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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Parable of the unwelcome strangers

    • Greg Foyster
    • 20 June 2011
    22 Comments

    One day a stranger knocks on the door. 'Help!' he shouts. 'The people in my house are trying to kill me!' Instinctively, you reach for the door handle. A wrinkled hand, old yet firm, grabs your wrist. You look up and see your landlord, a bald man with thick rectangular glasses and bushy eyebrows.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Bill Morris and Simon Overland in exile

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 20 June 2011
    22 Comments

    Whatever his failings, former Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland was a patently good man. His resignation followed a disedifying and concerted campaign against him by media groups, the police union, some of his colleagues and many politicians. It is hard to see any good coming out of this affair.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Australia's mining menace

    • Steven Littlewood
    • 17 June 2011
    14 Comments

    To view the mining sector as central to the welfare of the economy is a furphy. The mining industry is not supporting other sectors of the economy, it's holding them back. Even in the states where mining dominates, the positive effects of the industry boom on the wider economy are questionable.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Reclaiming Labor's lost soul

    • Fatima Measham
    • 15 June 2011
    18 Comments

    Voters who'd otherwise position themselves between the conservative Liberals and radical Greens are stranded. They are looking for leaders who would rather lose big on matters of principle than win by a margin on compromised policy. History has shown Labor to be the natural home for such leaders.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Admiring the homeless

    • John Falzon
    • 14 June 2011
    8 Comments

    Far from being demonised, people living rough on the streets should be respected and admired for their tenacity and inventiveness. This week a group of business and community leaders will seek to learn from the people who live in the guts of our greatest social problem.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Exporting kids and cows

    • Moira Rayner
    • 09 June 2011
    25 Comments

    On Tuesday the Government 'suspended' transport of Australian live cattle to Indonesia. This is not a ban, but a hiatus. Public outrage over the export of live cattle is hypocritical given the lack of outrage regarding the inhumane treatment of asylum-seeking children.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Losing the fight for fair wages

    • Brian Lawrence
    • 08 June 2011
    5 Comments

    The 2011 wage review occurred 120 years after the release of the papal document Rerum Novarum, which had a significant impact on the development of Australian minimum wage-setting. The minimum wage provisions of the current Fair Work Act cannot be regarded as a success.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.'

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Why we swear

    • Philip Harvey
    • 06 June 2011
    6 Comments

    Fining people for swearing is silly. We can no more control what people say than we can hold the wind, or even a very large fart. Victoria's swear-fine laws are likely to be used either as threat or reality on those who can least afford the fine and cannot fight back.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Why Mabo deserves a holiday

    • Paul W. Newbury
    • 03 June 2011
    12 Comments

    The anniversary of the Mabo decision is significant enough to be made a public holiday. If it replaced the Queen's Birthday, this would reflect our maturation as a nation, as we grow away from Britain, and grow up by owning the past and our mistreatment of Indigenous Australians.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    How Islamic law can protect Australian cows

    • Fatima Measham
    • 02 June 2011
    11 Comments

    On Monday evening, Four Corners viewers reeled at images of Australian cattle being slaughtered in Indonesia. Since Indonesians are predominantly Muslim, perhaps an appeal to change their inhumane practices can begin with an appeal to the concept of halal: that which is permissible under Islamic law.

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