Men's Health and Rallying Forces
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 10:30AM 
With special guests:
- Professor John Macdonald
- John Roberts and
- Sue Price.
This week we will be talking with two of the country’s leading experts on men’s health. First up Prof John Macdonald, who is president of the Australasian Men’s Health Forum, Co-Director of the Men’s Health Information and Resource Centre at the University of Western Sydney and one of the Federal Government’s Men’s Health Ambassadors.
He has been closely involved with the government’s community consultation process for the development of the first National Men’s Health Policy, and related matters around men’s health in Australia. He will be bringing us up to date with developments. The development of a National Men’s Health Policy to equal the National Women’s Health Policy was a Labor Party election promise. We close the show talking with leading lobbyist Sue Price from the Men’s Rights Agency about the women’s groups organising rallies outside Family Courts amidst concern the courts may be too generous to dads!
The Men’s Health Information & Resource Centre which Prof Macdonald directs with Micheal Woods is Australia’s leading academic centre for the study of men’s issues. It designs, develops and supports research and projects which contribute to the enhancement of the health & well-being of men and boys in a variety of contexts including the workplace, family relationships and access to health and social support services.
Find out more at http://menshealth.uws.edu.au/Home.html.
John Roberts is the chair of the organising committee for the Men’s Health Gathering to be held at Newcastle University in October this year. Find out more at http://workingwithmen.org.au/. John also works for the Benevolent Society in the Hunter Valley of NSW and runs their MARS (Men Accessing Resources & Services) Program which has produced some fabulous resources for blokes such as the Our Men, Our Community posters, the Blokes Booklet and the Blokes Card. He also works with community organisations around the Hunter and Central Coast regions to encourage them to become more “men-friendly”.
The Men’s Health Gathering encompasses three major men’s conferences. The 5th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Male Health Convention represents an exciting time for Indigenous men as it provides an opportunity to discus men’s issues and to evaluate the effects of the past, the disadvantage of men’s health at present, and the measures necessary to promote and ensure a healthier future. An important area of the Convention is to assist Aboriginal men understand their responsibility to improve Men’s Health and the value of their roles such as fathers, brothers, leaders, elders, husbands, uncles, and grandfathers.
The 8th National Men’s Health Conference will be held from Wednesday 7 to Friday 9 October 2009. The Conference will provide a range of opportunities for participants to share the successes and challenges in their current work, to mix and share experiences with others with a common interest in male health and wellbeing and to reflect on current achievements and discuss future ones with colleagues from Australia and abroad. The conference will invigorate you through stimulating papers, issue debates and interactive workshop sessions and provide you with many exciting and challenging learning experiences. The agenda will be broad reaching and the Social Programme is an exciting addition that creates more vital networking time for all.
The 4th National Men and Family Relationships Forum will explore the constantly changing context of men and their family relationships in Australia. It will recognise the significant achievements, identify examples of positive, strengths-based approaches to working with men, young men and children. It will also explore the current challenges and opportunities for relating with men, building relationships and partnerships for future sustainability.
Sue Price is one of the co-founders of the Men’s Rights Agency, and has been working at the coal face dealing with men’s issues for many years. This week she talks about the rally of women’s groups outside Family Courts around the country on May 3. They are being organised by feminist author Barbara Biggs amidst allegations the court is exposing children to violent parents read fathers. You can see her petition at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69087938967.
Sue Price argues that despite the gender neutral terminology being used by the organisers the only examples of abuse being cited are about fathers murdering their children, ignoring the far higher numbers of mothers who kill their children. Find out more about Sue Price and the MRA at http://www.mensrights.com.au.