Monday, December 24, 2012

Top Australian cleric apologises for abuse

Australia's most senior Catholic cleric on Monday apologised to those who "suffered at the hands" of priests and religious teachers, in a Christmas message issued after a turbulent year for the Church.

In the video message broadcast on television, Sydney Archbishop George Pell said he was shocked and ashamed, following a series of paedophile allegations against priests and claims they were hushed up.

Pell said his heart went out to "all those who cannot find peace at this time, especially those who have suffered at the hands of fellow Christians, Christian officials, priests, religious teachers".

"I am deeply sorry this has happened," he added.

"I feel too the shock and shame across the community at these revelations of wrongdoing and crimes."
Without specifically mentioning child sex abuse, Pell said the hurt caused was "completely contrary" to Christ's teachings.

"We need our faith in God's goodness and love to cope with these disasters, to help those who have been hurt," he said.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard last month ended more than a decade of growing pressure by ordering a royal commission to investigate the responses of all religious organisations, schools and state care to allegations of abuse.

Her announcement came after a senior police investigator claimed the Church had covered up sexual abuse of children in the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, to protect paedophiles and its own reputation.

The government in Victoria state is already investigating allegations of sex abuse by the clergy, with the Church telling a state parliamentary hearing in September that at least 620 children had been abused since the 1930s.

When Gillard announced the royal commission, Pell welcomed it as an opportunity to help victims, "clear the air" and "separate fact from fiction".

"We are not interested in denying the extent of misdoing in the Catholic Church," he said at the time.
"We object to it being exaggerated, we object to being described as the only cab on the rank. I don't think we should be scapegoated."

Pell's Christmas message drew mixed reactions from victim support groups, with some saying it represented a "major shift" in the Church's position while others said it did not go far enough.

"It's pleasing that he's opening up his heart to these people," Wayne Chamley, a spokesman for victims support group Broken Rites, told ABC television.

"They seem to now appreciate the scale of it. I don't think we've seen a statement in the past which was reflecting on the scale of what's gone on."

But Adults Surviving Child Abuse president Cathy Kezelman called it "an absolutely minimal response to express regret".

"It's very important that we also acknowledge the failure of religious organisations, including the Catholic Church, to respond appropriately to victims," she said.

"To have that ultimate betrayal by someone not only you should trust but is meant to be setting a moral compass."
Gillard has refused to put a deadline on the royal commission, but said the government had taken the first steps towards shaping the terms of reference.

Child sex abuse allegations have rattled the Catholic Church across the world, particularly in Ireland but also in the United States, Germany and Belgium.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Andrew Bogut, Mark Webber Top Australia’s Highest Paid Athletes

Business Review Weekly released its annual highest earners list for the year earlier this week and NBA player Andrew Bogut and Formula 1 driver Mark Webber found themselves as the highest paid athletes in Australian sports.

The oft injured Bogut of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors has yet to make much of an impact during the still young 2012-13 season, playing just four games after struggling to make it back from offseason ankle surgery. Despite having just played 16 games in the past two seasons, Bogut is Australia’s top paid athlete earning $13.5 million per year.

Second the list is Mark Webber- the Red Bull teammate of recent F1 champion Sebastian Vettel. Webber made $12 million last year while golfer Adam Scott rounded out the top three with an income of $10.5 million.

Other notable names include now retired Moto GP champ Casey Stoner (4th, $8 million) Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke (5th, $5.5 million), Dynamo Moscow’s Luke Wilkshire (6th, $5 million) and 2011 Tour de France champion Cadel Evans (7th, $4 million).

World No.9 women’s tennis player Sam Stosur came in at just number 20 ($2.5 million), but the former US Open champion didn’t have her best year, while just a handful of AFL and no NRL players made the top 50.
Gary Ablett, Chris Judd, Tom Scully and Israel Folau were the 2012 AFL players to make the list, however both codes appear to have arguments to offer for an increased salary cap after analysing the numbers from BRW’s new 50.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Top Australian chef arrives in Fiji

Australian celebrity chef and television personality Elizabeth Chong has arrived for the first time in the country to join Fiji TV’s Taste of Paradise star Chef Lance Seeto, in the season finale of his hugely popular show. Chong, now a 81, is one of Seeto’s mentors and teachers, and in similar fashion to Seeto, has been showing Australians how to cook healthy Asian cuisine for over 30 years. Some of her closest friends are the world’s top celebrity restaurateurs and chefs, as many regard her for her pioneering work in using television to both educate and entertain.

She is one of the most recognisable television chefs and accomplished cookbook authors, with many Australians growing up learning to cook Chinese food on Channel Ten’s Bert Newton show during the 1980s and 1990s. Looking 20 years younger than her age, this TV chef puts it down to clean living, no alcohol, no smoking and no junk food. “The Chinese have always eaten healthy for thousands of years, and I try and stick to that same philosophy.” says Chong.

Dining at Chef Seeto’s favourite restaurant in Suva, “Tiko’s”, Chong could not believe the flavours and freshness of the seafood. “I’ve eaten all around the world and still host tours of China and Vietnam for my Australian clients, but Fiji has something very ancient and wild to intrigue the gourmet traveller.” says the TV personality. “If it wasn’t for Chef Lance Seeto’s invitation to see what he is doing here, I probably would never have thought to come to Fiji. I am so glad I did, he is doing a wonderfully inspiring job here. There is so much to experience here in lifestyle and food. This truly is an inspiring culture on Australia’s doorstep. It seems the student has become the teacher.”

Chong has joined Chef Seeto’s Fiji Food Safari on Castaway Island this week to not only share her knowledge to visitors, but to support her protégé in his endeavours to promote Fiji to the world through food. The five day food program includes cooking master classes, food as medicine classes and dinner banquets each night. It is also being filmed for the special one hour season finale of Taste of Paradise. Seeto says he wanted to show his legions of viewers in Fiji and across the South Pacific his island home and where the appreciation for Fiji’s culture, traditions and fresh food started. Season One of Taste of Paradise finishes up on December 27.