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Author: John Falzon

  • AUSTRALIA

    Vote for hope

    • John Falzon
    • 20 August 2010
    20 Comments

    Ngunnawal Elder Aunty Janet Phillips says that for Aboriginal Australians there's no 'justice'; 'just us'. How can we turn this election into a building block for a more equal society? The answer involves weighing up the known policies and track-record of both sides to assess their impact on the growth of inequality.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    CEOs in sleeping bags

    • John Falzon
    • 23 June 2010
    13 Comments

    Last week CEOs across Australia 'slept out' to raise awareness and funds for homelessness. The kindness expressed through such charity makes us a richer nation. But charity is no substitute for the justice needed to prevent homelessness.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    My brother slid away

    • John Falzon
    • 22 June 2010
    4 Comments

    Does anybody think we'll go away from here just because they've sanctioned us and breached us, preached at us, acquired our country, stolen our yesterdays, the silk and hardy timbers of them .. Do they really think they've crushed our silvers and our souls by managing our sturdy little incomes?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Real stories betray Abbott's homelessness untruth

    • John Falzon
    • 18 February 2010
    22 Comments

    Everyone has a story, and they don't happen in limbo. Tony Abbott's comments about homelessness mimic the paternalistic attitude pushed by Margaret Thatcher, where the focus is on supposed individual deficits rather than structural deficits.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2009: The homeless poet

    • John Falzon
    • 15 January 2010
    3 Comments

    A Japanese homeless man was sending the most exquisite poems to a popular newspaper. There is nothing extraordinary about a person experiencing homelessness producing great poetry. Yet the scenario was regarded with astonishment. October 2009

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Let's redistribute hope

    • John Falzon
    • 11 December 2009
    7 Comments

    Aside from a few fanatical poverty-deniers, there is a broad consensus that we have a serious problem. Frantz Fanon reminded us nearly 50 years ago that we need a redistribution of wealth. 'Humanity must reply to this question, or be shaken to pieces by it.' We have been shaken to pieces.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Turning all the nonsense upside down

    • Lerys Byrnes | John Falzon
    • 13 October 2009
    1 Comment

    We drink. We dance with openly dark angels, strain our ears and wings to listen to the wisdom of the broken and the lost. We will discern the sudden dust we've come from beatifically.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The homeless poet

    • John Falzon
    • 12 October 2009
    5 Comments

    A Japanese homeless man was sending the most exquisite poems to a popular newspaper. There is nothing extraordinary about a person experiencing homelessness producing great poetry. Yet the scenario was regarded with astonishment.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Vinnies' sad heart over Welfare to Work legislation

    • John Falzon
    • 10 July 2006
    5 Comments

    The new Welfare to Work legislation was implemented on 1 July. The St Vincent de Paul Society marked the day with a sad heart. National Council CEO Dr John Falzon says the new laws will see many people with disabilities and single mothers and their children pushed into greater poverty and indignity.

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  • CONTRIBUTORS

    John Falzon

    • John Falzon

    Dr John Falzon is Senior Fellow, Inequality and Social Justice at Per Capita. He is a sociologist, poet and social justice advocate and was national CEO of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia from 2006 to 2018. He is a member of the Australian Services Union. He has written and spoken widely on the structural causes of marginalisation and inequality in Australia and has long been an advocate for a fairer and more equitable society. John has worked in academia, in research and advocacy with NGOs, and in community development in large public housing estates. He was a participant in the 2020 Summit, has served on the ACOSS Board as well as on Government advisory committees such as the Communi

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