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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Praise for Wilkie's rage against the machines

    • Tony Kevin
    • 24 January 2012
    20 Comments

    Catholics in Australia have tended to be more tolerant of alcohol and gambling than 'wowser' Protestants. But too many Catholics turn a blind eye to how today's poker machine technology and operating environment is designed to nurture dangerous (but profitable) addiction.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Myths and truths of Australian bigotry

    • Larry Schwartz
    • 23 January 2012
    12 Comments

    Too often I've opened my front door and found myself tempted by some sales pitch. So today I'd answered warily, spoke through the screen door and tried to keep the encounter brief. 'I'm sorry, but we're not interested.' The salesman knew better: 'It's because of the colour of my skin,' he replied.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Time to change our racist constitution

    • Michael Mullins
    • 23 January 2012
    8 Comments

    Those who have been aware of racism in the Constitution and prepared to tolerate it, have effectively blessed the attitude that it's acceptable to regard Indigenous Australians as second class citizens in theory as long as we treat them as equals in practice. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Once upon a time in multicultural Australia

    • Zac Alstin
    • 20 January 2012
    17 Comments

    Embracing an individualistic Australia that transcends ethnic heritage would leave us with a culture that is young, thin and commercialised. If we wish to promote unity and equality, the best thing we can do is learn our own forgotten stories of ethnic heritage.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Adelaide land crime shows why we need a treaty

    • John Bartlett
    • 18 January 2012
    9 Comments

    In the mid-19th century my great-grandfather made a fortune as a quarryman and selling timber in South Australia. Of course with possession comes dispossession. Recent consideration of the state's founding documents suggest land acquired in establishing South Australia was acquired illegally.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Squeamish over Scottish independence

    • Justin Glyn
    • 17 January 2012
    11 Comments

    The prospect of a referendum on Scottish independence from the UK evokes one of the more interesting tensions in modern international law, between the right to self-determination on the one hand and the territorial integrity of states on the other.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Thatcher's blame game

    • Michael Mullins
    • 16 January 2012
    9 Comments

    It is arguable that, because she was one of the architects of the free market financial system that lacked protection for ordinary citizens, Margaret Thatcher shares responsibility for the widespread public harm caused by the GFC and the eurozone crisis.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2011: To remember September 11 is to pray

    • Brian Doyle
    • 11 January 2012
    1 Comment

    To remember the roaring courage of the people who rushed to help, or the people who used their last minutes on earth to call their families and say I love you I love you I will you forever, is to pray for them and us and even the poor silly murderers, themselves just lanky frightened children. Published 8 September 2011

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2011: Revelations of a detention centre spy

    • Lyn Bender
    • 10 January 2012
    9 Comments

    Employed at the centre as a psychologist, I witnessed riots, hunger strikes, attempted suicides and severe depression. I realised I had a profound ethical dilemma: in being compliant to the administration, I was unable to ensure my duty of care towards these people. So I became a mole. Published 27 September 2011

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2011: The reluctant Australian citizen

    • Fatima Measham
    • 09 January 2012
    7 Comments

    2001: Two planes slammed into the World Trade Centre. A Pakistani refugee self-immolated in front of the Australian Parliament. Asylum seekers were accused of throwing children overboard. These events had nothing to do with me, but I absorbed them. I am brown-skinned. I have an Arabic name. Published 4 September 2011

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2011: Australian politics could use a dash of vitriol

    • Edwina Byrne
    • 09 January 2012
    3 Comments

    The speeches of the Tea Party movement, for all their faults, are notable for their vivid symbolism and appeal to values. When was the last time you heard an Australian politician invent their own intelligible metaphor? Published 20 January 2011

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2011: Thousands of men and no groping

    • Trish Madigan
    • 06 January 2012
    3 Comments

    One website proudly proclaimed that Egypt's protests were a safe space for women. In fact women were on the frontline. They were part of a long history of women who have struggled for recognition of their human rights in Egypt. Published 15 February 2011

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