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Keywords: Misinformation

  • INTERNATIONAL

    Don Watson's elegy for an imperfect union

    • Barry Gittins
    • 22 November 2024

    Before the U.S. election, Don Watson predicted the electoral victory of Trump in his essay High Noon, an exploration of a divided America teetering on the edge. Dissecting the economic, racial, and cultural forces that led to a Republican landslide reveals an imperfect union at its most vulnerable.

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  • MEDIA

    On lying

    • Michele Frankeni
    • 15 October 2024

    Two years ago to the month, I wrote in this column of my despair and disgust of the impunity with which society leaders and politicians didn’t just shade the truth, but buried it six-feet deep and then gleefully stomped on it. In the past week, a couple of things reminded me of that piece and about the role truth plays in our public discourse. It reminded me how fragile our grasp on reality has become, and why that matters.   

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    The forest wars

    • Tony Smith
    • 04 October 2024

      The Forest Wars reveals how vested interests make life difficult for the scientists and activists who attempt to defend the environment, a war waged through deforestation on one hand and deception and obfuscation on the other. Linenmayer asks: if we continue to allow vested interests to drive deforestation, how long before the forests — and the future they promise — are lost beyond repair?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Would you bet against inequality?

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 03 October 2024

    In Andrew Leigh's new book, he argues that inequality matters because it threatens the sense of fairness that is central to our well-being, because inequality prevents the less well off from moving to relative affluence, weakens democracy, and erodes understanding of and commitment to the common good. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    A second try at combatting disinformation

    • Frank Brennan
    • 25 September 2024

    The Government is making another valiant effort to rein in the adverse effects of ungoverned digital platforms. But in debating such a detailed bill without the backstop of a constitutional or statutory bill of rights recognising the right to freedom of expression, there are no clear guard rails for getting the balance right. 

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    Burning truths

    • Julie Perrin
    • 12 July 2024

    In her new Quarterly Essay Highway to Hell, Australian climate scientist Joëlle Gergis pleads in language beyond the careful neutrality of traditional science-speak: ‘We need you to stare into the abyss with us and not turn away.’

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Advocating against the wind

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 08 May 2024

    With the Queensland Government changing the Youth Justice Act, detention of children will no longer be seen as a last resort, causing widespread dismay among youth justice advocates. It invites reflection on what we should expect when we advocate for a cause, ranging from climate change to perceived injustice, and how we should evaluate our efforts.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    When helpers become victims

    • Joe Zabar
    • 16 April 2024
    1 Comment

    When a missile strike in Gaza killed seven aid workers, it sparked global outrage and demands for accountability and raised questions around the protection of those who risk everything to provide aid in zones of conflict. 

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Lost boy in a land of terror and beauty

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 25 January 2024

    Thoughtful and thought-provoking, Fiona McFarlane's The Sun Walks Down asks of the reader: Is art more important than life? What is the nature of courage? How should an individual relate to their own environment?

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  • MEDIA

    The whole truth?

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 18 January 2024
    6 Comments

    Once upon a time it was fairly easy to distinguish fact from fiction, but now journalists in particular regularly merge the two. We are now forced to cope with notions such as alternative facts and the post-truth era. I, for one, cope badly with both, with this twisting of what I would like to be an essential and straightforward matter.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2023: Can we curb misinformation while retaining freedom of expression?

    • Frank Brennan
    • 11 January 2024

    As the government drafts legislation to stem the rising tide of misinformation circulating online, the nation debates: will these measures sufficiently regulate online content and curb potential harms or threaten freedom of expression? This moment is a critical test for the integrity of Australia's public discourse.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    End of year thoughts in the Endarkenment 2023

    • Juliette Hughes
    • 20 December 2023

    It’s becoming an age of Endarkenment. Was it ever thus? So many going mad with one half of the facts? Moved by ignorance and targeted misinformation, compassion becomes corrupted into a rage for vengeance, and our streets heave with mobs who chant hate. It’s made me worried and sad. But I won’t give up on Christmas.

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