I didn't see anyone abuse Aussies for not giving through the government.........I guess you read what you want but it is clear that Christ In Action is talking about government assistance. It is a call to pressure the government to do more than they are now.
I argue that you're not connecting the dots at all. In a democratic country like Australia, "the government" does not act indepemndently of the rest of Australia. It collects taxes and distributes them - sometimes as overseas aid - for the reason that that policy is important to voting Australians. It cannot be argued that Australian government policy in an area like this is "Disgraceful", without implying that the attitude of those who elected that government is likewise "disgraceful". That sounds like abuse to me.
Yeah your right there is a verse along these lines. In context it says looking after your own family. So then you need to decide who is family. Any money given to drought relief or bushfire appeals is hardly giving to family unless you use the definition of family as illustrated by the Good Samaritan story in which case people overseas are just as much family as people here in Australia. So quoting that verse has no relevance to this discussion.
In fact it it quite specifically related to family .... however I can argue that it supports the principle that looking after the needs of those most directly before you is appropriate, and that ignoring these in order to donate to more appealing causes may not be. Point is, it is not "disgraceful" to look after your own first, whether it is your own family or community. What is disgraceful is to ignore those who have a call on you.
Ahh the good old bag people out for being critical of others and then be critical of them only using assumptions. Wrong ones at that. Christ In Action has said he is involved with voluntering time. I guess you just decided to skip over that part of the thread or as I said before you read what you want to read.
Pot calling the kettle ........are we Mr Dag?
I see no reaction from you to the abusive response that CIA gave to a couple of us who disagreed with her. Nor do you bother to point out that in claiming to volunteer time while ignoring the huge contribution that other Australians make in volunteering , she demonstrates further inconsistency.
As for issues like Timor. Well to be consistent, we must acknowledge that an Australian government - one which I despised - permitted its occupation (and that of Dutch New Guinea as it was then) . Point is that that is history, and an error for which we are now paying the price. WE ARE PAYING IT (one of my friends is still carrying shrapnel acquired over there).... and should receive credit for so doing. Same must be said for our contributions in the Solomons, Somalia, A'stan and Iraq. Regardless of what we think of the politics, we did not create the situation in those places and we are contributing to the security and welfare of the inhabitants. People who have little contract with our military personnel have no idea how seriously our men in uniform take that work, and how proud they are of making a contribution.
Talking about overseas aid as it affects children.... it has been argued that one of the drivers behind children being engaged in various forms of sexual exploitation, is the decision by certain "enlightened" countries such as our own, that we will not accept child labour or the products thereof. As much as the need for children to work is to be deplored, it is better to work and contributre to your family, than to starve with them or be sold by them because they cannot afford to keep you. Hobson's choice.
Please consider....... Peter
As you probably know, Kevin Rudd will be increasing Australia's overseas aid to 0.5% GNI by his second term. (He's already done other fantastic things that were also long overdue like ratify Kyoto and end the blame game w.r.t. Commonwealth-State health funding).
