Australia: Men and Fathers' Health Forum Report Available

Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2008-03-28 15:59

Via e-mail:

A report on the Men and Fathers' Health Forum, held at Parliament House, Canberra, last Wednesday 19th March 2008, can be downloaded here (.pdf file). Please distribute it amongst your colleagues and networks. In particular we would encourage you to write and/or email the parliamentarians listed in the report with a 'thank you' note from yourself as an individual, organisation or group.

This will do two things. Firstly it will encourage the individual parliamentarians. They work hard on our behalf and rarely get thanked. Secondly, whilst men are the largest minority 49.2% in the nation, they are also the most silent. Thankfully this is starting to change. We believe the men and fathers' movement affected the course of the last election quite profoundly. Our Men and Fathers Family Friendly Forum on 20th June 2007 might have changed the course of electoral history. The proposal for the National Men's Health Policy was triggered at that forum.

The fact that the Labor Party announced a National Men's Health Policy helped them get over the line to form a government. That news was broadcast widely within the men's movement. We believe that Work Choices was the major determinant in the swing towards Labor but the Men's Health Policy was also a key component in their electoral success. At this stage they do not understand this fully. Your individual 'thank you' note will help the parliamentarians understand the truth behind their electoral success and/or failure.

Again, many thanks to the Forum delegates for all your hard work and sacrifice in coming to Canberra. To those many advocates for a Men's Health Policy who couldn't make it to Canberra this time around, we honor you for all your hard work over many many years, and hope that you will all be involved in the shaping of the final Policy. There are too many to thank here. Let us continue the struggle for truth, justice, health and wellbeing, for men, women and children in a true spirit of mutual respect and love.

Kind Regards,

Warwick Marsh, Fatherhood Foundation
Greg Andresen, Dads on the Air / Men's Health Australia

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