The Anglican Primate of Australia and Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier, has released a series of three short videos highlighting the social challenges facing some of Australia’s communities ahead of the federal election on Saturday.
Archbishop Freier argues in the videos that Australia cannot separate economic and social challenges but must produce policies that help people flourish, whatever their situation.
He says affordable and secure housing, secure work, adequate incomes and tax reforms to enable the former are all top priorities for the Anglican Church in Australia this election.
“It’s just not good enough that there are people who are in fulltime employment who can’t afford to put a meal on their table at night,” he says in one of the videos. “We can’t afford to separate social issues from economic issues. Proper housing and a secure job are the foundation of a decent quality of life and this what Australians, old and new, want and deserve.”
In the first, he focuses on the Geelong suburb of Corio – ranked among Victoria’s most impoverished postcodes – where he says there are high levels of unemployment and a lack of opportunities. The video looks at the role the local church community plays in helping people, including refugees, meet their need for things such as food and clothing but Archbishop Freier says church and community groups can only do much.
“We need government policies that support the people of these communities gaining employment and then for them to have all the benefits that come from being employed…” he says. “They need solutions to the problems they face now and plans for the future.”
The second video, meanwhile, looks at the challenges experienced by the outer Melbourne community of Mernda where limited infrastructure has been unable to keep pace with enormous growth which he says has contributed to issues such as social isolation, high rates of domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse and problem gambling.
The third video focuses on problems of social cohesion and exclusion, particularly among the young, and looks at the situation in the western Melbourne suburb of Footscray where residents come from 135 different countries.
The three six minute videos can be accessed here:
~ www.anglicanprimate.org.au/2016/06/30/pathways-to-hope/
~ www.anglicanprimate.org.au/2016/06/28/out-of-service/
~ www.anglicanprimate.org.au/2016/06/23/change-and-challenge/
– DAVID ADAMS
