I now realise that I’ve spent far too much of my life ‘out in the cold’. As a child, not really bonding with my father life was tough and lonely. Consequently, much of my early years was spent never quite fitting in anywhere. Looking

Here I am, 70 years old and I feel my life is just beginning!  If we are the sum of all we've learned, experienced and suffered over the years then, this is it! I've been lucky, so lucky in my

Today I was at the Graduation of our Literacy students in The Northern Territory. The students all seemed so young, innocent and beautiful!   There were two groups of students there.  One group comprised of 9 to 11 year olds

Over the years I have been heavily involved in anti death penalty campaigns. Barlow and Chambers in Malaysia, Van Nguyen in Singapore and now Chan and Sukumaran in Indonesia.It'staught me a thing or two about what is of ultimate importance

Sometime this month (February)  Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran will be led out of their gaol cells and onto a plane.  The plane will fly somewhere and land.  They will then be placed on a boat to sail somewhere where

Like all of you I have been shaken by the events of the past 24 hours. Last night I felt compelled to spend time at my Loaves & Fishes free food van meal service adjacent to Martin Place in the

For over forty years I have been aware of Twelve Step programs.  Initially they began as Alcoholics Anonymous.  However, as the years went by they evolved into other types of anonymous programs.  In those early days I was intimately involved

At the opening of my radio program on Sunday night, July 20 I lit a candle in memory of the victims of  Malaysian flight MH17. I invited listeners to, in solidarity with me and victims, light a candle too and

Late last night, I found myself once again in the back blocks of Woolloomooloo, Sydney.  My memories of Woolloomooloo forty years ago are clouded by mental images of rotting terrace houses and slum dwellings.  I can vividly remember nightly walking

At this time of year, as the temperatures drop I am always asking people to spare a thought for the homeless.  As you know, my Exodus Foundation’s Loaves & Fishes Free Restaurant provides almost a thousand meals daily to Sydney’s

Welfare is becoming a business – like McDonalds - Are NGOs really saving any money and who’s reaping the benefits? Successive governments have decided to get out of welfare.   They feel NGOs both church and secular can do it better

Because I am fairly well known through my welfare and media activities and not afraid to speak my mind and because I try very hard to do what I say I will do, people often approach me and ask for

Mary Farrell, a former Kings Cross runaway kid, asked me to sit beside her as she told her story to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.  I was only too willing to agree. I first met

If anyone lives a vulnerable lifestyle today, it’s the poor, isn’t it? If you’re poor you have to struggle for every cent. You have to wait, queue, walk, starve and as well as that, negotiate a welfare system that was

So, Daniel Christie is no more. Although, it is not fair to say that as he will live forever more in the hearts of those who knew and loved him. I know that because that's how I feel about my

I notice in todays SMH, it says George Street  is now the epicentre of Sydney's drunken violence. A couple of weeks or so ago I had to drive into George St at Four O'clock in the morning. I went there

In our western world we are suffering a crisis of genuine leadership because we are confusing good corporate management with good leadership. The two are totally separate and quite different. In many ways “management” is amoral; it works out the

I first became involved in Aboriginal issues in the very early 1970’s. At that time I made enduring friendships that last to this very day. I began working with Charlie Perkins and speaking alongside Aboriginal activists such as Gary Foley,