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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Roasts and race in segregated South Africa

    • Cecile Yazbek
    • 26 October 2011
    1 Comment

    Anthony cleans gutters. Some people give him money. When he has enough he buys himself a piece of chicken. 'Where is your mother,' I wonder, 'who roasted fat chickens in our oven, and cooked giant pots of meaty bones for our dogs, her brown arms pitted with burns from our kettles?'

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Even Gaddafi deserves compassion

    • Michael Mullins
    • 24 October 2011
    17 Comments

    Gaddafi undoubtedly suffered from some form of mental illness that had unspeakably tragic consequences for the people of Libya. The jubilation of Libyans is understandable, but the country will not prosper while Gaddafi supporters remain antagonised and the country divided.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    One lifetime, two Depressions

    • Robert Corcoran
    • 21 October 2011
    16 Comments

    When America sneezes the world catches cold. No wonder crowds are demonstrating against Wall Street. Successive economic crises reveal that we have forgotten the economic lessons learned after the Great Depression. I am one of the dwindling number of Australians who was alive at that time.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Unemployment angels and demons

    • John Falzon
    • 19 October 2011
    8 Comments

    Recently I received an email from a young man in Queensland. He was writing to thank the St Vincent de Paul Society for the stance it takes on the side of people who are demonised for being unemployed. He told me his story. Here are some bits of it.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Modernising Islam

    • William Gourlay
    • 18 October 2011
    16 Comments

    First appearing in 1906, the islamic periodical Molla Nasreddin displayed a sardonic and satirical take on women's rights, the role of religion in society and government, press freedom and education. The Arab Spring is the latest expression of this forestalled progressive sentiment.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Reflections on Gillard's atheism

    • John Warhurst
    • 17 October 2011
    10 Comments

    Gillard's atheism puts her in stark contrast to her immediate predecessors Kevin Rudd and John Howard. We consider several implications of Gillard's position, including her relations with church-state issues and community attitudes towards gay marriage and euthanasia. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Religious retreat on Wall Street

    • Michael Mullins
    • 17 October 2011
    8 Comments

    One American theology professor compares Occupy Wall Street to religious ritual. The practical outcome is arguably less important than the process of renewing the humanity of the participants. If they appear to have achieved nothing, it's likely they have achieved a great deal.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Skating over Bali bombing remembrance

    • Vince Chadwick
    • 12 October 2011
    1 Comment

    Six years ago an inner city fountain was transformed into a memorial for the victims of the Bali bombings. Today, skateboarders leap onto the ledge and glide on their back wheels. Skateboarding is a rebellious culture, yet it seems fitting that a monument to peoples' lives be filled with life.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Love, the Northern Territory Intervention's missing ingredient

    • Andrew Chalk
    • 11 October 2011
    5 Comments

    Many Australians have reached a point of believing that the difficulties afflicting Aboriginal communities demand the heavy handed, and often humiliating, approach. But the Philppine grassroots Gawad Kalinga model, based on 'the giving of care', offers a realistic alternative.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Abbott and Costello meet Catholic Social Teaching

    • Brian Lawrence
    • 10 October 2011
    12 Comments

    Former federal treasurer Peter Costello has revealed his fears that Tony Abbott's education in the collectivist principles of Catholic Social Teaching will frustrate the Coalition's ambitions for free market reform of workplace laws.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Not quite Saint Steve

    • Michael Mullins
    • 10 October 2011
    5 Comments

    Steve Jobs did not fear death. He had the inner freedom we see in mystics and saints. But he should be judged by his actions, which include ruthlessly calculated decisions to tolerate poor conditions for workers manufacturing Apple products in China.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Insanity rules after ten years of war in Afghanistan

    • Irfan Yusuf
    • 07 October 2011
    12 Comments

    Today is the tenth anniversary of the war on Afghan jihadists. We civilised Westerners decided we’d had enough of barbarians flying planes into our skyscrapers, killing thousands of our civilians. And hence we sent our own planes to drop huge bombs on their villages and towns.

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