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Keywords: Speech

  • RELIGION

    The Pope in Alice: 25 years on

    • Frank Brennan
    • 29 November 2011
    19 Comments

    Protocol dictated that he could not wear Aboriginal colours. But local custom won out when he donned a black, red and yellow stole given to him on the track. His speech put strong challenges to the Church, but offered too optimistic a reading of the prospects of Aboriginal Australians taking their rightful place in it.

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  • MEDIA

    Bolt case a win for free speech

    • Dilan Thampapillai
    • 14 October 2011
    6 Comments

    Paradoxically, the Andrew Bolt case has advanced each of the three rationales that typically support free speech. A democracy cannot flourish when some members of the community are free to say what they want while others are forced to speak from the margins of society.

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  • RELIGION

    The moral ambiguity of free speech

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 06 October 2011
    34 Comments

    Andrew Bolt’s article was simply an egregious example of morally bad communication. It was indefensible on ethical grounds. Indeed, those who defended his right to free speech generally implied that public discussion is an ethics free zone.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Colour, culture and freedom of identity

    • Brian McCoy
    • 06 October 2011
    17 Comments

    I am deeply proud of my Aboriginal friend, who is now a doctor. I have not had the heart to tell her that once she was judged for not being dark enough to be awarded an Indigenous scholarship. While Andrew Bolt argues about freedom of speech, I argue about freedom of identity.

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  • MEDIA

    Bolt beyond the pale

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 30 September 2011
    36 Comments

    The Federal Court found that fair-skinned Aboriginal people were likely to have been 'offended, insulted, humiliated or intimidated' by Bolt's articles. Bolt lamented the passing of free speech in Australia. But free speech cuts both ways, and no freedom is absolute.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Chance meeting with an inventor

    • James Waller
    • 20 September 2011
    2 Comments

    Hans shows me an invention which magnifies letters for his failing eyes, so that still he may read, so that still the winds may turn the bronze art coins of his perception. Cobweb-like sculptures dream upon some shelves, poetry is the wing of his bird-like speech.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Alice Springs drinking stories

    • Ellena Savage
    • 19 August 2011
    3 Comments

    On my last night in Alice, we went to the pub, and drank and danced with some locals. Patricia, for whom English was a fourth language, had moved to Alice to be with her husband. Her manner of speech was beautiful. When she invited us to her table, she said, 'Come, I'll tell you a story.'

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  • RELIGION

    Australia's burqa fallacy

    • David Tittensor
    • 03 August 2011
    20 Comments

    Just because we can debate something, doesn't mean we should. As with any right there is the responsibility to exercise free speech judiciously. A quick survey of the Muslim population in Australia highlights the absurdity of debating whether there is a place for the burqa in our society.

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  • RELIGION

    Catholic Ireland's watershed moment

    • Gerry O'Hanlon
    • 26 July 2011
    13 Comments

    The surprise in the Irish Prime Minister's frank and undiplomatic speech on sexual abuse is that his target was not the Irish culprits but the Vatican itself. He articulated the anger of the Irish people towards the Vatican, which is undoubtedly on a learning curve on these matters.

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  • RELIGION

    Religious groups and the Bill of Rights debate

    • Frank Brennan
    • 18 July 2011

    Speech given by Fr Frank Brennan SJ at the 'Law and Religion: Legal Regulation of Religious Groups, Organisations and Communities' Conference Dinner in Melbourne on 15 July 2011.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Quitting Afghanistan cold turkey

    • Shahram Akbarzadeh
    • 25 May 2011
    7 Comments

    President Obama appears to have given in to domestic pressure for prompt withdrawal from Afghanistan. But a complete withdrawal could have major ramifications for the region and ultimately for US interests.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Thinking positively about getting a job

    • Lin Hatfield Dodds
    • 18 April 2011
    6 Comments

    Prime Minister Gillard's speech to the Sydney Institute last week, and Tony Abbot’s policy announcements two weeks ago, drew unanimous response from the community sector — that getting people into work is a sound objective, but it's harder than it looks.

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