Search Results: witnesses
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ARTS AND CULTURE
Recent years have made clerical child sexual abuse a badge of shame within Australia’s Catholic hierarchy, and rightly so. But Anne Manne’s new book, Sins of the fathers, will give pause to those who blame these offences on the rule of hieratic celibacy.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Peter Craven
- 15 December 2023
The Crown, that extraordinary TV series about the British Royal Family, is drawing to a close, with the final six episodes released in the prelude to Christmas. In the meantime, the producers have shrewdly done a quartet of episodes about Diana, with Australia's Elizabeth Debicki giving a dazzling performance as ‘the People's Princess’.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- David Halliday
- 30 November 2023
2 Comments
Why another Christmas Carol and why now? This version takes a detour from Dickens’ original delving deeper into Scrooge’s past, painting him not just as a villain, but as a victim of circumstances. It suggests that behind every act we hastily label as ‘cruel’ lies a story of fear and anxiety, and a flesh-and-blood human being. And forgiveness, then, becomes an acknowledgment of our shared human frailty.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Juliette Hughes
- 17 November 2023
Stone Yard Devotional is a chronicle of a huge problem in our time: the sense of futility in all our efforts to amend. Wood may make us think, because despair is a constant stalker of the bravest of warriors against the destruction of the planet and the chronic toll of human evil. When compassion becomes a disabling burden, who or what can help?
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AUSTRALIA
- Michele Madigan
- 29 June 2023
2 Comments
Following a rally by climate action group Extinction Rebellion, anti-protest laws were rushed through the SA lower house, increasing the maximum fines for disruptive protests along with potential jail time. Sadly, SA is not an outlier here, but is rather in step with the rest of the country with similar ‘draconian’ laws regulating protests.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 15 June 2023
2 Comments
Kathleen Folbigg's release, prompted by the discovery of a genetic mutation that created reasonable doubt in her conviction, marks a significant intersection of science and law. However, the case highlights the need to critically assess the weight and limitations of scientific authority in our justice system, acknowledging the inherent uncertainty embedded within human affairs.
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AUSTRALIA
- Binoy Kampmark
- 14 June 2023
3 Comments
At the intersection of myth, science, and law is the contentious case of Kathleen Folbigg, accused of being a modern-day Medea. Convicted of killing her children and later exonerated, Folbigg’s story serves as a cautionary tale about the complexities of science in legal judgments and societal myths of motherhood cloud our interpretation of facts.
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AUSTRALIA
- Jim Curtain
- 24 April 2023
4 Comments
Amidst gratitude and remembrance to those who have served, we would do well to look with ambivalence on the toll beyond the battlefield; on families, soldiers' mental health, and questions about government transparency. Anzac day serves as a poignant reminder to acknowledge sacrifices and damages of war.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 23 March 2023
10 Comments
Pope Francis's ten-year papacy continues to surprise and puzzle observers measuring him by liberal and conservative polarities. But to understand his actions and words better, it's important to recognise that his framework is not derived from contemporary culture but from Christian faith.
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AUSTRALIA
- Joe Zabar
- 14 February 2023
2 Comments
The Robodebt Scheme promised billions in savings, but became a $1.8 billion failure labeled as 'a shameful chapter in public administration' by the Federal Court. The government was forced to settle a class action and wipe the debts of 381,000 people. Beyond the human cost, these failures point to a welfare system due for an upgrade.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Gillian Bouras
- 18 January 2023
7 Comments
The ‘no religion’ question is complicated and interesting and connected with social change. We live in a much more complex world than previously. Even in my own childhood, it was accepted as a fact that most people were believers of varying degrees of conviction and form. Agnosticism and atheism were not matters for discussion.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 16 June 2022
After the Election media focus has now switched from the fresh personalities and style of the new Government to the difficulties that face it. These include the financial pressures created by heavy debt and inflation, the constraints imposed by pledges made before the election, an energy crisis, international conflicts and their effects on trade, and differences within the Party. Faced by such challenges the Government is unlikely to be able to fulfil its promises and its supporters’ hopes.
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