keywords: John Warhurst

  • RELIGION

    Child safety reforms still progressing slowly

    • John Warhurst
    • 14 October 2019
    7 Comments

    The royal commission concluded that child safety, in all its organisational ramifications, raised questions of culture and governance for the church. If the Plenary Council 2020 doesn't take such issues seriously then it will be one indicator that the momentum around last year's official national apology has slowed.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The Jacqui Lambie conundrum

    • John Warhurst
    • 17 September 2019
    6 Comments

    Serendipity is defined as the gift of finding valuable things in unexpected places by sheer luck. It is a good description of Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie in Australian politics. But there is a sting in the tail. A system which depends on serendipity potentially also has a big downside.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Myths about quiet and shouty Australians

    • John Warhurst
    • 26 August 2019
    14 Comments

    Regional and rural Australians possess many powerful voices. As well as having a political party of their own, the Nationals, they are represented by many powerful lobby groups. Language which seeks to privilege quiet over loud citizens has the effect of advantaging the strong over the weak and insiders over outsiders in our political life.

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  • RELIGION

    Defend inclusiveness at Catholic Plenary Council

    • John Warhurst
    • 24 July 2019
    79 Comments

    Whatever the legitimate logistical and financial challenges, the Australian church leadership should move heaven and earth to put on an event in which delegates and observers, bishops, religious and laity, traditionalists and reformers are free to mingle and interact in the best spirit of collegiality and joint discernment about the future.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Winner-take-all election narrative doesn't wash

    • John Warhurst
    • 25 June 2019
    14 Comments

    We are expected to believe that all those perceived Labor failures, plus the massive anti-Labor Clive Palmer campaign and the attraction of some positive Coalition policies, only shifted a little over one Australian in every hundred, though more in some states like Queensland and some individual seats. That analysis can't be right.

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  • RELIGION

    PM Morrison and 'split personality' Church

    • John Warhurst
    • 31 May 2019
    14 Comments

    The church has something in common with both sides of politics because the Catholic community has a split political personality. Its range of concerns is so broad that they are addressed in various ways by different political parties. It wants to make an impact on government, but it is always highly unlikely that it can have it all.

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  • RELIGION

    Church reform must increase transparency

    • John Warhurst
    • 02 May 2019
    26 Comments

    Those holding church authority should show the Catholic community that they have learnt the lessons offered by the royal commission by undertaking reforms as soon as possible and by telling us all about them in a spirit of transparency.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Game on: pollies, follies and lollies

    • John Warhurst
    • 03 April 2019
    5 Comments

    The next month will be full of sugar-hits and sweeteners, whether they be personal tax cuts, grants or special deals for organised interests. Every candidate and party is guilty of this in their scramble to win. Citizens are complicit too if their main concern is 'what's in it for me'. Churches play the game as much as any pressure group.

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  • RELIGION

    Australian Catholics take stock as Pell falls

    • John Warhurst
    • 06 March 2019
    61 Comments

    A conservative within a conservative church he was a divisive figure, not just because of his orthodox views but because of the unbending and assertive style with which he promulgated them. Something died in Australian Catholicism with this verdict and Australian Catholics will have to live with that whatever the future turns out to be.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    In praise of unsmiling Hayne

    • Moira Rayner
    • 07 February 2019
    9 Comments

    An academic friend of mine made a dilligent and well-argued case that Hayne had failed in his task to 'tackle bank structure'. With the greatest of respect, this was not the job Hayne had to do. To imagine otherwise is to misunderstand both the law, and what it is 'meant' to do in the hands of those who are judicially trained.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Banks remain protected species

    • John Warhurst
    • 04 February 2019
    10 Comments

    Kenneth Hayne's royal commission into the financial sector has named, shamed and excoriated banks, regulators, insurance companies and other financial services businesses to the extent that you would think they are now extremely vulnerable and universally unloved. That would be a mistake.

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  • RELIGION

    Church reform scorecard

    • John Warhurst
    • 11 December 2018
    53 Comments

    Scoring the performance of the Australian church is a complex task at any time. Dioceses and congregations vary enormously. The mission of church agencies continues unabated in education, health, social services and aged care. But by any measure 2018 has been a big year.

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