Best regards,
Ann Skamp,
Secretary
Christians for an Ethical Society
Speaker: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, The Australia Institute
Chair: Emeritus Professor John Warhust AO
When: 7:30pm Tuesday 4 June 2019
Where: Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (Chapel), Corner Blackall St and Kings Av, Barton
In our June forum, Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director of The Australia Institute, will explain the case for a National Integrity Commission (a federal ICAC) with authority and capacity to systematically investigate corruption at the federal level.
In the words of an open letter signed by 34 retired senior judges, “Confidence and trust in government and public institutions is at an all-time low. When this confidence and trust is diminished, pessimism, divisiveness and conflict increase; and social cohesiveness is harmed. As a result, the economy and the welfare of all Australians suffers. Ultimately, as international experience has shown, democracy itself is threatened and may be irreparably damaged. Governments ignore at their peril demands by citizens to combat corruption with vigor.”
Ebony Bennett has worked in federal politics for more than a decade. Ms Bennett has published research on gender and street harassment and regularly appears as a commentator on Sky News and as a contributor for the Guardian and Fairfax publications.
Ebony began her career as a journalist in the federal press gallery before becoming media advisor to Bob Brown and later his Strategy Director. She has worked in federal politics for more than a decade. She has also worked for the Australian Human Rights Commission and a market research company.
Speaker: Gabrielle Chan
Chair: Emeritus Professor John Warhust AO
When: 7:30pm Tuesday 26 March 2019
Where: Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (Chapel), Corner Blackall St and Kings Av, Barton
Speaker: Paul Bongiorno AM
Chair: Emeritus Professor John Warhust AO
When: 7:30pm Tuesday 12 February 2019
Where: Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Corner Blackall St and Kings Av, Barton
Australians will go to the polls this year in what is one of the best regulated voting systems in the world. But while the integrity of the vote is assured and compulsory voting a safeguard against extremist minorities it is not enough to restore or maintain faith in democracy.
Truth has become a commodity for media outlets. The business model dictates editorial choice of stories and the slant they receive. The trivialisation of politics and the unwillingness to hold power to account by a banal equivalence of views has reduced news to entertainment or worse an echo chamber of bigotry.
But the truth can still set us free and there are shafts of light.
Dinner Forum:
Why Neighbours Matter
Hugh Mackay AO
Hugh is a social researcher and the
bestselling author of 19 books. In
recognition of his pioneering work in social
research, he has been awarded honorary
doctorates by five Australian universities,
elected a Fellow of the Australian
Psychological Society and, in 2015, was
appointed an Officer of the Order of
Australia. His presentation will focus on the
role of compassion in lowering anxiety and
building stronger communities.
Chair: Emeritus Professor John Warhurst AO
Corinna 2 Room at the Southern Cross Club, 92-96 Corinna Street, Woden.
6 for 6:30 pm, Wednesday 10 October
Cost: $65 per person for a 3-course meal with wine, juice & tea/coffee.
SORRY – Bookings now closed
Speaker: Elizabeth Farrelly
Chair: Bishop George Browning
When: 7:30pm Tuesday 29 May, 2018
Where: Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Corner Blackall St and Kings Av, Barton
As we spread across the surface of the planet, fighting for rights, squabbling over resources and networking wildly via social media it is tempting to feel that the horizontal is everything. But the cross requires both horizontal and vertical, and therein lies hope.
Elizabeth Farrelly is a writer, columnist, thinker and author, with a background in philosophy and architecture, a love of farming and poetry and a yearning for the vertical.
Speaker: Andrew Leigh, MP
Chair: Ingrid Moses
When: 7:30pm Wednesday 19 April, 2017
Where: Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Corner Blackall St and Kings Av, Barton
Recent years have seen a steady rise in the politics of fear and hatred. Political debates have become sharper and the media more polarised. These developments should be particularly worrying for progressives. Dr Leigh will argue a politics of love isn’t a bohemian hangover, but essential to building a more egalitarian Australia. A strong social safety net demand empathy for the most vulnerable, and a willingness to build a more decent and tolerant civic culture.
Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in public policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Law and Arts.
Andrew is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and a past recipient of the ‘Young Economist Award’, a prize given every two years by the Economics Society of Australia to the best Australian economist under 40. His books include: Disconnected (2010), Battlers and Billionaires (2013), The Economics of Just About Everything (2014), and The Luck of Politics (2015).
Andrew is a keen marathon runner and hosts a podcast, The Good Life, which is available on iTunes.
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