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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-08 Daily Xml
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EASTER

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:45): I rise to briefly talk about a timely matter, which our party would like to put on the agenda today—Easter. The prayer that you read, Mr President, every sitting day is a reminder of the strong continuing Christian heritage of this great state and nation and the fact that the parliament is built upon a Christian foundation. The prayer is that which Jesus taught his believers to pray (I refer to both Matthew 6 and Luke 11). All four gospels record, as historical fact, the birth, miracles, ministry, death and the resurrection of Jesus.

Today, two billion adherents world wide make Christianity in its various forms the world's largest religion. Of Australians, 63.9 per cent described themselves as Christian in the 2006 census. The National Church Life survey reported, in its 2001 census, that 81 per cent of Christians attend church service or mass weekly, or more often.

However, internationally, not all Christians can celebrate Easter freely. We remember their struggle for life and freedom overseas. On the website, www.persecution.org, 33 countries are listed as being countries which have violated human rights because of persecution or severe discrimination against Christians and, sadly, this is a growing list.

We see plenty of politics played out in the Bible, not the least of which is during the account, in St Luke's Gospel (chapter 23), of Christ's trial. Jesus knew about the injustice that would happen, and even warned his disciples many times that it would be so. He also predicted his resurrection from the dead, which is commemorated, of course, from Maundy Thursday onwards, over the Easter period. Honourable members will hear plenty more about that during this Easter weekend in any church service they may wish to attend. I encourage them to get along to hear more of the true Easter message.

Points which I particularly want to raise with respect to Easter, and which concern me personally, include what appears to be increased commercialisation to the point where we are seeing Easter eggs and hot cross buns on the supermarket shelves almost as soon as the Christmas decorations and Christmas presents are taken down. However, beyond the hot cross buns on the shelves and beyond the commercialism and the business drive is the true meaning of Easter.

One only has to look to the selfless example of sacrifice and the new life Jesus offers to every man, woman and child to see that he paid the ultimate price. Whilst commercialism and business viability are paramount to the wellbeing of the community, there are times when we should pause and reflect, rather than being concerned about making a dollar, and I often wonder whether a line can be drawn in the sand in this respect without commercialising one of the two most important parts of the Christian year—Christmas and Easter.

Having said that, I hope there will be a refocus during Easter. As a younger person and, indeed, up until recent years, I recall quite a lot of media attention being given to the real meaning of Easter. In fact, documentaries were often featured on commercial television throughout most of the Easter weekend. It is interesting to note that this Easter there appears to be only one movie on the ultimate sacrifice that our Lord made for us, and that happens to be on at about midnight on a commercial station.

It is important that people enjoy the four-day holiday, that they rekindle their opportunity to spend precious time with their families and friends and recharge their batteries. However, I would encourage all people who can highlight the importance of Easter, in particular the media, to focus on the real intent and meaning of Easter to help heal and further build the better community spirit and fabric that we desperately need in these troubled times.

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