Keywords: Quarterly Essay
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 22 November 2010
24 Comments
Labor will tear itself apart unless it realises that a 'yes' or 'no' on gay marriage is less important than the process of reaching a position. It can choose to go down the path of political expedience, or it can adopt an approach of moral integrity.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Emily Millane
- 25 June 2010
7 Comments
In early 2008, 89 per cent of us thought Rudd to be a 'man of vision'. Recall his essay on Bonhoeffer in The
Monthly; the promise of a politics of decency and equality; the Apology; the ideas
summit. After that it all goes a bit foggy.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Furtado
- 20 April 2010
30 Comments
There is much to salvage from Howard's policies, misconstrued as
universally liberal and bereft of state intervention in the interests of
the underprivileged. More could be done to link such a policy frame with several
aspects of Catholic Social Teaching.
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AUSTRALIA
- John Smith
- 10 December 2009
1 Comment
Much can be achieved in cooperation with friends who don't necessarilyshare the same faith or any faith at all. If you're homeless, who careswhether an atheist, a Christian or a Buddhist provides shelter?
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AUSTRALIA
- Myrna Tonkinson
- 13 October 2009
14 Comments
Some Aboriginal languages do not distinguish the unvoiced and voiced
consonants 'b' and 'p', 'd' and 't', and 'g' and 'k'. Julia Gillard's push to provide 'English as a second language' training to teachers in remote communities can address such language obstacles and help lift levels of Indigenous education.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Jonathan Shaw
- 03 July 2009
2 Comments
The great wave of Utegate has passed over us, leaving Malcolm Turnbull
on the sands, chastened but apparently unrepentant, and far from
exhausted. Reports
of his political death are manifestly exaggerated.
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AUSTRALIA
Going to jail for the right
reasons is noble. In effect Jesus called for a kind of civil
disobedience. He went to jail for justice.
Today, I would be prepared to
be jailed for resisting consorting laws. Exclusive preview: The John Smith Quarterly Essay
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AUSTRALIA
Parenting deserves more than a bonus, it deserves to be exulted and supported in its many and varied forms. With so many women in the workforce a paid maternity leave scheme is the linchpin upon which other 'family-friendly' policies depend.
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ENVIRONMENT
- John Button
- 09 January 2008
No
wonder people hope for arguments which suggest climate change will go
away. The discussion about climate change has become increasingly
feverish, polemical and downright dishonest. From 13 June 2007.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Michael Mullins
- 25 July 2007
The Australian character is set against that of the European nations from which the 'new Australians' arrived after World War II. For them, Australia offered "considerably safety and little menace", but heavily curtained windows rather than dancing in the streets they were accustomed to.
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AUSTRALIA
- Scott Stephens
- 05 June 2007
3 Comments
John Howard’s "relaxed and comfortable" approach to national life, then, was not simply a rejection of Paul Keating’s aggressive, deliberate reforms. It represented a vile pandering to our cultural inertia, an affirmation of our basest tendencies.
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CONTRIBUTORS
John Button was a minister and senator in the Hawke and Keating governments. He has written books, a Quarterly Essay, and has also written for, among many publications, the Sydney Morning Herald and Crikey.
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