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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Why Gen Y loves Obama

    • Charles McPhedran
    • 11 June 2008
    5 Comments

    Barack Obama is more than just the rock-star candidate. His speech in Minneapolis invoked the tradition of liberal American reformers. For the majority of young loft-living leftists in New York, Obama is our JFK.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The trouble with alcoholic Australia

    • Barbara Chapman
    • 10 June 2008
    13 Comments

    Brendan Nelson told Kevin Rudd to direct his war on binge drinking at his own backyard after Young Labor delegates hosted a drunken party in a Canberra hotel. But Australia's addiction to the bottle runs deeper than mere substance abuse.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    G-G's blind faith in Australia's constitution

    • John Warhurst
    • 06 June 2008
    12 Comments

    The Governor-General, Major-General Michael Jeffery, is mounting a defence of the place of the British monarchy in the Australian Constitution. On several occasions recently Jeffery has proclaimed a very conservative view of Australian constitutional arrangements.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Why public servants leak

    • Tony Kevin
    • 05 June 2008
    3 Comments

    All is not well between the Prime Minister and the Public Service, as evidenced by the leak of Cabinet documents related to Fuelwatch. Such a leak may have been avoided had Rudd removed notoriously Howard-compliant departmental heads upon taking office.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Talking to the enemy

    • Shahram Akbarzadeh
    • 04 June 2008
    8 Comments

    Jimmy Carter's meeting with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Masha'al contradicted US policy of not negotiating with terrorists. Hamas carries a popular mandate to establish Palestine as a sovereign state. Peace is not going to reign in Palestine or Israel if Hamas is excluded from negotiations.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Preserving the real benefits of fair pay

    • Brian Lawrence
    • 03 June 2008
    2 Comments

    Labor has followed the former Howard Government by not nominating a figure in its submissions to the Fair Pay Commission's review of minimum wages. If the commission discounts wage increases to balance tax cuts it will tip the scales against disadvantaged working families.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Only higher prices will cure fuel addiction

    • Michael Mullins
    • 02 June 2008
    12 Comments

    Both the Federal Government and Opposition have proposed easing the pain of ballooning petrol prices with flat tax reductions. However they would be doing us more of a favour if they treated oil dependency as an addiction, and imposed extra taxes that would further increase the price of petrol.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Nothing smart about Rudd cluster bomb intransigence

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 30 May 2008
    6 Comments

    This week's international conference in Dublin has agreed on a draft treaty to ban cluster bombs. The Rudd Government has become the bad guy, by ensuring the 'smart bombs' purchased by the former Howard Government were excluded from the treaty.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Converting Paisley the Irish demagogue

    • Frank O'Shea
    • 27 May 2008
    3 Comments

    Northern Ireland has celebrated a year of normal political life. If St Paul got hit by a bolt of lightning, what persuaded Ian Paisley to change from a brand-name for bigotry into a reasonable human being?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    GM patents exploit the poor

    • Charles Rue
    • 26 May 2008
    2 Comments

    Brazil produces plenty of food and has large exports thanks to its plentiful GM crops. Yet 40 per cent of its people go to bed hungry. GM is about making money, not feeding the hungry.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Terrorist fear exposes Dutch intolerance

    • Ashlea Scicluna
    • 20 May 2008
    19 Comments

    The popular perception of the Netherlands as a tolerant country is only a half-truth. Most Dutch rarely mix with the Islamic population, fearing Islam will encroach upon the traditional values of Dutch identity. The nation has failed to understand and accept its Muslim population.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Burying Australia's inhumane refugee laws

    • David Manne
    • 19 May 2008
    5 Comments

    Australia's refugee regime may represent the Western world's worst practice. The Government has abolished flawed and dehumanising temporary protection visas, but a more substantial review is required to ensure asylum seekers enjoy equal protection under Australian law.

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