Author: Barry Gittins
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 21 May 2025
As extreme weather becomes more common in Australia, so too do deaths from heat and cold. And those who suffer most are the most vulnerable: the poor, the unhoused. What does it mean to survive the climate when comfort is a privilege, not a right?
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 10 April 2025
In cities that pride themselves on liveability, a quiet war is being waged against the homeless with urban design and tough bylaws. What appears as civic order is, in truth, a hardening of public conscience, where compassion gives way to concealment, and suffering is swept from view.
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 13 March 2025
Australia’s political class might make grand promises, but for those on the margins — homeless, underemployed, struggling with addiction — these pledges mean little. The people who have been left behind know the game is rigged. As elections approach, they watch from the outside, knowing their vote was never meant to count.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Barry Gittins
- 29 January 2025
As the news cycle fills with exposés of hypocrisy, from politicians to celebrities, we are confronted with uncomfortable questions: When should we hold others to account, and when should we accept the contradictions in ourselves and others? The answers, it seems, lie somewhere between judgment and grace.
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 18 December 2024
As airports swell with holiday travellers chasing far-flung reunions and tropical getaways, a paradox looms above the tarmac: while we demand action on climate change, few are ready to ground themselves. Flight represents humanity’s defiance of limits — an act of freedom, wonder, and consequence. Can we balance soaring ambitions with planetary survival?
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INTERNATIONAL
- Barry Gittins
- 22 November 2024
1 Comment
Before the U.S. election, Don Watson predicted the electoral victory of Trump in his essay High Noon, an exploration of a divided America teetering on the edge. Dissecting the economic, racial, and cultural forces that led to a Republican landslide reveals an imperfect union at its most vulnerable.
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 30 October 2024
5 Comments
In 1968, Peter Norman won Olympic silver, but his lasting legacy was a stance for justice on the podium alongside Tommie Smith and John Carlos, where he wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge in solidarity. Yet his quiet protest led to lifelong exclusion at home, recognition arriving only posthumously.
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 16 October 2024
1 Comment
As winter’s chill stubbornly lingers and spring arrives in fits and starts, the weight of the long cold months still presses on many of us. Yet in the midst of this darkness, thinkers like Carl Jung remind us of the power of gratitude to shift our perspective.
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 29 August 2024
In the early 20th century, the Salvation Army emerged as a dominant player in the nascent film industry. From pioneering filmmaking techniques to navigating the first moral dilemmas around film censorship, their cinematic journey is a fascinating, often-forgotten chapter in film history.
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 20 August 2024
3 Comments
Emma's story offers an unflinching glimpse into the brutality of colonial Australia. While it’s worth celebrating the undeniable social progress made since Emma braved the voyage to Australia, we must resist the temptation to see our history of violence as consigned to the past.
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 10 July 2024
4 Comments
How do you respond, when members of your own tribe share their distaste towards those who rub them up the wrong way? Do you ‘unfollow’? Do you engage? And if you vent against those who who offend with their own dearth of tolerance, are you guilty of doing the same?
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 24 May 2024
1 Comment
In the latest Quarterly Essay profile of Peter Dutton, author Lech Blaine may well describe his work as character delineation, rather than character assassination. But we seem to be at an impasse in Australian market of ideas, and scorn gives greater bang for the buck than dialogue.
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