Rod Oram, who moved the proposal, told synod that it "gives us the opportunity to offer leadership on, and to make a practical response to, climate change.

"Thus, it speaks to two marks of our Christian mission: care of creation and righting unjust social structures.

"Of all the ways in which we live unsustainably," he said, "it is climate change that is causing the gravest harm - right now, here and around the world - to the very ecosystem on which our existence depends."

And climate change, he said, is being driven "simply by pumping a rapidly rising volume of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases" into the atmosphere.

Oram is a journalist specialising in economic issues.

The motion drew impassioned support from Tikanga Pasefika speakers, most notably Bishop Api Qiliho, who said the survival of Pacific Island people was at stake.

There were notes of caution, however, from Mark Wilcox, General Manager of the Anglican Pension Board.

He told synod that the Pension Board manages $160 million of funds on behalf of its members, many of whom are retired or serving clergy.

Mr Wilcox said the Board took its ethical investment philosophy seriously, and had wrestled with how to respond "to the growing tide of sentiment around the world for divestment of fossil fuel investments."

But it also had to take its fiduciary obligations to its members equally seriously.

Source

• Anglican Taonga
• Pacific Scoop
• Image: Anglican Taonga

The report dumps all the blame on civil servants. But its description of events makes it very clear the prime minister, his office, his Tourism Ministry, and the Ministry of Economic Development spent a year trying to stitch up a convention centre deal with SkyCity before any other interested party got a glance in.

By doing so, John Key and his officials subverted the normal processes required for government procurement. These are designed to ensure solutions are canvassed widely and the best option chosen. As a result we'll get the convention centre SkyCity wants to build on terms highly favourable to it, which may not be the convention centre New Zealand needs. Here's how the prime minister and his colleagues abused the system, according to the chronology of actions described in the deputy auditor-general's report.

The challenge of building an international-scale convention centre in Auckland has troubled business and Government since the mid-1990s. Competing ideas failed to deliver the optimal solution of type, amenity, place and viability.

Auckland was never short of analysis, particularly government-commissioned studies in 2006 and 2009 by Horwath HTL, New Zealand's leading tourism sector consultant. Horwath's 2009 report said there were three options for a convention centre:

Private ownership through a mechanism such as a build, own, operate, transfer scheme.

Direct ownership by the public sector.

Creation of a special purpose entity accountable to the public sector but operating at arm's length - for example, a statutory body or council-controlled organisation.

After analysis and extensive consultation in the sector, Horwath concluded the third option, public ownership, had the widest support.

But SkyCity had other ideas. Even before the report was delivered in July 2009 it began pushing its own plans. It met senior officials on May 12 and hosted the prime minister at SkyCity on May 14.

The deputy auditor-general reports: "The prime minister's diary includes a meeting with SkyCity's chief executive on 14 May 2009 ... SkyCity confirmed that this meeting took place. Neither participant can recall the discussion, and think that it was probably just an opportunity for them to meet rather than for any particular purpose." Continue reading

Sources

• Rod Oram in The Sunday Star Times
• Image: Stuff

Rod Oram is a columnist for The Sunday Star-Times.

It was the first in a series of four lenten talks under the heading "Injustice in our time — a faith response", presented by Holy Trinity and St Patrick's Cathedrals.

Mr Oram set out the economic, financial, resource and human challenges and risks facing the world and New Zealand in some detail, before discussing community and faith responses.

In issuing a challenge to apply "timeless faith, in terms of our understanding of God, as halting and imperfect as that is, to very contemporary responses, to action," Mr Oram said he "gets really stuck" when he looks at how Christians talk about social justice matters to the rest of the world.

"I think we must seem incredibly boring. We are saying the right things — my faith in that is unshaken. We are saying the right things about that, but we are completely failing to express them in contemporary terms, in practical terms, and in new and exciting terms."

He added that he said this with "huge respect" for those who work in social justice areas, but the terms used to communicate the message must be both radical and encouraging.

Mr Oram admitted he struggled with finding ways to express the powerful concepts of Christian faith in contemporary terms himself, but it is vital that Christians work at doing this, "then we are able to speak really with a power and a simplicity and a beauty" to all these issues.

He cited the writings of American biblical scholar Marcus Borg as examples. Continue reading

Sources

• Michael Otto in New Zealand Catholic
• Image: The Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand