Last September, I was contacted by a group of pro-life people in Melbourne Australia who asked me to be their guest speaker at their Life Dinner on June 23, 2012. I accepted this invitation and viewed this as an opportunity to embark on my second speaking tour of Australia. (In October 2010, I had the opportunity to speak in six Australian cities in seven days).
I arrived in Melbourne, a day late, due to a problem with one of the flights, leaving me with no sleep before my presentation.
There were more than 400 people who came to the Life Dinner to hear my talk in Melbourne. The audience was very interested, the dinner was superb, and I met some very knowledgeable people.
This is the fourth year that the Melbourne group has organized the Life Dinner. This dinner was organized by a coalition of 18 pro-life groups with differing roles and purposes. These groups work together on the Life Dinner and one common community project. The purpose of the dinner is to raise money for a common community project that each group agreed to support.
I was very impressed with how diverse groups were able to work together, create synergy and agree to support one common goal on a yearly basis. The Life Dinner is a lesson that many people need to recognize as a model that other communities should follow.
Attending the Life Dinner were several political leaders including The Hon Kevin Andrews MP (Liberal) who in 1996, steered through the federal parliament the legislation that overturned the Northern Territories euthanasia legislation.
Hon. Kevin Andrews informed me that politics is not only the art of the possible, but a good plan creates possibilities and can be implemented. The Andrews bill accomplished what was first perceived to be impossible.
Recently we had a terrible court decision by Justice Smith, legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. This legal decision needs to be overturned. I learned from Kevin Andrews that if it is not overturned we can reverse the terrible decision.
Thank you to the organizers of the Life Dinner for providing me the opportunity to speak at this well organized, excellent dinner.