A giant fund raising top up from a giant Australian grocery retailer has helped thousands of farming families affected by harsh drought conditions and dieing livelihoods.Woolworths raised $4.7 million for the Drought Relief effort and exceeded their expectations of $3 million. CONGRATULATIONS Woolworths and congratulations to every person that shopped in either Woolworths or Safeway supermarkets on...

I am often asked by people, what they can do to help stop child abuse. This question alone is a good thing. It means that people are beginning to think about child abuse as a community responsibility: something that the average person can impact upon.Through writing to Helium, I have made some solid friendships with other writers. Two males in particular stand out amongst the crowd. Two normal guys,...

I have begun receiving applications for the voluntary blogging jobs for the world’s largest on-line child protection conversation. Thank you to those who have contacted.Please ensure that your applications are complete. Until I have all of your information to review I have to keep putting your application aside.As stated on the Problogger job board, to apply you are required to provide the following...

Tomorrow, Friday January 26 2007, is Australia Day. We Aussies celebrate the day as a public holiday, have barbeques, go to the beach, watch or participate in sporting events or gather with family and mates and eat meat pies, lamingtons and pavlova. Australia is so much more than Meat Pies, great beaches and Kangaroos though. Australia is all about protecting our environment: including the environment...

While an Aussie Diver has survived an attack by the most savage predator in the world, our children may not be so lucky.Child Safety and Protective Behaviours are not just about teaching personal safety from sexual predators, it is helping our children stay safe in all situations.Water safety is important. The Queensland Government reports on drowning trends and states that: Child drownings in Queensland...

Business individuals operating from an ethical and truth-based locus of control can, in my experience, be difficult to locate. Despite corporate rhetoric or the marketing technique of relationship building, some stars shine out from the crowd. Their very presence emanates respect, patience and abuse free relationship building. This week I have found one through pure coincidence.Imaginif is about to...

Attention all you Australians: Tomorrow, Tuesday 23rd of January, Woolworths will donate 100% of profit to the drought relief fund.For the full story on Woolworths amazing Corporate Social Responsibility see, Woolworths National Drought Action Day January 23, 2007.I’ll be off to Woolworths early to do a huge shop.Thanks Woolworths. Here’s thumbs up to y...

Imaginif is about to launch a new protective behaviour concept: the largest on-line child protection conversation in the world.Conversation topics covered will include, but not be limited to:Water, sun, farm, poison, snow and road safety (each is a separate category).Child sexual assault prevention. Healthy and safe food for kids. Travel safety. Internet Safety.Gang safety. Bully safety.Teenage and...

If we turn the phrase ‘Child Protection’ around it becomes ‘Protection [of] child’. Protecting children means stopping them from coming into harm or intervening when you realise a child is in a harmful situation. Very few people will purposely put a child in harms way. Rather, some parents just don not realise that what they are doing is harming their child. Accidents, mistakes and harms happen because...

Thumbs up to the National Bank of Australia. Their recently launched Corporate Social Responsibility Report, 2006 , indicates an increase in community investment to 1% of pre-tax profit.As part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, The National Australia Bank is “investing in the local communities in which we operate” and providing “private resources for public good – this is based on a genuine...

The rape, torture and subsequent death of a 14-month-old baby girl has left Cairns in shock. Within streets of my own home, the infant girl was left in the care of her mother’s teenage defacto for only a short period.An Ambulance was called to the address after reports of a baby in distress. The baby was transferred to hospital but died within hours. The Cairns Post reported that there was evidence of a minor head injury but an autopsy will determine the exact cause of death.An 18 year old man has...

Are our children becoming overtly sexualized through fashion? Two interesting sounding papers recently released by The Australain Institute for a Just, Sustainable, Peaceful Future supports so: Corporate Paedophilia: Sexualisation of children in Australia and Letting Children be Children: Stopping the sexualisation of children in Australia .I stress that I have not yet read these papers but the media...

Thumbs up to Fone Zone. Fone Zone is Australia’s largest specialist communications retailer specialising in mobile phones, accessories and wireless data technologies. But, more importantly than that: Fone Zone officially supports the Abused Child Trust.Trying to track down Isabelle Lucas (Cairns girl and Australian actress: Tasha from Home and Away) for a fund raising initiative for the Abused Child...

Australian food, wine, fashion, film, arts, lifestyle, trade and investment, indigenous culture and tourism, the best of Australia says G’day. Promoting awareness and commercial return for both Australian and American interests, Australia Week 2007 sets up camp this week in Los Angeles and New York.Steve Irwin (killed last September from a sting ray barb to the chest while furthering awareness of Australian marine life), the Croc Hunter, will be missed but honoured, and will receive a posthumous...

Cairns Mayor, Kevin Byrne has threatened to lead a vigilante group and “call to arms” if violence on the streets of Cairns is not dealt with by the Government. Minister for Communities, Warren Pitt, clearly sees violence as a “whole-of-community issue”, not just the responsibility of government. Police call for sense and ask people not to take matters into their own hands because charges of assault...

“Forgive me Father for I have sinned.” How many times around the world have these, or words like these, been uttered by children sexually abused by clergy? How many times do these children need to confess their sins? Never. The sins are not theirs. The sins belong to the despicable people who hide behind God and sprout His will while they perpetrate heinous crimes against their flock.Sexual abuse...

Business is Protection (A site about all business protection issues, including how business can help protect children) is being deleted. My partner, an accountant with a strong social justice principal, intended to write articles focused on business protection from a corporate social responsibility view point. Corporate life took over and unable to find time to write articles, we have decided to close his blog site down.Corporate Social Responsibility is already one of Child Protection: Serious...

Australian Islamic leader, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali ridicules nation of convicts and suggests that Australian women and children should share the blame for acts of sexual violence against them. In October 2006, the leader of Australian Muslims created an outrage with his raping comment comparing "women who wore make-up and dressed immodestly to meat that attracted cats."Now, in self imposed exile in...

Advertising watchdog, Reuters, has metaphorically knifed coveted fashion house Dolce & Gabanna. In a 2007 fashion campaign Dolce & Gabanna take “life imitating art” one cut too far. Recreating the early 19th century Napoleonic period of art, Dolce & Gabanna defended themselves by claiming that their fashion images emphasized the theatrical effects of the genre.Advertisements of gun and...

Giant grocery store, Woolworths, are in the business of taking their Corporate Social Responsibility seriously. On January 23, 2007, the fresh food people will donate 100% of that day’s supermarkets profit to help Australian farming families in need.The Woolworths Fresh Future Children's Hospital Appeal has long soothed the deficits in Health funding and now they move into soothing the pain of drought...

When Child Sexual Abuse replaces Saddam, Britney and MySpace in the top 10 search lists, will life be more protective for our children?Child Sexual Abuse prevention and help appears to have a low public profile. Many a night I have unintentionally ended a dinner party by talking about Child Sexual Abuse (guests don’t know what to say about it). Many a time I have been told, I am preaching (and yes,...

SadlyNormal.org has started a new, interactive discussion on healing. Lisa is posting a strengths based question each day.This is a GREAT way for survivors of sexual violence to share their tenacity, their passion and their creativity.Don’t be shy, join in. It doesn't matter what country you live in, what your current circumstances are, or who your perpetrator was. This is your chance to celebrate...

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): “a concept that suggests that commercial corporations have a duty of care to all of their stakeholders in all aspects of their business operations.” But, is it just a concept? I suggest not. CSR is a way of being, a working and ongoing commitment to not only people who use your business services but rather to people you may never meet. CSR is business acumen...

My name is Deidre and I am seven. I like jumping on the trampoline (all the way up to the clouds), watching Saddle Club after school, and sneaking an extra Chocolate Crackle when Mummy and the dandy fairies are not looking.Mum caught me yesterday arve and now I'm grounded! Them dumb fairies must have told on me. I"m not allowed to watch T.V or to go to Donna's house to play. It sux! At least Mum didn't...

Protective Behaviours are about protecting children and adults from all elements of danger. Water, Sun, Poison and Personal safety lie high on the agendas of some Protective Behaviour programs.Complacency lies high on the agendas of some parents. Receiving rebuffs about the work we do is common ground for workers attempting to protect children from sexual assault. Many parents seem to think there...

Should adolescent sexual offenders get a second chance? In Gary Hughes Blog at The Australian, he asks an interesting question: How tough should we be on young offenders?I have followed the debate with interest and I threw my opinion in. But…I have had a restless night pondering whether adolescent sex offenders should be given a second chance.There is substantial evidence suggesting that sex offences,...