Rev Dr Gordon Moyes of the Family First Party has expressed his concerns about the current policy and legislation that provides pre-employment screening of adults who volunteer and work in child-related organisations. There are limitation requirements set out of who is required to provide a Working with Children Check or Police Check. The development of this process is an important strategy to ensure and maintain child-safe organisations. But it is not enough! Do Sunday school teachers, youth club workers, not-for profit group volunteers, Scouts and sports club officials, and teachers of ethics and scripture in schools, fully understand their responsibilities to ensure a child-safe environment for our children? Continue reading →

With the University Admissions Centre (UAC) recently stating that they had received over 76,000 applications for undergraduate study in 2011, and a two percent increase on last years applications (excluding international students), Rev Dr Gordon Moyes, Parliamentary Leader of Family First, believes this is a timely opportunity to offer our domestic undergraduate students a university textbook rebate to alleviate undue financial stress and open the academic doors to those less fortunate.

Dr Moyes stated, “If I am given the opportunity to represent our state in the next Parliament, I will introduce a bill that legislates for university students to claim a rebate on their university textbooks. I am proposing this bill legislates either for a tax rebate, a ‘claim straight away’ scheme, a HELP delay payment, or a textbook buyback system.

“At this stage, private enterprises or universities are the only ones able to offer textbook scholarships or funding to university students, but they are limited to particular students with particular talents, and capped values.

“University textbooks sometimes cost over $100 each and students study up to four subjects per semester (or sometimes more). That means it can cost up to $800 per semester, or $1,600 per year, or a possible $6,400 per four year degree, to supply a university student with their textbooks, not to mention the compulsory university registration fees that apply. In some circumstances, our university students are only supported by part time jobs, or are receiving Centrelink benefits, and can’t afford to pay for their textbooks. Continue reading →

Beverley and I have just returned from a long trip through the flooded Northern Rivers areas on the State, speaking to people concerned with the flooding about all the recent legislation in the Parliament and my response to such Bills. I had told the people who heard me four years ago and eight years ago, that I would return and report on my activities. I have done that in this area. This week we start through the Upper Hunter.

At one place the chairman said, “I have been to many meetings when a politician has asked for our votes, but this is the first time I have heard or one coming back to thank us, to report on his activities in Parliament and be accountable for the way he debated and voted.” Continue reading →

I think the March election will create a crisis in the Upper House. Neither the two major parties will have the numbers, the Greens will increase by one and the other will be from one of the three minor parties.

I am a committed Christian standing for re-election in the Upper House. My re-election will limit the anti-Christian agenda of the Greens.

The Greens are not just a secular party, they are anti-Christian. The Greens’ anti-Christian agenda includes:

1. Removing the right of any Christian organisation, including Christian schools and churches, to employ exclusively Christians.
2. Ending Government financial support for Church schools.
3. Removing Scripture teaching at state schools.
4. Ending Prayers in Parliament.
5. Providing abortion and euthanasia – effectively on demand.
6. Recognizing same sex marriage.

These issues will be introduced into State Parliament in the first session. Shifts in values happen slowly over time. We have already lost many of the standards we held to in the past. Consider how far standards have declined with what is now considered acceptable on TV today.

Once our Christian pro-life, pro-family values are lost, it will be very difficult to get them back. But can you make a difference? Can your one vote really count? YES! Your ‘one vote’ can make a real difference.

The most often heard excuse for not voting in an election is “my one little vote won’t make a difference.” Yet history is full of instances proving the enormous power of one single vote. In many cases, the course of nations has been changed because one individual ballot was cast — or not cast — depending upon your point of view. Consider this:

In 1645, one vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England.
In 1649, one vote beheaded King Charles I of England 67/68.
In 1714, one vote restored the monarchy of King George I.
In 1776, one vote gave America the English language instead of German.
In 1800, one vote elected Thomas Jefferson US’s third President.
In 1850, one vote admitted California as a State of USA.
In 1875, one vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic.
In 1923, one vote elected Adolph Hitler as NAZI Party Leader.
In 1975, one vote in the Senate lead to Gough Whitlam’s dismissal.

If you thought your one vote wouldn’t make a difference, think again.

Every person who votes next March, FAMILY FIRST can make a difference. Continue reading →

At any one time Dr Gordon Moyes is involved in many campaigns on public policy.

The effectiveness of individual campaigns are often linked to how many citizens are prepared to get behind it and give it support. This can often be as simple as printing off a copy of a petition, getting you and your family to sign it, and returning it to us by mail.

To gather a lot of signatures you can get those at your local church, school or Bible study who are also concerned to sign.

You can even write letters to the Premier or Minister, or approach your local member of Parliament, who also represents your views in the Legislative Assembly (for a full list of members click here).

We can not understate how much we need your support in helping us campaign on these important issues. Supporting a campaign is as easy as clicking on its link below, and scrolling to the bottom of the page to print off a petition.

Preserving the Sanctity of the Marriage Partnership

Property Justice for Uniting Church Congregations

Pursing Water Harvesting, Reclamation, and Recycling to Secure Sydney’s Water Supply

Better Protection of Children from Internet Pornography

Restricting the Hours and Avenues for the Sale of Alcohol

Seeking the Release of Kylie Hope Fitter

My Vote Counts Mr Morgan!

And thanks to everyone who helped us win the following campaigns:

Defeat the Bill that Undermines Religious Freedom

As the parliamentary leader of Family First I speak on Chronic Pain Australia, a national community-based, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving the lives of people with chronic pain. This is one of a series of speeches I have given about helpful organisations dedicated to ordinary people. Established in 2006, the mission of Chronic Pain Australia is to reduce the unnecessary suffering and isolation caused by chronic pain in the Australian community. Many people think that chronic pain means extreme pain. Although chronic pain can be really extreme, it actually has to do with the duration of pain rather than the severity of pain. Continue reading →

Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES [12.12 a.m.]: As parliamentary leader of Family First I speak on the growing concern about human organ trafficking around the world. As global demand for live transplants keeps growing, the shadowy organ trading business is rapidly expanding, dominated by unscrupulous brokers and facilitated by inadequate national legislation, widespread corrupt practices and a general lack of public awareness of the extent of the trade. China, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Brazil, the Philippines, Moldova, and Romania are the world’s leading providers of trafficked human organs. If China is known for harvesting and selling organs from executed prisoners, then the other countries have been dealing essentially with living donors, becoming stakeholders in the fast-growing human trafficking web.

They remove kidneys, lungs, pieces of liver, corneas, bones, tendons, heart valves, skin and other sellable human parts. The organs are kept in cold storage and airlifted to illegal distribution centres in the United States, Germany, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other rich, industrialised locales. This has prompted a serious re-evaluation of international guidelines and given new impetus to the role of the World Health Organisation in gathering epidemiological data and setting basic normative standards. There is no reliable data on organ trafficking but it is widely believed to be on the increase, with brokers reportedly charging between $100,000 and $200,000 to organise a transplant for wealthy Americans.

Donors—frequently impoverished and ill-educated—receive as little as $1,000 for a kidney although some may receive up to $5,000, and there are reports of people being killed for whatever body part is required. The illegal trade in body parts is largely dominated by kidneys because they are in greatest demand and they are the only major organs that can be wholly transplanted with relatively few risks for the living donor. An unknown number of kidneys are being trafficked today for cash from disadvantaged citizens in a range of countries to “organ tourists” from other nations such as Australia who go to those countries to receive the donated body part. Donors may survive the loss of one kidney, albeit often with serious detriment to their health. Only in China do the “donors”—virtually all of whom are Falun Gong or convicted criminals—perish during the transplantation operation because their vital organs are removed. The World Health Organisation is urging governments:

... to take measures to protect the poorest and most vulnerable groups from ‘transplant tourism’ and the sale of tissues and organs, including attention to the wider problem of international trafficking in human tissues and organs. Continue reading →

Last week I did a number of interviews with media members about my Press Release: The Slippery Slope: A distraction from the real issues.

In it I asked, “Are the Greens and the Government capable of dealing with ordinary issues that affect the majority of Australian Families?” I mentioned a dozen issues the Greens have insisted the Government debate if they are going to receive Green preferences in the next Election. While they may be important to some people they are not urgent. There are more important pieces of legislation before the NSW Parliament.

I said, “The Government is happy to see contentious issues turn away public attention from its ineffective and dysfunctional governance, and to hide the Government failures from the Media. The Government insisted such issues have precedence over 200 other important bills which have been waiting for months for debate and approval.”

“If we can concentrate on these pieces of Government legislation, we will have defeated the Greens and Labor Socialist Left agenda which they wanted to ram through Parliament before the election. We are dealing with slippery people so we have to remain vigilant.” (http://tinyurl.com/2c6up8a) Continue reading →

As parliamentary leader of Family First New South Wales I speak today about the forthcoming retirement of Councillor Patricia Giles. The Manly Daily described her as “a fighter and an energetic woman who gets things done”. Patricia Giles is the longest serving mayor of Pittwater Council, having served seven terms from 1997 to 2004. She also served as deputy mayor for four terms from 2005 to 2009. Patricia will retire, after more than 25 years of fighting for Pittwater, at the next local government elections in 2012. Patricia Giles played an important part of the Pittwater Municipality Committee in 1985 that began the fight to secede from its giant southern cousin, Warringah Council. In 1991 then Minister for Local Government, David Hay, announced that Pittwater would be legally divorced from Warringah. A provisional council was installed and at the first election in 1992 Patricia Giles was elected to represent central ward and she has been re-elected ever since, easily outlasting every other councillor on Pittwater Council.

Why has the Planning Department accepted Rocla’s new proposal to quarry an area approximately 4 times greater than their existing operations when they have failed to comply with the conditions of consent when approval was given in 2005?

Through documents obtained via Freedom of Information and tabled in Parliament it is clear that the NSW Office of Water (the regulatory authority) has been well aware that Rocla has been operating without the necessary water licences for the last 5 yrs.

In January 2010 Rocla finally purchased 2 licences, this combined total of 52 ML is well short of their current requirements;
Given that Zone 7 has been capped at existing entitlements there is just NO more to give them. And in the event that another licence holder is prepared to sell their entitlement it still does not work, as that will exceed the 200ML / sq km allowable under the Water Sharing Plan. Continue reading →