keywords: Les Murray

  • ENVIRONMENT

    New ways forward for climate action

    • Greg Foyster
    • 24 May 2019
    1 Comment

    There's a lot to say about the election, and much nonsense doing the rounds. Here's a summary of what went wrong and some ideas for communicating climate change over the next three years. The first thing to note is that the election probably wasn't won or lost on climate.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Pigeon English: a 'lost' Les Murray interview

    • Philip Harvey
    • 06 May 2019
    10 Comments

    'English became the best pigeon in the world, it picked up stuff from everywhere.' In this never-before-heard interview from 2013, the late great poet Les Murray reflects on his work, on language, and on what poetry actually 'does'.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Spirit wit: Five sonnets for Les Murray

    • Philip Harvey
    • 02 May 2019
    4 Comments

    You could contrive a meandering sonnet, broach the third level of meaning with ease — Once main lines are coursing and images breeze. You were in it, around, beyond, upon it.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    My moments with catholic Les Murray

    • Tracey Edstein
    • 02 May 2019
    3 Comments

    I asked Les then what he anticipated at the end of what was for him a very earthed life. Les was phlegmatic — he imagined a reunion with his parents (his mother died when he was 12) but was content to 'wait and see ... we are on certain post-mortem promises after all'.

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    The great Murray-Darling swindle

    • Greg Foyster
    • 01 March 2019
    10 Comments

    A million dead fish, floating on putrid green water. Images of this ecological catastrophe on the Darling River over summer shocked the nation. Was it the result of drought? Blue-green algae poisoning? After at least four published reports, we know the answers. It's time to state plainly what has been going on, and who is to blame.

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  • RELIGION

    Supporting those on the margins

    • Frank Brennan
    • 18 February 2019

    'We can do this better by breaking down the silos and binding together our concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.' Opening Keynote Address by Fr Frank Brennan SJ at the Catholic Social Services Australia National Conference, Port Macquarie 19 February 2019.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Undeterred by Kondo, let your library overflow

    • Philip Harvey
    • 08 February 2019
    8 Comments

    It's all very well to remove excess furniture, but furniture is not books. How many chairs does one need? Chairs are not books. To reduce a library as a household expedience is to objectify the books. Their contents are emptied of value, their history relegated to out-of-date. They have no more meaning than books in an Ikea display room.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The myth of the leg-up for women's sports

    • Erin Riley
    • 23 January 2019
    11 Comments

    When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression. Sometimes, it's worse than that: when you're accustomed to privilege, even meagre attempts towards equality can be interpreted as unfair. This attitude is evident not only in conversations about affirmative action and quotas, but in the way we talk about sport.

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    The Darling's dead fish of late capitalism

    • Cristy Clark
    • 17 January 2019
    13 Comments

    A key benefit asserted to justify treating water as an economic good is that the market will encourage 'high-value' water use to be prioritised. But, as the fish of the Darling River and the people of Walgett are experiencing, the problem with commodifying water is its social and environment values are not naturally reflected in the market.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Banking on the common good

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 15 August 2018
    7 Comments

    If trustees don't understand the meaning of trustworthiness, all the penalties in the world won't encourage them to act in a trustworthy manner. What is needed is conversion — the recognition that the good of each individual depends on their seeking the common good, and the determination to ensure that this vision permeates corporations.

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  • ECONOMICS

    Australia's deadly game of mates

    • David James
    • 14 August 2018
    6 Comments

    Murray and Frijters detail what they call Australia's 'grey corruption': the grubby nexus between 'James' (corrupt business people) and governments or regulators. The Jameses thrive at the expense of the 'Bruces': ordinary working people. The games of the corrupt elite now cost the 'Bruces' about half their wages.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Another dog day for cultural appropriation

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 11 April 2018
    1 Comment

    The commentary around the film's appropriation of Japanese culture has been sustained and substantial. At least these allusions are for the most part detailed and respectful; that the hero is named after a defunct American video game company is less palatable. Trickier still are the creative decisions related to language.

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