Australian MP Slams 'Trojan Horse' Family Law Amendments

With special guest:

• Greg Andresen.

The proposed Australian Family Law amendments came under attack from one of Australia’s more enlightened Federal Parliamentarians, George Christensen MP, this week, who likened them to taking the George Orwell approach to ranking considerations in his classic novel ‘Animal Farm’. Mr Christensen slammed the proposed amendments as being like a ‘Trojan Horse’ loaded full of terrible consequences that will undermine some of the most basic human rights of parents and children.  

On this week’s program we take another look at the proposed Amendments and speak with Greg Andresen, spokesperson for Men’s Health Australia, who has exposed many of the domestic violence myths being promoted by the Gillard Government and draws attention to some of the misleading claims made recently under Parliamentary privilege, by the Federal Minister for the Status of Women, the Hon Kate Ellis MP.

This is particularly troubling as it is impossible to develop fair and just legislation based on flawed information provided by self-interest groups, whose main focus in life is to protect their government funded existence, while the evidence provided by victim groups has been discounted, ridiculed and ignored.  

While Men’s Health Australia and the Minister both agree that child abuse and Family Violence are real, Men’s Health rightly question the alleged need to throw away due process in order to protect children from abuse and violence. They correctly point out that it is impossible to protect people from both abuse and false allegations of abuse at the same time as is proposed in the amendments, especially since each of them are considered abuse and cause immeasurable harm to the lives of the victims.   

George Christensen maintains that “what is inside this Trojan horse, the malicious code that will infect society, is an attempt to undermine equal access for both parents. This change would invite the court to ignore the requirement to consider the second pillar—the benefit to the child of having a meaningful relationship with both parents”.  

In his address to Parliament, George expressed his concern about the proposed broadening of the definition of family violence and made a passionate plea for sanity to prevail.  “The broadened definition of ‘family violence’ would mean that a wide range of everyday activities could potentially be construed as violence.

The broader definition includes as violence such things as repeated derogatory taunts. Under the proposed definition, much of what happens right here in the parliament would be construed as violence. Also included as violence is this little nugget: ‘preventing the family member from making or keeping connections with his or her family, friends, or culture.’ Under this broad definition, a parent could not prevent a young teenager from spending 20 hours a day talking to friends on Facebook, for fear of being accused of family violence”.

“What happens when a parent acts in a way that a reasonable person would describe as good parenting? What happens when a father says to his 13-year-old daughter, ‘No, you can’t go to Julia’s party because there will be alcohol and no adult supervision’? I will tell you what happens. An upset teenage daughter talks to a vindictive mother, who then claims the daughter is a victim of family violence—and it is their right under this definition. Another child loses the right to have a meaningful relationship with her parent. Under this definition, a parent would be too scared to ground a child as punishment for bad behaviour, for fear of ‘depriving a family member of his or her liberty.’  

Speaking in one voice with hundreds of thousands of powerless, dispossessed Australian parents and children, he concludes his Parliamentary address with:

“These amendments should be seen for what they are. They are a Trojan horse, full of malicious code designed to deprive fathers of their rights. The best thing we can do to protect the safety of children and to prevent family violence is to leave this act as it is.”    

While the rest of his Parliamentary colleagues prance about like frustrated show ponies, desperately chasing media attention to feed their inflated egos, George Christensen is scrupulously researching the subject matter of his Parliamentary responsibilities.             

Fortunately and belatedly, the Australian public has finally discovered a quite achiever to represent them, who is ethical and has the intelligence, ability and courage to challenge some of the many injustices, that an uncaring, self-centred establishment has caused to be imposed on an unsuspecting electorate over many decades.

We look forward to seeing and hearing a lot more in the years to come, from George Christensen, a principled man.  

Editor

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Do Politicians Really Care About Ordinary Australians?

With special guests:

• Sue Price
• Paul Mischefski and
• Tony Smith.

The Doomsday Cult appears to have moved their headquarters to the environs of the Australian Federal Parliament building in Canberra, where scaremongering  and the spreading of apocalyptic predictions of meter high sea level rises and pending invasions by hordes of uninvited boat arrivals, preoccupy the national debate.

We live in a chaotic environment, that sees our Political leaders fall over themselves to see who can deliver the most outrageous daily prophecy of pending catastrophic disasters, in order to feed the frenzy of the 24 hour media news cycle.

As we watch this childish, unstatesmen like display by our Political leadership, ordinary Australians shake their head and go about dealing with the everyday concerns that affect their personal daily lives.  

As the picture illustrates, from the Prime Minister Julia Gillard down, contempt by our elected Parliamentary leadership for the real every day concerns of the Australian public is obvious, and nowhere is this more evident than in the area of Family Law.

The Nation’s, nowhere to be seen Attorney General and his equally invisible opposition counterpart, simply refuse to debate some of the most outrageous proposals ever tabled in our National Parliament by an Australian Attorney General.  This is in the form of the proposed Family Law Amendment [Family Violence] Bill - 2010,  and on today’s show we discuss a number of the contentious issues which have raised so much concern amongst the non-custodial parent groups.  

Our first guest is Sue Price of the Men’s Rights Agency, who co-hosts today’s show from her headquarters in Brisbane. Joining her from Brisbane, is well known journalist, researcher and magazine editor Paul Mischefski,  who is also executive member of Men’s Wellbeing Inc, Queensland. Our final guest is Tony Smith, a senior Queensland  lawyer, who represented the people of Queensland as a Federal Politician, when he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1996.   

With a shared wealth of knowledge about the ravages that Family Law outcomes have inflicted on unsuspecting litigants, today’s guests speak out against what some have described as “another dogs breakfast of new Family Law Amendments”.

Of greatest concern is the apathy and disinterest shown by so many of our elected representatives, when they deal with such important, sensitive human rights issues as are involved in Family Law matters. Particularly in the way they repeatedly allow themselves to be so easily manipulated by various unsubstantiated claims, made by a plethora of  self interest groups, who rely on the indifference or lack of intellectual ability of many of our Parliamentarians, to challenge the accuracy of the information provided.

It is therefore not surprising to see such a rash of poorly drafted legislation being presented to Parliament, especially when so many of our elected representatives appear to lack the knowledge, experience and commonsense to understand much of the underlying meaning and possible ramifications of what is really being proposed. For responsible parents, its a very good time to be vigilant!

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In Support of Men

With special guests:

• Paul Elam and

• Mark Brooks.
  

On today’s show, as we cross from one continent to another, we witness the widespread, humiliating, emasculation of men and boys, which is now deeply embedded in the way we view equality and social justice in the western democracies.   

The manipulated silent majority which makes up our communities, blindly accepts the incredible debasement of the male of the human species, and laughs at their demise and discomfort, as they struggle with the constant attacks on their dignity and persona.   

As happened with other human rights abuses of the past, an ignorant community led by weak leadership, unquestioningly accepts the demonizing, stereotyping and marginalizing of members of a particular societal group, and fails to recognize this bigoted behaviour as an abuse of fundamental human rights.    

First up we speak to American social commentator Paul Elam, former Editor-in-Chief of Men’s News Daily and founder of A Voice for Men, who speaks about his new AVfM Radio program and issues around marriage and chivalry in modern times. Paul makes the following observations: 

“We live in an age where men are open targets.  Family law has developed into a dystopian system of government tyranny against men, on the supposed behalf of women, that represents the biggest roll back of civil rights since  the age of Jim Crow.  False accusations against men for all manner vileness including rape, child molestation, domestic abuse and the like have become epidemic and the perpetrators remain largely unpunished”. 

“This is just a part of a modern system of feminist governance that has gone to such extremes that we now have women who are murdering their husbands, often shooting them in their sleep, and walking away because they claim it was an act of defense from domestic abuse”.

“Our sons presence in institutions of higher education is dwindling rapidly, as is there performance in grades K-12. With 40% representation in college compared to women, and falling, there is also expected to be 18 million American men between the ages of 25 and 54 in the near future that will be unemployed and unemployable”. 

We then speak with Mark Brooks in the UK, who is chairman of the ManKind Initiative (UK).  In an article written by Mark on the 14th October 2010, he  draws attention to the gender divide and how comfortable the establishment is to engage in the bigoted denigration of men.    

“When Judge John Milford was sentencing Dennis Long, who stabbed his partner of 30 years to death, he said “You are a placid, unassertive, rather weak man”, as well as stating that as the bread-winner he should have permanently moved out of the family home”.

“The key litmus test is whether the judge would have made the same comments if the genders had been reversed. Rightly, I cannot see any possibility where a judge would say or even feel comfortable in stating that a woman who had been a victim of domestic abuse for 30 years was “a rather weak woman”, but the judge felt comfortable in saying this to a male victim”. 

“The same applies when Long was told he should have left because he was the ‘breadwinner’ - an irrelevant issue. Would a judge say that if Long was female. I think not. What is so appalling about these out-of-date, out-of-touch and sexist comments is that at its heart it places the responsibility on the victim not on the person carrying out the domestic abuse”.  

“Male victims, like female victims, are not weak, and it sends out the wrong message to say they are. No wonder twice as many men as women choose not to tell anyone about the domestic abuse they are suffering when this is the attitude of the judiciary. No victim of domestic abuse, whether female or male, should ever be described in this way and the judge obviously needs a better understanding of the power and control that perpetrators hold over their victim”.  

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What Our Attorney General Doesn't Want You To Know

With special guests:

• Toni McLean and
• Dr. Kim Halford.

The disturbing worldwide trend of disenchantment with the quality of Parliamentary representation is not without good reason. Witness the growing abandonment of all the major parties in recent democratic elections around the globe, and it becomes clear the electorate is tired of being treated with contempt by their elected representatives.  

A case in point is the secretive, evasive behaviour of our AG, Robert McClelland, who, without providing one shred of documented Police evidence to support his hysterical rhetoric of many children being abused while on Court ordered contact visits with their non-custodial parents, is now in the process of attempting to ram through draconian legislation without proper public scrutiny.  

Mr McClelland claims that more than 70% of public submissions support his proposed legislation, and incredibly considers this to indicate that the majority of the community supports his proposed legislation. However, despite repeated requests from the public, he refuses to release these submissions to public scrutiny.  

In a Democracy, transparency is required in order that justice is not only done but can be seen to be done, this is what the community demands and expects. The continuing aversion to public scrutiny by our AG, will only help to increase community suspicion and concern, about the hidden agenda and competence of the Gillard Government.   

On today’s program, we again take a look at the facts behind the hysterical Domestic Violence debate, which is widely used to label all men as perpetrators in order to separate them from their children, and underpins the proposed Family Violence Legislation.  

Our first guest is Toni McLean, Counsellor, Psychotherapist, Coach, Workshop Presenter, and Trainer, who is the principal counsellor for the “Think Twice!” suite of services. She offers a complete range of options for individuals and couples experiencing difficulty in their relationships from normal conflict through to all forms of abuse, as well as physical violence.  

Toni is an experienced counsellor and psychotherapist, with particular experience in the areas of relationship counselling; individual counselling; abuse and violence; trauma; anxiety and depression; and self-harming. Toni has significant experience in working with victims of domestic violence and with those who are abusing in their relationships.

Toni is also an experienced group facilitator and an accredited Myers Briggs Personality Type practitioner. In group counselling, Toni is assisted by experienced and supportive group facilitators. In addition to working with couples experiencing normal conflict, Toni has also developed a framework, based on current best practice from around the world, for assessing the complexity of the violence in a relationship, in order to tailor the solution to the situation and the couple.  

Our second guest is Dr Kim Halford, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of Clinical Programs at the University of Queensland speaking about his recent research finding on Relationship aggression, violence and self-regulation in Australian newlywed couples.   

His past work includes that as a Visiting Professor at the University of Oregon (1989), Manchester University (1993), University of North Carolina (1997) and Chinese University of Hong Kong (2006), as well as being a regular visitor and collaborator with colleagues at Denver University, Brigham Young University and the Technical university of Braunschweig. These experiences have sparked a keen interest in him, regarding cross-cultural issues in family psychology.

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'New' Versus 'Radical' Feminism

With special guests:

• Erin Pizzey and

• Dr. Elizabeth Farrelly.

Most young women today no longer support the extreme views expressed by radical feminists, with many of them considering these views to be held by “hairy legged man haters”, who will not be satisfied until all power and control over every facet of our existence rests in the hands of women. Today’s women know, that if they wish to attain high positions of power in our modern society, being a woman is no longer a barrier to their ambitions.   

Modern women actually love their men, and already know that the only barriers to achievement depends on their willingness to commit to the long hours and dedication required in their chosen field of endeavour, and not the fact they are a woman. Female role models in powerful positions abound in the western democracies, thus forcing the radical feminists to resort to hysterical anti-male fear  campaigns, such as the alleged world wide Domestic Violence epidemic, in a desperate attempt to remain relevant.    

On today’s program we explore these modern expressions of feminism and take a closer look at the history of feminism, with two highly respected ‘NEW’ feminists.   

First up we speak with Erin Pizzey, founder of the Modern Women’s Shelter Movement and International Author. We will discuss her new book “This Way to the Revolution - An Autobiography” which is is ready for pre-order.  

The opening of a small community centre for maltreated women in Chiswick in 1971 was to bring Pizzey to the front line of what was becoming a national issue in a time when feminists were still treated with hostility and derision by right-wing figures, but also when left-wing radicals scorned anyone, like Pizzey, who put humanity before ideology.  

By the mid-seventies, Pizzey found herself under bomb threat and picketed by feminists for allowing men to staff refuges: this led to a long exile from the UK where she kept up her activities and achieved international recognition, while also re-inventing herself as a best-selling writer. Erin Pizzeys life and trials have been unique: her story is a compelling one, vital to any understanding of a more revolutionary age and burning issues that still resonate today.  

Next we speak with Dr. Elizabeth Farrelly, who is  an opinion writer with the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’, Author and Architect.  Elizabeth writes a weekly opinion column and has written critical columns on architecture, urban design and planning for the Sydney Morning Herald. She has also written insightful essays in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Spectrum, and articles in international journals as well as The Age, the Bulletin, the Architecture Bulletin, Architecture Australia, Architectural Theory Review, Interior Design, Pol Oxygen and Monument.

An articulate and engaging speaker, Elizabeth Farrelly has made several television and radio appearances and spoken publicly, often sharing the stage with Hon. Paul Keating.   

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New Feminism

With special guests:

• Dr. Elizabeth Celi and

• Barbara Kay.
  

Today is International Women’s Day, and in sharp contrast to the struggling International Men’s Day, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. On this day a global web of rich and diverse local activities, connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women’s craft markets, theatre performances, fashion parades and more.         

Women now hold many positions of power in a huge variety of endeavours and rightly so, yet the catchcry of victimhood continues to dominate the debate and is promoted by the views of the vocal radical feminists, who relentlessly attack and ridicule men at every opportunity. Unfortunately these extreme and outdated relics of a past era, persist with blaming all men for the world’s ills and support their distorted view of reality with a steady flow of corrupt data and statistics.          

They speak about the gender wage gap and the great need for equal pay for women. However, in most countries it is illegal to engage in paying a woman less for doing the same job and working the same hours as the man. We therefore challenge them to produce just one woman who finds herself in that position.

The fact is that some industries and professions just happen to pay more than others, and it therefore has more to do with women working less hours and/or that many of them work in industries or professions that happen to pay less. Or are they perhaps suggesting that every industry and profession should have the same rate of pay?          

Thankfully, the next generation of NEW Feminists are the more enlightened women in our communities who have moved on, and can see through this facade of victimhood and consider it counter productive to persist in engaging in a destructive power struggle with men. They understand the need for true equality and readily support the needs of men, and in turn are supported by the men.         

We speak to two such women today, and begin the show with an informative interview with Dr Elizabeth Celi, Psychologist, Author and social commentator. Dr. Celi completed a First Class Honours degree in Psychology and Psychophysiology and successfully achieved her Doctoral qualification from The Department of Psychiatry at The University of Melbourne. In addition to her workshops, advocacy and clinical practices, in regional and inner city, Dr. Celi currently sits on the Board of the Australian Psychological Society.          

Through regular TV and radio appearances and interviews, lectures, workshops, seminars and publications, Dr. Celi helps to debunk the negative myths and stereotypes about Men – our fathers, husbands, uncles, grandfathers, sons and brothers. Elizabeth champions the need for more positive male role models through a renewed appreciation and mutual respect for the strengths and skills of men and masculinity, as they now apply, in the 21st Century.          

To get an International perspective we speak to well known Canadian journalist Barbara Kay, who is a Columnist for the National Post newspaper. Barbara has an Honour BA in English Language and Literature, University of Toronto, and an M.A. in English Literature, McGill University as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow.          

She is an outspoken supporter of the equal rights of Men and Fathers, to enjoy the same rights as those currently awarded to women through the feminist inspired policies of our Governments, and is appalled at the bigotry and gender divisive mentality which continues to dominate in some of our Government Departments and Agencies, such as the Family Courts and the Domestic Violence Industry. Barbara will be talking about her upcoming column on feminism which is being released later this week for the Centenary of IWD.   

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The Dad Factor

With special guests:

• Dr. Richard Fletcher and

• Dr. Jonica Newby.

Our first guest this week is Dr Richard Fletcher, who leads the ‘Fathers and Families Research Program’ at the Univer­sity of Newcastle and is the author of ‘The Dad Factor’. In the 1990’s he pioneered the study of Men’s health and Boys’ health and founded the community-based group, Fathers Against Rape, to conduct workshops with teenage boys in schools. He developed the Engaging Fathers Project at the University of Newcastle and worked to have it implemented in communities nationally.

As a lecturer in the university’s Family Action Centre, he designed and deliv­ered courses and seminars to teachers, nurses, occupational therapists and medical students. In his PhD, he researched fathers’ attachment to infants and children. He is the convener of the national fatherhood research network. He is also the co-editor of the book ‘Boys in Schools’.

Next we speak with Dr Jonica Newby, who is a former veterinarian turned reporter / producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship TV science program, ‘Catalyst’. While her days of trying to read the minds of furry patients are long gone, her fascination with the lives of animals remains. Before joining Catalyst, she provided the original research and concept and wrote and presented a five part feature series for ABC TV on the domestication of animals, called The Animal Attraction. She is also author of an ABC book of the same name, and a contributor to various science media across the country.

Her ABC book (formerly titled as The Pact For Survival) was recently made into a documentary feature for Britain’s Channel 4. The book has been reissued under the title The Animal Attraction to accompany the screening of the five part series.

In her follow up to ‘Fatherhood: the Male Pregnancy?’,  Dr Jonica Newby presents ‘Fatherhood: Secrets of the Superdads’ and catches up with our new dads to find out how they are coping with their first year of fatherhood, as we ask the question: can science tell us what makes a good dad?

In part 1 of Fatherhood, Dr Jonica Newby followed three dads-to-be, testing their hormones and their humour - as they made the transition to fatherhood. It revealed the biological changes that turn human males into caring dads, and examined couvade syndrome - a sort of sympathetic male pregnancy.

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Celebrating Our Boys, Men And Fathers

With special guests:

• Jason Van Genderen and
• Stephen Toon.

First up we speak with Jason Van Genderen, Creative Director of Treehouse Creative, a communications and design studio – based in Gosford, Crows Nest and Melbourne — who talks about his film ‘The Unspoken’ written as a tribute to his father who is dying of lung cancer, which was awarded the runner-up prize at Tropfest 2011 .  

This year’s batch of brilliant short films, selected 16 finalists  from more than 700 entries. The main event was held last Sunday 20 February in The Domain, Sydney and public viewing sites were set up across the nation – Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide, Surfers Paradise and Perth – giving all Australians the chance to be a part of the anticipated 150,000 strong live audience.

Each year, Tropfest’s competition attracts aspiring filmmaker’s worldwide, eager to share their stories and craft with the public. 2011 had a distinct international flavour – entries flooded in from all corners of the globe and one of the Finalists came all the way from South Africa.  

Jason started out making comedies but is building a reputation for emotional short films. His film ‘My Town is Broken’ about urban decay in Gosford, won an award at the Sydney Film Festival in 2008 for films shot on a mobile phone. Another film “Mankind is No Island’ about homelessness won the first Tropfest New York in 2008. He also won 3 awards at the Geelong 24 hours Shoot Out Film Festival in 2007  

Our second guest is Stephen Toon, Director of Consultancy & Community Programs, AIMHS,  Australian Institute of Male Health and Studies – talking about ‘From Boyhood to Manhood’, Stephen has extensive experience in working with men and boys and in developing and delivering a range of male health, preventative mental health, suicide prevention, and personal development programs. These programs have been taken up by government, and NGOs, and have spanned health, education, and welfare sectors. 

Stephen has been responsible for the State-wide rollout of the highly successful Men in Communities Program (awarded the South Australian government, Dr Margaret Tobin Award for Excellence in Community Mental Health Education). He has played a pioneering role in the development of men’s health in South Australia and has been a commentator, educator, and male health consultant in much demand.  

Currently, Stephen is conducting research for the University of South Australia, concerned with establishing an evidence base and developing a best practice framework for conducting group work with men. He is also a PhD candidate in the University of South Australia’s Centre for Regional Engagement. 

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Family Court's Reward Perjury, Punish Victims

With special guest:

• ‘Rick’

Welcome to 2011, a year that will see more Australians denied access to their families than ever before in our history. At the start of this new decade, 5.2 million Australian men, women and children find themselves having been forcibly torn from their loved ones, since the Family Justice Industry began waging its reign of terror in 1975.  

We live in a dark period of our history, where, under the self serving leadership of six different Prime Ministers, not one politician has had the courage to stand up in Parliament and challenge this multi billion dollar juggernaut, by saying loud and clear “this is wrong and indefensible and I will no longer offer my support”.

Instead, collectively, we choose to silently tolerate the following examples of reprehensible behaviour by those engaged in the perjury riddled Family Justice Industry, which richly rewards perjurers and punishes the victims. Incredibly we continue to remain mesmerized by the mythical ‘Best Interest of the Children’ slogan, so deceptively used to remove many million’s of Australians from their families, and causing 35,000 of the nations’ father’s to commit suicide since 1975.  

If anyone should still be in doubt about the abhorrent extend of the family destructive outcomes meted out by a judiciary, which goes about rewarding perjurers and punishing the victims in our Family Courts, while at the same time fraudulently claiming they have no alternatives, please note the following:

Perjury Rewarded 1
Perjury Rewarded 2
Perjury Rewarded 3

In order to further illustrate the depth of Government complicity through the multitude of agencies which administer their family destructive policies, on today’s program we speak to one such dispossessed parent ‘Rick’ [not his real name for legal reasons], who was jailed for sending a birthday card to his young daughter.   

Today’s newsletter, the first for 2011, has been forwarded to every Australian Politician, who has been elected to represent all Australians in our Federal Parliament, taking away any future option to plead ignorance.     

We repeat our invitation to any Australian Politician who would like to join us on air, to publicly defend and justify the proposed Family Law Amendments, which stand to further encourage perjurers, destroy family relationships, and cause increasing numbers of the nation’s children to be abandoned into the care of the most dysfunctional of their parents.   

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Wrap-Up of a Men's Month

With special guests:

• Diane Sears
• Warwick Marsh and
• Yousaf Jamal.

This week signals the end of November, a month which has seen a number of men centric initiatives take centre stage around the world, as it celebrates and honours the importance of men in our societies. The Movember campaign, along with International Men’s Day, head the list of actions taken by men, to draw attention to societies’ current devaluation of the role of Men, Fathers and Boys. 

Our first guest is Diane Sears, who is the USA Coordinator of International Men’s Day [IMD] 2010 and who is a member of the IMD Coordination Committee. Sears is a member of the University Council for Akamai University’s Fatherhood and Men’s Studies Program, which is located in Hilo, Hawaii.  She advises the President of Akamai University on Fatherhood issues and assists him in the enhancement of the institution’s Fatherhood and Men’s Studies curriculum and in forming strategic alliances with national and international Fatherhood organizations.  

Diane Sears is also a celebrated author and the following is an excerpt from one of her books ‘IN SEARCH OF FATHERHOOD’. “Men play an important role in our lives. They are the glue that holds our families, our communities, and our world together. Yet, despite the valuable contributions Men make, as a whole, they are generally taken for granted, summarily dismissed, ridiculed and negatively stereotyped in television situation comedies, and mis-characterized as emotionless automatons. Men laugh, love, grieve, dream, and cry. They are very complex individuals. Their hearts and souls can be easily crushed. Men want to be treated with dignity and respect. They have valuable life lessons to teach about integrity, courage, sacrifice, faith, commitment, compassion, loyalty, unconditional love, transcending boundaries, and successfully navigating the world outside of our immediate environment”.

“When Men know deep within their heart of hearts that we respect them and when we have demonstrated that we are nonjudgmental and willing to listen, they will bare their souls. It is a magical and moving moment when a Man shares his innermost thoughts and feelings – when he tells his story. The next time your father, uncle, grandfather, son, brother, husband, cousin, nephew or “significant other” engages you in a conversation, stop what you are doing and listen —really listen with an open mind and an open heart. He is telling you his story.”  

Our next guest is Warwick Marsh, who is the Media Coordinator for IMD 2010 and Founder of the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation. The Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation is honoured to work with the founder of International Men’s Day, Dr Jerome Teelucksingh, as well as many other family-friendly men and fatherhood groups all over the world. Working together, in order to promote a unified celebration of manhood and the positive contribution that men make to society.  

Actively involved with improving the image and well being of men and boys, the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation is also an Australian Harm Prevention Charity. Formed in 2002, their aim is to help turn the tide of fatherlessness as well as resource and encourage fathers. The mission of the Fatherhood Foundation is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible, committed and loving fathers.  

Our final guest is Yousaf Jamal, who is the Pakistan Coordinator for International Men’s Day and the President and Founder of the first and only Men’s activism organization in Pakistan Rights and Rights International. Yousaf lives in Kot Addu and is the father of 8 children - 3 boys and 5 girls.   

Yousaf has observed in Pakistan over the last few years, that a lot of feminist organizations paint the whole male gender as cruel. Likewise in some prevailing laws there are many discriminatory clauses against men, particularly in Family Law. The Harassment in the Work Place Act is totally anti-male. And he has witnessed the steady decline of male participation at Higher Education and University level.

He also believes that the observance of an International Women’s Day by the United Nation without a counterpart is discriminatory. In order to highlight the issues being faced by men in Pakistan he started the male activist organization Rights and Rights International, this year in 2010.  

Yousaf Jamal held a very successful seminar on International Men’s Day, with many lawyers, educationists, social activists and representatives of Women’s organizations attending the seminar. Special tributes were paid to prominent male role models. Problems such as the under-representation of males in university and other education settings were discussed at the seminar. Female students in Karachi University total 90%, in Punjab University 70%, while in BZ University 52% students are female. This is really an alarming situation for males in Pakistan.  

Yousaf cautions that we should avoid the “EACH GENDER FOR ITSELF” approach and instead promote better gender relationships. He proposes that we should celebrate both Men’s Day and Women’s Day and asks everyone to join hands with Rights and Rights International for the elimination of Gender Based Discrimination.

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The New Manhood

With special guests:

• Steve Biddulph and

• David Hatfield.      

Our first guest this week is Steve Biddulph, ‘The New Manhood’, who is one of the world’s best known psychologists and a celebrated author of many books. We will discuss in detail the content of his latest book ‘The New Manhood’. His books, including Secret of Happy Children, Manhood, and Raising Boys, are in four million homes and 31 languages. They have influenced the way we look at childhood and especially the development of boys and men.

Steve was voted Australian Father of the Year in 2000 for his work encouraging the role of fathers. He lives in Tasmania with his wife Sharon, a large extended family, and assorted wombats.

Speaking about his first new book in 6 years, Steve says “The New Manhood contains everything I have learned about being male, from working as a therapist and educator with men, and living for almost sixty years, struggling, reflecting, and researching about how a man’s life either works, or does not.” The central message of the new book is the importance of purpose, and the idea that there is a single change that delineates a man from a boy. A man is someone who has gone beyond self, he enjoys life, but he lives for others.

The New Manhood is influenced by much powerful and new thinking – from elders like Richard Rohr, David Mowaljalai, David Schnarch, young men like Donald Miller. It features special sections on outstanding practitioners in education and therapy – preventing rape in South Africa, teaching manhood to boys in Melbourne, healing family violence in Northern NSW. Its message is for teenage boys, young men, family men, mid-life men and men growing old.The book is full of stories and is simple and easy to read. Steve counts this book as his best effort, perhaps of a lifetime, to affect the course of the times we live in.

Our second guest is Canadian David Hatfield, “Manology” who is an independent facilitator, experiential educator, trainer, and consultant. His professional interests revolve around issues of social justice, masculinity, and leadership. His passions lie in the meeting place of gender empathy and empowerment, rites of passage, conflict transformation, creativity, communication, and leadership training.

David’s engaging program design, facilitation, and keynote addresses are masterful and have been contracted nationally and internationally. As a specialist in male issues, David is a powerful guide in exploring notions of masculinity and a catalyst in illuminating and supporting new possibilities for both genders.

David is also the Canadian coordinator for International Men’s Day, and is proud to host the IMD event in Vancouver.  This is Vancouver’s first public celebration of International Men’s Day. The event will begin with an introduction to men’s day, a proclamation from the City of Vancouver, and several speakers and entertainers. Then everyone is welcome to mingle and meet the numerous participating organizations who will be sharing information and inviting participation in diverse ways. There will be games to play, food, fun, and creative opportunities to add your opinions and ideas into the mix!!

This event celebrates Men’s positive contributions, offers information about issues facing boys and men, and a chance to meet a diverse number of organizations in the community that are working to support the needs of boys, men and families.

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International Men's Day 2010

With special guests:

• Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh
• Samuel Nii Teiko Tackie
• John D. Evans and
• Cathleen Williams.

At a time when governments consider it their noble duty to send our young Men off to fight and die in far away foreign wars, supposedly in order to fight for the human rights of others, these young Men’s own human rights are being cruelly abused at home by their own governments.

Back home, it has become fashionable and acceptable, to engage in both overt and covert male-bashing, which is used to manipulate and massage community attitudes, and in so doing, paving the way for the subsequent removal of a Man’s children, home and savings.

However community outrage is growing, as it starts to question the validity of the spin, which supports the abhorrent government policies, that are decimating their families and destroying their men.

Many groups of enlightened Men and Women around the world are calling for better scrutiny, of the destructive anti-male propaganda, that is inflicting so much damage. These groups work hard at organizing the celebration of men, and drawing attention to the important roles Men play, in the shaping of the physical and emotional health of the next generation.

Today we dedicate the program to International Men’s Day, which is one such global occasion, used to celebrate the positive contributions and variegated experience of being male.

Our first guest is the founder of International Men’s Day, Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, of Trinidad and Tobago. The citizens in Trinidad and Tobago were the first to celebrate IMD on the 19th November, 1999. The event was conceived and coordinated by Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, history lecturer from the University of West Indies, and the first event was held at the Families in Action Headquarters in Port of Spain.

Dr. Teelucksingh chose the date partly to coincide with his father’s birthday, whom he felt was an excellent male role model, and also because it was the day in which the football team in his country created a level of unity which crossed gender, religious and ethnic divisions. He added, “I realized there was no day for men… some have said that there is Father’s Day, but what about young boys, teenagers and men who are not fathers?”

Our second guest is Samuel Nii Teiko Tackie, who is the President and Founder of Ghana Fatherhood Initiative Foundation (GFIF) and National Coordinator of International Men’s Day in Ghana. He is married and together with his wife has two wonderful children. Ghana Fatherhood Initiative Foundation (GFIF) is established to promote and encourage Committed, Available and Responsible (C.A.R) fatherhood in Ghana. It hopes to complement the efforts of mums and encourage dads who are dedicated and available to their families.

Samuel started GFIF in 2007, after doing some personal research on the effects of father absenteeism in the family. His aim was to create awareness of the social issues and family breakdown that arose from father absenteeism. At the same time fathers who are involved and present in the life of children need to be appreciated and encouraged to keep up with the good work. And for those who are yet to be fathers there is a need for education.

Our next guest is John D. Evans, who is an educator, humanitarian, folklorist, author, and poet whose literary work, Diary of A Renaissance Man, a component of The Evans Poetry Collection was named Children’s Choice 2008 by the International Reading Association, the Children’s Book Council, and 10,000 schoolchildren.

Mr. Evans has written several volumes of poetry over the last decade capturing over 200 years of African American poetry. Mr. Evans will coordinate the participation of individuals, organizations, institutions, and communities throughout the State of Illinois in connection with the worldwide observance of 2010 International Men’s Day.

We close the show with Cathleen Williams, a successful and multi-talented professional, who is the Executive Producer and Chief Executive Officer of an empowering and informative New York-based cable television news-magazine and contemporary forum, I’m Just Saying, that airs weekly. A public speaker, and trainer in health care, education, parenting, diversity, and personal development, Ms. Williams is the author of a unique parenting book, Single Mother: The New Father, Volume I: Sports, The Mother’s Playing Field.

Cathleen holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Delaware, a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, and a Master’s degree in Health Law from Seton Hall School of Law in New Jersey. Ms. Williams is a member of The American Association of Nurse Attorneys (TAANA), the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), and the New York County Lawyers Association.

We leave you with an extract from one of his poems that John D Evans recited on today’s show, which was truly a moving moment. It is an excerpt from Book Five of The Evans Poetry Collection, “Diary of a Renaissance Man: Axioms, Aphorisms, Art, and Poetry” by John D Evans.

“With veins that run deep in my soul
Vessels more precious than pure gold
A being so uniquely defined
Beauty that cannot be denied
Full of life
Hope
History
Of goodness
Grace
Destiny
From a perfect model molded by
Mighty, masterful hands
An awesome creature
No small wonder
I am a man”

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The Men's Network

With special guest:

• Glen Poole.

On today’s program, we focus on the work of Glen Poole, who is chair of The Men’s Network, in England. While based in the UK, this movement is sure to expand across the globe, due to the parallel anti men/father bias, prevailing in most of the western democracies.

The Men’s Network in England – is a charitable organisation committed to improving the lives of men and boys in all areas of life – health, education, criminal justice, social justice, fatherhood etc. The aim of The Men’s Network is to take one small UK city – Brighton & Hove – and make it an international beacon of best practice that inspires other cities and countries around the world to take radical action to help all men and boys reach their fullest potential

Glen is 41 – works as a campaigns and communications consultant – and is best known his work as PR Director and Media Spokesman, for the infamous Fathers 4 Justice campaign, that he helped become a global phenomena 2003/2004. Glen was a stay-at-home dad in the late nineties and wrote for several parenting magazines in the UK about his experiences as a father.

He discovered the failings of the family law system at first hand after his wife left him when their only child was 2 years old. He found he was unable to win sole custody of his daughter, despite being her primary carer, but was successful in his fight for shared custody. He has shared parenting of his daughter for 11 years and is a passionate advocate of the need for radical reform and intervention worldwide to ensure that every human being has the best possible chance of having a great relationship with both their parents.  

Having worked extensively in the public and not-for-profit sectors Glen has observed at first hand the failings of the these services to meet the needs of men and boys in areas such as health, social care, education, housing etc – and as a result, Glen has long believed that there needs to be a Ministry For Men in the UK – and other countries too.

In March 2010 he joined forces with men in one city – Brighton & Hove, England – to form The Men’s Network – a charitable organisation that he believes will – in time - help transform the way the world works for men, boys and fathers. Glen has 5 years to complete the UK phase of this project, as he is heading for Australia in 2015 with his partner, who is a dual nationality citizen who spends her time between Byron Bay and England.

Glen is also dedicated to the promotion of International Men’s Day, and enthusiastically supports this upcoming event, due to be celebrated around the world on the 19th November 2010.

Last year, Dads on the Air dedicated a whole program to this important event, which will be repeated again this year. Accordingly next week’s program will  be totally focussed on International Men’s Day 2010, with a host of guests from all corners of the globe participating. 

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Men's Day In Movember

With special guests:

• Rob Treharne
• Sue Price and
• Uma Challa.

The month of November, appears to be rapidly developing into a Men’s Month, both Nationally and Internationally. It sees a number of worthy initiatives, which focus on the need to respect and better recognize the important roles men play, in a healthy society and the human family.

 

At a time when it is fashionable to ignore the needs of men and their health and wellbeing, it is refreshing to learn that most women in our communities, are appalled at the level of ridicule, neglect and persecution, our men and boys are forced to endure, at the hands of our mainstream media and apathetic governments.

 

This week we speak with three dedicated International supporters of men, who are doing their best to raise awareness, to the perilous plight of today’s male, and who play an important part in the organising of International campaigns to achieve these goals.

 

First up we speak with Rob Treharne, who speaks on behalf of the Movember Australia campaign. Each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in Australia and around the world, with the sole aim of raising vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

 

Next we speak with Sue Price, Men’s Rights Agency, whose untiring efforts in support of men, is well known around the world. Sue speaks enthusiastically, about the upcoming International Mens Day campaign, which will be celebrated in an ever growing number of countries around the world, on the 19th of November.

 

We end the show with an informative interview with Uma Challa, AIMWA, who heads the Indian team, which will spearhead the International Men’s Day campaign in India. Uma is an Anthropologist and Biologist by training, and has been an activist in support of Men’s rights for 5 yrs. She fights against the misuse of protections and privileges granted to women, and has worked hard to achieve true equality under law for both men and women of India.

Uma is also the founder of the All India Forgotten Women’s Association (AIFWA), All India Men’s Welfare Association (AIMWA), and the Andhra Pradesh Mothers-in-law Protection Association (APMPA). She is currently the President of both, AIFWA and AIMWA.

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Concern For The Nations' Boys

With special guests:

• Maggie Hamilton

• Melinda Tankard Reist

• Julie Gale and

• Dr Arne Rubinstein.                                                                          

Following years of neglect, there finally appears to be a ripple of concern, for the wellbeing of the nations’ boys. Growing up in an era that sees their fathers portrayed as either bumbling idiots or violent abusers, it is difficult for boys to find a role model to be proud of, or a place where they are honored.  

Our program this week consists of the recorded presentations made by four outstanding speakers, at a recent function held at NSW Parliament House, who dealt with the concern held by many, that we need to improve the support for the next generation of young men.  

First up we hear Maggie Hamilton, ‘What Is Happening To Our Boys’ , who as a well known author and social commentator, speaks about her new book, and the many reasons why we should be concerned about the way we support our boys, as they deal with the social pressures, new technologies, drugs and alcohol, peer pressure and porn, which affect them.   

Next we hear Melinda Tankard Reist, ‘Collective Shout’, who is concerned about the level of exposure to pornography and other social interests, and how some marketing influences negatively impact on our childrens’ view of the world.  

This is followed by Julie Gale, ‘Kids Free To Be Kids’, who is also concerned with the health and wellbeing of our kids, and how children are portrayed in advertising - i.e. What they wear, how they’re posed.  

Finally we hear an informative presentation by Dr. Arne Rubinstein, ‘Rites Of Passage’, who is the Co-Founder and past CEO of the Pathways Foundation, a Not For Profit organization that runs the National Award Winning Pathways to Manhood program in schools and communities around Australia. This program for teenage boys and their fathers is a contemporary Rite of Passage that aims to inspire the boys to have a vision and reach their potential.   

Dads On The Air is proud to have been broadcasting Men and Father’s issues for the past 10 years, and will celebrate our 10th anniversary, and persistence in the face of many adversities, on next weeks show. This now makes us the world’s longest running radio program, dealing with father issues.  

We hope to have many of our past contributors on the program, and look forward to your company, as we celebrate the success of the past 10 years, and proudly move into the next decade.

While it is difficult to be a lone voice in the wilderness, our mission will not be accomplished until the wilderness of political and media ignorance, is conquered, and our children’s human right to enjoy the love, care and protection of both parents, is guaranteed, and enshrined in legislation. 

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tagged Boys / Rites of Passage, Boys' Education, Gender & Masculinities, Media Representation of Males, Mentoring, Raising Kids, Relationships, Young Men

Tuesday

Sep282010

Fathers At Heart Of Early Childhood

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 10:30AM

With special guest:

• Paul Prichard.                                                                          

While one arm of Government funded research, attached to an associated bureaucracy, promotes the view of the importance of fathers in early childhood, another arm of Government funded research and associated bureaucracy, promotes a one shoe fits all anti shared parenting policy.

 

Confusing the issue even further, is the deceptive ‘Equal Shared Parenting Responsibility’ legislation, enacted by the Howard Government. This clever but cruel, political smoke and mirrors psycho babble, served to fool Parliament and the community, into believing that Equal Shared Parenting Time, had finally become a reality, while in fact it simply allowed the sharing of parental responsibilities, where considered appropriate.

 

Totally ignored was the fact, that any notion of the equal sharing of parenting time, would continue to be subject to the mercy of the custodial parent.

 

But this week we play a recorded presentation, on the subject of why fathers should be central to our rethinking of early childhood in Australia. The keynote speech by Paul Prichard, ‘Centre for Community & Child Health”, was presented at the National Men’s Health Convention, in Newcastle.

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tagged Fathers - New & Expectant, Male-Friendly Services, Media Representation of Males, Raising Kids, Young Men

Tuesday

Aug172010

Men's Health, Alienation and Votes

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 10:30AM

With special guests:

• Ed Dabrowski
  

• Greg Millan and
  

• Joseph Goldberg.
                                                                              

The rights, and roles of men and fathers, have never been under more pressure at any time in human history. The gradual stereotyping and marginalizing of men and fathers in our communities, is witness to the decimation of the family structure as we know it. Children born today only have a 1 in 3 chance of remaining in meaningful contact with both the maternal and paternal sides of their family, in the event their parents should separate.  

It would not be unreasonable to assume therefore, that with a Federal election in Australia looming, the media and the major parties would have had something to say about an issue which has destroyed millions of parent/child relationships, as the result of a 35 year reign of terror waged on families, by the International Family Justice Industry.

Predictably however, with the exception of the NCPP, the silence has been deafening. Not one question raised by the mainstream media, not one caller to a Radio or Television station, not one comment was heard on this subject, by any of the candidates representing the major parties. It also raises the serious question as to why there is such apathy amongst the multitude of victims of this travesty of justice? Where were their voices? 

On today’s program we will discuss some of the causes and ways to deal with the ongoing debasing of maleness. Our first guest today is Ed Dabrowski  of mensvote.com, who discusses the policy positions of the major parties, concerning men as fathers and the issue of family values, in an attempt to understand the platforms of the political parties concerned.   

Next we speak with Greg Millan of Mens Health Services , who has just launched his latest book ‘Men’s Health & Wellbeing: an A to Z guide’. Greg is a men’s health consultant, who speaks about his new book and the men’s health services, who provide professional expertise in the design and delivery of effective programs and resources for men, as well as offering professional training designed specifically to help address the unique needs of men and boys.  

We then speak with Canadian medical - legal consultant  Joseph Goldberg, of Goldberg & Associates, who specialises in the area of Parental Alienation cases. Joseph has an intimate knowledge of this disorder, being an Alienated parent himself, and now has many speaking engagements and organises a number of symposiums which focus on the subject of PAS.     

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tagged Celebrating Men, Family Law, Fatherlessness, Media Representation of Males, Men's Groups, Men's Health, Parental Alienation/Psychological Abuse, Political Activism, Shared Parenting

Tuesday

Jul062010

One In Three Abusers Are Women

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 10:30AM

With special guests:

• Greg Andresen and 

• Sue Price.                                                                              

Our first guest is Greg Andresen, of the One in Three Campaign, who attended the recent Intimate Partner Abuse of Men Workshop, held on Wednesday 16 June 2010 in Perth, Western Australia. The workshop was aimed at service providers plus anyone who works with victims and perpetrators of family and domestic violence, and considered the implications for service providers, of the Edith Cowan University (ECU) Intimate Partner Abuse of Men research.  

Greg paints a disturbing picture of the way governments and the media, continue to be  misled by distorted and misleading facts and figures, presented by self interest groups, who want to ensure their collective snouts remain firmly planted deep inside the public trough.  

The fact that more questions are not being asked by our policymakers and the mainstream media, perhaps illustrates the reason for the continuation and acceptance of appallingly inadequate Family Laws and Domestic Violence legislation.  

By way of example, it is our understanding that a number of service providers attending the workshop, mentioned that Relationships Australia (WA) had directed their staff not to attend. This would be unsurprising, considering the views of their Manager, Terri Riley, expressed in the West Australian newspaper on June 1st 2010 (click here to view the article). As well as sustaining many discredited myths about domestic and family violence in this opinion piece, we are extremely concerned that the head of Relationships Australia, by telling male victims that they do not, and can not, experience systematic controlling abuse like women can, will prevent them from seeking help from services like Relationships Australia.  

Despite denying the documented reality that at least 1 in 3 of the perpetrators of Domestic Violence are women, Ms Riley proudly claims 7000 men sought help and support from Relationships Australia last year.   

In view of what Ms Riley has revealed about Relationship Australia’s bigoted philosophy, it would seem that any unsuspecting man seeking help and understanding for abuse from this organization, has about as much chance of success, as a victimized black man had, who sought help for abuse from the Ku Klax Clan, during its reign of terror.

The obvious question is, where are the anger management programs for the one in three  violent and  abusive women in our society? Or do we continue to pretend they do not exist? 

To provide an overview of the coming Australian election, and the possible implications for the nations’ fathers and their children, we conclude the show speaking with Sue Price from the Mens Rights Agency.   While recommending a continual vigil, to ensure the current government and its anti male followers are held to account, she nevertheless recommends boycotting the enduring bias and discriminating consultative process.  

Following 15 years of lobbying, Sue is frustrated by the way the system excludes and sidelines most of the credible independent voices, who represent the victims, and who continue to call for real justice and equality in the area of Family Law.  

Sue correctly points out, the way successive governments provide funding to a couple of lobby groups, in order to give the impression that they are actually seriously consulting with those claiming to represent the nations’ fathers. 

Unfortunately, these groups are seriously compromised, due to their total dependence on such government funding for their survival. It is well known, that if you want to neutralize your critics, you put them on your payroll.

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tagged Discrimination, Domestic Violence, False Allegations, Family Law, Feminism, Media Representation of Males, Political Activism

Tuesday

May112010

‘Males’ - A Global Perspective

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 10:30AM

With special guests:

• David Dufour
  
• John Forsyth
• Dr. Miles Groth and
• David Helmers. 
  

Long gone is the notion that radical feminism in the twenty first century, stands for equality and social justice for women. What has become very obvious however, is the relentless push for dominance and control by today’s radical feminists around the globe.   

In order to achieve their objective of total dominance and control over men in every area of endeavour, the male now finds himself under, both overt and covert attack and ridicule, on many fronts on a daily basis.  

While the vast majority of thinking women are appalled at the way the character of their fathers, partners, brothers and sons are under constant attack by their radical sisters, many males have great difficulty in coping with the denigrating, demonizing and stereotyping rhetoric they are forced to endure.  

This week we take a look at how the precarious status of maleness is addressed in various parts of the world.  

First up we speak with David Dufour, ‘Media Dads’ an American documentary maker, who joins us in the studio to film the Dads on the Air show, as part of his International documentary about what it means to be male in 2010.  

We then speak with Scottish journalist John Forsyth from the ‘Men in Scotland’ campaign, who speaks about the Scottish Crime and Social justice Survey 2008/2009: Partner Abuse module, which found equal percentages of male and female victims in the past 12 months.   

We next speak with ‘Professor of Psychology at Wagner College’ New York City, Dr Miles Groth, about the great need for ‘male studies’ programs to become part of the discourse in contempary society, in order to better understand males and to help address the growing problem of misandry which ultimately stands to endanger both genders.  

Last but not least, we discuss the Australian innovation of the Men’s Shed, with David Helmers of the ‘Australian Men’s Sheds Association’ (AMSA). David speaks about men’s sheds and men’s health in general and about the recently announced men’s health policy, which saw $3 million in funding go to his organisation.  

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tagged Celebrating Men, Domestic Violence, False Allegations, International Perspectives, Media Representation of Males, Men's Sheds, Political Activism

Tuesday

Apr062010

Shameful Political Apathy

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 10:30AM

With special guests:

• Greg Andresen and

• Sue Price.

When dealing with issues relating to the health and well-being of the men and boys of our society, the silence from our legislators is deafening. Apart from paying lip-service to the importance of sound policies to ensure the protection of all of the nations citizens, our legislators are completely indifferent to the plight of the male half of our citizenry.

This is especially noticeable in the area of Family Law, Domestic Violence, Child Support, Men’s Health, Boys Education, and Suicide prevention. Today we speak with Greg Andresen of (Men’s Health Australia) and Sue Price of the (Men’s Right Agency) about these issues and the lack of urgent government attention to the desperate needs of our fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, as they face an ever increasing level of persecution and neglect. 

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tagged Child Abuse, Child Support, Domestic Violence, False Allegations, Family Law, Fatherlessness, Media Representation of Males, Men's Health, Non-Custodial Fathers, Shared Parenting

Fathers At Heart Of Early Childhood

With special guest:

• Paul Prichard.                                                                          

While one arm of Government funded research, attached to an associated bureaucracy, promotes the view of the importance of fathers in early childhood, another arm of Government funded research and associated bureaucracy, promotes a one shoe fits all anti shared parenting policy.

 

Confusing the issue even further, is the deceptive ‘Equal Shared Parenting Responsibility’ legislation, enacted by the Howard Government. This clever but cruel, political smoke and mirrors psycho babble, served to fool Parliament and the community, into believing that Equal Shared Parenting Time, had finally become a reality, while in fact it simply allowed the sharing of parental responsibilities, where considered appropriate.

 

Totally ignored was the fact, that any notion of the equal sharing of parenting time, would continue to be subject to the mercy of the custodial parent.

 

But this week we play a recorded presentation, on the subject of why fathers should be central to our rethinking of early childhood in Australia. The keynote speech by Paul Prichard, ‘Centre for Community & Child Health”, was presented at the National Men’s Health Convention, in Newcastle.

Listen Now (MP3)

Click to read more ...

Men's Health, Alienation and Votes

With special guests:

• Ed Dabrowski
  

• Greg Millan and
  

• Joseph Goldberg.
                                                                              

The rights, and roles of men and fathers, have never been under more pressure at any time in human history. The gradual stereotyping and marginalizing of men and fathers in our communities, is witness to the decimation of the family structure as we know it. Children born today only have a 1 in 3 chance of remaining in meaningful contact with both the maternal and paternal sides of their family, in the event their parents should separate.  

It would not be unreasonable to assume therefore, that with a Federal election in Australia looming, the media and the major parties would have had something to say about an issue which has destroyed millions of parent/child relationships, as the result of a 35 year reign of terror waged on families, by the International Family Justice Industry.

Predictably however, with the exception of the NCPP, the silence has been deafening. Not one question raised by the mainstream media, not one caller to a Radio or Television station, not one comment was heard on this subject, by any of the candidates representing the major parties. It also raises the serious question as to why there is such apathy amongst the multitude of victims of this travesty of justice? Where were their voices? 

On today’s program we will discuss some of the causes and ways to deal with the ongoing debasing of maleness. Our first guest today is Ed Dabrowski  of mensvote.com, who discusses the policy positions of the major parties, concerning men as fathers and the issue of family values, in an attempt to understand the platforms of the political parties concerned.   

Next we speak with Greg Millan of Mens Health Services , who has just launched his latest book ‘Men’s Health & Wellbeing: an A to Z guide’. Greg is a men’s health consultant, who speaks about his new book and the men’s health services, who provide professional expertise in the design and delivery of effective programs and resources for men, as well as offering professional training designed specifically to help address the unique needs of men and boys.  

We then speak with Canadian medical - legal consultant  Joseph Goldberg, of Goldberg & Associates, who specialises in the area of Parental Alienation cases. Joseph has an intimate knowledge of this disorder, being an Alienated parent himself, and now has many speaking engagements and organises a number of symposiums which focus on the subject of PAS.     

One In Three Abusers Are Women

With special guests:

• Greg Andresen and 

• Sue Price.                                                                              

Our first guest is Greg Andresen, of the One in Three Campaign, who attended the recent Intimate Partner Abuse of Men Workshop, held on Wednesday 16 June 2010 in Perth, Western Australia. The workshop was aimed at service providers plus anyone who works with victims and perpetrators of family and domestic violence, and considered the implications for service providers, of the Edith Cowan University (ECU) Intimate Partner Abuse of Men research.  

Greg paints a disturbing picture of the way governments and the media, continue to be  misled by distorted and misleading facts and figures, presented by self interest groups, who want to ensure their collective snouts remain firmly planted deep inside the public trough.  

The fact that more questions are not being asked by our policymakers and the mainstream media, perhaps illustrates the reason for the continuation and acceptance of appallingly inadequate Family Laws and Domestic Violence legislation.  

By way of example, it is our understanding that a number of service providers attending the workshop, mentioned that Relationships Australia (WA) had directed their staff not to attend. This would be unsurprising, considering the views of their Manager, Terri Riley, expressed in the West Australian newspaper on June 1st 2010 (click here to view the article). As well as sustaining many discredited myths about domestic and family violence in this opinion piece, we are extremely concerned that the head of Relationships Australia, by telling male victims that they do not, and can not, experience systematic controlling abuse like women can, will prevent them from seeking help from services like Relationships Australia.  

Despite denying the documented reality that at least 1 in 3 of the perpetrators of Domestic Violence are women, Ms Riley proudly claims 7000 men sought help and support from Relationships Australia last year.   

In view of what Ms Riley has revealed about Relationship Australia’s bigoted philosophy, it would seem that any unsuspecting man seeking help and understanding for abuse from this organization, has about as much chance of success, as a victimized black man had, who sought help for abuse from the Ku Klax Clan, during its reign of terror.

The obvious question is, where are the anger management programs for the one in three  violent and  abusive women in our society? Or do we continue to pretend they do not exist? 

To provide an overview of the coming Australian election, and the possible implications for the nations’ fathers and their children, we conclude the show speaking with Sue Price from the Mens Rights Agency.   While recommending a continual vigil, to ensure the current government and its anti male followers are held to account, she nevertheless recommends boycotting the enduring bias and discriminating consultative process.  

Following 15 years of lobbying, Sue is frustrated by the way the system excludes and sidelines most of the credible independent voices, who represent the victims, and who continue to call for real justice and equality in the area of Family Law.  

Sue correctly points out, the way successive governments provide funding to a couple of lobby groups, in order to give the impression that they are actually seriously consulting with those claiming to represent the nations’ fathers. 

Unfortunately, these groups are seriously compromised, due to their total dependence on such government funding for their survival. It is well known, that if you want to neutralize your critics, you put them on your payroll.

Listen Now (MP3)

Click to read more ...

‘Males’ - A Global Perspective

With special guests:

• David Dufour
  
• John Forsyth
• Dr. Miles Groth and
• David Helmers. 
  

Long gone is the notion that radical feminism in the twenty first century, stands for equality and social justice for women. What has become very obvious however, is the relentless push for dominance and control by today’s radical feminists around the globe.   

In order to achieve their objective of total dominance and control over men in every area of endeavour, the male now finds himself under, both overt and covert attack and ridicule, on many fronts on a daily basis.  

While the vast majority of thinking women are appalled at the way the character of their fathers, partners, brothers and sons are under constant attack by their radical sisters, many males have great difficulty in coping with the denigrating, demonizing and stereotyping rhetoric they are forced to endure.  

This week we take a look at how the precarious status of maleness is addressed in various parts of the world.  

First up we speak with David Dufour, ‘Media Dads’ an American documentary maker, who joins us in the studio to film the Dads on the Air show, as part of his International documentary about what it means to be male in 2010.  

We then speak with Scottish journalist John Forsyth from the ‘Men in Scotland’ campaign, who speaks about the Scottish Crime and Social justice Survey 2008/2009: Partner Abuse module, which found equal percentages of male and female victims in the past 12 months.   

We next speak with ‘Professor of Psychology at Wagner College’ New York City, Dr Miles Groth, about the great need for ‘male studies’ programs to become part of the discourse in contempary society, in order to better understand males and to help address the growing problem of misandry which ultimately stands to endanger both genders.  

Last but not least, we discuss the Australian innovation of the Men’s Shed, with David Helmers of the ‘Australian Men’s Sheds Association’ (AMSA). David speaks about men’s sheds and men’s health in general and about the recently announced men’s health policy, which saw $3 million in funding go to his organisation.  

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Shameful Political Apathy

With special guests:

• Greg Andresen and

• Sue Price.

When dealing with issues relating to the health and well-being of the men and boys of our society, the silence from our legislators is deafening. Apart from paying lip-service to the importance of sound policies to ensure the protection of all of the nations citizens, our legislators are completely indifferent to the plight of the male half of our citizenry.

This is especially noticeable in the area of Family Law, Domestic Violence, Child Support, Men’s Health, Boys Education, and Suicide prevention. Today we speak with Greg Andresen of (Men’s Health Australia) and Sue Price of the (Men’s Right Agency) about these issues and the lack of urgent government attention to the desperate needs of our fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, as they face an ever increasing level of persecution and neglect. 

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