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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    We need to go beyond Australians First thinking

    • John Warhurst
    • 28 April 2020
    13 Comments

    We have done a lot right as a nation during the pandemic, but on the whole we have not treated foreigners as well as we might have. The inequality of treatment has been in evidence during the twin health and economic crises brought on by COVID-19.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Remember to be kind to yourself, too

    • Marnie Vinall
    • 27 April 2020
    2 Comments

    The notion that we’re stronger together and we all just need to be kind to each other is reinforced by our leaders, from celebrities and public figures, and broadcast widely across social media. Yet something is missing from this encouraging messaging set to keep our spirits up and that’s the need to offer kindness within, too.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Significant Federal Court win for Biloela Tamil family

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 24 April 2020
    7 Comments

    On 17 April 2020, the Federal Court ordered that Immigration had failed to comply with procedural fairness for the family. The case is known by the pseudonym XAD. The XAD case relied on significant legal principles going back to the M61 High Court decision of 2011.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    We should never lose our homes in an emergency

    • Abigail Lewis
    • 23 April 2020
    6 Comments

    It would seem that many of us, on all sides of politics, agree that evicting someone from their home because an emergency circumstance beyond their control has affected their ability to pay their rent on time is morally questionable at best. And yet, before COVID-19, this was something we allowed to happen all the time.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    A modest and muted Anzac day

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 23 April 2020
    18 Comments

    This year the celebration of Anzac Day will be muted. No marches, no large reunions, few speeches at war memorials. The soldiers and others who lost their lives in war will be remembered, however, as they should be. Indeed, the celebration will perhaps speak more eloquently because of its simplicity.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    First Nations communities continue to be left behind

    • Michele Madigan
    • 22 April 2020
    8 Comments

    This huge, rarely mentioned and ongoing deeply shameful situation regarding the health and housing of First Nations people comes into unbearably sharp relief by the present crisis.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Beyond binaries in COVID-19 discussions

    • Justin Glyn
    • 20 April 2020
    7 Comments

    The question remains, however, is there a straight binary trade-off between granting the state power (to organise lock-downs, track its populace and coerce the people) and keeping its people safe?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Keeping an eye on police powers

    • Bree Alexander
    • 18 April 2020
    5 Comments

    Most people would agree that certain measures are necessary to both protect those who face the greatest health risks and so that our health systems don’t get overwhelmed. However, these astronomical limitations on civil liberties raise concerns.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Right to Know still has a long way to go

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 16 April 2020
    4 Comments

    The opacity of the Australian public service, and its disposition to secrecy, has left journalists in a bind. Leaks constitute the oxygen of the secret state, but publishing that material remains a dangerous affair.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Masking anxiety, showing care

    • Kate Galloway
    • 15 April 2020
    5 Comments

    Who knew that the greatest moral debate of our time would be whether or not to wear a mask? Having sewed my first mask many weeks ago, I’ve been following the millions of words written and spoken on the efficacy of masks, whether to wear them, who should wear them, how to use them, and how to make them. In a genre that is already bending my brain, there is a special sub-category of mask-shaming.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Let's not snap back but spring forward

    • John Falzon
    • 10 April 2020
    25 Comments

    Already the ideological die-hards of neoliberalism are working out how the pandemic might be manipulated to lower wages and to snap back to the old economic normal. So now is when collectively we need to take over the framing and the forming of the future. Not to snap back but to spring forward.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Prisoners need action now facing COVID-19

    • Julie Edwards
    • 09 April 2020
    6 Comments

    We know that prisons are pressure cooker environments at the best of times. We can’t let them also become sites of mass infection, with potentially grave consequences, during the current COVID-19 health crisis. 

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