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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Rudd's apology was also our apology

    • Michael Mullins
    • 15 February 2010
    6 Comments

    On the second anniversary of the apology to Indigenous Australians, we look instinctively to the Prime Minister to tell us what he's done. He presented his report card to Parliament on Thursday. But he's not the only one who needs to account.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Taliban friend's letters to the enemy

    • Benjamin Gilmour
    • 12 February 2010
    21 Comments

    In the tribal areas of Pakistan, close to the Afghan border, Abdullah Khan, a friend and unashamed supporter of the Pakistani Taliban, gives me a present. Slowly I open it. Lying on a bed of white fabric is a US military service medal on a ribbon. 'Just 200 rupees a piece', he tells me.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Rescuing altruism from the Barnaby rubble

    • Michael Mullins
    • 08 February 2010
    12 Comments

    That Senator Joyce's arguments for reducing foreign aid make little sense does not stop them from winning popular support. Many voters decide on the basis of emotion rather than rationality. And tapping voter greed is likely to be more successful than appealing to altruism.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Haiti needs to be free

    • Aurelien Mondon
    • 05 February 2010
    7 Comments

    The Haitians need help, but are not a failed people. Two hundred years ago, Haiti became a beacon of light and freedom for all oppressed people. Colonialism was defeated, and the myth of white supremacy dealt a mortal blow. For this, the little country would pay.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    MySchool: helping rich schools get richer

    • Tony Kevin
    • 03 February 2010
    7 Comments

    It is disingenuous for Labor education ministers' to say MySchool will create political pressure to boost 'under-performing' schools. Meanwhile parents, voting with their feet, may foster the very outcomes they fear: underprivileged, low-morale schools breeding a generation of alienated, under-achieving kids.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Apple angels and MySchool demons

    • Michael Mullins
    • 01 February 2010
    2 Comments

    Both the Apple iPad and the MySchool website will improve our lives if we overcome the urge to deify or demonise. The iPad is priced to appeal to the mass market rather than an elite, and it could hold the key to a manageable large-scale transition from printed books and newspapers.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Tony Abbott and the price of virginity

    • Catherine Marshall
    • 29 January 2010
    50 Comments

    Tony Abbott and I have something in common: we've both been having the sex talk with our teenage daughters. The bizarre glorification of virginity and the latent distaste of our daughters' sexuality removes the very power with which we strive to arm them.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Prince William vs the Republic of Australia

    • John Warhurst
    • 25 January 2010
    18 Comments

    William's visit laid bare the weaknesses of members of the Royal Family as candidates for our head of state. The package represented by William should be anathema to modern Australia's constitutional future, whatever he might have to offer as a person.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    'Hysterical' Indian media speak the truth

    • Michael Mullins
    • 25 January 2010
    13 Comments

    Before Australia's racism can be dealt with, political leaders must follow General Peter Cosgrove in acknowledging its existence. Their reluctance to support his remarks could reflect their fear of speaking hard truths in a year of multiple elections.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Prince encounters 'unfinished business' of Indigenous history

    • Brian McCoy
    • 25 January 2010
    1 Comment

    Australia Day remindes us of stories of separation within our country, such as the stories of the Stolen Generations. Separation from a parent is something Prince William understands. 'Did your mummy die?' a six-year old asked him during his visit last week.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Abbott blinded by Howard's brutal immigration principle

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 25 January 2010
    17 Comments

    Tony Abbott has declared John Howard's statement, 'We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come', to be 'self-evidently and robustly true'. The Australian people deserve a better basis for policy than an appeal to self-interest.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Google in China should have known better

    • Thomas Bartlett
    • 22 January 2010
    7 Comments

    Did Google really think their entering China could exert a force for China's 'opening up'? If so, they have deceived themselves. First and foremost, Chinese government is about control, and the more it changes, the more it stays the same.

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