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Keywords: Boat People

  • AUSTRALIA

    The delight and discomfort of undeserved gifts

    • Emma Wilkins
    • 18 December 2024

    Gift-giving should be a celebration of kindness, but modern rituals often entangle us in obligation and excess. From generous neighbours to Christmas present hauls, reciprocal gifts build and shape our relationships. But what does it mean to give without strings?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Offshore people dumping by a spooked government

    • Frank Brennan
    • 04 December 2024
    1 Comment

    When High Court rulings challenge government policy, they usually prompt reflection and refinement. But for the Federal Government, a recent decision on non-citizen rights has sparked a legislative overreach, mirroring the Opposition’s hardline stance. 

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  • RELIGION

    All religion is local

    • John Warhurst
    • 03 December 2024
    2 Comments

    The Synod of Bishops may mark a turning point for the Catholic Church, but the real work now begins — locally. From diocesan councils to parish communities, the challenge lies in translating synodality into action. In Australia, divergent episcopal views and a patchy history of reform raise critical questions about the Church’s future.

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    The reef doctor

    • Michele Gierck
    • 31 August 2024

    As rising sea temperatures trigger widespread coral bleaching across the Great Barrier Reef, marine scientists explore the devastating effects and do what they can to restore these vital ecosystems. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Seeking refuge, finding red tape

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 05 July 2024

    There is no doubt that laws for determining refugee status and onshore protection are complex. The cases of NZYQ and ASF17 demonstrate that when laws regarding asylum and protection intersect with laws regarding character and protection of the community, the results can be extremely messy.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Justice and Hope

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 07 June 2024
    1 Comment

    Raimond Gaita insists that there is something precious in each human being. He does not rest this conviction on a particular religious or philosophical grounding. It flows, rather, from a rich reading of human possibilities and questioning of the meaning of life.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Advocating against the wind

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 08 May 2024
    3 Comments

    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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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Vanity and grace in the return of Priscilla

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 29 April 2024
    2 Comments

    What are we to make of the enthusiasm that led to the discovery of the bus once used in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and the plan to restore it for a remake, thirty years later? 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    40 Days: Generosity

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 07 March 2024

    Generosity is most heartwarming when it is a habit. We see it in people whose first inclination is to give something to a beggar, to stop and listen to a hard luck story, to think first of persons affected by war and economic crises and only secondly to policy, to welcome people into their homes and to go out of their way to help.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Charity begins at the microphone

    • Barry Divola
    • 06 March 2024

    A documentary about the making of 1985’s We Are The World holds many surprises, while raising questions about charity singles. These stars were rich and privileged and largely out of touch with how most of the public lived. But at least they were using their fame for something good, and wasn’t that something to be encouraged?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    On striving officiously to keep alive

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 22 February 2024

    If the treatment of persons is unethical, it will inevitably lead to ethical corruption in the people and the institutions involved in administering it. It is almost impossible to participate in a policy based on such unethical premises without being complicit in it. If we do, we become blinded to what we owe one another by virtue of being human.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    On the anniversary of a poet's birth, a universal message to nations

    • Warwick McFadyen
    • 20 February 2024
    1 Comment

    ‘The loss of memory by a nation is also a loss of its conscience.’ As the loss of conscience grows with each succeeding generation, one day righting the boat on the sea of forgetfulness will become impossible. In the end, what people don’t know, they won’t miss. 

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