Page 307 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 February 2018
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years. This will again be followed by a question and answer session where all audience members will have the opportunity to further their understanding or to question the presenters on certain aspects they may be mulling over. The second event will take place in October. The format for this evening will be a panel discussion involving representatives from the built professions and community groups. The discussion will attempt to draw out the key concepts raised on the first evening and see whether the various groups can find agreement on how best to approach some of the challenges brought up.
Through this engaged discussion we might start to discover a new way to talk about planning matters here in the ACT. Take this as a save the date for the first Assembly event on Wednesday, 18 April at 5.30 here in the Legislative Assembly. I look forward to seeing everyone there to have a listen and a chat.
Catholic Church—response to slavery
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (4.28): Last Thursday I had the pleasure and privilege of attending the launch in Sydney of the Catholic Archdiocesan response to modern slavery. This was done by His Grace Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, the Archbishop of Sydney, on 8 February which is, as everyone in this place knows, the feast of St Josephine Bakhita who is the patron saint of Sudan and of slaves. There was a very spectacular and well-attended mass. Part of the liturgy was presented by the Sudanese Catholic community of Sydney and was officiated at by Anthony Fisher OP and the other bishops of the Sydney Archdiocese.
In his homily Archbishop Fisher spoke about the impact of slavery and reminded us that this is not an issue that has gone away with the abolition of the slave trade between Africa and the American continents, as many of us would think. And he impressed upon those in the audience, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, the importance of our making a stand today in this world and reminded us of some of the recent statements of His Holiness Pope Francis who has dedicated his pontificate to the eradication of modern slavery. He concluded his homily by reminding us, as leaders in the church and the community, of the words of William Wilberforce, slavery abolitionist, who said, “You may do nothing about it but you cannot say that you know nothing about it.” And we do all know of instances of modern slavery in our lives and we need to be attuned to them.
After mass at a reception nearby the archbishop launched the report of the archdiocesan task force on anti-slavery. I pay tribute especially to John McCarthy QC and Katherine Maloney who were the principal movers and shakers in the archdiocesan task force. There were other members involved as well. Mr McCarthy and Ms Maloney have been working essentially full time on this for the past year or so.
The task force made a series of recommendations to the archbishop which he has accepted, which I will touch on here because it shows what can be done if people are willing to do so. The recommendations of the task force which have been accepted by Archbishop Fisher are to seek to slavery-proof all procurement by the Archdiocese of Sydney through implementing the Australian model of supply chain regulation. When
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