THE
P RTAL
December 2015
Page 19
Churches need a sea
change on welfare
Fr James Grant OOLSC gives a personal view
Over the
last 30 years, Australian Churches have regularly raised with the Government and with
their parishioners the need to be generous with money. After all, the argument goes, we are a wealthy
country with a responsibility to be a good neighbour both to countries in our region, and locally, especially
to those less fortunate than ourselves.
Sometimes, this is such a strongly applied principle
that the very nature of the faith itself can be rarely
moved beyond “Be generous to others as God has
been generous to you
of the world, yet its basic principles hold true: where
people are given economic freedom, poor countries
are more than capable of producing wealth. Without
this freedom North Korea waits.
Recently, there has been an increasing number of
Australians who have come to question the entire
premise. Primarily, there is little evidence to suggest
that giving local people welfare raises living standards
in any significant measure, or that foreign aid does
anything to develop poorer nations over the longer
period.
It is at this point that Australia’s churches have a vital
role to play. Currently, most discussions about poverty
focus on the need for government intervention, the
desirability of minimum wages and the necessity of
increased welfare provisions. Yet key components
are missing from Church statements on poverty and
welfare questions.
How can Australia encourage the entrepreneur?
How do we support the essential role of business in
providing employment? How can we develop and
support those who wish to start their own business
initiatives?. In short, Australia’s churches have
underplayed the pivotal and indispensible component
Australia has recently concluded a Free-Trade in moving people out of poverty - business support,
Agreement (KAFTA April 2014) with South Korea, which leads to the provision of employment.
a significant player on the world economic scene but
Part of the reason for such neglect appears to be a
one that only sixty years ago was largely devastated by
general mistrust of wealth creation in the capitalist
the Korean War (1950-53).
system and a feeling that inequality and greed may
It is not aid that has resulted in the South Korean result.
transformation, it is a philosophy of economic freedom,
A focus on the exceptional wealth of a few
a striving for excellence and an entrepreneurial
class that has pursued wealth-generating enterprise. individuals often attributes to them selfish motives
Australians have also benefitted hugely from South or corrupt practices. A more truthful analysis
Korean growth; our trade is worth around 30 suggests that Australia’s churches are also perceived
billion Australian Dollars, and our citizens benefit as excessively wealthy and with secretive and selfsignificantly from competitively priced cars, TVs, protecting practices. It is not just millionaires within
the capitalist system who may be tempted by greed;
electronic and other electrical goods.
communists, politicians, trade unionists, footballers,
Yet South Korea, is only half the Korean story, sheiks and bishops can also show themselves to be
North Korea is stringently opposed to economic fragile human beings!
freedom and ruthless in suppressing religious and
Capitalist nations will always need the rule of law
political freedoms. North Korean restrictions breed
massive starvation and poverty, yet in 6