FAMILY FIRST News December 23, 2009

Hi,

As you’re aware by now this newsletter is in response to the many people wanting me to keep them up to date with the latest news.

CLIMATE CHANGE – My trip to Copenhagen
I went to Copenhagen to the United Nations Climate Conference to make sure Australians got the full picture about what was going on. There were a lot of negotiations done behind close doors but no binding agreement was entered into. Listen to more here or watch more here or you can watch my speech on the Rudd Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme here.

BANKS – Interest rate pain
Working families are being hit by ever increasing interest rates putting more strain on the family budget. A Senate Inquiry into Family First’s legislation, which would stop the big banks from hiking up rates by more than the Reserve Bank, found homeowners are being slugged 2.8% above the official cash rate while the PM does nothing to protect consumers. Read more here.

YOUTH ALLOWANCE – Rural students hung out to dry
Family First stood up for the bush and put a stop to ridiculous changes proposed by the government which would have made it harder for rural and regional students to get to university. 26,000 students would have been worse off. Read more here or listen to more here.

PENSION PAIN – a fair go for our war vets
Recently I gave a speech in Parliament calling on the Rudd Government to make sure veterans are given a fairer deal on their pensions. I have written to the Minister and plan to meet with him to make sure our vets are looked after. Read or listen to more here.

You too can make a difference – tell us what you think about these issues soon to be debated in the Senate, or any others important to you. Send me an email from my website: www.stevefielding.com.au

•    Childcare … Accreditation standards for childcare will increase, but this means parents will have to pay more. What do you think about that? Read more here.

•    Alcohol … We’re now entering what’s dubbed the silly season. Remember to take care and look out for each other in the festive season.

•    Twitter … I’ve taken the plunge and joined Twitter. You can follow me at: http://twitter.com/senatorsteve. 

Please feel free to forward this email to others who might be interested and encourage them to give us some feedback on these or any other issues.

Finally I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you all for your feedback though out the year.
 
Regards,
 
Senator Steve Fielding
Leader of Family First
255 Blackburn Road
Mount Waverley, VIC 3149
Ph: (03) 9802 1922

Khesed Indigenous Ministries, June 16, 2009
The Kingdom of God is love, joy, peace '
            We walk in our full inheritance
                        when we walk with Jesus in the Kingdom of God
Praise.
* news of God dropping His fire in diverse places across remote Australia
* youth praising & worshipping the Lord (a new generation), & growing in leadership, prayer for healing in their communities & beyond
* growing worship with new songs in local heart languages
* men rising up in the Lord
Pray

* Jameson at Easter was a time of great fellowship, worship, encouragement and challenge for people from a great range of places. Pray for the Lord to protect what He did & bring continuing growth in individuals & communities. Pray for the Kingdom of God to be established.
*Pastors in isolated places often have limited fellowship, training, resources, support, finance, etc.
Pray for encouragement, especially from the Lord as they wait on Him. Gal 3.6 Consider Abraham: He believed God, & it was credited to him as righteousness.
Worship & messages from relevant churches & ministries to encourage & build up these pastors. Eg Derek Prince Ministries, maybe Eagle Rock Community Church, etc
*Indigenous business enterprises are developing increasingly. They are offering training & personal development opportunities for youth and older people. Pray for fruitfulness, success & endurance in these difficult times. Pray that the community will rejoice as they see the godly integrity in many of these enterprises.
*Health issues. Pray for communication & for understanding of issues. There are many misunderstandings between staff & patients. One was highlighted by the Indigenous SIDS staff recently (The West Australian 10.6.09). Anti-smoking strategies talk about babies of smokers having a smaller birth weight. Some young mums see this as a good thing but dont really hear the rest of the warnings.
*A Healthy Vision See Christine Jefferies request in the newsletter & pass it on to all relevant people, radio programmes, communities, churches, etc. PLANT A FRUIT TREE Pray that this request will spread widely with great results.
*Healing the Land Pray for the spirit of forgiveness to grow and grow in this nation.
*The intervention in the Northern Territory is raising many issues it is helpful in some ways and disruptive & destructive in others. The Federal Government has suspended the Fair Trading Act & The Racial Discrimination Act to implement the intervention.
It is resulting in discrimination against people who were managing their lives effectively and is causing a few large business chains (often multinationals) & new government businesses to prosper, while denying trade to many smaller businesses, including some which have served towns & communities effectively for many years. Please pray for justice for all.
*Education. Students in schools, universities, colleges, etc.
*Grief especially from untimely deaths & frequent funerals continues to cripple many people. Pray for justice & mercy. Pray for Gods love, peace & joy to break the cycle.

Ministries.
* Willie & Carlene Pickett in Victoria based in Geelong.
* Robyn Green - for breakthroughs in ministry, sales of CDs and other needs.
* Gloria Dyer - for strength & continuing wisdom & anointing.
* Indigenous leaders, Khesed Directors, resource development & use, August trip + other issues in Khesed News as the Spirit leads.

God bless you heaps as you bless heaps of others.
Yours, in the joy of serving Jesus Christ, John Blacket.
Khesed Indigenous Ministries, Khesed Education and Khesed Publishing:
Rebuilding nations through partnership, indigenous identity and reconciliation in Jesus Christ

Phone/Fax:  08 9451 7213  Mobile: 0409 20 90 23 Website: khesed.org.au