Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site
Forgot your password?
Subscribe

Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    Winter Raffle 2019 winners

    • Staff
    • 18 July 2019

    The Society of Jesus in Victoria, Jesuit Communications Winter Raffle 2019 was drawn on Tuesday 16 July 2019 (Permit No 10187/19). Congratulations to the winners: 1st prize: T. Downes, NSW; 2nd prize: S. Hayes, Qld; 3rd prize: M. Blair, Vic.: 4th prize: M. Saunder, Vic. All winners have been notified directly. Thank you to everyone who supported our Winter raffle.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    'Frankenstein' asylum regime turns six

    • Joshua Lourensz
    • 18 July 2019
    17 Comments

    Even during the brief six months I worked on Manus I saw a group of healthy, good-humoured men reduced to shadows. On this anniversary we must protest and mourn not only the toll on human life incurred by six years of offshore processing, but also the Frankenstein mechanisms through which this has all been enacted.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Facts belie positive spin on homelessness

    • Eliza Berlage
    • 18 July 2019
    4 Comments

    Housing Minister Luke Howarth came under fire for saying he wanted to put a 'positive spin' on homelessness, but worse than his comments is the misinformation. While his claim that 'half a per cent of the population don't have a permanent roof over their head' is correct, that still means one in 200 Australians is experiencing homelessness.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Setting straight critics of a Voice to Parliament

    • Kate Galloway
    • 15 July 2019
    7 Comments

    Constitutional reform works at two levels. It would establish the institution of the Voice so that a future Parliament could not easily get rid of it. Doing so is also symbolic — but not merely symbolic. It recognises the place of Indigenous Australians within the Australian polity. This is not a divisive action. Rather it is inclusive.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Justice is slow in the 'fast' asylum regime

    • Stephen Lawrence
    • 15 July 2019
    6 Comments

    The defeat of Bill Shorten will impact particularly harshly on thousands of asylum seekers who arrived by sea during the Gillard and Second Rudd governments. The 'Fast Track Assessment Process' has left thousands of genuine refugees in limbo and made lawful what would otherwise be considered gross administrative misfeasance.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Working for a shared Australian identity

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 08 July 2019
    5 Comments

    The NAIDOC theme returns to the other side of the relationship between First and later Australians — that of unity within a single nation — and invites cooperation in a project that matters to all Australians. At stake is not simply the fulfilment of Indigenous hopes but shared pride in an Australian identity.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    What you notice when you’re not really there

    • Neve Mahoney
    • 04 July 2019
    8 Comments

    I've waitressed at yacht clubs, fire stations, homes. I've seen 16 year olds on their birthdays, old couples on their anniversaries, a surprise wedding. I've watched grandmothers ferrying food to their grandkids, and heard the cadences in people's speech all over Victoria. I learned a lot about people when I wasn't 'really' there.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Comrades among the ruins of neoliberalism

    • John Falzon
    • 03 July 2019
    19 Comments

    One of the greatest philosophical challenges for social justice is to articulate a 21st century vision of the role of government. Government is the chief means by which people achieve collectively what they cannot achieve alone. We have no right to indulge in despair when more and more people are being forced to bear the brunt of inequality.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    A close encounter with our ill health system

    • Daniel Sleiman
    • 03 July 2019
    10 Comments

    When I found myself facing the prospect of thyroid surgery, I had two options: either I could get it done for free through Medicare or privately at a cost of $11,000. I've been reflecting again on that choice in light of the recent criticism of 'celebrity' brain surgeon Charlie Teo. Australia's healthcare system is not as egalitarian as we think it is.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Lost in place

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 02 July 2019
    4 Comments

    The power of this experience of place prompts reflection on the way in which young people who live in areas marked by multiple disadvantage relate to place. Many say they hate the areas in which they have grown up. This would be an understandable response to a world in which they have found neither opportunity nor beauty.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Folau funds could have served a greater good

    • Chelsea Candy
    • 02 July 2019
    50 Comments

    By close of business on Thursday, the Australian Christian Lobby had raised over $2 million for Israel Folau's legal fighting fund. I can't help but wonder about the priorities of the Christians supporting the fundraiser. As a former community lawyer, I can think of many ways $2 million might be spent to help those facing a battle with the law.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Spit decisions: DIY tests endanger DNA data

    • Jacinta Bowler
    • 28 June 2019
    6 Comments

    When One Nation puts forward a policy to DNA test Aboriginal people, DNA databases are solving crimes abroad, and commercial ancestry kits are as popular as ever, it's important to ask what we're giving away when we get our DNA sequenced. You'll only ever have one set of genes and once that data is out there it's very hard to get it back.

    READ MORE