The following prayer is for action on climate change

The Uniting Church in Australia has joined other Christian churches and faith groups in national action on climate change.

The Government has proposed funding cuts to the aged care system. 

This year our International Day of Peace resource explores three important Building Blocks for Peace - gender equality, climate justice, and nuclear disarmament.

Searching for Freedom is a reminder of what people are doing when they flee situations of persecution and grave danger.

The earth is our home. We are part of the web of life; nurtured, nourished, and dependent upon the earth for our survival, but also caretakers and observers of its beauty.

The United Nations' International Day of Peace, marked every year on 21 September, is a day when individuals, communities, nations and governments are encouraged to highlight efforts to end violent conflict and promote peace.

As children we engage with soil through sandy feet, mud pies and sense of wonder at the life of small creatures that inhabit the earth. At the end of life we return to the soil, and in between it is the dirt caked onto the soles of our gardening boots that reminds us of the crucial role that soil plays in sustaining human life.

Taken from the second verse of the Australian national anthem, this year’s Refugee Week theme, ‘With courage let us all combine’, celebrates the courage of refugees who have refused to deny their beliefs or identity in the face of persecution, fled their homeland and often endured terrifying and dangerous journeys only to face the cruelty of detention before working hard to make a new life for themselves and their families.

On 5 December 2014 the Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Act 2014 was passed by both Houses of Parliament. This Act puts into domestic law the powers the Government exercises under its current refugee and asylum seeker policy, ‘Operation Sovereign Borders’.