keywords: Federal Parliament
There are more than 200 results, only the first 200 are displayed here.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 25 October 2007
There are times when we Australians get the balance between national interest and individual liberty wrong, especially when the individual is a member of a powerless minority. One way of improving the balance is including the judiciary in the calculus, as has now happened in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
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ENVIRONMENT
- Michele Madigan
- 22 September 2020
16 Comments
It may have taken five years but in the last session of the recently completed Senate Inquiry, finally a government department bureaucrat has used the phrase — '…it is a national issue.' Well certainly — 'When it suits,' one might respond.
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AUSTRALIA
- Brian Matthews
- 23 March 2018
4 Comments
In Iceland, the most recent 'troll alert' was only 50 years or so ago, and belief in the mythological troll dies hard. What is interesting to consider regarding the revenant troll of the internet age is where they are congregated. Michaelia Cash's recent outburst suggest we might look no further than our Federal Parliament.
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AUSTRALIA
- John Warhurst
- 30 March 2017
3 Comments
The announcement by Kate Ellis, the 39 year old federal Labor MP for Adelaide, of her retirement at the next election to be with her young son came as a surprise. Several Fairfax journalists were dismayed. Stephanie Peatling issued a challenge: 'It's not people who should have to change to make their lives fit politics as we know it. It's politics as we know it that should change.' The immediate issue is gender balance, but the wider context is all types of diversity in parliament.
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AUSTRALIA
- Jarni Blakkarly
- 21 June 2016
11 Comments
Across the political spectrum, Australia's major and minor parties are failing to reflect the multicultural Australia of the 21st century. We have fallen far behind similar nations like Canada, who elected 19 Indian-Canadians alone, and ten indigenous parliamentarians, at their last election. Who we elect to our parliament is not just about the gesture, it is also a reflection of where power lies within our society, and whose voices are given the space to be heard to represent the community.
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AUSTRALIA
- Frank Brennan
- 09 December 2014
27 Comments
What a dreadful year it has been for parliamentary democracy. Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has taken pride in the number of members she has ejected. Senator David Leyonhjelm has introduced his same sex marriage bill in an orderly fashion, but the decision will rest with the Abbott Government, which won't want to to hand the bouquet for breaking the logjam to Leyonhjelm. To get arrangements for the bearing and nurturing of children right, we need our parliament to be a more considered and dignified place than a battlefield.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 21 September 2010
27 Comments
Now that we have a hung parliament, Greens leader Senator Bob Brown wants to agitate the issue of euthanasia once again. But a hung parliament will not have the time and resources to consider these complex issues in its early days.
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AUSTRALIA
- Tony Kevin
- 24 August 2010
22 Comments
There was a massive loss of confidence in Labor's policies. The Australian electorate saw through the triviality of what both major parties were offering. Gillard would deserve her party's full support in leading a Labor Government in a hung parliament. This may be the making of her as a great prime minister.
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AUSTRALIA
- Matthew Dobson
- 23 January 2008
5 Comments
More money will not necessarily buy quality healthcare system. How funding is spent is critical. Despite the spending disparity, health outcomes in the United States are comparable to those of Costa Rica.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 19 September 2007
4 Comments
The Howard Government must be given credit for increasing the size of our migration program, including the refugee and humanitarian component. But the deliberations of civil society should provide a fair go for all refugees, including those who arrive by boat without a visa.
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AUSTRALIA
- Cristy Clark
- 15 April 2021
Recent research has documented some of the historical causes of the ongoing absence of water justice. When the land rights agenda emerged towards the end of the 20th century, deliberate decisions were made to restrict access mostly to land without water rights.
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AUSTRALIA
- Claire Victory
- 08 April 2021
8 Comments
The treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum calls for a determined response on the back of years of poor public policy that has led to the misery of thousands and cost Australian taxpayers billions. I stand to support the Minister in the early days of her new role to make compassionate and sensible decisions, to find a different path for the resolution of the challenges she faces.
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