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Australian Men's Rights Advocates - AustralianMRA

Melbourne Men’s Rights gathering an unqualified success

September 23, 2014

On Saturday, September 13, 2014, at around lunchtime, two sleep-deprived and nervous but also excited and hopeful men made their way into Melbourne’s historic Young & Jackson Hotel, ordered a pint of Guinness each, found a table in the quietest corner of the back bar, and sat down to wait.

These two men were myself (Tom Voltz) and Adrian Johnson, co-founders of Men’s Rights Sydney, and we were there to take part in the first regional gathering of MHRAs to take place under the banner of our newly launched national umbrella group, Men’s Rights Australia.

We were sleep-deprived because we had been up doing research for a future project until 1:30 a.m. the night before and had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to catch the first flight from Sydney to Melbourne; we were nervous because we weren’t sure how many, if any, would show up; and we were hopeful because if things went well it would really knock Men’s Rights Activism in Australia up a notch,spice weasel–style—BAM!

One by one, over the next hour, a series of men with unfamiliar faces but familiar names and/or voices approached the table, introduced themselves, and sat down to chat. People who went by names like Nemo, Karma MGTOW,Jim Muldoon, Bane666au, and a bunch of others, they all started to arrive, and with each arrival our nervousness dissipated and our excitement grew. We even attempted to get James Huff to join the party via Skype, but the complications inherent with mobile Wi-Fi hotspots meant that we only managed to achieve that for about three-quarters of a second before it crashed in a heap. Sorry, James, we tried!

We started the meeting with a brief round of introductions and a short explanation from myself about what the broad goals of the meeting were and why we had gone to the trouble and expense of setting it all up, but this formal beginning didn’t last long. In almost no time at all we had all clustered into groups of two to six and were all yammering away like we had all known one another for years. It was incredible how well everyone seemed to get on and how naturally and easily the conversations started.

When we first conceived of this meeting way back in March, we had no idea whether anyone would be interested in a meeting like this so we scoured as many men’s rights blogs, forums, websites, and friends of friends as we could, in an attempt to find as many people as possible who may be interested in coming.

Over the course of a few months, to our surprise, we found a total of 23 people that we either knew, or strongly suspected, lived in or near Melbourne, much more than we had initially reckoned on. After contacting this 23, 17 replied, 16 expressed interest, and 13 said they were definitely coming. We had a couple of no-shows and one person who had originally declined change his mind so, in the end, we had an even dozen attendees. Given how few MHRAs exist in Melbourne and how difficult it is to get people to leave the cocoon of their Internet-connected homes and come out for anything these days, we reckon that’s not too shabby.

One of the primary reasons for this meeting was to attempt to suggest and assist any interested parties in setting up a regional men’s rights group in Melbourne that would operate both independently, in their local area, and under the umbrella of Men’s Rights Australia for national issues, much in the same vein as Men’s Rights Sydney currently operates. Also on the agenda was discussion about the way the Men’s Rights Australia umbrella group would operate, possible methods of taking formal political action on behalf of men and boys in Australia, and discussion of a formal list of guidelines, best practice, and good strategies and tactics to use when conducting activism under the name of Men’s Rights Australia.

I am happy to be able to say that all of this, and more, was achieved and that we hope to be able to announce the launch of Men’s Rights Melbourne in the near future. However, despite the practical work we accomplished, the most gratifying part for us was simply having an opportunity to meet face to face with a group of activists who we had previously only known online and get to know them in person. The time and expense involved in an operation like this was not insignificant, but both myself and Adrian agree that we took away at least as much as we put into it, so we consider it time and money well spent.

The day ended pleasantly enough with a few of us stragglers and hangers-on, still madly yammering away at one another, retiring to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner before saying our final farewells. Adrian and I, completely exhausted after a 15-hour day on only three hours of sleep then made the slow trek back to our hotel, intent on falling straight into our beds, only to find that we were so buzzed by the meeting’s success that sleep eluded us. A thorough postmortem, a couple of James Bond movies, and a pizza soon solved that little problem, though. Thank god for late checkouts.

All in all it was a huge success. We achieved everything we had aimed to achieve and had a great time in the process. However, this is not the end, far from it. In fact, it’s just the beginning. We intend to repeat this process all over Australia, eventually setting up a group in each capital city that will operate independently locally and nationally, under the combined banner of Men’s Rights Australia. It’s an ambitious goal, but we are determined to achieve it.

Finally, we want to say a huge thanks to all of you who made the effort to show up and take part in this meetup, and especially to those of you who have volunteered to set up and run Men’s Rights Melbourne. Without you, none of this would have been a success. We look forward to keeping in touch with you all on a regular basis and, with any luck, working with you on behalf of Australian men and boys for a long time to come.

Domestic Violence - Male Victims

BBC - The One Show on Male Victims of Domestic Violence

Video BBC The One Show on Male Victims of Domestic Violence - Woman assaulting man - Domestic Violence

BBC programme 'The One Show', in which the subject of domestic violence against men is discussed.

September, 2009

UK - not politically correct to fund shelters for men and their children who are victims of domestic violence.

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Child Support

Australian Government's assault on Separated Fathers

In July 2008, the media published banner headlines generated from media releases issued by the Australian Government's Minister for Human Services, Senator Joe Ludwig which includes:

Spies on dads dodging child support - Herald Sun, 23 June 2008,
"Human Services Minister Joe Ludwig announced today that undercover surveillance of parents would commence from July 1, in a bid to collect almost $1 billion in child support debt across Australia. I want child support cheats to be caught out on camera so the courts can see the truth,"

Deadbeat dads fleeing to debt-free haven - The Australian, 30 July 2008,
"Separated parents living overseas now owe around $90 million in payments to their kids back in Australia," Senator Ludwig said.

Chasing down deadbeat dads - Herald Sun, 1 August 2008,
Senator Ludwig also said “More than 20,000 separated parents are denying their children support by fleeing the country.

These mostly deadbeat dads owe a startling $90 million in child support and are guilty of a double betrayal.

Deadbeat dads don't need a visa to enter New Zealand and governments need to work together to identify and track down runaway parents.”

The truth

The one billion dollar debt level is a cumulative total incurred from the commencement of the child Support scheme in 1988/89. Over $500 million debt had accumulated by 1996/97. The Child Support Agency ( CSA ) has already been criticised by the Auditor General for using cumulative totals in their efforts to justify their performance.

Yet the CSA continues to do so, as well as ignoring false debts created using unsustainable or unrealistic income determinations. Neither can the accuracy of assessments be thoroughly checked when address details for 15% of clients cannot be confirmed. If the information were available it would be interesting to know how much of this debt is uncollectable because the payer is unemployed, disabled or deceased or the child’s circumstances have changed, but remain unacknowledged by CSA?

According to published CSA data, 96 per cent of all child support due has been paid.

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Add Mandatory DNA Paternity testing to the Mandatory Newborn Screening Tests.

Daddy dearest: Many men are finding out they are not the father after all

The Sun-Herald
18 November 2007

Men's groups are calling for mandatory paternity testing of all newborns as it emerges a record number of men are finding they are not the fathers of children they believed to be theirs.

Almost a quarter of paternity tests conducted by one of Australia's largest DNA laboratory companies show the man submitting a sample is not the father, compared to an estimated one in 10 "exclusions" 10 years ago.

The number of tests taken in Australia has doubled from 3000 in 2003 to more than 6000 last year.

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Extreme Feminists - Hate Heterosexuals

Feminist Scholars Say All Heterosexual Sex is Rape

Certain feminist "scholars", such as law professor Catharine McKinnon, equate all sexual intercourse with rape.

Of the 12 recognized categories of feminists, the "Female Supremacists" are by far the most damaging to society.

They inundate our universities with hatred of males and preach that males are inferior people.  And you wonder why males don't go to university? If you were black, would you go to a university which teaches "White Supremacy"?

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Moms Who Kill

Biological Mothers Murder More of Their Own Children Than Do Biological Fathers

Australian Institute of Criminology statistics show there were 270 child homicide incidents in Australia from July 1989 to June 1999, involving 287 identified offenders and resulting in the deaths of 316 children under 15.

For example, the revised National Homicide Monitoring Program 2006-07 Annual Report states 11 homicides involved a biological mother and 5 involves a biological father.

The Western Australian figures shed light on who is likely to abuse children in families. Mothers are identified as the perpetrator of neglect and abuse in a total of 73% of verified cases.

Biological mothers account for about 35 per cent of all child murders, while biological fathers account for 29 per cent

Read more ..