Keywords: Pacific Islands
-
AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 14 February 2024
Lent is a time of asking what matters and on commitment. It is a time of grounding, on awareness of the ground and the ash on which we stand, and of focusing on what is important. That being grounded underlies the idea of humility, of being earthed with one’s bare feet on the soil.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Kerry Murphy
- 04 January 2024
Throughout recent decades of Australian history, the stance every government has taken on asylum seekers has reflected the shifting political landscapes and challenging humanitarian issues that have continually shaped Australia's response to those seeking refuge.
READ MORE 
-
INTERNATIONAL
- Jeremy Clarke
- 13 November 2023
8 Comments
In a global landscape increasingly marked by fluid alliances, Prime Minister Albanese's diplomatic foray from Washington to Beijing had the dual aim of warming frosty relations with China and reinforcing the significance of foundational ties. This is not merely diplomatic choreography; it’s a story of Australia redefining its place in a complex global narrative.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Kerry Murphy
- 28 July 2023
How has Australia's asylum seeker policy changed over the past thirty years? The approach of every government has reflected the shifting political landscapes and challenging humanitarian issues that have continually shaped Australia's response to those seeking refuge.
READ MORE
-
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.
READ MORE
-
ENVIRONMENT
- Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi
- 06 March 2023
4 Comments
Increasingly frequent and severe weather events are leaving Pacific Island nations struggling to rebuild. The region needs nearly US $1 billion per year in financing to adapt to climate change but with lengthy delays and complex grant applications, accessing funds is a challenge.
READ MORE
-
ARTS AND CULTURE
- Tony London
- 18 October 2022
Change of season is upon us, / hot unseasonal days have drained us, / human sponges squeezed by the hands / of humidity, but the nights are becomingcool, a relief for bodies and minds in need / of withdrawal and replenishment of deep sleep, but in all of this there is some wakefulness, and there are some choristers returned, in these dogwatch hours.
READ MORE
-
INTERNATIONAL
- Binoy Kampmark
- 10 May 2022
8 Comments
On May 3, the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, vented his fury in parliament at ‘the continual demonstration of lack of trust by the concerned parties, and tacit warning of military intervention in Solomon Islands if their national interest is undermined in Solomon Islands.’ The targets of the speech — Australia and the United States — were clear enough.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Celeste Liddle
- 12 August 2021
9 Comments
Across the Pacific Ocean, in Canada or ‘Turtle Island’ as it is also known by many of its Indigenous inhabitants, a horror has been unfolding. It started at a the former residential school in Kamloops, British Colombia where, via the use of ground penetrating radar technology, the remains of at least 215 Native Canadian children were found buried in mass unmarked gravesites. This school ran for 85 years, was part of compulsory government programs to forcibly assimilate these children, and was administered by the Catholic Church.
READ MORE
-
ARTS AND CULTURE
- Andrew Hamilton
- 22 July 2021
9 Comments
It is refreshing to find a work that is exploratory and invites its readers into a world more complex than they had imagined. Such a work is a recent book by Peter Dowling, Fatal Contact: How Epidemics Nearly Wiped Out Australia’s First Peoples.
READ MORE
-
INTERNATIONAL
- John Watkins
- 20 April 2021
6 Comments
The stark differences between Australia and Papua New Guinea during this crisis are a reminder of how far we still have to go to make sure that all humans, no matter where they’re born, have access to decent healthcare.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Vivienne Cowburn
- 13 October 2020
19 Comments
An idea that’s gaining traction, in a pandemic where international travel has stopped and many Australians are losing their jobs, is this notion that the unemployed (aka: everyone on JobSeeker payments) should go out into the regions and help the farmers pick fruit.
READ MORE