GordonMoyes.com

I am on the Board of Trustees responsible for Mangrove Mountain Retreat. This fabulous centre was designed and built for young people who are in conflict with their parents. It was built by Wesley Mission when I was Superintendent, but is today operated by Youth Insearch under a trust. This work has helped stabilise over [...]

The Church in Australia has always been involved in politics. Shortly after the English began our nation as a European penal settlement, the Church of England became involved with the first legislative support to the Governor. This was in the Legislative Council, where I have sat and debated for the last eight years. But before [...]

There has been a great deal of attention on domestic violence lately, including the tragedy of unborn babies who are killed during attacks on their mothers, and the often overlooked area of male victims. What are the indicators that tension is increasing in a relationship that may be heading for trouble? Psychologists have identified and [...]

Scripture: Isaiah 40:23-31

When I celebrated my fifty-sixth birthday, I discovered I was growing older faster than even I had suspected. Clive Robertson, on the 2GB breakfast program, went to the trouble of introducing his own version of my biography which included the facts that I was a well known personality who was an Anglican, with [...]

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:25-35

Throughout this year I have researched and written twenty studies on Family Life. I have tried to write inclusive of people living in all sorts of differently shaped families. As Family First Party, I felt there should be some overarching philosophy apart from all of the policies on different aspects of Government [...]

Scripture: Genesis 44:14 – 34.

The legendary “Beatles” rock group often sang words that were devastatingly incisive. One, recorded in 1967, went to the heart of this matter of young adults breaking free from their parents’ home. The lyrics described a young woman whose parents had held on too long, forcing her to steal away in [...]

Scripture: Luke 2:41-52

Jodie Cadman is a New Zealand girl who came to live in Sydney. Jodie never forgot her mother’s words which she overheard when she was six. It was at the end of her first year at school. The day was hot. Jodie slipped inside for a cool drink of water.

She was at the [...]

The Australian Childhood Foundation released in September 2009 its third report in a series regarding community attitudes about child abuse and child protection across the nation. Entitled “Doing nothing hurts children” the report was published in partnership with the Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia centre at Monash University.

A number of organisations are very upset, claiming that the Rudd government is promoting a fatherless society. What they are mad about is the December 2009 publication of a report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) to the Attorney-General’s Department and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) regarding its in-depth evaluation of the changes made in 2006 to the Australian family law system.

There are many professional societies that research childcare and the effect it has on the well-being, development and socialisation of children. One of these is the American-based National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, which carried out a 10-year study of what constituted excellent childcare and put together some recommendations for parents (and grandparents) who needed guidance in choosing the best for their young ones.