Vol 29 No 10

19 May 2019

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RELIGION

More than rules, Church needs a change of heart
- Tracey Edstein
- 30 May 2019
19 Comments
There are guidelines, rules and laws galore. None of these stopped clergy and church personnel abusing children, or necessarily led those in authority to act. The community could therefore be forgiven a certain scepticism. Legislative changes, stronger governance and mission statements mean little without a change of heart.
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RELIGION

New standards for a child-safe Church
- Sheree Limbrick
- 30 May 2019
16 Comments
To be effective, safeguarding requires genuine engagement with, listening, valuing and responding to children — respecting and upholding their rights and inherent dignity. The Safeguarding Standards strive to embed these practices within the Catholic Church.
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CARTOON

New dog, old tricks
- Fiona Katauskas
- 28 May 2019
1 Comment
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Revisiting Iola Mathews' feminist battlegrounds
- Andrew Hamilton
- 28 May 2019
5 Comments
To anyone pressing for social change after the recent election, the Hawke years must seem as far removed as Camelot. Iola Mathews describes the personal and political struggle involved in pressing for any reform. It is a timely book.
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AUSTRALIA

Youth justice blueprint is in front of our noses
- Julie Edwards
- 28 May 2019
6 Comments
Almost two years have passed since the youth justice royal commission prompted by the abuses at Darwin's Don Dale youth detention facility. Yet many of its recommendations remain unrealised, largely due to a lack of federal funding support. In the meantime, youth justice has remained at the crossroads in many parts of Australia.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Undoubting Thomas
- Paul Scully
- 27 May 2019
I closed my eyes to draw new thought. When I reopened them an empty stone slab lay before me in a cavern rough-hollowed but flooded with a light that had penetrated its roof. Mary hovered in the light, as a gull is both sea and air, in a flowing robe, her outstretched hand bearing the cincture I would need to recount the mystery to the others.
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ENVIRONMENT

New ways forward for climate action
- Greg Foyster
- 24 May 2019
7 Comments
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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AUSTRALIA

Resist 'brutal retail politics'
- Esther Anatolitis
- 24 May 2019
2 Comments
There's a lot of work to be done to ensure the Australian government has the best guidance it needs to prepare the policies and deliver the services Australians urgently need. To strengthen ourselves into making that contribution, let's begin by rejecting 'brutal retail politics' and instead champion generous community expertise.
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AUSTRALIA

Lessons from GetUp in how not to do activism
- Irfan Yusuf
- 23 May 2019
9 Comments
The most successful political movements are those flexible enough to co-opt the rhetorical and ideological tropes of their opponents. The ones which fail are those which insist on ideological purity. They may be well-resourced, have plenty of volunteers and ambitious programs. But all this may count for little if they cannot sell their ideas.
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MEDIA

Dissecting Australian media's Trump moment
- Eliza Berlage
- 22 May 2019
5 Comments
Morrison heralded his win as a 'miracle' and the media ran with it, leading to headlines like 'Messiah from the shire'. But while it was unexpected to those reporting on it, a look at deeply divided and change-averse Australia makes the Coalition win seem less remarkable.
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INTERNATIONAL

China discourse beyond pandas and dragons
- Jeremy Clarke
- 22 May 2019
2 Comments
While Bob Carr's institute was deemed to be a panda hugger and Clive Hamilton's position on Chinese influence was considered to be dragon slaying, knowledgeable discussion is a distant third. To China-watchers, the relative lack of a sophisticated focus on Australia-China relations during the election was simply business as usual.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

A medieval light on modern day darkness
- Brian Matthews
- 22 May 2019
1 Comment
For modern readers of Huizinga's The Autumn of the Middle Ages, there is a curious kind of double vision. While 21st century life has incomparably eclipsed medieval counterparts, there are aspects of the comparison that remain at least intriguing and, in some cases, enlightening.
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AUSTRALIA

Election is done, now to focus on what matters
- Andrew Hamilton
- 21 May 2019
15 Comments
It is time to return to the more important question of what matters for the future good of Australia. This is what governments and political parties are bound by tradition and by their own official rhetoric to serve. This, not electoral success or failure, should govern their actions and our response as citizens to their governance.
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CARTOON

Morrison's miracles
- Fiona Katauskas
- 21 May 2019
1 Comment
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AUSTRALIA

Don't denigrate rational regional Queensland
- Kate Galloway
- 21 May 2019
48 Comments
Queenslanders are subjected to the imposed norms of southerners all the time. Those in central and north Queensland are imposed to the same kind of disdain from Brisbane. In the wake of the Coalition's election victory, it has been unedifying to see opposition voters seeking to explain the loss of their parties by blaming a ‘stupid’ electorate.
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AUSTRALIA

What went wrong for Labor on climate
- Jeff Sparrow
- 20 May 2019
19 Comments
Had Labor flatly opposed Adani, it would have been better positioned to sell a different model for the creation of local jobs and security. Instead, the lack of clarity prevented the ALP from articulating a persuasive economic alternative to a mine it wouldn't say definitely was closing.
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AUSTRALIA

Where to next for the Uluru Statement
- Kate Galloway
- 20 May 2019
3 Comments
As we will be asked to participate in a referendum on the issue within the next couple of years, each Australian needs to inform themselves of the facts about the proposal and the design process.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

No simple case of right and wrong
- Robert DiNapoli
- 20 May 2019
6 Comments
The work that's held my undivided heart now hangs upon the lip of the inane, a path I've struck, unwinding meaning's ball, or else a futile tangle, every day more lost to telos, purpose and design. No one else seems to have passed this way.
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AUSTRALIA

Don't move to New Zealand, stay and fight
- Brenna Dempsey
- 20 May 2019
34 Comments
My social media feeds were awash with posts from my friends — many of whom are queer, disabled or on low incomes — worrying about their futures and the future of our earth. I saw countless posts with people saying 'That's it, I'm moving to NZ'. I completely understand the desire people had to give up — I felt it too.
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MEDIA

Christchurch Call vs cybernaut sovereignty
- Binoy Kampmark
- 20 May 2019
The troubling feature of this move is that governments are urging online companies to become vigilant gatekeepers and policing agents of internet material. In doing so, an undue degree of importance is placed on the devil of technology rather than the weakness of humanity.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

This bus is a TARDIS
- Julie Perrin
- 19 May 2019
8 Comments
It wouldn't take much for an accident to happen, for things to fall apart. But today we have the kindly and calm Bus Driver. He wants the bus to do its job, to move as many people as possible on this afternoon when there is only one train line open, where the street is thick with footy crowds.
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AUSTRALIA

Hawkie, for whom I'd have faced cannon fire
- Moira Rayner
- 19 May 2019
2 Comments
I told one of my fiercely right-wing Kiwi uncles that if Bob Hawke were elected leader of the ALP I'd follow him through cannon-fire, and surprisingly won his (grudging) respect. For he was a man's man, and so was my then hero.
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Vol 29 No 10