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Section: Australia

  • 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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  • AUSTRALIA

    The Budget of social exclusion

    • Frank Quinlan
    • 12 May 2010
    23 Comments

    If a 'fiscally responsible Budget' can increase spending on Australia's representatives in elite sports by $237 million, it is hard to imagine that there is not room somewhere for our unemployed to eat a little better.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    UK kingmaker Clegg wise to wait

    • Peter Scally
    • 11 May 2010
    5 Comments

    Gordon Brown's dignified resignation underlines the fact that Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's options in choosing a coalition partner remain open. He is wise not to rush a decision to finalise a deal. After the election that everybody lost, a coalition that works could make winners of the British people.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Communities still need the stimulus

    • Julie Edwards
    • 10 May 2010

    There are widespread calls for the stimulus measures to be wound back as the Australian economy emerges from the global economic crisis. It might be better in this year's and subsequent budgets to continue the economic stimulus, but focused on our most disadvantaged communities.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Let the mining goose sleep

    • Michael Mullins
    • 10 May 2010
    13 Comments

    Kevin Rudd has been accused of plucking the goose that laid the golden egg. Amid fears of frightening mining investors, few have queried the rush to plunder Australia's mineral wealth. Future generations could need it more than we do.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Close encounters with Greek unrest

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 10 May 2010
    5 Comments

    Greek leaders condemned the outbreak of violence that has seen innocent people die on the streets of Athens. However many people fear that worse is to come. Most people are angry, particularly the young. Greece has never treated its youth well.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Beating poverty is up to the Government

    • Frank Quinlan
    • 07 May 2010
    1 Comment

    'Poverty alleviation is a national goal that should be financed by the national government,' argues the Henry report. This sentence cuts through years of evasion and obfuscation. Poverty is back on the agenda, and it's the Federal Government's responsibility.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Politicising women's bodies

    • Catherine Marshall
    • 06 May 2010
    36 Comments

    What's the difference between wanting a thin wife and wanting an invisible wife? Which is more democratic: the western tendency to idealise the porn-star aesthetic, or the old-fashioned imperative for modesty and virtue? When the chips are down, is raunch culture really more dignifying than discretion?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Making poverty personal

    • Simon Moyle
    • 05 May 2010
    7 Comments

    Last week the world was shocked by CCTV footage of people walking past a homeless man as he died of stab wounds on a New York pavement. People on the streets know violence, but cold indifference hurts more than targeted physical attack.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Rudd tax act leaves vulnerable Australians hanging

    • Susan Helyar
    • 03 May 2010
    2 Comments

    Hopefully the Government's delay in providing a comprehensive response is not a sign of lost momentum, but rather means it is going to work directly with disadvantaged and vulnerable people and the organisations that support them to determine how best to address critical outstanding issues.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Rudd the Terminator

    • Michael Mullins
    • 03 May 2010
    19 Comments

    Increasing the cost of cigarettes hurts the poor more than the rich. Kevin Rudd is acting with the callous efficiency of The Terminator when he really needs to find a more equitable incentive to give up smoking.

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