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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Don't despair of election 'race to the bottom'

    • Bruce Duncan
    • 06 August 2010

    The election has been plagued by trivial spats and personality conflicts, to the neglect of policies based on the values of equity and social justice for everyone. This reinforces the importance of church and community groups being more active in their social advocacy.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Getting intimate with Julia

    • Ashleigh Green
    • 03 August 2010
    20 Comments

    Since being sworn into power on 24 June, Gillard has faced questions regarding her unmarried status, her decision to remain childless and her physical appearance. It is possible that our obsession with the private lives of celebrities and politicians stems from the lack of real intimacy in today's society.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Gillard's atheism belongs in the closet

    • Michael Mullins
    • 02 August 2010
    43 Comments

    It could have been a mistake for Gillard to 'come out' as an atheist, as if giving witness to a firmly held religious belief. Abbott did better by declaring candidates' religious views a private matter that should not distract from voters' judgment of their policies.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Jews fenced in by Aussie intolerance

    • Catherine Marshall
    • 02 August 2010
    27 Comments

    Given that eruvs are inconspicuous, and religious freedom in Australia is a fait accompli, there can be only one explanation for the prevailing sentiment, and that is a subtle prejudice which represents the great big elephant in the room for anyone living on Sydney's North Shore.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    What welfare policies?

    • Frank Quinlan
    • 30 July 2010
    7 Comments

    The current kind of content-free campaigning, appealing to popular biases and stereotypes, has real consequences for the social services sector and the people they serve.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The trial and sentencing of Comrade Duch

    • Tony Kevin
    • 28 July 2010
    2 Comments

    The former head of the Khmer Rouge's main interrogation centre has just been sentenced to 30 years prison. There are important lessons internationally. If a state becomes evil, its orders must be resisted.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Nothing underhanded about Labor-Greens deal

    • John Warhurst
    • 27 July 2010
    18 Comments

    Appearing last week on ABC1's Q+A, Julie Bishop claimed that following a preference deal with the Labor Party, the Greens were now effectively a Labor faction. Preference deals areĀ as old as the preferential system itself. The impact of these deals should not be exaggerated.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Gillard bombing on moral leadership

    • Michael Mullins
    • 26 July 2010
    24 Comments

    Julia Gillard appears to be in no mood to countenance the type of conviction politics that would be required to ratify the ban of cluster bombs. This is a far cry from the glory days of Kevin07 when Rudd said he would ratify Kyoto, then did exactly that.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    A Shakespearean view of Australian politics

    • Adrian Phoon
    • 26 July 2010
    2 Comments

    Malcolm Turnbull recently compared Kevin Rudd to the Shakespearean character Coriolanus, a reviled control freak. Politicians sometimes invoke Shakespeare to flatter their own cause. But this is fraught with dangers: they can come off sounding pompous, or their analogies may backfire.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Aker sacking an example for political parties

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 23 July 2010
    3 Comments

    It seems appropriate that Jason Akermanis was sacked in the middle of an election campaign. The tensions between conflicting interests that led to his sacking have also been exhibited in the election campaign. But in politics they have been negotiated much more disreputably.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Forget Keating-Hawke soapie, give Rudd a hug

    • Michael Mullins
    • 19 July 2010
    14 Comments

    The public stoush between Paul Keating and Bob Hawke seems little more than soap opera for political junkies. Australian Jesuit Fr Frank Brennan longs for a political morality to guide politicians at times of political upheaval, such as Kevin Rudd's emotional departure from the Labor leadership.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Election year blogs stifle democracy

    • Ben Coleridge
    • 19 July 2010
    6 Comments

    The fact that we are 'discussing' more than ever before due to the internet and the blogosphere, does not prove that our democracy is in better shape. The environment precludes reasoning because reasoning requires a willingness to listen to the other and to approach questions through mutual respect.

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