The annual anniversary of the landing of Australian and New Zealand soldiers at Gallipoli challenges us all. The stories of that event together with various myths and legends that grew in the hearts of the youth of nationhood have meant that Australians have a special place in the heart on that Turkish peninsula. Like many others of the latter generation, I wondered what it was all about. I studied the history, read the diaries, went to the war memorials and I wrote down material. Continue reading →

Today I will speak about an excellent organisation based at Macquarie University called Macquarie Customised Accessibility Services—M-CAS for short. Continue reading →

I rise today to give tribute to the Reverend Robert Richardson Smith who died on the 12th of December 2009, at the age of 91. Continue reading →

This month marks the 200th anniversary of the swearing-in of Lachlan Macquarie as the fifth Governor of the colony of New South Wales. He served in that capacity from 1810 to 1821. Governor Macquarie was born in 1762 to a tenant farming family on a tiny island off the coast of Scotland, where he eventually was buried. At 14 he left his family to join the Army. Continue reading →

Assisted suicide is as old as humanity; it is not a modern phenomenon and the controversies around it are not new. The Hippocratic Oath, written by the “father of medicine”, the Greek physician Hippocrates, and sworn to by new physicians for the past 2,400 years, specifically states, “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan”. This was written because the temptation has always existed to end life when it is seemingly unbearable. Continue reading →

I inform the House about an outstanding Christian ministry that is one of the few initiatives successfully challenging the culture of binge drinking in Australian high schools and colleges, residence halls and meeting places of the young: the Red Frogs Australia Chaplaincy Network. Continue reading →

Today I speak about an inspiring international Christian organisation, Prison Fellowship International, which was founded by Watergate identity Chuck Colson. Prison Fellowship New South Wales is our State branch, which seeks to transform the lives of all those in our State who are caught up in the criminal lifestyle, to help restore relationships with their families, and to reconcile them to their communities. Continue reading →

Today I pay tribute to Marjorie Somerville, founder of the Methodist Nursing Service, who died on 30 September 2009 at the age of 89 years. Marjorie Wilkinson was born in 1920 to Cecelia and George Wilkinson. Continue reading →

The ever-vexed issues of the fluoridation of our water supplies and immunisation of our children have returned with great force in the past few weeks due to the waging of some online campaigns. Continue reading →

Tonight I inform the House of the important and innovative work being done at the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science at Macquarie University. The centre is conducting a number of research projects into dyslexia and other reading difficulties that are of vital international significance. Continue reading →