TEAR Australia is calling for applications for the position of National Director, based in Melbourne.
TEAR Australia is a Christian development, relief and advocacy organisation responding to global poverty and injustice. Their motivation comes from their conviction that God loves all people, and desires a just and compassionate world in which all people have adequate resources and the opportunity to live meaningful and dignified lives.
With the retirement of Steve Bradbury, their long-serving National Director, TEAR Australia is seeking a suitably qualified person to lead TEAR Australia. The Director is supported by a dedicated, professional team of four direct reports and 50 staff. The role involves strategic and operational leadership of the organisation, and representation of TEAR Australia in the public sphere - including relationships with Australian churches and with international development partners and alliances.
TEAR Australia is looking for someone that has a passion for justice, success in leadership and management, and is familiar with key aid and community development issues. The new director will need to be comfortable in cross-cultural contexts, understand the Australian church environment and be able to articulate the biblical foundations of TEAR Australia’s mission.
Enquiries are welcome to TEAR Australia’s lead consultant, Judy Wong-See at Credence International, Level 14, 309 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000 on (02) 9994 8044 or email judy.ws at credenceintl.com
Applications close Monday 16th June 2008.
Blackstar Coffee, Brisbane’s first 100% certified fairtrade coffee company, is opening its doors to the public on Monday the 19th of May. Having been roasting for several months from its (until now) hidden location, behind the Moreton Bay figs at Davies Park, Blackstar Coffee is ready to launch its espresso bar.
BLACKSTAR has developed an almost ‘cult-like’ following down at the West End Greenflea markets selling its range of organic coffee beans and boutique iced cold pressed coffee. It’s with excitement that Blackstar now opens its roastery doors to the public where it can finally offer espresso beverages as well as its full range of single origin coffees.
Blackstar was started by Marty Richards and Evonne Andrews, a married couple who have invested heavily in social enterprise in the West End suburb. Marty and Evonne, in partnership with Ali Baba and Mailka Karimi, began roasting fair trade beans in the Souths Logan Magpies rugby league club rooms at Davies Park, West End. They expanded with a coffee cart in the Brisbane City Council Green Square complex in Fortitude Valley.
Blackstar was inspired by and continues to be supported by Matthew Lamason, one of New Zealand’s most experienced fairtrade roasting personalities, director of Peoples Coffee, a Wellington based Fairtrade roastery.
“It’s great to see boutique coffee taking root in Brisbane. The quality of a good cup of coffee is enhanced further through fairer trade initiatives like that of Fairtrade. Blackstar plays an important role as a local leader in the area of speciality roasted fairtrade coffee here in Brisbane”, says Lamason.
Customers can expect to taste a consistently high standard of speciality espresso drinks, cold pressed coffees as well as a full range of single origin coffees, and blended brews. Nestled in amongst a working, coffee roasting environment, coffee fiends can grab their favorite espresso while chatting to the roaster about the best range of coffee to suit their home brewing needs.
While excellent coffee is at the front of everything at Blackstar, the business has the interesting and unique aspect of being a social enterprise. It has been a participant in the Brisbane Social Enterprise Hub, a joint initiative of BCC, PriceWaterHouseCoopers, and Social Ventures Australia (SVA).
The Espresso bar is open 6 days from 6am to midday, and is situated across the road from 115 Jane st, just off Montague road, West End.
Over the weekend I joined up with a freeze flash mob raising awareness of the sex trafficking trade and calling for an end to the practice.
The protest was organised by Adrian Greenwood from the More Praxis network, an expression of the Uniting Church in Australia, Victoria/Tasmania Synod. Many of the participants were attending the Forge Grassroots Festival. The idea was for a group to freeze on cue for five minutes, while pedestrians walked past, stopped and stared, or took brochures. It’s designed to be a non violent, viral kind of exercise that invites others to engage in their own way.
Interestingly enough the photograph here shows a freeze flash mob outside The Body Shop. Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, was a strong advocate for the introduction of a new European convention against the trafficking of human beings.
This YouTube clip was prepared by Darren Wright, who while freezing in Bourke St had his camera on rapid photography mode.
