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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2009: Empathy for paedophiles is not sympathy for the devil

    • Michael Mullins
    • 04 January 2010
    4 Comments

    A bill passed hastily by the NSW Parliament last week, specifically to force released paedophile Dennis Ferguson out of his home, effectively enshrined hate in legislation. Like drug addiction, paedophilia is a problem that requires community empathy, rather than ostracism. September 2009

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Holiday greetings from Eureka Street

    • Staff
    • 18 December 2009
    1 Comment

    A big thank you to all our readers for your support during 2010. Eureka Street will begin publishing its Best Articles of 2009 on 4 January. Our regular publishing schedule will recommence on 18 January. We hope you have a fulfilling and relaxing holiday season. See you next year!

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Chaotic endgame in Copenhagen

    • Tony Kevin
    • 18 December 2009
    3 Comments

    At conferences like this, an atmosphere of crisis is necessary for final deals to be achieved. Kevin Rudd will not want to define the summit as a failure so, hopefully, his notorious 5 per cent emissions reduction target will be left behind.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Carols in the gangland

    • Sarah Ayoub
    • 18 December 2009
    5 Comments

    Men of dark hair and olive skin travelling in packs, bound by an unbreakable tradition. They have found a niche for themselves in South-West Sydney, and no matter how they are stereotyped, they continue to meet, greet and roar as they beat, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, on their drums.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Irresponsible reporting misleads on welfare quarantining

    • Frank Quinlan
    • 17 December 2009
    3 Comments

    Governments are likely to grasp at feeble evidence in order to support preferred policy positions. When reporting on issues such as welfare quarantining as part of the Intervention, The Australian and the ABC ought to read further than the Minister's press release.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Abbott needs to be a better boxer

    • John Warhurst
    • 16 December 2009
    7 Comments

    Tony Abbott sees the role of the Opposition as merely to oppose the Government. This fits the image of Abbott the boxer standing his ground resolutely in the middle of the ring. But it is a simplistic view not just of Opposition, but of boxing.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The opportunity cost of Rudd-love

    • Michael Mullins
    • 14 December 2009
    5 Comments

    If Hawke and Keating had failed to act on economic reform, the opportunity cost would have been devastating unemployment during the GFC. It is not difficult to imagine the opportunity cost of the priority Rudd is giving to his own popularity over reforms that are now urgently needed.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Let's redistribute hope

    • John Falzon
    • 11 December 2009
    7 Comments

    Aside from a few fanatical poverty-deniers, there is a broad consensus that we have a serious problem. Frantz Fanon reminded us nearly 50 years ago that we need a redistribution of wealth. 'Humanity must reply to this question, or be shaken to pieces by it.' We have been shaken to pieces.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    John Smith Christmas homily: faith and welfare in action

    • John Smith
    • 10 December 2009
    1 Comment

    Much can be achieved in cooperation with friends who don't necessarilyshare the same faith or any faith at all. If you're homeless, who careswhether an atheist, a Christian or a Buddhist provides shelter?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Guerilla president cements Uruguay's left

    • Antonio Castillo
    • 09 December 2009
    1 Comment

    Four decades ago 'Pepe' Mujica was a ferocious Latin American guerrilla leader. His election as president of Uruguay shows that the Latin American people continue to reject the neoliberal experiment that has brought so much poverty and injustice.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Fresh female face of fatigued NSW politics

    • Tony Smith
    • 08 December 2009
    5 Comments

    Some cynics say female leaders are the housewives and mothers of politics, expected to clean the mess left by the men who preceded them. Male premiers have been shaping NSW for over 150 years now, so Kristina Keneally must clean up after 41 predecessors.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Abbott's vision for a better Australia

    • Michael Mullins
    • 07 December 2009
    25 Comments

    There is a view that Tony Abbott is seeking to expand the public's moral imagination rather than simply pander to avarice. This should be tested against his characterisation of the ETS as a giant 'tax grab'.

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