased that then the Education Minister’s determined that it would.

As for the respective policies of Federal Labor and The Greens concerning 'respectful relationships', see

• p. 18 of the booklet "Australian Women. Labor’s Positive Policies", available at Labor's 100 Positive Policies website here:
  
  http://www.100positivepolicies.org.au/australian_women_labors_positive_policies
  
  and elsewhere here:
  
  https://cdn.australianlabor.com.au/documents/ALPWomen_Brochure.pdf

• the webpage "Preventing Violence Against Women" at The Greens' website here:
  
  http://thegreens.org.au/prevent-violence
  
  whence you can download the booklet "PREVENTING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN" (see p. 2 concerning the matter at hand):
  
  http://greens.org.au/sites/greens.org.au/files/20160620%20Preventing%20Violence%20Against%20Women%20Plan.pdf

Labels: childcare, education, feminism, G.L.B.T., morals, multiculturalism, relativism, sex ed

4.3 Ms Barry on "respectful relationships education"

See the opinion piece "Respectful relationships education: teaching kids respect" by Ms Mary Barry (Chief Executive Officer of Our Watch), dated April 21, 2016, downloaded from Our Watch's website:

http://www.ourwatch.org.au/News-media/Latest-news/Respectful-relationships-education-teaching-kids-r

Labels: childcare, education, feminism, G.L.B.T., morals, multiculturalism, relativism, sex ed

5. Some sources of information about the Martyrs of Carmes

See the Trove scans of the following newspaper articles (none of which had bylines):

• "HEROIC MARTYR BAND. Death Preferred to Disloyalty. THE POPE’S EULOGY." in The Freeman's Journal, Vol. LXXVI, Sydney, Thursday, December 2, 1926, p. 40:
  http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116779424
  (That article also contains information about Bl. Noel Pinot, another martyr during the French Revolution.)

• "News From France: The August Pilgrimage to Lourdes: THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND FAVOURITISM." in The Catholic Press, No. 827, Sydney, Thursday, October 26, 1911, p. 8:
  http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/105984410

• the article with an indistinctly-scanned headline beginning in the farthest left-hand-side column of p. 4 of The Catholic Press, No. 906, Sydney, Thursday, May 1, 1913:
  http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/105157670/

• "ROME DAY BY DAY. Notes and News." in The Catholic Press, No. 1056, Sydney, Thursday, March 23, 1916, p. 18:
  http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/105164309

See also pp. 67-72 of Acta Apostolicæ Sedis (A.A.S.) Vol. VIII (A.D. 1916):

http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-08-1916-ocr.pdf

and pp. 415-425, 439-447, and 450-452 of A.A.S. Vol. XVIII (A.D. 1926):

http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-18-1926-ocr.pdf

(The latter volume also contains information about the aforementioned Bl. Noel Pinot.)

Labels: France, saints

6. Some recent Gay-related items

6.1 "An Australian first Pride Centre is the centrepiece of the Andrews Labor Government’s continued investment in services and facilities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Victorians."

The quotation in that headline is the first paragraph of the Media Release "Victoria Continues To Lead The Nation On Equality", credited to Victoria's Ministers for, respectively, Equality (The Hon. Martin Foley M.P.) and Health (The Hon. Jill Hennessy M.P.), dated April 27, 2016, downloaded from the official Premier of Victoria website:

http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/victoria-continues-to-lead-the-nation-on-equality/

See also the Media Release "Australia’s First Pride Centre", credited to the Victorian Premier (The Hon. Daniel Andrews M.P.), dated April 20, 2016, downloaded from the same website:

http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/australias-first-pride-centre/

and the A.B.C. news report "Victoria to establish Australia's first Pride Centre for LGBTI community", dated Apil 20, 2016:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-20/victoria-to-be-home-to-australias-first-pride-centre/7343932

(While gathering that information, I came across this remarkable document:

Equality back on the agenda: Labor’s LGBTI Policy)

Labels: G.L.B.T., Victoria

6.2 "A Shorten Labor Government will appoint a full-time LGBTI Discrimination Commissioner to the Australian Human Rights Commission."

The quotation in that headline is the first paragraph of the media release "Labor To Appoint A New Champion For LGBTI Australians", issued jointly by The Hon. Sen. Penny Wong (Leader of H.M.A. Opposition in the Senate, Shadow Minister for Trade and Investment) and The Hon. Mark Dreyfus Q.C. M.P. (Federal Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Arts Minister), dated Saturday, May 21, 2016, downloaded from Mr. Dreyfus's website:

http://markdreyfus.nationbuilder.com/labor_to_appoint_a_new_champion_for_lgbti_australians

See also

• the prepared text of the speech by Sen. Wong for the "Rainbow Labor National Day of Action and Campaign Launch" in Melbourne on the same date, downloaded from Sen. Wong's personal website:
  http://www.pennywong.com.au/speeches/rainbow-labor-national-day-of-action-and-campaign-launch-melbourne/

• the transcript of Sen. Wong's and Mr. Dreyfus's press conference on the same date and in the same city, downloaded from the same website:
  http://www.pennywong.com.au/transcripts/press-conference-melbourne-4/

• the webpage "Fighting Discrimination Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender And Intersex Australians" at Labor's 100 Positive Policies website:
  http://www.100positivepolicies.org.au/lgbti_discrimination_commissioner_fact_sheet

Labels: A.H.R.C., G.L.B.T., human rights

6.3 On Wednesday, May 25, 2016, His Excellency The Governor of New South Wales "met with Mr Geoff Selig, Board Director, and Mr Sean Linkson, Chief Executive Officer of The Pinnacle Foundation, an organisation established to provide scholarships to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex and Queer students who are marginalised or disadvantaged."

The quotation in that headline comes from the webpage "Wednesday, 25 May 2016" at the official Governor of New South Wales website:

https://www.governor.nsw.gov.au/governor/vice-regal-program/wednesday/

Labels: G.L.B.T., N.S.W.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of The Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, A.D. 2016