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Acknowledgements:

• Dr Gerald Arbuckle - it is a delight to have the book’s author with us this evening;
• Martin Laverty, CEO of Catholic Health Services, thank you for hosting tonight’s launch;
• Parliamentary colleagues; members of the clergy, members of the Catholic Health Australia family, ladies and gentlemen.

I acknowledge that we are meeting in the country of the Ngunnawal People and I pay my respects to their elders past and present.

I am delighted to be here to launch Dr Arbuckle’s book, ‘A Preferential Option for the Poor’, here in Parliament House. I understand that Professor Geoff Gallop launched the book in Perth earlier this year. As a lover of big ideas and strategic solutions, Professor Gallop rightly praised the book as both a handbook for good practice and a statement of first principles.

I don't doubt Geoff would agree with me that this book is deserving of two launches!

Can I begin by thanking Dr Arbuckle for writing this intellectually stimulating gem!  I feel enormously privileged to have been asked to launch it here in Parliament House for two reasons:

• Firstly - that it gave me a reason to read the book - I confess it probably would have gone on the big pile of bedside reading; and
• Secondly - that this book gives every reader the space to contemplate and reflect upon the spiritual dimensions of poverty.

I had never thought of poverty in terms of a culture of violence, for example, and yet there is such compelling evidence in this little book that such a culture exists in Australian society.

In reading it I am doubly spurred on to push harder and more intensely on the government’s Social Inclusion agenda.

There are some things I really like about this book. In just 60 pages, Dr Arbuckle debunks many poverty myths:

• He defines social exclusion in a holistic way, recognising that poverty and disadvantage are not addressed by reaching an income level or participating in work, but through empowerment, engagement and social participation. Exclusion occurs when ‘people are not only excluded from work but from institutions and services, social networks and the personal development opportunities’ (page 41) the rest of us take for granted;
• He reminds us of the spiritual liberation that is the ‘preferential option for the poor,’ the process of making the problems of the poor and excluded our own and ensuring that wealth and capital are distributed fairly, is both a primary imperative of the Gospel and a tenet of Catholic Social Teaching and, of course, must be central to the work of Catholic Health and Aged Care services;
• Dr Arbuckle reminds us that it is in giving to others that we receive most, that God chooses the weak to shock the strong, and chooses the foolish to highlight the wisdom of the worldly wise; 
• That philanthropy - the giving of one’s surplus to help those who are disadvantaged and in need - is also virtuous;
• Dr Arbuckle rightly argues that social inclusion can only be achieved if we all commit to being part of the solution to exclusion;
• This book also provides practical advice about how the aged and health ministries can be part of that solution, and;
• He demonstrates that social inclusion will be achieved through individual empowerment and locally-based solutions using poignant and relevant case studies and scriptural passages.

I’m sure it reflects my own upbringing that some of my favourite passages are not far away - and in a selfish way - this little book affirms some of my choices, actions and beliefs.  For a politician, that can be a double-edged sword - because it obligates me to ensure that I stay true to those beliefs. 

I firmly believe that Dr Arbuckle’s book could not have come at a better time - it’s here to serve an important purpose.

The Federal Government is engaged in what I believe is one of the most profound national debates and discussions on addressing these key issues and building social inclusion. It requires us to make a dramatic shift in our policy approaches - and challenges you to think differently - as Mark Peel suggests "there’s a problem in the way that people who are not poor, think about those who are".

As Dr Arbuckle articulates, national action on disadvantage, poverty and exclusion cannot happen soon enough. The Scriptures’ call for a ‘preferential option for the poor’ has never been more relevant, and that "God has a preferential love of the poor - in the kingdom of God, the poor will be first and the selfish rich last".  

So, here is our challenge. After seventeen years of strong economic growth, we are an impoverished nation - we need to nourish our souls and embrace a ‘preferential option for the poor’, not just for their sake, but for our own.

As we know from Professor Tony Vinson’s publication, ‘Dropping off the Edge’, despite unprecedented economic growth, some communities remain trapped in a cycle of disadvantage, with some 1.7% of postcodes accounting for more than 7 times their share of the major factors that cause poverty and disadvantage.

Likewise, in this time of plenty, it is morally and spiritually reprehensible that 100,000 Australians are without a home every night. If you are homeless you are vulnerable, disconnected, often both invisible and at the same time problematic. For many - there is the sense of isolation that comes from lack of physical contact, conversation and love.

Our charter then must be to take the ‘preferential option of the poor’ - to serve and to care. For Catholic Health and Aged Care Ministries this is your mission - your reason d’être. We therefore have a joint responsibility to act.

We understand that if we are to break down the barriers that prevent people from living meaningful lives, from finding and retaining work, from access to the services they need, from connecting with friends, family and local community - we have to develop very new approaches and partnerships.

For me as Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, Dr Arbuckle has sparked a specific question around the language of inclusion.  I come back to the section about violence - and the way in which de-personalised language is currently part of the public discourse and the impact this has on our thinking.

The lesson for me in this book is the importance of modelling social inclusiveness in government - in both what we do and what we say. We have to walk the talk; we have to challenge how our attitudes and actions help or hinder those trapped in poverty.

I’m sure for each of you there will be a different leading question.

I have been saying in recent discussions about Social Inclusion that our purpose is to put people back at the centre of our policies and programs.

Although a different area of service delivery to health, some of the changes announced in the Budget to the Job Network system seek to do just this. Rather than ‘recycling’ disadvantaged jobs seekers in a ‘cycle’ of services, the changes will seek to build employment services that meet individual needs through the development of a personal employment plan. This plan will recognise the other barriers the individual may be facing which are preventing them from accessing work.

Our challenge in government will be to consider how these principles can be applied in a range of services - from mental health to environmental protection; family services through aged care; and active citizenship.

It will require us to value different qualities, to think differently about those who are capital poor, or spiritually poor, and yet, to acknowledge the richness of their own experiences.

This means moving away from one-size-fits-all policies.  We have to acknowledge that places matter. What works in one place might not work in another and we have to be flexible in our approach. Dr Arbuckle sets out practical advice for community development actions that target poverty and disadvantage.

It is wise advice. Local engagement and programs don’t work without the participation of those who are excluded. Long-term commitment, flexibility and ownership by communities themselves are essential. We have to get away from doing things to people, or for people, and start to working with them - on their terms.

This morning I caught an interview with Francis Fukyama, who is in Australia from John Hopkins University.  Known as a strong Republican supporter, he was critical of the Bush administration for its determination to intervene and seek to influence government on ‘its own terms’ - rather than on their terms. 

He wasn’t just talking about national security, or world peace - he was actually concerned about the loss of human rights and dignity - the policy of internment, of rendition and loss of sovereignty.

His arguments had resonance to Dr Arbuckle’s position in his book - different, and yet very similar - in acknowledging that the perspectives that we often apply - that we know best - are disempowering, disrespectful, exclusive, and at times violent.

Both as Governments and as service providers we need to apply these principles. The bottom line is that all the best will in the world will not necessarily lead to good outcomes, if we do not seek to empower those we are seeking to lift up.

As Health and Aged Care providers, Governments and business, Churches and charities, we all have an opportunity and an obligation to tackle exclusion.

But this requires us to continually adapt the ways in which we do business and to recognise the challenges that may be preventing us from focusing efforts where they are most needed.

I recognise that competitive tendering and the ‘new’ public sector management model - as well as the commercialisation of health and aged care ministries - has also diverted attention and effort from service provision to the most needy.

The Health and Aged Care Ministries is one the most significant sectors in Australia, employing an estimated 30,000 people, 17,000 residential aged care beds, over 5000 Community Aged Care packages, 9000 beds in 75 health care facilities.

As the former CEO of Catholic Health Australia Francis Sullivan noted, there are probably no other non-Government providers of services better able to provide public health services in the interest of the public good as the way in which Health and Aged Care Ministries do.

With the tremendous amount of experience, skills and expertise in the sector, coupled with what Dr Arbuckle refers to as ‘faithful capital’ which enables services through love, compassion and hospitality, the sector must be a very real and engaged partner in the Social Inclusion agenda we develop as we strive to put people at the centre of programs. 

This book takes aim at most of us - those who in one way or another, are in the service of the poor.  

I recognised immediately the lessons for government, but appreciated the chance to consider quietly and respectfully the challenge Dr Arbuckle’s book presents for services, trustees and boards - to foster the development of participative communities of healing. Inclusive communities where people are listened to, encouraged to develop a sense of personal and group responsibilities for their ministries that include a ‘preferential option for the poor’, that prevent a culture of bullying or abuse, that  treat everyone with justice and compassion.

The book provides practical, measured but also quite visionary advice about making a preferential option for the poor a first priority for the Ministries.

And the notion of the role of grief - is profoundly important. Dr Arbuckle rightly argues that ‘groups that have been marginalised by successive governments and other agencies will experience significant unarticulated grief, that is, the accumulated sadness, fatalism and anger resulting from their humiliation and rejection -

‘Where grief is kept hidden, hopelessness is a consequence.’ This is why the Prime Minister’s apology to the stolen generations was so fundamentally important.

It is no longer acceptable to ignore the excluded, blame the disadvantaged or deny particular groups the opportunities of a fulfilled life. There is no room for these sentiments in the Government’s Social Inclusion agenda. Our commitments so far to some of our society’s most vulnerable people - including the homeless, people living with mental illness or a disability, indigenous Australians and children at risk - are just the start of the journey to social inclusion.

This is a book for dipping into, often!  It certainly prompts an examination of conscience - it articulates a clear path, simply and faithfully, for embracing ‘a preferential option for the poor’.

I commend it to you all.

Thank you.