Keywords: Progress Report
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Brian Matthews
- 25 May 2012
7 Comments
George Orwell lamented that socialism attracted 'fruit-juice drinkers' and 'sandal-wearers'. Former prime minister Paul Keating accused Sydney mayor Clover Moore of being a sandal-wearer and 'muesli-chewer'. 'Sandal wearing' survives nearly a century to be the star insult for each of them.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 05 December 2011
1 Comment
A few years ago, western leaders welcomed the about face of Libya's Colonel Gaddafi. Their enemy became their friend, but it ended badly. International opinion should not rescind Burma's pariah nation status until its leaders have taken definitive action that includes ending the use of landmines.
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MEDIA
- Tim Dwyer
- 21 September 2011
1 Comment
In arriving at its negotiated position with the Greens, the Government has shied away from any explicit examination of media concentration, arguably the main reason behind the widespread calls to examine the structure of the Australian media in the first place.
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INFORMATION
- Paul Beirne
- 13 September 2011
2 Comments
'Melbourne College of Divinity's application to become a specialised 'university of divinity' followed a four-year process that was thorough, comprehensive, consultative and detailed. It was by no means 'an act of faith'.' Paul Beirne, Dean of MCD, responds to Neil Ormerod's article 'Future bites for theological colleges'
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AUSTRALIA
- Kerry Murphy
- 23 June 2011
2 Comments
The Rudd Government promised positive reforms after a decade of 'boat people'-bashing from the previous government. Three years later, we are back where we were. To understand how this happened it is helpful to overview the changes under Labor and the gradual decline in 'key immigration values'.
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AUSTRALIA
- Myrna Tonkinson
- 14 January 2011
Not yet 40, she must live in Perth, hundreds of kilometres from home, to receive dialysis. She is currently in hospital recovering from spinal surgery, and so is separated even from her city-based loved ones. Yet she appears always with a beaming smile.
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AUSTRALIA
- Frank Quinlan
- 11 November 2010
9 Comments
Currently, we have national plans for such things as defence, conservation and management of sharks, national broadband, combating pollution of the sea, and recovery of the south-eastern red-tailed black cockatoo. It's time we had a national plan to overcome poverty.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 01 November 2010
3 Comments
There is an emerging Aboriginal middle class. The contested questions in those communities relate to the expensive delivery of services including health, housing and education. The contested issue in the urban community is over self-identification as Aboriginal by persons of mixed descent.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Greg Foyster
- 08 October 2010
15 Comments
The situation in Afghanistan isn't getting better. It is getting much, much worse. If we are thinking about sending more troops to counter the Taliban, we must also think about accepting more Afghani asylum seekers fleeing the regime.
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AUSTRALIA
- Frank Quinlan
- 18 August 2010
11 Comments
This election we consider a PM who is doubted because of her
atheism, an Opposition Leader who is doubted for being too 'Catholic', and the Greens who are
doubted as being anti-Christian. Church social agencies have been involved in important issues with each of these groups.
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AUSTRALIA
- Myrna Tonkinson
- 07 July 2010
1 Comment
Not yet 40, she must live in Perth, hundreds of kilometres from home, to receive
dialysis. She is currently in hospital recovering from spinal surgery,
and so is separated even from her city-based loved ones. Yet she appears always with a beaming smile.
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ENVIRONMENT
The new Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres is well qualified
to help heal the wounds of Copenhagen. If the West can learn the lessons of those failed talks and move forward with modesty, flexibility and sensitivity, we may hope for progress.
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