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The Federal Government and Opposition have both given the thumbs down to calls to change or abandon the Lord's Prayer recited at the beginning of each day of federal Parliament.
But the Greens want the prayer replaced with a period of reflection and a conscience vote in both houses on the issue.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Harry Jenkins, has called for a public debate about whether the daily prayer should be rewritten or replaced.
He said the prayer was the most controversial aspect of parliamentary procedure and had been raised with him by MPs and members of the public.
His call has been met with protests from the Australian Christian Lobby and expressions of support for the prayer from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull.
A spokeswoman for Mr Rudd said the Prime minister viewed the prayer as an important tradition that should not be broken.- By Gus Leonisky at 26 Oct 2008 - 10:53pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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old evils and deep-delving corruptions keep churning on
A well-educated, highly intelligent and articulate young progressive candidate promising hope and change -- and a withdrawal of troops from Iraq -- ousts a long-entrenched, hidebound, deeply corrupt rightwing faction from power. Once in office, he makes a number of symbolic gestures -- signing the Kyoto treaty, offering apologies for past national abuses of minorities, appointing women to prominent posts, etc. -- while governing as a pragmatic centrist, a "Third Way" figure in the mold of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, combining a heavily pro-corporate agenda and a commitment to a strong military and "humanitarian intervention" abroad, while retaining his party's traditional rhetoric, and a few vestigial programs, on social justice and economic fair play. Yet behind the fresh faces and the vigorous sweeping of new brooms, old evils and deep-delving corruptions keep churning on, abetted by the policies of the putative reformers.
A grim prophecy of post-election America? No; it's a look at what's happening now in that other trans-oceanic implant of ye olde British Empire: Australia.
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