And the Courier-Mail's response...

[Letter sent to The Courier-Mail, 2:15pm 31 October 2005]

The kind of statements that Professor Ian Harper is making obviously alarms the secular media. They are not used to Christianity taking a front row seat in day-to-day Australian political life, apart from the token Lord's Prayer which opens Parliament. However, journalists like the rest of us need to get with the times, and should recall that our Head of State is not only the Queen of Australia but also the Head of the Church of England, a cementing of the Church / State relationship that happened almost half a millenia ago.

Where is the problem is Prof Harper "coming out" about his faith? Surely this reflects the wonderful diversity within Australian society. And if he wants to pray to one, all or no gods, why isn't that diversity tolerated, appreciated and celebrated? Why the attempt to seal off his private life from his public duties? Surely one informs the other.

It is not for nothing that Australians call those holding public office to higher personal standards than the great unwashed community - witness Democrats senator Andrew Bartlett's fall from grace over drinking (never a journalist's vice! Never!) or NSW Opposition leader Andrew Brogdon's calamity over "mail order bride" comments and advances to female journalists (was he mad?). And of course, public opionion of journalists has never been higher.

Surely as one of the few bastions of freedom and openess remaining in our society, The Courier-Mail should be supporting the Australian public's has right to know what is informing the decisions made by those who influence their lives - to have less is to demean not only the intelligence but also the political power of those who might be ignorant of the full facts.

What is needed is more of the kind of interviews done on, of all things, the ABC's Compas program "What Our Leaders Believe" - an open and honest investigation of the internal driving forces of many of our nations leaders. What is not needed is an implicit call to return to a secretive, elitist era, characterised by a few quiet drinks in sumptuous surrounding among those in high places, gently smoothing the pillow of the masses as they get duped yet again by their masters and betters.



IN EXPRESSING the hope that the wages his Fair Pay Commission sets for millions of Australia's lowest-paid workers will be "God's will", the head of that commission, Professor Ian Harper, has imprudently crossed a line that will make many Australians feel uneasy.

Placed in a sensitive position where workers of all faiths and none are relying on his good judgment and fairness, Professor Harper's comments will anger and alienate atheists, agnostics and many others who are grateful that public figures generally do not wear their faith on their sleeves in the same way Americans do.

More sensible is Professor Harper's assurance that his concern for the best interests of the poor and vulnerable, stemming from his Christian faith, will guide his decisions. This outlook should complement his expertise as a professor of the Melbourne Business School as he sets about balancing the issues at stake in setting a minimum wage that is somebody's income and somebody else's cost.

Professor Harper told the Australian Christian Lobby national conference in Canberra that he and his wife and "a very narrow circle of Christian brothers and sisters" are spending a lot of time praying about industrial relations. This is their private business. Professor Harper's public business is to do his job competently in the best interests of all Australians.

In setting about the task, he would do well to remember the advice of Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430AD): "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you."