UnitingJustice Australia has made a submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee about the matter of a popular vote, in the form of a plebiscite or referendum, in the matter of marriage in Australia.

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia Stuart McMillan has welcomed the Federal Government’s offer of permanent resettlement to over 12,000 refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria.

The Uniting Church in Australia is today calling on the Government to commit to a significant increase in Australia’s refugee intake as a response to the crisis in Syria.

“While we welcome the Federal Government’s commitment to increase our refugee intake from Syria, the scale of this crisis requires a much greater response,” said Uniting Church President Mr Stuart McMillan.

The Uniting Church is renewing its call for the immediate closure of the Nauru detention centre after another damning report into the centre’s operations.

The Tax Justice Network Australia (TJN-Aus) has welcomed the recommendations of the interim report of the Senate Economics Committee inquiry into corporate tax avoidance. UnitingJustice Australia is a member organisation of the Tax Justice Network.

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia Stuart McMillan has expressed disappointment at the low greenhouse gas emissions reduction target announced by the Federal Government today.

The national and state councils of the Uniting Church in Australia and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress stand as one with AFL player and former Australian of the Year Adam Goodes, who has been subjected to unacceptable racist booing at AFL games.

The following response to an Editorial in The Australian Financial Review was sent, but not published.

Sunday’s AFR editorial (‘Carbon concern is not moral’, 5 July 2015) claims that churches have abandoned pastoral care, sacraments and care of the poor because we are divesting from fossil fuels.

UnitingJustice has written to all crossbench Senators urging them to vote against the "Use of Force" Bill. This Bill seeks to give permission for increased use of force against asylum seekers in immigration detention centres without proper definition of "reasonable force". Such use of force is likely to increase the already significant risk to the mental, emotional and physical safety and security of asylum seekers rather than decrease it.

The Uniting Church in Australia welcomes Pope Francis’s encyclical letter on the environment, Laudato Si (Canticle of the Sun) and will be praying for Australian leadership on climate change.