Keywords: Australian Politics
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AUSTRALIA
- Kerry Murphy
- 05 July 2024
There is no doubt that laws for determining refugee status and onshore protection are complex. The cases of NZYQ and ASF17 demonstrate that when laws regarding asylum and protection intersect with laws regarding character and protection of the community, the results can be extremely messy.
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RELIGION
- John Warhurst
- 03 July 2024
8 Comments
In 1962, Goulburn was the centre of national attention when Catholic schools closed in protest over a lack of government funding and control. Students overwhelmed public schools. Could this happen again? An Australian archbishop suggests it as an option if religious freedom in Catholic schools is threatened.
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AUSTRALIA
- David Halliday
- 28 June 2024
13 Comments
It's been eight months since the Voice referendum, and people are starting to grapple with what its defeat means for Australia. There are few voices in Australia as qualified to conduct a postmortem of the outcome of the Voice referendum campaign as Frank Brennan. We examine what lessons can be learned and crucually, whether there’s reason for hope for Indigenous constitutional recognition.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Geraldine Doogue
- 18 June 2024
1 Comment
I wonder how many Australians were captivated, as was I, by the 80th anniversary D-Day celebrations? They seemed epochal to me: a reminder of something remarkable and a pointer to something possible, namely new resolve to maintain peace in Europe. Not too many Australians, as it turned out, were similarly mesmerised.
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AUSTRALIA
- Danielle Terceiro
- 18 June 2024
In Still Alive: Notes from Australia’s Immigration Detention System (2021), artist Safdar Ahmed shares the harrowing stories of asylum seekers through comic art. He vividly depicts their plight by incorporating artwork from a drawing group he started at Villawood Detention Centre.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 17 June 2024
2 Comments
Like all other persons, refugees cannot be defined in numbers. Nor can they be defined by their condition as refugees. They are human beings like us who belong to families, their hearts are free, and they long for the freedom to live human lives, to work and follow their dreams.
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INTERNATIONAL
- David Halliday
- 11 June 2024
4 Comments
When Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, it represented a long-awaited triumph of the rule of law in the United States. But the verdict may not mean much in the long run, and has not affected Trump's popularity among voters. Watching Trump’s conviction from afar prompts us to consider how good we have it.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Andrew Hamilton
- 07 June 2024
1 Comment
Raimond Gaita insists that there is something precious in each human being. He does not rest this conviction on a particular religious or philosophical grounding. It flows, rather, from a rich reading of human possibilities and questioning of the meaning of life.
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AUSTRALIA
In response to campus protests, universities erred on the side of free speech when every other day, the prevailing ethos is one of ‘safetyism’, namely suppressing speech or inquiry if an identity group frames it as ‘harmful’ to them. Universities should strive to be uncomfortable and ‘unsafe’ for all, with no identity immune from robust scrutiny.
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AUSTRALIA
- Frank Brennan
- 27 May 2024
8 Comments
Following the failure of the Voice referendum, many believed that the path to constitutional recognition is closed for Indigenous Australians. But they may be wrong.
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AUSTRALIA
- Barry Gittins
- 24 May 2024
1 Comment
In the latest Quarterly Essay profile of Peter Dutton, author Lech Blaine may well describe his work as character delineation, rather than character assassination. But we seem to be at an impasse in Australian market of ideas, and scorn gives greater bang for the buck than dialogue.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Jeremy Clarke
- 13 May 2024
2 Comments
The recent mid-air encounter between an Australian naval helicopter and a Chinese fighter jet over the Yellow Sea had the usual reactions, but ultimately failed to strain economic relations between the two states.
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