PUBLIC JUSTICE:
ON THE PATH TO POLITICAL LIFE
Last time I discussed the chaotic electoral spin in which our voting is now immersed. If we try to get involved in the election according to the ground rules that are already evident in the "campaign" thus far, we simply get ourselves exhausted by reacting to the silly antics of a confused parliamentarian who wants to be re-elected as Prime Minister. Yes, he seems to be calling all the shots, but if we take our eye off the principle of public justice as the raison d'ętre for our citizenship, we will soon come to a similar dead-end of incoherent politics. Let's instead look for another way - let us try and find another path upon which we reflect upon the forthcoming election. If we prayerfully accept the wisdom God has given us in Jesus Christ for politics - after all we confess that He is the Ruler of the Kings and Queens and Presidents and Prime Ministers of this world - should we not be able to avoid participation in what has become a grand satire if it is not a complete farce.
So, what I propose to present here is a provisional "think big" list of "public justice" issues which, over the next decade have to be reconsidered by us as we work for the reform of justice in Australian politics. These are issues for which we will need to generate a coherent Christian political vision. They demand a comprehensive approach to political life. There are twelve "issues" listed below and in this and future editions of Nurturing Justice we will comment on each of these offering a brief explanation of the significance of the issues listed and why that have to be considered in a comprehensive and coherent political vision. As we think about them over the next months and years we may find it necessary to add others, or some of the issues on the list may find themselves re-listed as sub-sections under other headings. This then is my suggestion for nurturing justice amongst ourselves as we approach the 2007 election. We commit ourselves to the long-term hard work of re-envisioning public justice for the Australian Commonwealth in relation to these and other crucial issues, issues that demand public justice "all the way down".
The twelve I have chosen are:
1. Overcoming Incoherent Political Conduct:
2. Reconciliation and Rediscovering the Nation's Calling to Do Justice:
3. South West Pacific and Regional Relations to the North and West:
4. International Relations:
5. Promoting an Economy of Restraint, Care and Enough:
6. Climate Change and Environmental Care:
7. Commerce, Industry and Trade Unionism:
8. Issues of "Body Politics", Marriage and Family:
9. Public Morality and the Reform of Mass Media:
10. Health, Social Welfare and Education:
11. Electoral Reform, Proportional Representation:
12. Local Government and Australia's Constitution:
And now to begin with a comment upon
Ř 1. Overcoming Incoherent Political Conduct:
How do we go about reforming our own political conduct in our complex differentiated society? First we may need to face the fact that we are all engaged in political conduct. That may be the biggest hurdle. A second hurdle may be the difficulty we have in admitting any incoherence in our political conduct. We would much rather locate the problem outside of ourselves, for instance in the major parties or among the politicians. But just as the Government has not absolved us of our national culpability toward the indigenous peoples of this land when individual office bearers claim that they have nothing to apologise for, so we, as Christian citizens, will miss the true state of affairs if we ignore the many good things which the confessors of Jesus Christ have failed to do politically. We have not only done things we ought not to have done; we have not done the things that we should have done. And if we start looking we may surprise ourselves by the long list we compile of sins of omission.
On the other hand, if start assuming that our own collective moral power will set things right then our impatience has got the better of us and we may well be on the way to adapting our political responsibilities to the reigning ideologies. Repeated appeals to “public justice” will not overcome the fact that our own conduct tells us we have lost insight into the true significance of God’s norms for political life. We might put all our effort into growing a Christian political viewpoint, but if we impatiently assume that norms only come into play when a majority of humans recognise them, then we have taken the path of political impatience, forsaking God's promises and adopting a deep-down belief that we humans have to create our norms for ourselves. No, one of the fruits of the Spirit is patience, and a Christian political patience needs to be aware that it is God's invitation to us to walk on the path of justice which He has laid out for us; our task is the thankful response of doing justice.
So, if public justice is a normative principle that binds citizens and government together in a political community with a common task, then its goal is none other than public justice for all, the formation of a just public-legal order. That is the kind of work that God calls us to, and that is the kind of work in which we are to be busy when Jesus Christ comes and brings God's Kingdom to its completion - "abounding in the work of the Lord we know with a steadfast and immovable knowledge that such labour is not in vain" (1 Cor 15:58). In that sense “public justice” can never become the possession or property of some or other elite, let alone the property of a group of "good guys". It is a path upon which all are called to serve their own communities and, more and more, their neighbours around the world. Political scientists, and all other scientific specialists in many and varied intellectual pursuits, have their own peculiar professional contributions to make which should also enhance public life and promote justice everywhere. But that also requires the development of a way of Christian thinking about the connections between all the diverse sciences and how they relate to and serve the diverse and distinct social responsibilities that constitute our ever-more-complex lives at home and abroad.
It's no use blaming the politicians; our instinctive habit of blaming politicians is one reason why we have lost ourselves in political incoherence. We are all accountable. This is all the more reason to turn again and renew authentic political reflection, and search for the path of "public justice”. By turning around politically, what better motivation do we have than God's own long-suffering over our political waywardness? We should not assume that what has taken 100 years or more to unravel will be set to rights after a few emails, a few elections or even a few hastily convened national conventions. Consider what the Bible teaches about God's patience and think about the way in which our current mode of politics encourages various forms of political impatience - by parliamentarians, by public officials, by political parties, by citizens, by the legal profession, by the judiciary, by ourselves. As a nation we need to re-capture a political style of quiet and steadfast patience in order to pursue public justice.
Ř 2. Reconciliation as the Rediscovery of National Identity:
As we consider God's patient call to us, we should deepen our appreciation for those who have patiently waited for justice in our land, despite the fact that many of us continue to live in denial of the need to redress the historic injustice to Australia's indigenous peoples. We need to find ways of serving all our neighbours, particularly fellow citizens in need. We need to find ways of helping that enhance rather than retract the dignity of those we are called to serve. We need to discover how to listen to the oppressed, the marginalised and those tormented by the madness of a consumerist society. We need to develop a better understanding of how our Christian profession is compromised by our unfaithful "affair" with consumerism.
Reconciliation with Australia's first peoples will have ongoing repercussions throughout our social fabric and in the region and beyond. We will learn again that people matter more than things; that caring and sharing rather than mindless consumerist competition is the way to peace and blessing.
Sure we may have very deep disagreements that arise from different religious assumptions. But we need to find non-combative and winsome ways of conveying to all who take on citizenship in this country that they are indeed part of an ongoing reconciliation movement with the indigenous peoples of this land and region. National repentance is not merely a set of rituals; it has to become a way of life. To deny this is to maintain an unhealthy uncertainty that undermines our national community. The nation's youth - all of them - need to be nurtured in the importance of mutual forgiveness and compassion, between all people, between all generations, between ourselves and God. The constitution may also need to be reformed to better symbolise the importance to us as a nation of the descendents of the peoples who have inhabited this land for millennia. This reconciliation is also needed as part of our genuine care for this land - for what it provides and what it means and what it will mean in the future. Our national identity cannot be found without such reconciliation. And as Christians we confess that it is Jesus Christ's resurrection and ascension to God's Right Hand that provides is the firm basis on which reconciliation among can be achieved. This reconciliation will also be crucial if Australia is to fulfil its vocation as an advocate for justice in a world that will bring wave upon wave of asylum seekers, and environmental refugees, to these shores.
Next time 3. South West Pacific and Regional Relations to the North and West and 4. International Relations will constitute our focus.
Nurturing Justice
August 2007
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