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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Stars point to brighter future for Forgotten Australians

    • John Honner
    • 10 November 2009
    3 Comments

    A sports hall in Berry, NSW, has won a coveted international architecture prize. This has a special significance for this month's Federal Government apology to the 'Forgotten Australians' who suffered abuse in institutional care.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Isabel's lessons in humanity

    • Michael Mullins
    • 09 November 2009
    2 Comments

    Isabel Guterres came to Australia as a refugee from East Timor in the early '80s. Recently the Australian Catholic University awarder her its highest honour in recognition of her lifetime commitment to justice and service. Her story is a lesson in the value of treating refugees with humanity.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Politics without morality damages Australia

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 06 November 2009
    9 Comments

    Shaun Carney from The Age remarks that governments can be expected to treat refugee policy as 'just politics'. We have seen the consequences for the economy of tolerating 'business as usual'. It would be a pity to prostitute government in the same way.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Another 'certain maritime incident'

    • Tony Kevin
    • 05 November 2009
    11 Comments

    Peter Costello draws a long bow in presuming smugglers provided the boat that sank off the Cocos Islands this week. As with the sinking of the SIEV X, it is unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to remind us that at the heart of this issue are desperate human beings.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Why Australia needs the Vatican

    • John Warhurst
    • 04 November 2009
    11 Comments

    Tim Fischer, Australian Ambassador to the Vatican, has a vital role in a state he calls a hub of power and intelligence. One can't help but wonder if Cardinal George Pell thinks he, rather than Fischer, should be Rudd's man in the Vatican.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Boobs, booze and Muslim feminists

    • Ellena Savage
    • 03 November 2009
    21 Comments

    She'd rather be wearing jeans, but is compelled to dress like a Christmas tree for the Spring Racing Carnival. Her desire to be desired for the depth of her cleavage is nominated by the designs of men in her society. No wonder some Muslim women feel the hijab subverts patriarchy.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    'Indonesia solution' is immoral

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 02 November 2009
    10 Comments

    The reception of asylum seekers is to be judged by the human reality of those who seek asylum, not by convenience of those on whom they make a claim. It is morally unjustifiable for Australia to transfer its responsibilities to Indonesia.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Bosnian war criminal's strategic repentance

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 30 October 2009
    1 Comment

    The only woman convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has returned to Serbia. Her guilty plea formed part of a bargain, another sign that guilt and punishments are often matters of tactics and basic arithmetic. The victims of that savage war will not be so gracious.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Bishop sex scandal can't keep a good reformer down

    • Hugh O'Shaughnessy
    • 27 October 2009
    4 Comments

    Fernando Lugo, President of Paraguay, made headlines at Easter when he revealed that, as a bishop, he had fathered a child. He is good at politics and his skills as a reformer keep him popular in a poverty-stricken country where marriage often loses out to co-habitation.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    How the High Court failed native title

    • Sarah Burnside
    • 26 October 2009
    5 Comments

    Mining states often view native title as bureaucratic red tape that slows down the industry. But the Native Title Act has never given Aboriginal people a right of veto. The High Court recently set an unfortunate precedent that further hinders the ability of traditional owner groups to negotiate.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Dogs at risk in Rudd's 'big Australia'

    • Michael Mullins
    • 26 October 2009
    11 Comments

    Kevin Rudd last week talked up population growth, saying he 'believes in a big Australia'. But we are not well placed to deal with the environmental challenges of a population of 35 million. Road use and pet ownership are among the many aspects of our lifestyle that will need careful evaluation.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Stop Sri Lanka, not its refugees

    • Michael Mullins
    • 19 October 2009
    45 Comments

    The Rudd Government is pursuing the same unprincipled border protection strategy for which it criticised the Howard Government. It could better assist these refugees by asking the Sri Lankan Government why so many Tamils are fleeing the country, especially if the war is over.

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