Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site

Keywords: Lateline

  • AUSTRALIA

    NSW and Victoria's 'tough on crime' confusion

    • Michael Mullins
    • 06 June 2011
    7 Comments

    While Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark pushes for tougher treatment of young offenders, his NSW counterpart Greg Smith is looking to Victoria's current 'enlightened' model, which favours early intervention over punishment.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    How not to treat asylum seeker kids

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 06 June 2011
    9 Comments

    Woomera, 2001. It's late, and we've been working for days. I give the detainees' children highlighters to draw with; unknown to me, one of them draws on the office wall. The next day an officer from the camp accosts me. 'This is damaging government property. Someone will have to pay for it.'

    READ MORE
  • ENVIRONMENT

    Cardinal Pell's climate hot air

    • Tim Stephens
    • 20 May 2011
    79 Comments

    The difficulty is not his privately-held heterodox views on climate change, but that Australia's most senior Catholic clergyman vigorously advances a position that could be interpreted as a statement of the official stance of the Catholic Church in Australia. 

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    MySuper's justified paternalism

    • Michael Mullins
    • 12 July 2010
    5 Comments

    Channelling people into a default superannuation fund could be compared with the indignity of income management. But MySuper is geared to protect the human dignity of Australians in retirement against their own indifference, and also commercial exploitation.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Stop Sri Lanka, not its refugees

    • Michael Mullins
    • 19 October 2009
    45 Comments

    The Rudd Government is pursuing the same unprincipled border protection strategy for which it criticised the Howard Government. It could better assist these refugees by asking the Sri Lankan Government why so many Tamils are fleeing the country, especially if the war is over.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Kevin Rudd and the problem of evil

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 23 April 2009
    25 Comments

    With uncharacteristic vehemence, Mr Rudd said people smugglers could rot in hell. This kind of language echoes the tabloid characterisation of people who have done foul deeds as monsters. The Christian view of evil is more complex.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Bars not always made of iron

    • Jen Vuk
    • 11 April 2008

    By their very nature, zoos are perverse places. But this 'story of survival from the West Bank' is as much about a scarred community clinging to normality as it is about empathetic veterinarian Dr Sami and his endeavours.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Lawyers' role in a democracy

    • Frank Brennan
    • 29 November 2007

    The power of the State can be exercised capriciously and unaccountably when the “Don’t ask; don’t tell” approach to government is immune from parliamentary, judicial or public scrutiny. It is the task of lawyers to make it more difficult for politicians to take this approach.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Law overboard in pythonesque Section 501 application

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 25 July 2007
    5 Comments

    Under Section 501 of the Migration Act, you can be told: 'you fail the character test, please respond, but we cannot tell you what are the accusations against you'. Dr Mohammed Haneef has experienced the worst case scenario.

    READ MORE
  • INFORMATION

    A selection of some of the letters regarding Frank Brennan's most recent piece

    • 13 July 2007

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Giving Anangu women a say on child protection

    • Joan Healy
    • 04 September 2006

    Four Josephite sisters and a child protection expert visit the western desert of South Australia. They hear that when parents cannot care for their children properly due to petrol sniffing and other factors, the 'Anangu way' is for grandmothers and aunties to step in. But they need financial support.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Redefining the Australian nation

    • David Corlett
    • 20 April 2006

    With the unlinking of the politics of asylum from the debate over national identity, Australia is now within reach of an opportunity to engage in much-needed policy reform.

    READ MORE