Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site
Forgot your password?
Subscribe

Vol 19 No 21

26 October 2009


 

  • AUSTRALIA

    Politics without morality damages Australia

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 06 November 2009
    9 Comments

    Shaun Carney from The Age remarks that governments can be expected to treat refugee policy as 'just politics'. We have seen the consequences for the economy of tolerating 'business as usual'. It would be a pity to prostitute government in the same way.

    READ MORE
  • EUREKA STREET TV

    Jim Wallis next to Obama next to God

    • Peter Kirkwood
    • 06 November 2009
    3 Comments

    Progressive Christian activist Jim Wallis is one of Barack Obama's key advisors on religious and ethical issues. He has been a key proponent of Obama's controversial health care reform legislation, which has raised the ire of some conservative Christians.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Another 'certain maritime incident'

    • Tony Kevin
    • 05 November 2009
    11 Comments

    Peter Costello draws a long bow in presuming smugglers provided the boat that sank off the Cocos Islands this week. As with the sinking of the SIEV X, it is unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to remind us that at the heart of this issue are desperate human beings.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Moral test of a strained marriage

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 04 November 2009
    6 Comments

    A married couple is presented with a choice. If they press the button, it will cause someone they do not and will never know to die. In exchange, they will receive $1 million. Initially, The Box seems to live up to the promise of this morally charged premise.

    READ MORE
  • EUREKA STREET/ READER'S FEAST AWARD

    The spider-web fisherman

    • Arnold Zable
    • 04 November 2009

    Observing this unique means of fishing, I realised an alternative intelligence was at work, born of the islanders' relationship to the environment. Ironically, this island is one of a growing number facing inundation by rising waters due to climate change.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Why Australia needs the Vatican

    • John Warhurst
    • 04 November 2009
    11 Comments

    Tim Fischer, Australian Ambassador to the Vatican, has a vital role in a state he calls a hub of power and intelligence. One can't help but wonder if Cardinal George Pell thinks he, rather than Fischer, should be Rudd's man in the Vatican.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Hot body

    • Various
    • 03 November 2009

    The sun is a hot body. It warmly makes love to me.  

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Boobs, booze and Muslim feminists

    • Ellena Savage
    • 03 November 2009
    21 Comments

    She'd rather be wearing jeans, but is compelled to dress like a Christmas tree for the Spring Racing Carnival. Her desire to be desired for the depth of her cleavage is nominated by the designs of men in her society. No wonder some Muslim women feel the hijab subverts patriarchy.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    'Indonesia solution' is immoral

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 02 November 2009
    10 Comments

    The reception of asylum seekers is to be judged by the human reality of those who seek asylum, not by convenience of those on whom they make a claim. It is morally unjustifiable for Australia to transfer its responsibilities to Indonesia.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Getting the balance right on border protection

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 02 November 2009
    3 Comments

    When debating key issues such as the balance between sovereignty and the human rights of asylum seekers, we can sometimes forget that we're dealing with people. What's clear for advocates can pose difficulties for politicians.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Bosnian war criminal's strategic repentance

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 30 October 2009
    1 Comment

    The only woman convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has returned to Serbia. Her guilty plea formed part of a bargain, another sign that guilt and punishments are often matters of tactics and basic arithmetic. The victims of that savage war will not be so gracious.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    'Communist' Bishop's prophetic vision

    • John Battle
    • 30 October 2009
    3 Comments

    'Prophets' don't predict the future; they read the complex signs that spell out how structures and systems generate poverty. Dom Helder Camara's words still speak to the financial crisis and the need to bring justice for the poor.

    READ MORE
  • ENVIRONMENT

    Time to start worrying about fish

    • Sarah Burnside
    • 29 October 2009
    7 Comments

    Australia's decision to reduce its intake of the endangered southern bluefin tuna has outraged the industry. The global fishing industry is unsustainable, and fishing is second only to climate change as the greatest environmental threat to marine ecosystems.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The pope, the mole and the architect

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 29 October 2009
    1 Comment

    Three of the most prolific guitarists of the past four decades gather in a warehouse. Three more diverse musicians you could not hope to find. Most important are the moments that simmer celebrity and artistic pretension down to basic humanity.

    READ MORE
  • ENVIRONMENT

    It takes more than hope to save the world

    • Francis Keaney
    • 28 October 2009
    7 Comments

    My 'Hopenhagen citizenship' was easy to obtain, but what would it get me? Was I entitled to vote or apply for social benefits? Could I move there for the summer? It didn't take long before the penny dropped. This place was not so much a city-state as a state of mind.

    READ MORE
  • ENVIRONMENT

    Dark day for solar

    • Greg Foyster
    • 28 October 2009
    12 Comments

    This Friday, proponents of clean renewable energy will gather to try to rally government support for Solar Systems, Australia's world-leading developer of solar energy technology, which went into receivership in September. They face an uphill battle.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Bishop sex scandal can't keep a good reformer down

    • Hugh O'Shaughnessy
    • 27 October 2009
    4 Comments

    Fernando Lugo, President of Paraguay, made headlines at Easter when he revealed that, as a bishop, he had fathered a child. He is good at politics and his skills as a reformer keep him popular in a poverty-stricken country where marriage often loses out to co-habitation.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Latin bruise and purgatory itch

    • Jennifer Harrison
    • 27 October 2009
    1 Comment

    on my way to the gospel gig, I watch .. the bible buskers Trucking for Jesus on Sackville Street ... Once, I heard a priest say, perhaps in a dream, .. It's useless to nail oneself to the wall.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Dogs at risk in Rudd's 'big Australia'

    • Michael Mullins
    • 26 October 2009
    11 Comments

    Kevin Rudd last week talked up population growth, saying he 'believes in a big Australia'. But we are not well placed to deal with the environmental challenges of a population of 35 million. Road use and pet ownership are among the many aspects of our lifestyle that will need careful evaluation.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    How the High Court failed native title

    • Sarah Burnside
    • 26 October 2009
    5 Comments

    Mining states often view native title as bureaucratic red tape that slows down the industry. But the Native Title Act has never given Aboriginal people a right of veto. The High Court recently set an unfortunate precedent that further hinders the ability of traditional owner groups to negotiate.

    READ MORE