Keywords: St Vincent De Paul Society
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INTERNATIONAL
- John Falzon
- 22 December 2010
3 Comments
Dylan Thomas wrote that 'A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe.' Our 'good poem' is the listening to, and learning from, the people on the margins. But it will only be a 'good poem' if these whispers are translated into collective action.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- John Falzon
- 17 December 2010
4 Comments
Syd Tutton, national president of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia, died on Sunday. He was a fighter for social justice, uninterested in personal recognition, making light, for example, of the Papal Knighthood he received in 2009, threatening to ask the Vatican for a horse to go with the title.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 13 December 2010
3 Comments
The Federal Government announced the inclusion of nicotine patches in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Critics argue that smokers should take responsibility for their habit and pay the full cost of giving up. They miss the point of society.
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INTERNATIONAL
- John Falzon
- 18 October 2010
5 Comments
There's something disquieting about quietness imposed from above in the heart of a democracy. Anti-Poverty Week is a good time to reflect on how, as a nation, can hear the revolutionary stories of the oppressed and abandoned in our midst.
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AUSTRALIA
- John Falzon
- 20 August 2010
20 Comments
Ngunnawal Elder Aunty Janet Phillips says that for Aboriginal Australians
there's no 'justice'; 'just us'.
How can we turn this election into a building block for a more equal society?
The answer involves weighing up the known
policies and track-record of both sides to assess their
impact on the growth of inequality.
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AUSTRALIA
Last week CEOs across Australia 'slept out' to raise awareness and funds for homelessness. The kindness expressed through such charity makes us a richer nation. But charity is no substitute for the justice needed to prevent homelessness.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
Does anybody think we'll go away from here
just because they've sanctioned us and breached us, preached at us,
acquired our country, stolen our yesterdays, the silk and hardy timbers
of them ..
Do they really think they've crushed our silvers and our souls by
managing our sturdy little incomes?
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 22 March 2010
9 Comments
The cost to human dignity makes compulsory income management counter-productive. It assumes that some welfare recipients are
unable to make rational decisions that take into account the
long-term consequences of their actions. The same might be said for
some governments.
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AUSTRALIA
- John Falzon
- 18 February 2010
22 Comments
Everyone has a story, and they don't happen in limbo. Tony Abbott's comments about homelessness mimic the paternalistic attitude pushed by Margaret Thatcher, where the focus is on supposed individual deficits rather than structural deficits.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 09 February 2010
'Tonight I want to reflect in light of the National Human Rights
Consultation how we as Church can do better in promoting justice for
all in our land. Full text from Frank Brennan's 2010 McCosker Oration, 'The Church as Advocate in the Public Square: Lessons from the National Human Rights Consultation'.
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AUSTRALIA
- John Falzon
- 15 January 2010
3 Comments
A Japanese homeless man was sending the most exquisite poems to a popular newspaper. There is nothing extraordinary about a person experiencing homelessness producing great poetry. Yet the scenario was regarded with astonishment. October 2009
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AUSTRALIA
- John Falzon
- 11 December 2009
7 Comments
Aside from a few fanatical poverty-deniers, there is a broad consensus that we have a serious problem. Frantz Fanon reminded us nearly 50 years ago that we need a redistribution of wealth. 'Humanity must reply to this question, or be shaken to pieces by it.' We have been shaken to pieces.
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