The Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, through the Foreign Affairs and Aid Subcommittee (the Committee), has commenced an inquiry into Australia’s response to the priorities of Pacific Island countries and the Pacific region. Click here to download our submission to this inquiry. The Committee is scheduled to report back on the inquiry on 29 November 2024.

Sixteenth Sunday of the Year

The only thing worth globalising is dissent. - Arundhati Roy

‘During these times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act’ - George Orwell.

Fifteenth Sunday of the Year

Pope Francis says that he wants a poor Church for the poor. This wish is based on today’s gospel. The disciples are called to make their home amongst strangers. Last week, Jesus came home and was made to feel a stranger and was expelled from the synagogue. Amos, too, was expelled from the sanctuary after he made a powerful call for social justice where those who tried to please God by ‘worship’ whilst their lives were based on dishonesty, corruption, and oppression of the poor.  It was a harsh truth to an educated and sophisticated regime disinclined to take any notice of him or his message. It was a place of prosperity and wealth but rife with social inequity, injustice and immorality and where religion was closely linked to state power. As with Jesus, Amos was not silenced by the rejection and nor should we.