Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site

Keywords: Human Dignity

  • AUSTRALIA

    Hope I die before I get (really) old

    • Brigitte Dwyer
    • 17 April 2015
    13 Comments

    Economists and politicians see productivity as our only hope for the future. We continually assess the productivity of people we meet, with the default question 'What do you do?' The worth of a person can be tied to their productivity, particularly that of older people. Those who advocate legal euthanasia can find it hard to accept that an unproductive life might be worth living.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Robber bands in Parliament

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 27 February 2014
    14 Comments

    Augustine wrote of the Roman Empire, 'Without justice, states are robber bands.' His mordant comment aimed to strip away the self-congratulatory rhetoric of empire from the reality of a Rome concerned purely with asking how to achieve desired goals uncontrolled by respect for human dignity. If we appreciate how robber bands work we can better understand what states do, including Australia.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Aged care dirty work done dirt cheap

    • Michael Mullins
    • 29 April 2013
    25 Comments

    Wage increases for aged care workers should not be allowed to become yet another laudable but failed Gillard Government initiative that an incoming Coalition government refuses to countenance because of its stated commitment to fiscal responsibility. The dignity of older Australians is not expendable.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Rebuilding humanity after workplace horror

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 04 April 2013
    3 Comments

    Stéphanie loses her legs in a workplace accident. Alain is a single father who becomes her confidante. Their sexual encounters are shown to restore and affirm her dignity; they highlight the physicality of the act, particularly how Stéphanie's confidence in her own changed body flourishes through it.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Asylum seekers stiffed by election year spin

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 11 February 2013
    16 Comments

    The ad hoc nature of arrangements for asylum seekers in Nauru and PNG reveal that priorities are being determined by election dates rather than respect for human dignity and international human rights laws. The latest Coalition idea to interdict boats from Sri Lanka outside our territorial waters and send them back is particularly ill-considered.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Quadriplegic sex and dignity

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 15 November 2012
    5 Comments

    A quadriplegic and a virgin, Mark hears from others how disability hinders or enhances their sexual activity, and recalls the humiliation of ejaculating involuntarily while being bathed. It is a human dignity issue for him, but what of the dignity of the 'sex surrogate' whose specialised services he employs?

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2011: Why I support gay marriage

    • Kristina Keneally
    • 03 January 2012
    30 Comments

    It gives me no relish to be at odds with my Church. But it also gives me no joy to see people who are created in God's image unable to fully express their humanity, or live with the rights and dignity that heterosexual people are afforded. Published 25 September 2011

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Sharing the journey with agnostics and Qantas

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 03 November 2011
    27 Comments

    The Pope believes agnostics and Christians are on a shared journey, committed to peace and human dignity. The concept of the shared journey has consequences for the life of the Church, as in the Bishop Bill Morris saga, but also for events such as the Qantas controversy.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Why I support gay marriage

    • Kristina Keneally
    • 26 September 2011
    108 Comments

    It gives me no relish to be at odds with my Church. But it also gives me no joy to see people who are created in God's image unable to fully express their humanity, or live with the rights and dignity that heterosexual people are afforded.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Ethical demands of a regional solution

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 30 June 2011
    21 Comments

    Even if the Malaysian government guaranteed the security, sustenance and education of the asylum seekers, the human dignity of those found to be refugees would still be significantly infringed. They would be unable to enter Malaysian society equally, and they have no possibility of prompt acceptance into another society.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    What Catholics expect from politicians

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 09 November 2010
    12 Comments

    Recently Victoria's Catholic Bishops distributed their advice to voters in the November 27 state election. Entitled Your Vote, Your Values, it was quickly portrayed as an attack on the Greens, given its focus on euthanasia. The statement, however, was more complex and interesting than that description suggested.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Defending Rudd's aid agenda

    • Jack de Groot
    • 14 October 2010
    12 Comments

    Associate Professor of Public Policy at Australian Catholic University, Gary Johns, has challenged the Government's growing support of African nations. In so doing, Johns blatantly dismisses the fundamental principles of solidarity, human dignity, common good and option for the poor.

    READ MORE