Biennale, Babies and Blokes

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3951334.htm Panellists: Billy Bragg, Singer-songwriter and activist; Wendy Harmer, Editor in Chief, The Hoopla; Miroslav Volf, Evangelical theologian and author; Sussan Ley, Assistant Minister for Education; and Mark Butler, Shadow Minister for Environment. -- Billy Bragg Billy Bragg is a singer-songwriter and activist. Inspired by punk, Billy formed his first band in his hometown of Barking, East London in 1977. They released one EP on Chiswick Records before Billy joined the British Army in 1981, training to become a tank driver in the Royal Armoured Corps. Things didn’t work out and in early 1982 he found himself back on the streets of Barking, still writing songs. Following a year of relentless gigging, his first album, Life’s a Riot with Spy vs Spy came out in 1983. He famously scored his first radio play by delivering a mushroom biryani to a hungry John Peel at the BBC. Billy was politicised by Rock Against Racism in the late 1970s and saw his music as a way of offering an alternative version of political events. He marshalled his songs in opposition to Margaret Thatcher, supporting the miners when they went on strike in 1984 and subsequently founding Red Wedge, a collective of left wing musicians who campaigned for the defeat of Thatcher at the 1987 election. Although often defined by his political songs, Billy is also a writer of great love songs. He said “I write about the things that make me angry: sometimes it’s the government, sometimes it’s the girl” . In 1992, Woody Guthrie’s daughter Nora approached Billy with the idea that he put new music to lyrics that her father had written in Brooklyn in the 1940s. The resulting album Mermaid Avenue came out in 1998. In July 2011 Billy joined the growing protests over the News of the World phone hacking affair with the recording of Never Buy the Sun which references many of the scandal’s key points. He also joined the global Occupy Movement protests in 2011. Billy lives in Dorset, England with his partner and manager Juliet and son Jack. He is in Australia for a series of concerts this month. -- Wendy Harmer Wendy Harmer is one of Australia’s most versatile entertainers – broadcaster, author, journalist and stage performer – and is the Editor in Chief of The Hoopla, a daily online news and magazine website. As a stand-up comedian she performed her one-woman shows at the Melbourne, Edinburgh, Montreal and Glasgow Mayfest Comedy Festivals, in London’s West End and the Sydney Theatre Company. Wendy enjoyed huge popularity leading Sydney radio station 2Day FM’s top-rating Breakfast Show for 11 years and winning 84 of the 88 ratings surveys for that period. She has hosted, written and appeared in a variety of TV shows including ABC’s The Big Gig. A former political journalist, Wendy is the author of eight books for adults including her best-selling novel Farewell My Ovaries, Love And Punishment and Nagging For Beginners, a how-to guide for women. Her most recent novel Friends Like These was published in April 2011. Her first teen novel I Lost My Mobile At The Mall was published in November 2009 with a sequel, I Made Lattes For A Love God published in October 2012. The latest in Wendy's best-selling children's books Pearlie Goes to Rio will be released later this year and she is also the author of the Ava Anne Appleton series for young readers. Stuff, a four-part television documentary series which Wendy produced, wrote and presented, premiered on ABC TV in March 2008. In late 2008 Wendy and Angela Catterns recorded a 16 part podcasting series for ABC Radio Local called Is It Just Me? which returned for a second season in 2009. Together they debated and discussed their observations and conclusions on everyday life. Wendy teamed up again with Angela Catterns on ABC News Radio with a new show called It’s News To Me, which recapped the week’s events. Wendy still works as a radio broadcaster for the ABC. She has been a columnist for Good Weekend, The Sunday Telegraph and many magazines. Wendy is also a regular columnist for Yours magazine. Wendy is a member of the National People With a Disability and Carers’ Council and a patron of Interplast. Wendy and her husband Brendan have two children and live on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. -- Miroslav Volf Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School and Founding Director for the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture. He has written more than 15 books, including Exclusion and Embrace - A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, the End of Memory – Remembering Rightly in a Violent World and A Public Faith – How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good. His upbringing in Croatia as the only Christian in a school of 3500 shaped his understanding of what it is to live and engage with profound difference. In the communist Yugoslavia of the early 1980s, Miroslav’s theological studies were interrupted by a summons to compulsory military service. As a Christian married to an American, an advocate of non-violence, and an expert on Marxist socialism, Miroslav was perceived to be an opponent of the Yugoslavian communist regime. He was thus forced to endure a protracted period of interrogation under the military police. Reconciliation and forgiveness are major themes of Miroslav’s work. From 2008-2011, Miroslav taught a course on “Faith and Globalization” with ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair, an interdisciplinary course for students from all parts of Yale University. When it comes to the place of faith in public he argues against a coercive approach by believers, but also against the privatisation of faith, where only secular thinking is allowed into the public sphere. Instead, he calls religious believers to focus on the ‘Golden Rule’ and to commit to the common good. While in Sydney, Miroslav will deliver the inaugural Richard Johnson Lecture at the Conservatorium of Music. -- Sussan Ley Sussan Ley, the Assistant Minister for Education, was born in Nigeria to British parents before migrating to Australia with her family at age 13. She was educated both here and in the UK, and achieved a Bachelor of Economics, Master of Taxation Law and Master of Accounting. Before entering Federal Parliament in 2001 her career path was exceptionally varied. Developing a fascination with flying, young Sussan worked a variety of jobs to finance study for a commercial pilot’s License. Before married life on a family farm, she worked as an air traffic controller, stock-mustering pilot and shearers’ cook across large parts of rural Australia. While raising three children, ten years of part-time study led to a senior position with the Australian Taxation Office before Sussan won Liberal Party pre-selection to contest the Federal seat of Farrer in NSW following the retirement of Tim Fischer. Sussan has since become a strong advocate for many rural and regional issues, especially those which assist in bridging the city versus country divide. She is particularly passionate about fostering decentralisation, supporting farmers, home-grown food security and balancing water for agriculture and environment, as well as improving services for rural health. After being elected for a fifth term in September 2013, Sussan was made Assistant Minister for Education, with specific responsibility for childcare, early childhood education and vocational education training in schools. -- Mark Butler Mark Butler, who entered Parliament in 2007 for the South Australian seat of Port Adelaide, is the shadow minister for environment, climate change and water. A minister throughout Labor’s second term in office, he held a range of portfolios before being appointed Environment Minister when Kevin Rudd returned to the leadership two months before the election. Mark was born in Canberra in 1970. He has three tertiary degrees – in Arts, Law and a Masters in International Relations – and worked for 15 years for the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union. For 11 years he was the union’s South Australian State Secretary. In 1997-98 Mark was the youngest ever State President of the South Australian ALP. He has been a member of the party’s national executive since 2000. Mark, who is married with two children, lives in the suburb of Woodville and is a keen support of the Port Power AFL team. ---- Audience: ALP 33%, Coalition 43%, Greens 9% BRANDIS ARTS BOYCOTT Rodrigo Salinas asked: Is it fair or reasonable for the Minister for the Arts/AG to seek to penalise arts organisations, like the Biennale of Sydney, by threatening to take away public funding when these organizations decline to accept money from private donors they consider to place them in a conflict of interest? THE ARTS AND BOYCOTT Peter Dadak asked: Haven’t the local and overseas artists who declined to take part in this year’s Biennale actually harmed the art loving public more than they do Transfield and the Australian Government combined? NUCLEAR FAMILIES Margaret Taylor asked: Does the panel believe that a 'Nuclear family', that is, a father, (a man), a mother, (a woman) and subsequent children if desired, is the best 'recipe' for a society to function optimally as God intended? FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: We all seem to agree that families come in all shapes and sizes, so why isn’t gay marriage legalised? EDUCATION: CHILDCARE PAY RISES Marian Rakosi asked: Yesterday, I marched alongside thousands of protesters from various political persuasions at 1 of 32 march in March events who were united for one sole reason, we have no confidence in the Abbott government’s decisions. I am here tonight as a young early childhood educator worried about our nation’s future. My question is for Sussan Ley as the Assistant Minister for Early Education in charge of early education, why won’t you give back promised pay rises to my fellow 60,000 educators and be an advocate for quality reforms? MODERATE CHRISTIAN RULE OK? Daniel Iachini asked: I am a trained molecular biologist. I accept the obvious facts supporting evolution; promote scientific advancement, am supportive of marriage equality and am pro choice. I despise the corruption scandals surrounding the church and scorn the priests involved in sex abuse. Yet I can still comfortably and proudly say that I believe in God; and I think that he'd probably have a similar stance on these matters. Can you please explain why it will one day be offensive for moderate Christians like myself to have faith? RELIGION AN ANTIDOTE TO RACISM? Father Rade Radan, Serbian Orthodox Church asked: Question for Billy Bragg, do you agree with Miroslav Volf that Pope Francis has replaced arrogance with humility, and if so do you think there is a possibility that practising Christianity in humility could well be the greatest antidote to racism and other offensive and unacceptable phenomena? FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: How do we change the way the media seems to trash anything that is in any way slightly Christian? ALCOHOL FOETAL SYNDROME PROTECTIONS Leonie Wainwright asked: Question for Miroslav Volf, the Northern Territory Government is considering laws to prevent women drinking excessively during pregnancy, due to growing numbers of NT children growing up with foetal alcohol syndrome. This proposal raises significant conflict in the minds of many people, because although the wellbeing of children is something most people will agree is paramount, it involves a moral standard being applied to a group of people without their consent. Do you see a parallel with Christians advocating for Christian values in the public arena? CRISIS OF MASCULINITY Nick Jensen asked: Nick Jensen has asked: Billy Brag, in the song 'Handyman Blues' you seem to lament your inability to fulfill the traditional masculine role around the house. Do you think that there is still a necessary uniqueness in gender roles, or should differences between males and females ultimately be deconstructed and in theological terms, Miroslav Volf did God intentionally create male and female?