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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Sympathy for Israel and Palestine

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 07 June 2010
    14 Comments

    Public conversation about the military actions of Israel is always noisy and combative. Large statements of principle, contradictory stories and ad hominem arguments make evaluation difficult. In reflecting on the events of the past week I found myself returning to my first visit to Israel over 30 years ago.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Hello Israel, might we talk about your nukes?

    • Nicholas Taylor
    • 04 June 2010
    8 Comments

    The negotiation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone is the only non-proliferation initiative to have been accepted by all Middle East states, including Israel. Why has it taken 30 years? Because Egypt, Israel and Iran have competing reasons for promoting the idea.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Rudd's risky fear of Beijing 'bastards'

    • Brian Toohey
    • 03 June 2010
    9 Comments

    An earlier generation of politicians feared impoverished Asian hordes would pour down and eat our lunch. Current PM Kevin Rudd worries their offspring can now afford to come armed with the latest weapons and steal it. His fretting comes at great cost to the nation.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Julia vs Kevin

    • John Warhurst
    • 31 May 2010
    18 Comments

    Gillard has all it takes to be an excellent prime minister. Her best chance of gaining that position might be from opposition. This would mean Labor losing in 2010 and rising from the ashes in 2013 under her leadership.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Coalition's new nasties for asylum seekers

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 31 May 2010
    22 Comments

    The Coalition's new asylum seeker policy returns to the policy it put into practice under Mr Howard, adding new nasties. The Government's asylum seeker policy is bad; the Coalition's is worse. It is designed to appeal to human baseness, not to human generosity.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    In Thailand, the land of snarls

    • Simon Roughneen
    • 24 May 2010

    Standing amid the burnt-out ruins of southeast Asia's second biggest shopping mall, it becomes clear the Land of Smiles has become a land of snarls. The uncompromising quashing of the anti-government redshirt rally by the Thai army may have sown the seeds for more conflict later on.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Confronting Aker's and Australia's gay fear

    • Michael Mullins
    • 24 May 2010
    38 Comments

    When AFL legend Jason Akermanis' argument that gay footballers should stay in the closet failed to gain traction, it appeared that in Australia, widespread homophobia was a thing of the past. But the reaction to NSW Transport Minister David Campbell's visit to a gay sex club proves it remains an ugly force.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Phony Tony and the Liar's Paradox

    • Tony Smith
    • 21 May 2010
    26 Comments

    It is not Abbott's prerogative to tell people how they should react to the truth. The electorate can now never know when he is attempting to be honest. Apparently, he would happily accept electoral support even while knowing he has deceived the people.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Value lessons from Jessica Watson

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 20 May 2010
    13 Comments

    The arrival of Jessica Watson back in Australia was small news in cosmic terms, but provoked a great deal of discussion around the coffee pot. Most had to do with values. Some questions said more about the questioners than about the sailor.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Labor complacent as Indigenous gap widens

    • Jack Waterford
    • 18 May 2010
    5 Comments

    Seven houses — not bad for three and a half years work and hundreds of millions of dollars. At that rate the gap will be closed in about 7000 years. Minster Macklin frequently redefines what she is pretending to be doing, or uses weasel words.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Rudd cares less for carers

    • Michael Mullins
    • 17 May 2010
    6 Comments

    Dedicated aged care workers are leaving because they can't afford to exist on such low pay. Employers have their hands tied by the Federal Government, which last week passed over the opportunity to provide for aged care workers in the Budget.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Making public transport work

    • Paul Mees
    • 14 May 2010
    6 Comments

    A new round of Sydney-Melbourne rivalry has broken out, this one over which has the most dysfunctional train system. It's time Australian cities looked to public transport models that work, such as that of Zurich.

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