Keywords: A Secret Australia
-
AUSTRALIA
- Michael McGirr
- 22 November 2024
3 Comments
There’s this other place that is neither heaven nor earth but which you might find in the car park of the third busiest KFC in Melbourne, waiting for your son to finish his shift. A bin beside the car is overflowing with all the packaging that comes with fast food, not to mention the remains of poor dead chooks whose life it is hard to imagine.
READ MORE 
-
AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 30 October 2024
2 Comments
The traditions of All Saints Day and All Souls Day invite a rare reflection on death — a topic largely sidelined in contemporary Australia. Amid global events and various cultural spectacles, these days offer a quiet reminder to consider how we honour the dead and what that reveals about our values.
READ MORE
-
ARTS AND CULTURE
- Ken Haley
- 06 September 2024
When we look back a decade hence on the way we lived in 2020, Shirley is going to serve as a literary time capsule. If you’re in search of a visceral feel for what it’s like to live in a specific place at a specific time — namely Melbourne in 2020, as the first pandemic in a century casts a pall over the zest for life itself — this book is a must read.
READ MORE
-
INTERNATIONAL
- Robin Osborne
- 05 September 2024
1 Comment
Pope Francis has frequently voiced sympathy for refugee concerns and before leaving on this trip, he reaffirmed his call for safe migration pathways for people fleeing their own countries for fear of persecution, describing any refusal to harbour asylum seekers as a ‘grave sin’.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Joseph Camilleri
- 28 August 2024
3 Comments
As Australia faces numerous moral crises from domestic inequality to global militarization, a proposed national charter of principles could to reshape our society and redefine our global role. This declaration would acknowledge Indigenous dispossession, prioritize human rights, and shift focus from military alliances to human security.
READ MORE
-
INTERNATIONAL
- Binoy Kampmark
- 15 August 2024
1 Comment
The AUSMIN talks in Annapolis herald a new era of defense cooperation between Australia and the United States, but at what cost? Critics warn of eroded sovereignty and nuclear proliferation risks as Australia embraces its role in America's strategic chess game against China.
READ MORE
-
ARTS AND CULTURE
- Gillian Bouras
- 02 August 2024
Conforming and belonging to a genre, in this case, ‘post-colonial, outback noir eco-fiction’, does not mean that a novel is not worthy. With rich symbolism and lyrical prose, Hills challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about Australian history, land ownership, and the inescapable consequences of past actions.
READ MORE
-
INTERNATIONAL
- Peter Craven
- 25 July 2024
It’s easy, isn’t it – much too easy – to invoke the standard response that only in the so-called Land of the Free could these things transpire. A vulgar, mendacious man who has refused to believe that he lost the last election is now the improbable victim of an assassination attempt. And the incumbent president, who has not done badly at his impossible job, surrenders his chance at re-election.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Binoy Kampmark
- 16 July 2024
2 Comments
Senator Fatima Payman's departure from Labor over a pro-Palestine vote and the emergence of 'The Muslim Vote' have reignited debates about faith in Australian politics. While PM Albanese cautions against religious influence, his stance overlooks the nation's history of faith shaping governance, raising questions about the feasibility of separating belief from policy-making.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Juliette Hughes
- 12 July 2024
4 Comments
Are women truly the villains that modern crime dramas portray them to be? Despite the sensationalised 'evil woman' trope, real-life statistics tell a different story. It’s a cruel irony that the way to really victimise a woman is to tell her that she is the perp when she really is overwhelmingly more likely to be the victim of violent crime.
READ MORE
-
INTERNATIONAL
- Binoy Kampmark
- 01 July 2024
Julian Assange, once confined to Britain’s most forbidding maximum-security prison, is now free after pleading guilty to a single conspiracy charge. This unexpected twist in the WikiLeaks saga, involving complex negotiations and political maneuvering, could have profound implications for press freedom and the future of journalism worldwide.
READ MORE
-
AUSTRALIA
- Juliette Hughes
- 21 June 2024
Most soldiers don’t like to talk about what they’ve been through, the things they’ve had to see; the things they’ve had to do. Uncle George was more willing to talk as he got older and more willing to be coaxed by a crowd of adoring nieces. But there were some things he'd never say. And the war never went away from him.
READ MORE