Re-Empowering Dads

With special guests: 

• Ken Thompson
  
• Damien Diecke and
• Greg Stocks.  

First up we speak with NSW Fire Brigade Deputy Commissioner, Ken Thompson (COPAC), whose 5-year- old-son, Andrew, was abducted in 2008. He points out that, “Australia now has the highest per capita rate of IPCA in the world”, highlighting the need for new laws. “It’s far too easy for a parent to abduct a child” he said. 

The Family Law Reform Association (FLRA) has called for the introduction of new laws to protect children from being abducted from Australia. As part of the support for this campaign, Ken Thompson has recently formed a group called the Coalition of Parents of Abducted Children (COPAC).
 
Our second interview is with Damien Diecke, a motivational speaker and Master attraction coach, who asks men to join him at the “Be That Confident Guy” seminar in Sydney 19th December.  
 
Damien points out that if you are a man who finds the following familiar, than you will definitely benefit from his re empowering seminars.
 
“I see a woman somewhere at a club, across a room, or perhaps just in the queue in front of me, who makes my heart race and I want so badly to go over and talk to her - but I don’t, I can’t - for no matter how much I have struggled in the past to overcome it, again, I find myself in the grip of an overwhelming self-consciousness and fear of rejection - once more I feel paralysed”
 
We end the program with an interesting recording of the ‘HEY DAD’ workshop for facilitators presented by Greg Stocks at the recent National Mens Health Conference, which was attended by the Dads on The Air team.
 
It provides an insight into how men are working together to re-engage and re-empower themselves, following years of relentless persecution, stereotyping and isolation from our communities. They are encouraged by the many women who are supportive and who are starting to speak out against the perpetrators, under the banner of ‘We Want Our Men Back’

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Indigenous Men's Health

With special guests:

• Ashley Gordon and

• Craig Hammond.   
  

This week we’re broadcasting to you from the opening of the week long National Men’s Health Gathering in Newcastle, which is about 2 hours north of Sydney. This national event occurs every alternate year and the whole week is dedicated to the health issues facing men today and how we can best deal with those issues.

The state of health of Australian men has been ignored and neglected for many decades by successive governments, while at the same time, the cultural landscape for men, has in recent times come under severe attack from many sources, causing a further deterioration in the well being of the nations’ men and boys.  

We are dedicating the whole of this weeks’ program to the opening day at this year’s National Men’s Health Gathering, which starts the week with the 5th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Male Health Convention.

We also speak with former rugby league star Ashley Gordon, “Aboriginal people and gambling” a dedicated Aboriginal leader and one of the organisers of the convention. Ashley is joined by fellow convention organiser and Aboriginal leader Craig Hammond, “The Brothers Inside Project” who is also committed to improving the physical and mental health of the nations’ Indigenous men.

If we want to see what is in store for our men and our culture, we need look no further then the enormous task faced by our Indigenous community to restore the health, dignity and well being of their men and boys. To their great credit and our national shame these communities are working hard to re-engage their once proud Men and have their cultural landscape restored.

The deplorable state of mens’ health in Australia,  is in no small part due to the fact that it has by and large been ignored by Australian governments and the media. Despite the fact that we are proud to be able to claim that Dads On The Air were the only media organisation to cover this important national week long event, it is an absolute disgrace that the nations’ media completely ignored reporting on this event and the dire state of our mens’ health.

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Action On Men's Health

With special guests:

• Greg Andresen 
  

• Ray Kelly and

• Geoffrey Greene. 

We start the program by doing a live cross to the National Men’s Health Gathering 2009, being held in the city of Newcastle. Greg Andresen reports on the planned activities for the four day event. While a significant national event, which only takes place every alternate year, it sees Dads on the Air as the only member of the national news media to attend this important National Convention on Men’s Health issues, for the full week.

Greg Andresen and Peter van de Voorde, who are representing Dads on the air at the conference, will be recording a number of presentations and have planned a series of interviews with leading participants that will be aired in coming weeks on our program.

Our second interview is with Indigenous leader Ray Kelly, an academic based at Newcastle University, who gave the opening presentation at the 5th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Male Health Convention. This Convention was the forerunner to the National Men’s Health Conference and the National Family and Relationships Forum, and was devoted to Indigenous issues where men’s health issues are even more predominant than in the general community.

We also speak with Geoffrey Greene the President of the Shared Parenting Council of Australia, about the three separate inquiries into Family Law being conducted by the Rudd Government. He argued that despite the concerted push to wind back the Family Law reforms introduced by the Howard government, the Trade Union movement would be a force within the ALP to block these changes. The Union movement wants to avoid a return to the dark ages when fathers only saw their children intermittently, if at all, following separation.

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