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Keywords: Vic O

  • AUSTRALIA

    Domestic violence reality check for the 'manosphere'

    • Sarah McKenzie
    • 13 September 2013
    96 Comments

    The 'battered husband' claim has flourished online where aggressive men's rights groups blame feminism for everything from high unemployment rates to shorter male lifespans. There is no doubt that some victims of domestic violence are men, and that these men are equally deserving of resources and support. But to suggest that domestic violence is a gender-equal crime is plainly incorrect, and dangerous.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    When punishment fails

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 29 August 2013
    10 Comments

    ABC employee Jill Meagher was murdered by a man who had been granted parole while serving his sentence for a previous violent sexual crime. The largest threat to the security of the community comes from a view that sees punishment entirely in retributive terms. Unless the human development of prisoners is seen as central, imprisonment simply begets further risk. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Disrupting sexism

    • Fatima Measham
    • 26 June 2013
    18 Comments

    Chief of Army Lt Gen David Morrison summed it up well. In condemning the culture of 'permission' that allowed defence officers to exploit women, he said: 'The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.' Framing sexism in terms of permission should sharpen the way we respond to abuse of women — the same compulsion to conform presents us with opportunities to disrupt tacit permissions.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Pro-business governments reversing Eureka Stockade achievement

    • Michael Mullins
    • 03 December 2012
    10 Comments

    Today is the 158th anniversary of the Eureka Stockade rebellion, often seen as the source of our ‘fair go’ ethos. Wealthy landowners and businessmen controlled the government, as they do today. Governments anxious for private sector investment give free reign to James Packer and others, at cost to the common good.

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  • RELIGION

    Keating’s Timor and Carr’s Papua

    • Frank Brennan
    • 30 November 2012
    17 Comments

    Paul Keating this month reflected on his determination as Prime Minister 'to establish a new and durable' relationship with Indonesia' and lamented the Australian media and his predecessors' preoccupation with human rights abuses in East Timor. It'd be churlish to question these reflections if the current Foreign Minister were not on the cusp of making a similar mistake regarding Papua.

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  • RELIGION

    Religious freedom and the law

    • Frank Brennan
    • 18 September 2012

    'The common law leaves a gap between the mandates of the law and the conduct that we choose to engage in according to our individual moral standards. We call that gap 'freedom'. The challenge is determining the width of that gap for groups bound by religious faith which differs from the Australian majority.' Frank Brennan launches Carolyn Evans' Legal Protection of Religious Freedom in Australia. Full text

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Hope beyond disability support flip-flopping

    • Moira Byrne Garton
    • 03 August 2012
    2 Comments

    Disability policy is no longer a short-term issue for political point-scoring, it is in the middle of the public policy sphere. While it is heartening that there is general consensus between political parties on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, some state premiers' bickering over funding has fuelled the distress of affected people.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The end of equal opportunity in Victoria

    • Moira Rayner
    • 28 June 2012
    16 Comments

    In 1978, airline boss Reg Ansett didn’t fancy employing the best qualified pilot because the pilot was a woman. She took him on through the Victorian Equal Opportunity Board and ultimately won. Victoria was a leader in human rights in those days. Sadly the current Attorney General is no defender of the rights of the weak and has gutted the Equal Opportunity Commission.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Separating art from war in Iran

    • William Gourlay
    • 26 April 2012
    3 Comments

    Sabre rattling, both by the Iranian leadership and by Western politicians and pundits, dominates the headlines and steers public discourse about Iran. A recent film, and a current art exhibition, remind us of the country's 'rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics'.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Man versus wind

    • Alistair Stewart
    • 27 March 2012
    4 Comments

    The day has no front teeth, it raves in the street, it is grey as a tap, a murky x-ray of a multiple trauma. The front door keeps whistling old songs about going away ... these hinges hate me, not one screw will stay put. They are moving out.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Zero tolerance for ritual humiliation

    • Michael Mullins
    • 12 March 2012
    19 Comments

    The Church is recognised as having tolerated abuse of children and young adults, and sometimes regarded it as character building, in connection with corporal punlshment and activities such as drinking rituals at university residential colleges. But the Catholic college at Sydney University has broken with tradition by implementing its zero tolerance policy.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Church transparency key to protecting children

    • David Cappo
    • 06 March 2012
    21 Comments

    The Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry has set a new benchmark. A particular challenge to churches is the recommendation regarding mandatory reporting for clergy and church personnel. Any equivocation on this would be viewed with disdain by the community.

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