Keywords: Christian Porter
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INTERNATIONAL
Did he denounce Islam as 'evil' like the American evangelist Franklin Graham? Did he publicly denounce God as 'stupid' like Stephen Fry? On the contrary. Ahok is deeply respectful of Islam and has many Muslim supporters. The affair has done a serious disservice to Indonesia, presenting it as fanatical, racist and sectarian. While these perceptions are unfair, the affair also reveals some aspects of contemporary Indonesia that are obscured by Canberra's often lavish praise of our important neighbour.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael McVeigh
- 20 January 2017
7 Comments
Many have called for the automated Centrelink debt collection system to be scrapped, but the government is standing by it. One of the reasons for this may be that the system is doing just what it's designed to do - trying to force people away from welfare reliance by making it more onerous. Pope Francis argues that far from a 'neutral' tool, technology creates a framework which conditions people and limits their possible options along lines dictated by the most economically and politically powerful.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 28 September 2016
8 Comments
There is much to welcome in the ideals spruiked in Minister Porter's proposed welfare reforms. Who could fail to be delighted if people are helped to support themselves, and the welfare bill is reduced as people no longer need support? The question left hanging is what drives these changes. Is the human welfare of our fellow Australians the goal towards which the budgetary changes are a means? Or are budgetary savings the goal to which the treatment of our fellow Australians will be a means?
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AUSTRALIA
- Justin Glyn
- 29 March 2016
9 Comments
People with disabilities have lived on society's margins since biblical times. In 1939, extending eugenics and sterilisation campaigns developed in the US in the early 20th century, Hitler authorised the vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens ('the destruction of lives unworthy of life'). Unfortunately, not only has discrimination not been eradicated but those of us with disabilities, much like indigenous people, the poor, refugees and others with limited voice in society, continue to be seen as soft touches.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Andrew Bullen
- 14 June 2012
8 Comments
'Monday is Day Oncology, where the dark burses arrive by courier, and we're glad to see them stripped for action, hooked in the air, lucent against fear.' Maybe only Steele could see these bags of chemo as Christological signs. As with the zoo once, so now the oncology ward offers hints of that other eden.
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AUSTRALIA
- Brian Lawrence
- 09 August 2011
14 Comments
The Census will play a central role in the planning of the next Federal election. Past results show that while much of Labor's working class base has abandoned it, a solid base of Catholics remains. But many of these supporters are now standing near the door bemused or angry.
These figures show that while low income earners have abandoned Labor, a solid base of Catholics have stuck with it.
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RELIGION
- Herman Roborgh
- 30 March 2011
9 Comments
Two political leaders in Pakistan were murdered for speaking out against blasphemy laws that had been used to oppress religious minorities. Disturbingly, many Muslim intellectuals stayed silent regarding this injustice. Why were they so defensive?
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INTERNATIONAL
- Mark Raper
- 17 November 2010
3 Comments
May I tell you about one refugee whom I met during the 20 years I lived and worked JRS? The story has no happy outcome, indeed far from it. But it may help to communicate some of the feelings that inspire many who accompany the refugees.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
What a pity gay Christians, who might so
greatly enrich and evolve our religious institutions if permitted to flourish, are still obliged to eke their way
along the shadowy paths of discretion if they want to be part of God's gang.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 27 February 2007
8 Comments
Recently, I have been musing on three unrelated items. On Marcion, a shadowed but seminal figure in the early Church; on unsatisfactory recantations by prominent supporters of the Iraq war; and on the claim by a local newspaper that light sentences betray babies killed by their parents.
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MEDIA
- Jan Forrester
- 05 June 2006
Conventional journalism portrays war as a zero sum game, a series of violent exchanges between contending parties. ‘War reporting’ requires clear winners and losers, and the media interprets the events contributing to conflict accordingly.
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RELIGION
- Richard Leonard
- 29 May 2006
1 Comment
A good read, a tedious film, a historical mess, and great publicity for the Catholic Church. Richard Leonard looks at The Da Vinci Code.
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