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Section: International

  • INTERNATIONAL

    Getting the balance right on border protection

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 02 November 2009
    3 Comments

    When debating key issues such as the balance between sovereignty and the human rights of asylum seekers, we can sometimes forget that we're dealing with people. What's clear for advocates can pose difficulties for politicians.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Child mortality breakthroughs

    • Matthew Smeal
    • 21 October 2009
    3 Comments

    Globally last year, 65 children out of every thousand died before the age of five. Recent figures suggest that, with the right approach, the road to ending preventable child deaths could be a short one.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Getting fair, not tough, on immigration

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 07 October 2009
    13 Comments

    Homosexuals in Iran and allegedly 'adulterous' women in some countries are at risk of execution. Such cases may not qualify for refugee status in Australia, but would benefit from a 'complementary protection' Bill currently before Parliament.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Refugees and other aliens

    • Catherine Marshall
    • 18 August 2009
    5 Comments

    One night 11 years ago I joined members of a local police commando to report on a mission to intercept Mozambique refugees travelling into South Africa. It is easier to 'tolerate the intolerance' in under-resourced, refugee-deluged South Africa than in Australia.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Asylum seekers good for Australia's soul

    • Irfan Yusuf
    • 14 August 2009
    11 Comments

    According to P. J. O'Rourke, today's asylum seekers are tomorrow's 'really good Australians'. Australia has established Uighur and Turkish communities and could easily accommodate the few remaining ex-Gitmo Uighurs.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Religious freedom and secular society

    • Moira Rayner
    • 13 August 2009

    What do our major religions have to fear from changes to equal opportunity law? The challenge is a worthy and a practical one: in what way do the activities of religious institutions actually reflect the values of their prophets and visionaries.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Freedom of religion important for Catholic social services

    • Denis Fitzgerald
    • 13 August 2009

    A religious purpose is at the heart of Catholic Social Services. Because of this purpose, organisations need to be able to recruit people who support the social mission of the Church, and whose conduct will not compromise or undermine the witness of the Church.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Limiting discrimination won't harm religious freedoms

    • Moira Rayner
    • 13 August 2009
    10 Comments

    Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act allows religious and quasi-religious groups and individuals to 'discriminate' lawfully. It's hard to see the relevance of the beliefs or lifestyle of a cleaner or clerk in an independent, para-religious school.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    When freedom of religion trumps free speech

    • Mick MacAndrew
    • 11 August 2009
    16 Comments

    In April, Germany's highest court ruled against animal rights group PETA. It said the Holocaust is part of the identity of being a Jew, and any attempt to use the fate of the victims for trivial reasons is a defamation of the religion.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Human egg trade exploits women

    • Kevin McGovern
    • 31 July 2009
    1 Comment

    The call by law professor Loane Skene for women to sell their eggs for embryonic stem cell research ignores medical evidence of the health risks, and international evidence that the legalisation of the sale of eggs leads to exploitation of women.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    No welcome stranger in racist Australia

    • Cara Munro
    • 03 June 2009
    18 Comments

    In Melbourne, 2000 Indian students gather to protest a lack of Government response to a spate of violent attacks. I am with them because I am ashamed that a white Christian woman is safer in the military capital of Rawalpindi than these students are on a train in Melbourne.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Exploding pig flu

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 27 May 2009
    8 Comments

    As Australia deals with its own incursion of H1N1, a strange event on a Geneva-bound train reminds us that this virus is in human hands. Meanwhile the manufacture of a vaccine for the virus raises doubts about medical ethics and equity.

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