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Father’s Day really is one of the great days of the year, along with Mother’s Day.
Dads should not be afraid to enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame. Whatever you do this Father’s Day, make sure you appreciate your children. They should be the major benefactors of your Dadness, and I don’t mean just the Dad-jokes.
If you would like to help out with our Box of Kisses Father’s Day Appeal with a $20 investment to help Dads help their kids, go right ahead. Donate here.
This Father’s Day will make history as the first Father’s Day immediately before (6 days) an Australian Federal Election. They say it is rude to talk about sex and politics but this is something all fathers should be happy to talk about to their children. Yes, one day your children will grow up and have to make their own decisions about these issues, but in the meantime, it is wise for you as a father to talk about sex and politics, around the dinner table, as much as you can. You can be sure that if you don’t talk to them about these subjects, others will, and it might not necessarily be all good.
Seeing that today is Father’s Day and the Federal Election is next Saturday, let’s talk about what the major parties, and the minors, are offering men and fathers in their policy grab bag.
The answer to that is ‘not very much’. It’s just like on the Titanic, women and children first. Although this is probably a good thing in general, there is not really a lot of pro-family policy coming from any of the major parties, even for our women and children. In most cases fathers and families are living in policy-free no man’s land.
Sure, both major parties have put up maternity leave plans but these policies are designed to push woman back into the workforce and away from spending time with their families. This is ultimately bad for our children and I would see it as a net negative. I am not alone in this. Dr Peter Cook who wrote ‘Mothering Denied’ would agree with me, as would Steve Biddulph. Mothers are greatly undervalued.
What about Men’s Health? Full marks to the Labor Party for putting together a Men’s Health Policy in 2008, which thankfully has received bipartisan support.
Since then though, the pickings have been slim. In fact the current Rudd/Gillard term of office has seen the Labor Party declare war on the natural family in more ways than one.
Firstly in 2011, the Gillard/Greens coalition gave Australian fathers the Father’s Day Present from Hell with the rollback of the previous bipartisan shared parenting reform which had been endorsed by both Labor and Liberal. This was the first time in the history of the parliament that Family Law Amendments have not been processed on a bipartisan basis.
Dads4Kids was not happy with the original reform and publicly t old Mr Howard the same. Having said that, it was a step in the right direction, but to wind this very moderate reform back was unthinkable. Tens of thousands of fathers had committed suicide under the previous regime over a number of decades. Already, more children are once again being robbed of their fathers since this rollback began. If you don’t believe me read the heart-rending story of Assaph Mehr in this week’s Single Dads. Assaph was a very committed father with an informal shared parenting arrangement with his ex-wife. He was robbed of equal access by a biased Family Law Court, acting out the parliamentary decree of the anti-male Labor/Greens shared parenting legislation.
This newsletter is mostly read by married fathers and well might you say, “He is a single dad, that is his problem, not mine”. That sounds just like Cain. “Am I my brother’s keeper”, he said to God when asked about the welfare of his brother Abel whom he had just murdered. If you don’t stick up for fathers and their children, then who will?
How would you feel if your children were removed from you and taken to another country without recourse? This was the story of Simon Ray who is organising the March for our Children in Hyde Park this Father’s Day. We are all our brother’s keeper and we must speak up for the rights of our children to a mother and father.
Just when we thought that the Labor/Greens coalition couldn’t get any worse, the Labor Party introduced homosexual marriage as its official party policy. Mr Rudd’s betrayal of his pro-family voters made the situation even worse. This YouTube link tells the story well. Dads4Kids released a media release: A Dark Day for Australia’s Children on 3 December 2011. Here is a quote from that media release:
“In reality, this is a disendorsement of traditional marriage and a complete rejection by the Labor Party of the natural family. The introduction of homosexual marriage will effectively destroy a child’s biological right to a mother and a father and confirm the Labor Party as a political party totally committed to a fatherless Australia. This decision also confirms that the marriage of convenience between the Greens and the Labor Party has now been fully consummated and the two have become one. The Labor and the Greens have now joined together in complete unity in their war against fatherhood and marriage as was recently confirmed by the rollback of shared parenting by the recent Senate vote. Family friendly voters, who love their children, beware.”
Yes, there are some good people in the Labor Party and good people in the Liberal/National Coalition. There are some really good people in the smaller parties as well. They include Family First, Australian Christians, Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Christian Democratic Party and the Equal Parenting Party. Research them and vote for them but be aware of the policies of the parties themselves.
If you are a values-based voter, check out the Christian Values Checklist to get a comprehensive but simple analysis. Shared parenting is one of the foundational values of the Christian Values Checklist because as the man said, “Children need a mother and a father”.
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So keep having a happy Father’s Day all week and even all year and open up the discussion about sex and politics with your children. They need to know what Dad thinks about these important matters because one day they will have to decide for themselves.
Yours for more healthy discussion
Warwick Marsh
PS. Please consider making a donation to the Dads4Kids Box of Kisses Appeal.
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