Church matters

ANGLICAN Bishop of Tasmania Richard Condie announced that the Anglican Communion would accept the redress views of the Royal Commission into Child Abuse and recompense by up to $150,000 each person shown to have been abused by individuals or institutions in the employ of the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania. This will require considerable financial sacrifice by all the parishes in the diocese, but is to be welcomed as the only Biblical response to abuse of any sort by officials within a church community.

Both the Old and New Testaments are very strong on providing redress for past actions, even when no persons accused are still part of the church hierarchy.

The Bishop’s statement shows that the redress has higher priority than any other

Boom and gloom

THE media has been spruiking over the past few days the economic situation in Tasmania. Strong growth in agriculture, building, engineering and tourism and improvement in the job market are all indicators of an economic boom.

All that though is cold comfort to the many homeless Tasmanians sleeping rough every night, with no place to call home and the chances of getting a home very slim. All well and good to have an economic boom, but at the same time have gloom for those not benefiting.

Royal a dream

RECENTLY I was admitted to the Royal Hobart Hospital emergency department after enduring a bad knock and cut to my arm. On arrival I was attended to by professional and caring people who took me under their wing and quickly sorted my problem. I cannot speak too highly of the assistance afforded me by all concerned and my gratitude goes out to them all.

For a long time we have seen the emergency department at the RHH come under fire by the opposition parties and

Writers’ centre

IT is important to clarify that the Tasmanian Writers Centre has not had its funding cut by the Tasmanian Government. Through Arts Tasmania the Government offers grant programs for professional artists, art businesses and arts groups. To ensure funding impartiality, applications are peer-assessed by an independent panel. The application for the writers’ centre was not recommended for funding through this process. However, the centre will be eligible to apply for funding at the next round of grants funding, closing on July 2.

The Government, through Arts Tasmania, has allocated a one-off $40,000 outside the competitive grant program to help support the centre’s operations until the next round of grants. Arts Tasmania has offered to provide a financial consultant to work with the centre. While it is disappointing the centre has rejected this offer, I urge them to reconsider.