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Rev Neil Mathieson

Biography:

Neil is a priest in the Anglican church of Australia. He has worked in a number of parishes and was assistant chaplain to the University of Adelaide. Since 2002 he has been priest-in-charge of the Parish of Elizabeth, SA. This includes chaplaincy at Saint Columba College, which is a combined Anglican and Roman Catholic school of 1200 students. He also undertakes aged-care chaplaincy for Anglicare SA.

Neil is married to Ruth who is also a priest and has two children Christina (6) and Hamish (4). Neil's interests include issues around third world debt and social justice. He enjoys drama, music and cooking. Neil is a Governors Leadership Foundation Fellow (2001) and is a council member of Anglicare SA.

Statement:

The polarisation of community will be an increasing challenge for Australia. Our sense of local community is dissipating with many of us not really knowing our neighbours let alone those down the street. We choose to associate with people in smaller like-minded groupings. These grouping then become the prime identifying factor rather than the broader notion of community. One symptom of a shrinking sense of community is the worldview of "there is us and there is them" that has developed, and it is "them" who need either to be assimilated so that they become like us, or they need to be rejected as other. The polarisation of community is partially linked to a divide in economic and educational opportunities, and fear is also a factor. While policy can affect the issues of disadvantage, leadership will be the influencing factor on fear.

We are seeing changes in political and social structures according to these new smaller groupings. It can be seen in the rise of fundamentalism in religion with specific teaching being seen as a dividing line. Politically we have seen rises in narrow political parties such as One Nation and Family First. These have clear dividing lines determining who is in and who is out. Socially we have the rise of the enclosed housing estate with houses with high fences promoting privacy and security but also disengaging us from our neighbourhood. The decline in service clubs and other voluntary organisations also point to a disengagement of community. If we wish to continue to be an inclusive community, tolerant of others and willing to give all a "fair go" then the essence of what makes us who we are as a community needs to be seen as one of the challenges for our nation.

Australia is blessed with many resources in people and in commodities, and has seen much growth in the economy. We will admit that we are in unprecedented times of prosperity but this time will pass in the natural flow of economics. If this time is not to be squandered then issues that we have been avoiding need to be addressed. Tax reform would be one of those issues.   We have at the moment a buffer zone that will ease the impact of fundamental tax reform. The system needs to be simplified and the grey areas between welfare and work need addressing. The opportunity to encourage rather than penalise those in grey areas would be a significant improvement to the system.