This page offers a selection of recent policy statements, background papers and submissions to government inquiries made by or on behalf of the NSW Council of Churches. Other articles on social issues by various persons and organisations are available here.
Background Paper: "Should RU486 be available in Australia?" (Feb 2006)
Policy: "Protection of Aboriginal children" (NT Intervention; Jun 2007)
Policy: "Aboriginal reconciliation" (1997)
Background Paper: "Indigenous ministry and Aboriginal reconciliation" (Apr 2001)
Policy: Short statement (May 2007)
(see media releases)
Background Paper: "The ethics of capital punishment" (Feb 2007)
Censorship
Submission: to Australian Law Reform Commission’s Classification Review (15 Jul 2011)
Policy: "Statement on climate change" (Nov 2006)
Policy: "Statement to media" (1995)
Background Paper: "Considering euthanasia" (Feb 2010)
Policy: "Statement on the family" (1994)
Background Paper: "Can we trust The Golden Compass?" (Dec 2007)
Submission to Review of Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice (n.d.)
Policy: "NSW Council of Churches policy on gambling" (Mar 2008)
Background Paper: "Christian approaches to gambling" (Sep 2007)
Submission to Review of Star City Casino Licence (Jul 2003)
Background Paper: "Homosexuality and Christianity: A basic reading guide" (Feb 2008)
Submission to NSW Inquiry into Equal Age of Consent (2002)
Background Paper: "Evaluation of a Teaching Kit on Violence Against Homosexual Men and Women" (Oct 1992)
Submission to Australian Human Rights Commission Review of Freedom of religion and Belief in the 21st Century (Feb 2009)
Submission to ACT Bill of Rights Consultative Committee (2002)
Submission to Inquiry into a Statutory Bill of Rights for NSW (Apr 2000)
Policy: "Guidelines for relations with other religions" (Sep 2008)
Policy: "Response to establishment of Centre of Excellence" (May 2007)
Background Paper: "Revising Marriage? Why Marriage is the Union of a Man and a Woman" (for pastors, 16 May 2011)
Background Paper: "Revising marriage" (for politicians, 16 May 2011)
Policy on adoption (May 2007)
Submission to NSW Inquiry into Adoption By Same Sex Couples (Feb 2009)
Submission to Inquiry into Marriage Equality Amendment Bill (Aug 2009)
(see also media releases)
Policy: "Tobacco smoking and children" (Dec 2007)
Policy on stem cells and human cloning (Oct 2006)
Background Paper: "Stem cells and human cloning: An annotated reading guide" (Sep 2006)
Background Paper: "Say no to human cloning" (Sep 2006)
Submission to Consultation on the Definition of Charity (n.d.)