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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Polling whether politicians should go to heaven

    • Clive Hamilton
    • 08 August 2007
    14 Comments

    The results of the Australia's Institute's recent polling on the question reflect more than simple political judgments. While the Prime Minister seems to work hard at signalling his Christian beliefs, his moral standing appears tarnished by a widespread view that he is 'mean and tricky'. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Lifelong friends at first sight

    • Chris Fotinopoulos
    • 08 August 2007

    Friendship and family are invariably mentioned in the same breath. Although most parents expect their children to trust family ahead of friends, children tend to place greater faith in friends, who are more likely to ‘allow them to breathe’.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The disappearing distinction between Labor and Coalition welfare policy

    • Philip Mendes
    • 25 July 2007

    The ALP has historically been committed to government intervention in the free market to promote a fairer distribution of income. However, since Hawke and Keating, the ALP moved towards a free market agenda focusing on the alleviation of poverty rather than structural change.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Political opinion polls matter

    • John Warhurst
    • 25 July 2007
    1 Comment

    Much of the flesh of an election year grows on a skeleton made up of public opinion polls. But  they are only as good as the interpretation that accompanies them. Sometimes commentators see only what they want to see.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Great leaders love their teams

    • Chris Lowney
    • 25 July 2007
    1 Comment

    Eric Shinseki was the highest ranking US military officer in the United States until he ran afoul of his boss, former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsel. He had told a Congressional hearing that the US Army would more soldiers to Iraq than planned, to keep the peace Saddam Hussein's removal.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Trust comes at a price, but it's money well spent

    • Michael Mullins
    • 25 July 2007
    2 Comments

    Federal Water Resources Minister Malcolm Turnbull must expect to spend big in winning the trust of the recalcitrant Victorian irrigators. WIthout their hearts and minds, the Federal Government's $10.5 billion Murray-Darling rescue strategy is doomed to failure.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Let's share the burden of overcoming Muslim extremism

    • Saeed Saeed
    • 25 July 2007
    3 Comments

    Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said recently: "Muslim extremists are a Muslim issue - not ours." The fault with this view is that it transfers ownership of this challenge from the elected leaders to a minority group who simply don’t have the resources to deal with such a global crisis.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Aboriginal child abuse: whom do you trust?

    • Brian McCoy
    • 25 July 2007
    10 Comments

    We have learned that the damage caused by sexual abuse often continues for decades and into future generations. We can hope that Government interventions will make a long-term difference, but such complex issues cannot be reduced to a simple absolute: ‘the child must come first’.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Politicians should not put people in jail

    • Brian Toohey
    • 25 July 2007
    8 Comments

    Terrorism involves the ancient crime of murder. Dr Mohamed Haneef is not charged with murdering anyone, nor involvement in any murder. The ministerial prerogative exercised by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews should not exist.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    "One true Church" lessons for John Howard

    • Michael Mullins
    • 11 July 2007
    2 Comments

    The largely Protestant World Council of Churches reacted favourably to this week's perceived "one true Church" declaration by the Roman Catholic Church, calling it an honest sharing of divergences that helps the cause of unity. There are lessons for the Federal Government, which should declare its alleged Northern Territory "land grab" to be such, and in the national interest.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Musharraf throws dice in bid to hold power

    • Suzanna Koster
    • 11 July 2007

    This week's operation against the radical clerics has prompted messages of support for Pakistan's General Musharraf from western allies. But in the eyes of the common Pakistanis the president has lost credibility forever.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    JI's Al Qaeda link a myth

    • Dewi Anggraeni
    • 11 July 2007

    There may be ideological sympathy on the part of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiyah for Al Qaeda, but there has been no direct affiliation between between the two groups since 2003. Al Qaeda, it seems, has dismissed JI as ineffectual—they keep getting caught.

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