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The third event of the Boroondara Interfaith Network’s 2012 calendar focused on the theme of our shared social values and issues as a society and diverse community. A diverse group of participants from the interfaith network, local community and Swinburne community gathered to share this important conversation with the presenters and each other.

The event, held on Thursday 13th of September 2012,  was opened with an Acknowledgement of the Wurundjeri country and people led by Indigenous Gamilaroy women, Rachel Shields. Rachel guided us in a reflection on our own connection to country, our ancestors, people and place. With her we reflected on the meeting of old and new cultures in a shared country.

The Boroondara Interfaith Network partnered with the Swinburne Chaplaincy for this event, who arranged to host the evening at their Multi Faith Facility. Swinburne Chaplain and network member, Newton Daddow was a key part of the organising team. He also offered many important insights throughout the program which allowed participants to reflect on what they were learning and seeing. These contributions included:

• A presentation on the values and history of Swinburne University and the Swinburne Chaplaincy: Newton Daddow presentation
• A reflection on the ‘golden rule’ of values across different faith traditions: The Golden Rule Across the World
• A closing poem by Les Murray, An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow

Key note speaker, Linda Briskman is Professor of Human Rights at the Swinburne Institute for Social Research. Her background is in social work and her research addresses the human rights of asylum seekers and Indigenous peoples. She offered a presentation on the theme of ’how do we create an Australia of compassion and welcome?’ This focused on the asylum seeker debate and how the current political climate has de-railed our sense of compassion and our understanding of balanced social responsibility towards each other in a global community. She offered a ‘moral checklist’ for our personal commitment and challenge of creating a compassionate and welcoming community.

Key note speaker, Mike Salvaris is Adjunct Professor at the School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University. He is a long term participant and adviser in the OECD Global Project ‘Measuring the Progress of Societies’. Mike presented on the theme of ‘What kind of Australia do we want? values based progress and how we measure it.’ He offered a detailed and thought provoking presentation outlining the Australian National Development Index (ANDI) project which is seeking to accurately identify values and wellbeing indicators at the community level.

After sharing a vegetarian supper and time together, we re-convened for an important feature of the evening – a multi-media presentation showcasing some key figures and messages in Australia’s social justice history. It highlights some of the men and women who have worked to address disadvantage in many walks of life, both in Australia and globally, and who have had significant influence on social activism and social change throughout our history: Caroline Chisholm, David Scott, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue, Ted Noffs, Jack Mundey, Mavis Taylor, Rev. Bill Crews, Professor Samina Yasmeen, Caty Kyne, Ian Keirnan, and the Chilean ‘barefoot economist’ Manfred Max-Neef. The theme of the presentation is that social activism takes place within the historical context, and is a response to perceived problems and current issues of the time. The presentation ends with a message from Bob Randall, one of the Elders and traditional owners of Uluru, whose message reminds us we are caretakers of this world, not owners.

The event culminated with an interesting discussion on some of the key themes including the following discussion points.

•  Values based education and dialogue at the primary school level.
•  Human nature and our tendency towards greed and personal interest on one hand, and compassion and fairness on the other. Our culture tends to steer us towards self interest and consumerism rather than the social good.
•  The role of research and data collection in allowing the community to claim and understand their values as well as the intuitive and already understood role of values in society outside of these findings. It is also important to measure the right things in the right way so findings are clear and not misused. E.g. the employment rate is measured on one hour per week of employment which is not an accurate indicator of the reality of employment opportunities.
•  Links between our social issues, such as the issue of our political and social reaction to refugees in Australia, and our value system and cultural values as a nation.
•  Our role as caretakers of our social and ecological world – how our values connect us to these responsibilities. What is the role of religious and spiritual practices and communities in this process?

This discussion indicated that the conversation on values is an important one which we only scratched the surface of in our evening together. The engaged and interested group of participants, representing a number of different faiths and backgrounds, illustrated that the conversation around values is something we want to discuss and learn about at the community level and that everyone in the community has an important perspective on values in our shared society. We look forward to furthering this dialogue through the Boroondara Interfaith Network in the future.

For more information on this event see http://boroondarainterfaith.wordpress.com/social-values-social-change/