I knew I had struck gold when I saw the subject line in my Inbox: Finally-The App All Women Have Been Waiting For..LEGEND HUSBAND! The media release said it all: The brainchild of Sydney Pastor Mark Reilly, the new Legend Husband app gives men an idea of what their wives really need.Mark is the Pastor at the Camden Baptist Church and has spent many years working with couples in pre-marriage and ...

You may wonder why I am so committed to encouraging you to be the best father you can be for your children.  I could say that it’s the mountains of sociological studies that show a direct link between fatherlessness and dozens of social problems.  Sociologists from all over the globe, through empirical studies, link increased rates of crime, health problems, suicide, child abuse, sexual violence, drug abuse, mental health and lower ...

Here I am again and I’m singing Willie Nelson’s song, ‘On the road again, like a band of gypsies travelling down the highway’. I’m writing this from Hobart, Tasmania where we are showing the film Absent to over 250 enthusiastic Tasmanian viewers.  Next stop on the road is Adelaide and then Perth. The responses to the film and the questions on fatherhood and the importance of fathers have been fantastic. Earlier ...

I am writing this on a flight between Townsville and Cairns, North Queensland, Australia. I am currently on tour with the ‘Absent’ movie and its director Justin Hunt. I say movie because the film is one hour and 29 minutes long and is a brilliant and well crafted expose on the importance of fathers and the effects of fatherlessness. Justin Hunt is a young 36 year old filmmaker who is a ...

Can I share a secret with you? Only on the condition that you promise not to tell anyone else? The secret is: “My wife makes me look good”. Now that it’s out, it’s all too late.  I can’t take it back.  That’s why it is so important for you to keep this information to yourself.  You see, I always like to take the credit for everything myself.  You know that song, “Lord ...

This is an exciting time in the restoration of fatherhood in Australia. To quote Bill Biddle, manager of film distribution for Koorong: “Interest in Absent is exploding across Australia”. Many venues booked are preparing for overflow areas with extra screens as interest gets stronger. The Facebook page is up to 461 likes and Koorong, the national distributor of the Absent movie, received over 900 click-throughs on the Absent logo of one ...

Absent, a powerful and moving film about the impact of fathers on children and society, will screen in Australian cities as part of a National Premiere Film Tour 13-29 June 2013, accompanied by the film’s award-winning director Justin Hunt. I am very excited that I will be accompanying Justin Hunt on the tour and hopefully  will catch up with you along the way. The documentary is an emotional journey that reveals ...

In the Absent movie, which will soon be touring Australia, 13-29 June 2013, John Eldredge, author of ‘Wild at Heart’ says, “If you take snapshots of western culture right now the prognosis is not good”. David Blankenhorn has stated in ‘Fatherless America’ written in 1996, “Fatherlessness is the most harmful demographic trend of this generation”. Dave Kopel, in his article called ‘Fatherlessness: The Root Cause’ says: As Pat Moynihan wrote in ...

For months you have been hearing about the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Train the Trainer Summit, held last weekend at ‘Gumburu’ on a mountain top in North Queensland. The question you might well ask is, “How did it go?” Before I endeavour to answer, let me tell you about the agony and the ecstasy we experienced in the lead up to the Summit. When Dads4Kids first started the process of inviting applications from ...

Some time ago a good friend of mine sent me an article by Mic Dover called, ‘Once Were Toddlers’ from a monthly magazine ‘Sydney’s Child’, www.sydneyschild.com.au The article was all about the New Zealand based Good Man Project. The idea for the project grew out of a conversation between a college headmaster and ex-prison manager. The manager, Celia Lashlie, had been working with at-risk young children when she was shocked to see ...

Some are speculating that this year’s 98th celebration of ANZAC Day could be one of the biggest ever.  The curious thing is that more and more young people are getting up very early in the morning to take part in the traditional ANZAC dawn service.  This year tens of thousands will make the pilgrimage to Turkey to commemorate the heroic landing of our troops at ANZAC Cove. One could argue that ...

It started like any other day.  I remember vividly it was a warm blue sky with a light sea breeze from the east.  I had kissed my wife goodbye early that morning  and had raced into the office to get three major projects completed that day.  The beauty of the day  faded quickly into the urgency of the deadlines I had yet to meet. I was to take a call from ...

As Christmas is once again upon us, I would like to share a story that I guess explains what Dads in Distress is all about. It happened a few years ago in the very early days of forming DIDS, and certainly inspired me to continue the work. I was sitting in a  DIDS meeting sharing my story. It was early days into separation, then divorce. It was coming up to Christmas, ...

A lot has happened over the past year. I am about to celebrate 50 years on this planet. We had a party last Saturday and it was awesome to be surrounded by my friends and family, my five beautiful children and my new grandson. Life does seem to turn around. There were many times I thought I would never make it to 50, let alone have all my children gathered around ...

Dear Diary, IT’S A BOY! My beautiful daughter gave birth the other week to a beautiful boy, 8lb 3oz. I was supposed to speak in Parliament House at the Human Rights Conference about ‘DIDs’ that week. And you know what? Normally my work would take preference over my private life. That’s possibly why I am now divorced. But this time I said no. My beautiful daughter and the birth of my ...

It is nearly forty years ago since the first known father, an Australian, applied for legal custody of a baby girl and was subsequently granted legal custody of his baby daughter by the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Though this father was granted legal custody of his baby daughter by the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the Department of Community Welfare and the Department of Social Security of the ...

Wow, what a few weeks. Parkinson’s Taskforce Release of suggested reforms, Four Corners, Fatherhood Forum 05, The Lonefathers Conference, the Attorney General’s release of suggested reforms. Receiving a beautiful plaque from the Fatherhood Forum in Parliament House for our DIDs work.  My son telling me he is proud of me, my daughter sending me an email of how wonderful she thinks I am, doing the work I do. That she loves ...

I was travelling through Queensland a few weeks ago opening new Dads in Distress groups, and was convening a meeting that was being held in the back of a new church that had been established in an industrial estate. It was a new meeting and so we didn’t know what to expect, how many would turn up or what would happen. As I sat there at the back of this huge ...

The subbie was a weathered man in his late 50s with big, calloused hands and knobbly knees. His offsider was a skinny, tearaway kid with wraparound sunglasses and a hotted-up Holden. Watching them work at our house over a few weeks was an instructive experience. They were obviously on good terms with one another, and occasionally there was even a bit of leg-pulling. But there was no doubt about who was ...