With all the business of organising a massive feast and spending too much money on presents, it is easy to lose sight of what is important on this day.  

Getting to experience a life of good quality and positive relationships is usually the most important consideration in most people’s lives.

Yet for half of the world’s people, Christmas Day will be filled with hunger, struggle and misery.  

With three billion people around the world still living in extreme poverty on less than $2.50 a day and children accounting for half of the world’s poor, it would be great if we in Australia re-evaluated our priorities this Christmas.

Let’s re-evaluate whether making a $244 million cut from AusAid earlier this year was the right thing to do.   

Let’s re-commit ourselves to the UN Millennium Declaration. 

Let’s contribute our fair share towards achieving the UN Millennium Development Goal 1 – eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.  

LANDHOLDERS from several regions have joined forces to condemn one group of politicians and applaud another.

They have congratulated both Labor and Coalition politicians who have taken a tough stand amidst unfair criticism to protect the jobs and livelihoods of people they represent.

On the other hand, federal Labor’s Tony Burke, alongside South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and water minister Ian Hunter, have copped the landholders’ wrath.

The landholders, who are worried about their future as well as that of their local communities, live and work along the Murray River and its tributaries from Yarrawonga to Moulamein, the mid-Murrumbidgee, as well as the Goulburn River and its tributaries.

Their comments follow a week of contention around the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, as minister Barnaby Joyce leads a push to try and limit its adverse impact on rural communities.

However, Mr Burke and some South Australian politicians have taken a “we don’t care who it hurts” approach, supporting their stance with sensationalist and incorrect claims.

In particular there is an issue with the ability to push high volumes of water through the system in the name of environmental flows.

Quite simply, it will not fit without causing extensive flooding and, as a consequence, significant damage to property and communities along the way. 

It has the potential to be a social and economic disaster.

Why celebrate Christmas? Because we can’t help liking, honouring and admiring this unique person, Jesus Christ. He was the ultimate one-off. Above all, see how he totally refused to compromise.

When his challenging message was leading inevitably to his own painful death, he made his message even more challenging, more confronting. There was no mistaking it: “Love your enemies!” Pray to God, saying: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us!”

Yes, the Christian Church is faulty — tragically unworthy of him who founded it. Yet it’s in the church that we can hear his gospel read and preached. In the church we can meet together with others who at least have a go at living Christ’s way.

Jesus Christ, born so long ago, can make you and me better. He offers a motive for our children to grow into people who are better. That’s why Christmas is important.