Andrews & Finn not going to "World Congress of Families" shindig

[pct001wine]

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/andrews-cancels-family-conference-speech/story-e6frfku...

I wonder if Peta had a word in his shell-like about speaking at this loony event.

Andrews said his cancellation was because it's being hosted by "Catch The Fire Ministeries", not because he didn't want to be connected with these fringe-dwellers.   Not sure what the agenda of CTFM is, but it must be ultra-loony to drive away Andrews  

[boris1gary]

wonder if he is going to give back the award the world congress of families bestowed upon him? Fred Nile is still attending but no word about abetz . 

A bit of humour ...... 

http://www.thevine.com.au/life/news/10-things-pm-invents-photo-op-to-justify-you-footing-fundraising...

But back to the congress: with only three days to find a new home and protest groups mobilised to hold terrifying, threatening parties outside, police and venue owners are united in saying that they think it’s just too difficult. 

“It’s a mess,” explained organiser Margaret Butts to the… 

Yes, her surname is Butts. Stop giggling. 

…to the Guardian. “We have no venue at the moment – the police are telling us it’s a safety risk because of planned protests and demonstrations. We are frantic at the moment trying to organise something else, we’ve had four venue cancellations. I can’t talk to you because we are just too busy right now.”

Seriously, stop giggling about her surname. You’re better than that.

--

Brown eyed girl

Now, before anyone starts bleating about free speech and how these horrid protestors are infringing on people’s bigot-rights, it’s worth pointing out that Butts is telling a little bit of a fib. You might even suggest that Butts is full of hot air, or that her argument stinks.

See, the police do not think that the protestors will be a problem - either in terms of numbers or in terms of possible danger to participants. The biggest issue from the cops’ point of view is that the venues the Congress has been looking at have inadequate parking for the likely number of participants.

Yes, really.

Senior constable Andrew McDowell explained that they’d advised against St Patrick’s parish hall in Mentone because “The priority is to ensure community safety and after we conducted the appropriate risk assessment, given the church proximity to the primary school, issues about road congestion and people being unable to come and go easily from their homes, with so many people expected to attend, we advised the church that the infrastructure was simply not conducive to a large scale event.”

That said, the folks at Radical Women have confirmed that they plan to be wherever the Congress is eventually held and disrupt people going in to the event while explaining their point of view, which obviously the organisers would respect as being perfectly valid and reasonable. After all, they’re pretty keen on doing similar things outside women’s health clinics, and they wouldn’t want to look like hypocrites - right?

[i-need-a-martini]

Good to see someone in the Liberal Party has some common sense.

Good on you Mr Andrews.

It's a shame he had to ruin it by making anti-greens and anti-labor comment when giving his response to the media. It makes him sound as if the only reason he isn't going is because the Greens and labor were critical of his attendance:

"The calls for me not to attend demonstrate the intolerance of the Greens and the left - instead of arguing their case in the public arena they seek to shut down debate."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/kevin-andrews-cancels-plans-to-open-world-cong...

[karliandjacko]

Finn said he's not going because it's going to be held at Catch the Fire ministries.  

Not white enough perhaps?  

He's the nutter from Rise Up Australia.

http://catchthefire.com.au/biography/

[boris1gary]

I don't buy the "common sense" line for one second. I would suggest that andrews and a couple of others aren't attending because they have been advised not to as the WCF has been exposed as a hate group, with the Vic State Election coming up it's just not a good look. Was the lunch for the WCF in parliament house that we are paying for cancelled, it was yesterday?

[boris1gary]

getting a little tied up in his own knots.....as if andrews didn't know, he is an ambassador of the WFC

"Equally, I cannot support intolerance from other quarters. As I have been informed today that the event is now to be hosted by Catch the Fire, I have decided not to attend."

The political arm of Catch the Fire Ministries is the Rise Up Australia party led by Danny Nalliah. Mr Nalliah sparked controversy when he linked the Black Saturday bushfires to Victoria's abortion laws, which he said allowed the slaughter of innocent children. The party is also against multiculturalism. 

Mr Andrews said he would not be giving interviews about the matter but would publish the text of the speech he planned to deliver on his department's website on Friday.

Mr Nalliah said several senior Coalition figures had addressed Catch The Fire functions in the past. He said as prime minister John Howard had recorded a message for a Catch The Fire event, while former treasurer Peter Costello and former deputy prime ministers John Anderson and Mark Vaile, as well as former governor-general Peter Hollingworth had spoken at Catch The Fire functions while in office.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/kevin-andrews-cancels-plans-to-open-world-cong...