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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Neoliberal termites unbalance Fair Work Bill

    • Tim Battin
    • 01 December 2008
    6 Comments

    The Rudd Government is attempting to sell its Fair Work Bill on the basis of 'balance', as compared with the Howard Government's WorkChoices Bill. This is like trying to strike a balance between Margaret Thatcher and Genghis Khan.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Fashion fix won't mend failed states

    • Michael Mullins
    • 01 December 2008
    1 Comment

    A fashion magazine proposed that 'blowing the budget on something outrageously extravagant will let you know you're still alive'. There is a place for fantasy during financial hard times, but there are also good reasons to act decisively.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Cheap retail at the cost of culture

    • Kirsty Ruddock
    • 25 November 2008
    16 Comments

    Local Moree sportspeople and indigenous community members have a fight on their hands if they're to prevent the construction of a Big W retail store on a culturally significant site. It seems history and culture have no place in the pursuit of economic growth.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Cowboys and censors hijack child porn debate

    • Michael Mullins
    • 24 November 2008
    5 Comments

    Clive Hamilton has characterised critics of the Federal Government's proposed internet filter as 'extremist' libertarians. Like the much-lampooned 'war on terror', the protection of children is cast in emotive terms that cut across rational debate.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    TPV holders stuck in Howard time warp

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 20 November 2008
    1 Comment

    The Rudd Government's abolition of the Temporary Protection Visa on 9 August was a source of deep hope for refugees and their supporters. However the new rule has not yet been applied to many older cases, and there is no pressure on officials to act quickly.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    A linguist's vision for multicultural Australia

    • Michael Clyne
    • 18 November 2008
    6 Comments

    Bilingualism trains the mind and encourages more flexible problem solving. Such qualities go unnoticed in a society with a strong monolingual mindset. Social inclusion policy must also move beyond the socioeconomic dimension to prevent the exclusion of significant sections of Australian society.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    God hates fags and bankers

    • Michael Mullins
    • 17 November 2008
    5 Comments

    Senator John McCain's gracious concession speech this month recalled an era when hate was the norm. Big bankers are now being targeted with hate the has been inflicted on gays and other marginalised Americans, but there are better ways to heal America.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The small world of lobbyists and the Rudd Government

    • John Warhurst
    • 14 November 2008

    Qantas' new chief lobbyist is the Prime Minister's recent former chief of staff. The appointment mocks the spirit of the Government's new Lobbying Code of Conduct, demonstrating that corporate money can buy special access to government.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Standing up for students' rites

    • Brian McCoy
    • 12 November 2008
    7 Comments

    Media exposure of some students' controversial end-of-school celebrations revealed a cultural deficit. Aboriginal men experience rituals that support their transition from boyhood into adulthood. Rituals in Western society are less clear.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The banker who'd played the gentleman's game

    • John Honner
    • 10 November 2008
    3 Comments

    My favourite banker was Peter May, graceful batsman and cautious captain of the English cricket team in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He once broke his umbrella on the way to work, playing an imaginary cover drive at an imaginary fast bowler.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Priceless overseas health professionals

    • Michael Mullins
    • 09 November 2008
    12 Comments

    The case of a Perth midwife has come to light two weeks after that of Dr Bernhard Moeller of Horsham in Victoria. Both are highly valued overseas-born health professioals who have been denied permanent residency because of the burden on the public purse associated with caring for their Down syndrome children.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    New Zealand's dim new world

    • Cecily McNeill
    • 09 November 2008
    8 Comments

    Kiwi voters opted at the weekend for political newcomer John Key, over the steady management style of longtime leader Helen Clark. They may look back on the Clark days with nostalgia when they discover the new administration is most concerned with pleasing blue-chip investors.

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