Sydney
23 June 2002
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St Pio – newest saint
US calls in Australian archbishop
Order pays $3.6 million
Fund for ‘tragic cases’
Shame and sorrow for all in Church, says schools head
‘Humble, but delighted’
Church stands alone in war on poverty
Giving and receiving
Religious urge Govt to sign Kyoto treaty
Appointee ‘daunted’ but committed
New employment relations commission installed
Call to keep tough embryo laws
Editorial: In search of a better life
Letters: Back to the ‘bad old days’
Conversation: No platitudes – ‘all our teaching has to be real’ - Sybil Dickens, school principal
Reflections: ‘Welcome’ in a new faith family
Rosary peace plan spreads in schools
Students, teachers prepare for Youth Day pilgrimage
St Charbel’s students welcome bishop
Opinion: A role for entertainment and media in ‘new evangelisation’
A new beginning for Tampa refugees
Inspirations: Good hair day for young Maronites
Call to keep tough embryo laws
States with more restrictive laws on embryonic research should be allowed to keep them, says the director of the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute in South Australia, Dr John Fleming.
“We already have principled laws, we protect human embryos from destructive research so don’t impose any national decision on us,” he said.
Dr Fleming has warned the Federal Government not to interfere with states which already have legislation restricting destructive embryonic research.
“They should leave states such as South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia alone,” he said, adding that states should be allowed to increase restrictions if they thought it appropriate.
Dr Fleming says states which take a more morally sensitive position on stem cell research should not be forced to comply with comparatively lax national legislation.
“NSW and Queensland have never bothered to regulate in the area of reproductive technology, so anything goes for those states and anything the Commonwealth imposes on them will be an improvement,” he said.
“But for those of us who have bothered to have regulations – i.e. South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia – why should we have imposed upon us a regime which allowed the destructive research we have prevented?”
He applauded the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference for its letter to Prime Minister John Howard opposing the destructive research on frozen embryos.