Kevin Andrews Is A Genius. And His Hair Looks Natural To Me!
Kevin Andrews tells us that the figures don’t lie. A couple who don’t marry are more likely to separate than a couple who do.
Well, who’d have thought that. You mean a couple that go to all the trouble of organising a wedding where they pledge to stick together for the rest of their lives are more likely to stay together than a couple who haven’t made such a pledge?
Strangely, statistics also showed that couples who announced their engagement were more likely to stay together than couples who decided not to go on a second date.
Although he didn’t mention it, couples who received marriage counselling were more likely to get divorced than people who believed they were happy with each other. And this was true whether the couples were married or merely “living in sin”.
But Kevin’s interest in marriage counselling goes back a long way as is explained in this Weekend Australian article by Greg Bearup:
EVERY three years Kevin Andrews and his wife Margaret book themselves in for a joint session on a marriage counsellor’s couch — or the workshop, as he prefers. They have a solid and loving 35-year marriage, he insists, but he likens his relationship to the modern motor car. “It might last a lifetime,” the Minister for Social Services explains from a couch in his Melbourne electoral office as modern motor cars scurry along Doncaster Road, “but usually we get it serviced every two or three years.” Without that service the car, like his marriage, may still run along, seemingly OK, “but the tyres get a bit bald, the brake pads need replacing and, you know, the steering needs adjusting — if you’re fixing it up, you’re going to go on for longer.”
Now I think that a joint session on the counsellor’s couch may do more for many relationships than counselling, I’d rather not imagine Kevin Andrews on any couch with or without his wife. So I’m going to try and imagine improving a marriage by replacing the bald bits, the brake pads confident in the knowledge that I can give it a good steer and still handle the wheel with skill and expertise even if I don’t hit the accelerator quite as hard as I did in my younger days.
Let’s ignore that for the moment and get back to the topic at hand (if you’ll excuse the expression), because Bearup’s article also let us know about Andrews history with counselling.
There are many counselling services out there, so which one to choose? Andrews and his wife co-founded a Catholic counselling service in Melbourne in 1980 called the Marriage Education Programme. (Both have since resigned from it and Margaret is no longer doing any counselling, Andrews’ office says).
So, lucky they have nothing to do with it any more, because if you look at its website, it looks like just the sort of place that would benefit from the “free” counselling offered to couples. And that would be a conflict of interest.
Of course, there’s no such thing as a free lunch and in fact the poor old taxpayer is paying for it. Do I hear that we’re spending and not living with our means and that this is more debt to go on the credit card.
Nah, this a LIBERAL idea, and they never cost anything.
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Rob031 -
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Matters Not -
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Garth -
Matters Not -
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Matters Not -
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Kaye Lee -
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Lee -
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Kaye Makovec
Return to home pageI like the saying: “Love is blind but marriage soon restores its sight”
Irrelevant question: does he remind anyone here of Dr. Spock? The ambiguity is deliberate by the way 🙂
Rossleigh,you`ve been on fire for quite some time with your articles and this is yet another example of using sarcasmic wit as a pressure relief valve.
I`ve been with my darling for over 42 years now and out of our differing peer groups we grew together with in four major parts of our lives only three out of at least 60 couples have stayed together.
Also every couple that had “councilling” diviorced.
Marriage stats of our peer groups was 80+% married and one of the live togethers still thrives being in their 44th year.
OH Kevin Andrews is a religious nutcase that should never have been elected to political office,as religion and politics are an anathema.
Both have since resigned from it and Margaret is no longer doing any counselling, Andrews’ office says).
Just becos they have resigned from it does not mean they don’t own it.
Who is going to ask the question to the minister, ‘Hey Kev, you and the missus are not directors anymore, but who owns the business?’
A fair question for transparency.
It is a proven fact, Catholics are liars just ask the Abbott, well, he is, certainly along with Kevvie, not giving Catholics a good name.
Rob031,
No, Kevin Andrews does not remind me in any way of Mr Spock.
Kevin Andrews reminds me of a mean, small-minded bigot in a bad wig.
Mr Spock, a logical and leaned being, would likely regard the minister for education as a fascinating creature, prone to illogical conclusions and parochial, superstitious preconceptions. An eyebrow probably would arch. He would not want to mind-meld, but his human part might be tempted to employ a nerve-pinch.
For a business that began 34 years ago (1 year into their marriage) you’d expect testimonials and statistics. How many of those 15,000 couples are still married I wonder.
Oh my God what will he say next.Another cruel person.Why is he still in the government.
Let’s not forget that this man is one of those who will be in attendance at a seminar presented by a Dr Angela Lanfranchi in Australia in August. Dr Lanfranchi is the female Dr who possits the theory that women who take the contraceptive pill are more likely to choose a partner who are genetically more closely related to them and that they are less likely to have sex with their partner but are promiscuous outside of the relationship and are more likely to die by violent means. I’m not making this up.. Check this out.. http://www.stopp.org/article.php?id=10513
Listened to Minister Andrews on News Radio speak with Marius Benson this morning. It was a scream. On the one hand, Andrews claimed that ‘divorce’/’marriage breakdown’ cost a motza. And it does for the individuals involved, but Andrews couldn’t explain as to how that impacted on the State.
Yet he advocated that ‘couples’ in relationships should get married. Completely forgetting his opening gambit that divorce was an expensive exercise.
It seemed to me he was engaged in ‘marriage counselling’ based on the fundamental principle of ‘don’t get married’ because divorce is so expensive. BTW, does this counselling come with any guarantees? If not, then why not? Servicing of my vehicle does.
And when he and his wife get ‘serviced’ every year (his claim not mine) do things operate smoother? The mind boggles.
Talk about a political dumbo.
Thank you. Someone had to call it. So, it’s a wig !! I wasn’t sure if it was a wig , hair dye or my deceased Burmese cat.
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Its easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than to find someone in Abbotts gang who isn't an arsehole.
Rossleigh,
Do you know if the “living in sin” as a term for a partnered sexual relationships outside of institutional marriage came from the minister himself?
I was a Catholic. When I got married to an Anglican I practised my faith, my wife didn’t. We never attended pre Cana courses, our children attended Catholic schools much to my wife’s annoyance. They don’t practice today. I left the church and religion 16 years ago, rejecting everything they try to impose on our marriage. I have never felt better and our marriage is stronger than ever. We have been married 44 years. Andrews wants the world to be Catholic, or at least to do what they teach. If he needs a recharge every three years, I suspect his marriage is not as strong as he thinks.
From Kevin Andrews’ Speeches: ADDRESS TO THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF FAMILY STUDIES (AIFS) CONFERENCE bit.ly/UAI1l5
“It is against this background that I wish to outline our approach to the continuing challenges we face to strengthen marital and family relationships.
“Two years ago, the prominent Brookings scholar, Isabel Sawhill, noted that if individuals do just three things – finish High School, work full-time, and marry before they have children – their chances of being poor drop from 15 per cent to just two per cent.5”
So people who work are less likely than people who don’t? And people who finish high school also? These are figures that are hard to argue with.
Just for the record people who walk out of hospital are more likely to be healthy than those who don’t!
I read somewhere that one of the biggest causes of marriage failures was financial troubles… I’m assume that getting fired or having your work hours cut would fall into that category. But the govt can’t take responsibility for any of that, right?
Dr Love is at it again, next you will have to prove why you need a divorce like back in the good old days, for eg “divorce granted on the grounds of adultery” get your cameras ready you need to be your own detective, and catch them in bed together on film for the proof for the grounds of adultery,
It’s coming Dr Love has new/old big plans for New Holland 🙂
Oh boy … what can you say about our mate Kev ? Our ‘brilliant’ Catholic-warrior is at it again. How can someone who has been involved in the counselling game not get the distinction between correlation and causality ?? I’m glad I wasn’t on the couch at one of their sessions. This government is like getting poked in the eye with a dull stick … takes a bit longer to do the damage but the job gets done just the same in the end. God help us all !!
Garth said:
Yes Garth, it’s something that Andrews would say. But I wouldn’t. Ever!
Even under the influence. Promise.
Just sayin …
Agreed, Matters Not. My poor attempt at irony (and I was brought up a catholic … with these clowns running around i’ve found it much easier to shake the guilt).
Garth, I was being a ‘smart arse’. My apologies.
These days, the call for ‘God help us’ is (perhaps) much more a cultural cry than a religious one.
Agreed again 🙂 Thanks mate.
My sister and brother-in-law went to counselling – he ran off with the counsellor – truly!
I am also a Protestant who married a Catholic. The priest who was marrying us made me have lessons before we got married – husband didn’t have to come. When we had children it was important to their grandparents that they be christened so I approached our local priest asking could they be christened Christian rather than Catholic. The answer was a resounding NO. They were not about welcoming children to the “house of the lord” but all about drumming up the numbers. Thankfully Catholics dumped the idea of limbo for unchristened babies.
“After several years of study, the Vatican’s International Theological Commission said there are good reasons to hope that babies who die without being baptized go to heaven.”
I would like to see the methodology of their “years of study”.
Kaye Lee,
“I am also a protestant”.
Really?
Are you truly an adherent to the belief in personal salvation and redemption through following a paternal-monotheistic based doctrine of written and revised revelations, testaments and commandments reflecting divine will, channeled through the prophets Moses and Christ, reformed by Martin Luther, and preached by blokes in black with yoked collars?
Your choice.
For truth and clarity when filling out the section of forms regarding religion, if ‘Agnostic’ or ‘Other’ are not offered, I opt for ‘Not Applicable’.
cb,
I was a voluntary participant during my youth. Sunday school had good colouring in and cutting and pasting and nice songs, and I came first in the exam, ringing the church bells was great fun as were the ISCF camps, the church “coffee shop” was a Friday night hang for young teenagers that parents said yes to, the guy taking the confirmation class was cute…..I think you could say I was in it for the fun side rather than spiritual enlightenment. My connection as an adult has been purely out of respect for people I care about. My interest is confined to history and analysis.
I think it was the chanting that first sent me to the wall. I think worship is a waste of time and money. I think the idea of absolution is a copout. I don’t like ceremonies. I detest intolerance and hypocrisy. And I refuse to fill in any questions about religion. They are left blank – none or N/A if pushed for an answer.
You may consider any labels long since discarded and I don’t think I ever had any spiritual beliefs. They were all just stories to me, just like The Faraway Tree.
Next service don’t forget about the Ball bearings and Piston Andrew. If it start to fart too much , see Greg Hunt for Advice
I married a catholic back in 1980 I was 16 he was 18,(shotgun wedding) his Aunty used to have the priests around for dinner they were pretty cosy that’s for sure, the church was their world, I couldn’t believe their belief in the almighty church, cos I was not brought up with any religion “Non Applicable”
when his family told us we had to get married in the church, my mother said “I don’t think so people” we got married in a park 🙂 and we were disowned then by a lot of his family, my kids didnt go to catholic school because my husband had been abused at boarding school, all I could see was the Catholic Church are leaches, take your money as quick as look at you, they are the richest church in the world for a reason, but one of the nastiest that’s for sure…
none of my kids are baptised, if they want to choose a religion it’s up to them when they are old enough to educate themselves and choose for themselves, not forced onto them from the day they are born…life is about choices, not being brainwashed from a very young age as religion does. I went to a marriage councellor once, what a joke it was, we went out laughing at how much he was a tool, didn’t save the marriage, which I am thankful everyday for now lol
In 1996 as a Howard government minister, Mr Andrews was a vocal opponent of euthanasia and helped overturn the Northern Territory’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Act. Interestingly, in a debate no-one went to in October last year, Andrews said:
KEVIN ANDREWS: The euthanasia laws bill which overturned the Northern Territory was possible by the Commonwealth Parliament because the Territory was a territory: in other words, a construction of the Commonwealth. If a state passes laws in this field, then that state, on my understanding, has the constitutional power to do so, and the Commonwealth couldn’t overturn it.
There’s a very substantial religious support for voluntary euthanasia. Political opinion is similarly supportive – 82 per cent of Coalition voters, 84 per cent of ALP voters, 88 per cent of Green voters. Despite this, when Lara Giddings and Nick McKim introduced the Bill in Tasmania in October last year, the final vote was 13 against and 11 in favour, with all Liberal MPs and three Labor members opposing it.
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As a former C of E alter boy some must be wondering how I can call Abbots gang a bunch of arseholes.
But rest assured ……………. I do it with a smile on my lips.
The loathing is hidden away as tightly as an operation on water.
“If he needs a recharge every three years, I suspect his marriage is not as strong as he thinks.”
Couldn’t agree more, John. This photo gives me nightmares. It is not a good advertisement for marriage counselling at all.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/why-does-kevin-andrews-want-to-give-couples-a-helping-hand/story-e6frg8h6-1226915797400?nk=fd01c2d8d7fbe1ecf76654c4b6ba8d86
“Irrelevant question: does he remind anyone here of Dr. Spock? ”
Not at all. Spock is an intelligent life form.
Lol that’s funny Lee, thanks for the laugh 🙂 Andrews is an Alien, maybe a Martian from Mars?
No offence mars08
Do they service each other or does someone else do it?
Great response, Corvus Boreus. I still remember my fury at being given a lecture on my inability to raise a family because I asked for N/A to be written against ‘religion’. This was at the reception desk at the maternity section of a public hospital when I was being admitted to give birth to my third child. I still wish I ‘d been in a suitable frame of mind to tell that woman where she got off. Why is it that those with religious beliefs feel they have a right to force them on others? Certainly, judging by the way Andrews and his colleagues act, the values they exhibit could scarcely be less Christian. Why would anyone want their values?
There’s an old saying that goes something like “love walks out the door when poverty walks in” that covers many a broken marriage, or partnership, coupling or even some friendships.