GordonMoyes.com

On Tuesday 9 September 2008 Rev the Hon Dr Gordon Moyes, A.C. M.L.C., hosted a fund raising luncheon at NSW Parliament House for the Wesley Institute, Australia’s premier evangelical Christian college of the arts and ministry.

Loving God, we pray for the people of Iraq. We pray that your mercy and grace reaches those who have suffered from continued bombings, and political, ethnic, and religious divisions. Hear the cries of the thousands who grieve the loss of their children, the death of family members, the death of security and well-being.

Courageous survivors of cluster bomb explosions travelled from around the world to Dublin in May to witness the writing of an historic international humanitarian law treaty that bans the use of these inaccurate and unreliable weapons. During the Vietnam War, at least 250 million cluster bombs were dropped on Laos, littering almost a third of the country with unexploded munitions. The story is one of many. Since World War II, innocent civilians in 21 countries have had to live with unexploded ‘bomblets’.

Can you imagine your eight-year old daughter engaged in battle with a gun? In wartime girls are drawn into violence in many ways. They can be forced from their homes, separated from their families and lose the chance of an education. They can be abducted by armed groups and forced to act as porters, camp domestics, combatants, spies, and even soldiers’ wives. Of the estimated 300,000 child soldiers in the world today, approximately 100,000 are girls.

Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM, former Australian Human Rights Commissioner (2000-2005) and Adjunct Professor at the Centre of Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Sydney, delivered an address on the relationship between the Beijing Games and human rights at the Activating Human Rights and Peace International Conference (01-04 July 2008). Below is an edited version of his speech.

Have you considered installing a rainwater tank? In our dry Australian climate and with strict water restrictions still in force with no let-up in sight, it may be worth your while to consider a DIY solution for your own home: installing a water tank to save the rainwater that hits your roof from going down the drain.

In a London Theatre next month, there will be the premiere of a play entitled “Cosi” by the celebrated Sydney playwright Louis Nowra. What has that got to do with us? Well, it is based on a short story written by Dr Gordon Moyes in his Australian Short Story series, originally written for broadcast on 2GB and the Macquarie network. This was a story based on his experiences while a Bush Parson.

The Shooters Party has presented this Bill to the Legislative Council with various amendments pertaining to gun control, access, licensing, ownership and other requirements. I will briefly summarise what the Bill proposes, and then ask readers to let me know if you think this Bill should be supported by the CDP.

The NSW Government announced on 3 April 2008 reforms to the licensing system for older motorists after an extensive public consultation period. More than 24,000 people had their say, and the message to the NSW Government was clear – we needed to take another look at the issue of older driver testing. In response, the Government has announced reforms, which will balance the safety of road users and the general community with the continuing independence and mobility of over-85 drivers.

We have few antiques in our home, and those we have came down through our families, but as both sides were working people on limited incomes, they never had any antiques of any great value. And we have never had the money to buy any. So you don’t see much at our home. Except for a couple of small things. They mainly rest on the shelves of the bookcases I have built, in front of the ranks of books. They are small, and visitors pick them up and look at them with interest.