Sydney Anglicans oppose homosexual adoption

It may seem surprising to see a display of spine from any diocese in communion with the Church of England but this is the Sydney diocese, where Anglican priests can still wholeheartedly assent to the traditional 39 "Articles of Religion" of the CofE

THE MAIN adoption agency for infants in Sydney, Anglicare, has written to state MPs urging them to vote against a bill that would allow same-sex couples to adopt when it is debated in Parliament later this month.

The chief executive of Anglicare, Peter Kell, cites a child's need for both a mother and father among the 11 reasons why same-sex couples should not be given the same rights as heterosexual couples under adoption law.

"Men and women complement each other in their parenting roles as a result of their inherent physical, psychological and emotional attributes. Adoptive children should not be denied this opportunity," Mr Kell said.

The Independent MP Clover Moore said her amendments to the Adoption Act would overcome the "double standards" that allow gay and lesbian individuals to adopt, but not homosexual couples. Same-sex couples are also used as foster carers by the Department of Community Services.

Ms Moore said in the vast majority of cases, same-sex adoptions will involve step-parenting situations and "known" adoptions, where the child already has a relationship with the parent, such as a foster carer.

However, Mr Kell denied there was a double standard in same-sex couples being permitted to foster but not adopt, arguing "a cautious approach is required where the decision is irreversible".

The NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby says the Adoption Act is the last piece of state legislation that directly discriminates against same-sex couples and their children.

Last year, a Legislative Council committee recommended by a narrow margin that same-sex couples be allowed to adopt.

However, the committee also said faith-based adoption agencies should be exempt from anti-discrimination legislation, so long as they refer any same-sex couples who seek their services to another adoption agency.

Two of the three government-accredited adoption agencies in NSW, Anglicare and CatholicCare, have threatened to stop providing adoption services if they were forced to facilitate adoption by homosexual couples.

The 2006 census shows there about 1500 children living in same-sex families in NSW.

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Public broadcaster hatred of outspoken radio/TV shock jock

Sandilands is not particularly conservative but he is VERY politically incorrect

THE ABC was yesterday forced to defend a "Killing Kyle Sandilands" segment on one of its comedy shows. The taxpayer-funded ABC2 screened the offensive segment on its Review With Myles Barlow last night.

The Killing Kyle Sandilands segment featured comedian Phil Lloyd, as the fictional Barlow, deciding he wanted to kill the Austereo radio shock jock and Australia's Got Talent and X Factor judge.

Footage included Barlow repeatedly stabbing a picture of Sandilands, then stabbing and burning an effigy of him.

Austereo management, the owner of 2DayFM, is said to be concerned about the segment, which was filmed without Sandilands' co-operation. "It is a danger in the current climate," an insider said. "You never know the influence it could have."

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Huge waste of money in putting up new Australian school buildings -- the evidence spreads

No spending discipline or attempt to get value for money -- so everything costs twice as much as it needs to. Good for builders but bad for everyone else

FOR the past 18 months, the federal government has dismissed reports of problems with its $16 billion school building program. This is despite a litany of concerns revealed in The Australian. But the government's refrain that the Building the Education Revolution is a success was erased yesterday by the release of the price paid by the Victorian government to build a school hall.

Like NSW, Victoria is paying twice as much as the Catholic school system and well above standard industry costs. Of necessity, The Australian's series of reports documenting concerns about the BER has focused on NSW; until yesterday, it was the only state to have made public its building costs.

The federal government has dismissed reports of inflated costs as being confined to NSW but the story is similar in Victoria and, presumably, around the nation. The onus is now on the other states and territories to reveal the figures. The lack of information about BER construction costs is unnecessary and unacceptable.

The biggest spend on schools in the nation's history requires a commensurate level of scrutiny. Yet The Australian is the only newspaper to have consistently asked where the money was going.

The BER stimulated the economy, helped Australia through the financial crisis and gave schools new buildings. But schools, parents, principals, teachers and other taxpayers have a right to expect value for money.

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Another dangerous failure of Queensland's ambulance service

They had a big shakeup a while back and I thought thay had got their act together. If so, it didn't last

For six terrifying minutes young mum Lisa Brown held her choking baby, waiting for an ambulance to arrive – but it never came. She said the minutes felt like hours before she made her own mercy dash with baby Sinclair to the Royal Children's Hospital.

The State Government has launched an investigation after the allegations were raised by the Opposition in State Parliament yesterday.

Ms Brown said she called Triple 0 at 11pm on July 28 when Sinclair appeared to be choking on his own vomit. They said an ambulance would be dispatched and to call back if anything changed. Six minutes later, he was choking again, and appeared lifeless. Ms Brown called back, and she was told the operator didn't know when an ambulance would be dispatched.

Opposition Health spokesman Tim Nicholls said the Government had let down "a mother in her time of need".

Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts yesterday said an ambulance had been dispatched nine minutes after Ms Brown's first call – by which time she was already driving Sinclair to hospital herself. "The service is now trying to get to the bottom of what happened," Mr Roberts said. He said the first call had been coded non-life threatening.

Ms Brown said she expected to be helped when calling an ambulance. "I was in a state of panic," she said. "They told me they had more serious and life-threatening conditions to attend to," she said.

Mr Roberts accused the Opposition of using Ms Brown for political point scoring.

Baby Sinclair spent three days in hospital, diagnosed with a bacterial infection. He is now home and well but will undergo further testing.

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Another acquisition of barely-functional defence equipment

And an attempted coverup of course. Will they ever buy something that actually works? They have been trying to get their submarines working since the 1990s but still can't do it

THE army's new $4 billion fleet of European-built helicopters hit another snag after a chopper was grounded with a serious engine problem.

For the second time this year, Defence did not reveal the problem and did not announce that an MRH-90 helicopter on a routine flight from Brisbane to Townsville on Saturday was grounded at Mackay airport.

During a post-flight ground inspection, the crew noticed scratches on the engine intake and closer inspection found evidence of internal damage from a foreign object being sucked in to the power plant.

A decision was taken to replace the engine at Mackay and an inspection will be carried out by the manufacturer Rolls-Royce Turbomeca to establish the exact cause of the damage.

Defence said the problem was not related to a major engine failure near Adelaide in April that led to the grounding of the fleet.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that in the wake of that failure, all MRH-90 engines must be inspected every five hours of operation.

That time frame will expand as the fault is rectified but, in a military helicopter, such a brief interval for engine inspection is unprecedented.

The engine supplier will modify the jet engine for Australian conditions to prevent a repeat of the catastrophic failure that was caused by turbine blades hitting their casings. Eurocopter's chief was forced to apologise after he appeared to blame pilots for the fault.

A defence spokesman said the latest incident was not announced because it was unrelated to the earlier failure and had no bearing on the other 10 choppers undergoing flight testing. MRH-90s are built by Eurocopter and assembled by Australian Aerospace.

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