An Australian father of seven will spend 8 months in gaol, starting today.

Has he done something really bad? Many criminals get deferred sentences, fines or community service, not gaol.

Graham Preston’s crime was an unusual one — refusing to pay $8000 in fines following arrests for non-violent picketing of abortion clinics.

He won’t pay the fines because he believes that trying to save the innocent from harm shouldn’t be considered criminal behaviour.

His 18-year old daughter commented: “I have a lot of respect for my Dad and how he takes his convictions seriously. I hope I can live as consistent a life as his.”

Well said.

Last month a group called Australia21 released a report entitled “The Prohibition of Illicit Drugs is Killing and Criminalising our Children and We are Letting it Happen . . . .”

Aus21calls itself “an independent, non-profit organisation” doing “multidisciplinary research and inquiry on issues of strategic importance to Australia in the 21^st century”.

Independent? Not very.  They receive funding from federal and state governments.

Our politicians are being very cute.

The Prime Minister and Premiers all commented unfavourably on the report.

Keeping their noses clean by protesting how they disagree with it . . . .

Yet having, perhaps, gone to some trouble to ensure that a report stating exactly these views would eventuate.

* * *

Observe Australi21’s membership: Peter Baume, Geoff Gallop, Alex Wodak etc. — famous “harm-minimisation” protagonists from way back.

Anybody ever involved in attempts to get real action against drugs will have come up against these very chaps . . . .

. . . immune to logic and with all the perfect connections to stop anything happening.

The September 2007 federal parliamentary report “The Winnable War on Drugs” exposed the uselessness of “harm minimisation”.

Better for the government to turn to its recommendations.

The Aus21 report could be filed away somewhere.

The lady who spoke to the Donald school students – see yesterday’s blog post — on a recent ANZAC Day, read them a quotation from a hero of last century.

Pastor Martin Niemoller was a leader of Christians who opposed Hitler.

He himself was interned in Nazi concentration camps from 1939 to 1945.

He wrote these words:

“In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me — and by then there no one left to speak up.”

There is a moral there for every person.

When we see injustice, we must resist the temptation to leave it to somebody else to speak up for what is good.

A few years ago, a Jewish lady came up from Melbourne to speak to the students at Donald Secondary College the day before ANZAC Day.

She described, as a child of 12, watching her grandfather being assaulted and strangulated in front of the children by Nazi soldiers, her father taken away and imprisoned, the family’s money and valuables confiscated, their school closed, all Jewish businesses closed down — and all Jews forced to wear a yellow star.

The girl, Eva, suffered many humiliations. She was used for medical “experiments”. By the time her prison was liberated, she was on the point of death from starvation.

After more years of fear, in and out of hiding, the survivors of her family were able to migrate to Australia — where she surprised herself by enjoying a peaceful and happy life from then until now . . . .

* * *

She told the students, “I would like to express deeply felt gratitude to the people of Australia for their generosity of spirit, for granting me and my family refuge in this land of opportunity, mateship, freedom and equality. God bless Australia.”

* * *

Every ANZAC Day we, too, should thank God for what is good in this country.

We should also look hard at ourselves and resolve to remain a nation which lives by the virtues that helped people like Eva in the past.

OPPOSITION Treasury spokesman, Joe Hockey, says a Coalition government will consider reducing welfare payments while lowering taxes:

“The longer we rely on government handouts, the greater the burden for taxpayers and particularly those that follow.”

Some European countries spend 30 percent of GDP on welfare. Australia spends closer to 10 percent. Many poorer countries spend very little

Prime Minister Gillard parodies Coalition policy as being “if you can’t cope then try fending for yourself and if you can’t fend for yourself, well, unfortunately that’s too bad.”

* * *

At my work every day people tell me about life on the receiving end of Oz-style big-government big welfare.

. . . the long queues, the suspicion, the anonymity, the feeling of being a B-grade robot.

No, J Gillard, the only alternatives need not be either fending for yourself or dependence on pension/dole etc.

In the third world country where I worked, old and sick were cared for by family.

When this failed the Church stepped in.

Those helping you did it because they loved you, because you belonged.

A government that doesn’t believe in traditional marriage, with mother and father raising the children when possible, inevitably creates a distorted, clumsy, inhuman, unChristian environment for us all — especially the vulnerable.

Victoria’s parliament is holding an inquiry into the handling of child abuse allegations by churches and other non-government organisations.

ABC announcer, Wahid Ali, commented, for the benefit of listeners who hadn’t thought of it, that this really means the Catholic Church.

The Sydney Morning Herald and other anti-Catholic publications are underlining a similar message.

* * *

It is true that Catholic clergy who have sexually penetrated young children should be punished — ideally hung.

However the usual worry exists — false accusations could lead to innocent persons being executed.

The superiors of such offenders, e.g. bishops — if shown to have lied to protect them or failed to ensure that they have no further dealings with children — they should be locked up.

But Tony Abbott, federal Opposition leader, warns committee members not to single out the Catholic Church.

* * *

Everybody knows that most child abuse happens within families, especially step-families and de facto-headed families — not in churches.

Yet the ABC, SMH etc. never condemn de facto relationships — and tend to be supporters of teaching kindergarten and primary students that homosexual coupling is normal.

Don’t the media generally, especially television, reinforce our worst tendencies?

Wall-to-wall programs focussed on instant gratification and the joys of demeaning other people by word and deed?