There are voices that have an appeal and there are voices that grate on you so much that you would love to…
Well, anyway, Australia’s leader of the Opposition, Albo as he is called, is one of those you or at least I would like to…when I hear his voice; no matter what he says. Now having said that I also do not agree with Albo on almost anything he says but putting all that aside, ‘Having failed miserably to assert himself in any meaningful way in domestic affairs, the would-be prime minister who is preferred by just 26% of voters, decided it was time to insert himself into the presidential election.
It was a supposedly ‘conservative’ Australian Federal government of the Liberal/Nationals coalition that threw the Australian economy into a nose dive due to the China virus. Now, after the financial chaos the Prime Minister talks a lot about jobs while throwing billions into grid chaos renewables. He also says he is not into fighting the culture wars and yet his own Liberal party is obsessed with progressive ideas. Yes, ‘WHILE Australians are worried about actual problems like rising unemployment, the Liberal Party is worried about gender imbalance among its MPs.
It’s hard to believe that Australia’s conservative party would allow itself to be defined by progressive values, especially when progressives cannot even define the word “woman”.
But Liberals have allowed themselves to become convinced that anything less than 50 per cent of their MPs being women is inherently bad.
Nobody ever gives cogent reasons as to why there should be an equal number of men and women in parliament. That women comprise half the population is a statistical fact, but not an argument for the composition of parliament.
And the argument that “we need more representation of women” is a misuse of language since every member of parliament represents men and women equally.
The sexist idea that only a woman can truly represent the interests of women was well and truly dismantled this week when it was revealed Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne was yet to speak to her Qatar counterpart about the alleged strip search of 13 Australian woman at Doha airport more than three weeks ago.
Imagine if a male foreign minister said he was waiting for an official report before raising the subject with Qatar’s foreign minister!
Meanwhile, the possibility that men dominate parliaments because most women are far too intelligent to pursue a career in branch stacking, faction dealing, fund raising and functions at all hours that interfere with family life is not allowed to be considered.
Anything less than male-female parity is now prima facie evidence of the Liberal Party’s “problem with women”. Only when parity is achieved can Liberals say they are inclusive and hold their heads high.
But if the Liberals were serious about a parliament that mirrored the general population, they would worry less about gender and instead focus on pre-selecting people with backgrounds other than in law.
Or they would insist that half of all MPs were professing Christians.
Or they would insist on pre-selecting candidates who were actually conservatives, regardless of gender, rather than people who were a pale shade of green.
A report released this week by Liberal think tank the Menzies Research Centre has warned that the Liberal Party was taking only “incremental steps” towards gender balance.
Currently 25 per cent of Liberal MPs across Australia are women. This is well short of the 50 per cent mark the party was hoping to achieve by 2025. By contrast 46 per cent of Labor MPs are women. And how’s that working out for them?
The ALP lost the last federal election and received around 300,000 less votes from women than did the Liberal Party.
No wonder the MRC report says that a significant number of Liberals deny that gender imbalance matters.
But like I said, it is now an article of faith that anything less than equal numbers of men and women is evidence of a problem.
So the MRC report insisted that “the first step in addressing the representation of women in the Liberal Party is to acknowledge that the Party does in fact have a problem”. In other words, if you think that gender imbalance is not a problem, you are the problem.
The report rejected the idea of “quotas”, as used by the Labor Party, but demanded “targeted intervention” which was a fancy way of saying quotas without using the word.
Each Liberal Party division, it said, should set targets for female representation that were measured and reported every year.
So the Liberals may not be using quotas, but their fixation on social engineering shows that they are taking Australia down the same woke cul-de-sac as Labor, only more slowly.
The Liberals will betray their conservative base who believe in meritocracy and they will disappoint progressives for not doing woke as well or as quickly as the ALP and Greens.
Whatever diversity candidates they do get into parliament will bring with them their baggage of imagined grievance, which they will then project onto the party and onto society at large.
The Leftist Green Marxist harp on about closing the gap between the aboriginal population and the non-aboriginal but do they really mean it?
‘The original Australians have plenty of challenges, but right now it’s the human hating, anti-progress Greens that present their greatest threat.
The success of Australia’s mining, oil and gas industries is synonymous with the success of many remote, rural and, often predominantly Aboriginal, communities. In terms of employment growth amongst indigenous communities over the last 20 years, the mining industry wins hands down.
Miners and drillers have thrown millions at the education and training of Aboriginal workers right across the Country; most major miners have a deliberate policy of encouraging and, ultimately employing, Aboriginal workers.
Western Australia’s iron mines and oil and gas industries have benefited from having newly skilled and enthusiastic locals join them. The same is true in Queensland’s coal mines and gas fields, as well.
But, the turnaround in opportunities and employment for Aboriginal Australians comes despite the dogged efforts of green-voting, inner-city elites to kill off Australia’s resources sector – coal, oil and gas, in particular.
Which brings us to the Top End.
Australia’s Northern Territory has the highest proportion of Aboriginals in its population, with many of its remote communities decrepit and dysfunctional. Which means that the prospect of an onshore gas exploration and exploitation boom in the Beetaloo Basin 600km south of Darwin offers hope for a great number of people who reside at the margins of Australian society.
If you have been following this blog you read what Dr Les Ollila, former president of Northland Baptist Bible College (NBBC), had written in 2010 seeking to explain the condition in which NBBC found itself after Dr. Matt Olson took over the presidency. Three years later, 2013, a former student of NBBC wrote this for The Gospel Coalition (TGC). This is the voice of one who moved from the NBBC ‘fundamentalism’ into the ‘evangelicalism’ found in the TGC.
‘Most readers of The Gospel Coalition probably aren’t familiar with the story of Northland International University. In fact, many readers of this blog have probably never heard of Northland at all. But for more than 50 years God has been doing some amazing things in northeastern Wisconsin at Northland Mission Camp, then Northland Baptist Bible College, and now at Northland International University.
As the camp ministry grew and a small Bible college launched on the property, the school had a decided emphasis on the proclamation of the gospel and servant leadership. Along with that, however, the college was also connected to the fundamentalist movement. This connection led to an uncompromising position on separation from the world in nearly every way and a strong stance against certain types of music and ministry. Not only did the school take strict positions on many of these less-than-clear issues, but it also drew strict lines of separation from those who did not. By the time I arrived on campus as a freshman in 1998, Northland was a pretty separated place. Most types of modern music were off limits, as were most movies, TV shows, and other popular media. In the classroom, we read books by authors like John Piper, R. C. Sproul, and John MacArthur, but they always came with a disclaimer. I spent my last two years on campus wrestling over the theological and exegetical foundations for these practices and felt like we needed to be somewhere more biblically and theologically robust. So in the summer of 2002, we packed up and moved to Minneapolis, where I started the apprenticeship program at Bethlehem Baptist Church. But I knew this move would lead to a separation from Northland. While I certainly maintained relationships with many on campus, I assumed that I would never be able to have close ties to my alma mater. There was much about Northland to love: a unique emphasis on servant leadership; a humble administration, faculty, and staff; a strong love for the Word of God; and a radical commitment to world missions. But it seemed like the strict separatism and all that went along with it would keep me, and many other alumni from my generation, from having close relationships with Northland. It was a fundamentalist school in every meaningful sense of the word, and none of us expected that to change.
Deeper Root
But God was at work in ways many of us alumni never expected. The centrality of the gospel was taking deeper root at the school, and the results we have seen are encouraging. Over the course of three or four years, Northland underwent some important transformations, including receiving accreditation and changing some of the unnecessary rules. But more importantly, Northland became a place where the gospel is at the center, and rules and regulations are not. In a recent letter, outgoing Northland president Matt Olson listed some of the changes the school underwent in the last few years. He explained:
Northland went from the exclusive use of the King James Version in the pulpit and classrooms to allowing other translations.
Northland went from a demerit system to a discipleship platform for our students. Yes, we still have rules: we still confront, and we still have consequences. We just believe we have a better and more biblical model now. It is built on relationships. We are always looking for better ways to accomplish our mission.
Northland went from practicing some forms of “secondary separation” to what we now understand to be a more biblical separation. Where we would not have had men like John MacArthur, Rick Holland, Ken Ham, Bruce Ware, or Mark Dever, we would now. We see no reason to separate from these men. We would consider them to be in the spirit of historic fundamentalism; they believe in the orthodox faith, will separate over it, and live godly lives.
Northland went from only allowing “traditional” styles of music to accepting more modern styles as well. A blend of traditional and current music is used in our programs and chapel.
We created an overarching name of Northland International University to give our students greater opportunities with the gospel worldwide. The change was driven by our passion to reach every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
To many TGC readers, these changes might sound obvious. But at Northland, they reflect something deeper. They reflect the way the gospel, rightly applied, will eventually work itself out at the institutional level. While some of the parallels break down, Michael Horton’s explanation of semper reformanda was applied at Northland: “It is not because the culture is always changing and we need to be up with the times, but because we are always in need of being re-oriented to the Word that stands over us, individually and collectively, that the church can never stand still.” In the same way, an institution must always be re-orienting itself to the Word and asking whether its practices and policies could reflect greater fidelity to the Word of God. And when this practice is taken seriously, great things can happen.
Now there is more hope for Northland than ever. Along with a renewed emphasis on the centrality of the gospel, the school is still committed to a unique emphasis on humble, servant leadership; strong love for the Word of God; and radical giving to world missions (in a 2009 survey, 44 percent of the student body planned to serve overseas). So Northland is worth knowing about and praying for. Especially now. The school is facing some significant challenges in the coming months. In just a few weeks, Olson will be moving on from his role as president of the school. Also, it is no secret that most Christian colleges live and die by their constituencies, and making changes means alienating some of those constituents.
Re-Centering
I don’t pretend to speak for Northland. I have recently re-connected with some of the leaders at the school and teach an occasional course for their distance program. That doesn’t mean I agree with everything the school says and does. But I have seen the way a re-centering in the gospel can transform a school, and for that I praise God.
Some of my fellow Northland alumni are upset because the school did not change fast enough or pursue change in the way they would have done it. Others are upset because they thought nothing should change. Ever. Still others are upset because of Olson’s departure on the heels of many of these changes. To those alumni and friends, I would simply ask that you to grant the same grace to the institution that you would to a fellow Christian who is growing in grace. We will all make mistakes, and we all have room for growth. We can all learn from the example of an institution that is willing to further submit itself to God’s Word—in spite of the criticism and challenges these changes will bring. So pray for Northland as it searches for a new president and be praying about God’s continued work there, knowing that when the gospel moves to the center, amazing things can happen to an individual, a church, and even a fundamentalist school.’ https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/can-god-save-a-fundamentalist-school/
It really doesn’t matter if it is a Labor or Liberal Government there is a lot of waste when it comes to spending the tax payer’s money! The wgea is such a place and it takes FIVE MILLION tax dollars each year to tell the Government of the day about “gender equality” in the workplace!
Under the law, companies with more than 100 employees are required to lodge a report with the WGEA every year detailing “gender equality indicators” such as male-to-female ratios and salaries. The WGEA itself, which costs taxpayers $5 million a year to run, employs five male and 25 female staff.
Among the 74 businesses deemed “non-compliant” by the WGEA this year include household names like Kennards Self Storage, Bing Lee, Vittoria Coffee, Palace Cinemas and Sportsmans Warehouse. Also named were the likes of Williams-Sonoma, EB Games, and a number of plumbing, cleaning, freight and transport companies.
Is the Government holding companies to ransom for failing to lodge this report? It looks like it does! BIG BROTHER has spoken and you will do as YOU are told! I applaud those who refuse to go along with this nonsensical law! If the Government is really serious about getting the budget back into surplus the closing of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency is a good place to begin!
whatyareckon 