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P&I Guest Archive
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CLAIRE GIANGRAVE. UN panel probes Italy’s role in Church’s child abuse scandals
A United Nations Committee for the protection of minors questioned the Italian government last week about clerical sexual abuse in the country, expressing concern over laws that protect predator priests from criminal charges. Continue reading »
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IAN AND TIM ROBINSON. A Sad Excuse for a National Day
A National Day should be the anniversary of a central event in the life of the nation, a day when we all come together and celebrate our nation’s shared values – a celebration of the start of our nation’s journey, usually the attainment of independence, or some other significant national milestone. Continue reading »
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CIARA MORRIS. Seeing China Through a Washington Lens
Balancing relations between China and the US is arguably Australia’s greatest foreign policy challenge in the 21st century. But is Australia getting it right? Continue reading »
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PATSY MCGARRY. Church response to modern abuse scandals ‘same as 30 years ago.’
Marie Collins claims lessons of abuse in Ireland not being used to change policy elsewhere ‘The church reaction is a mirror image of what we were hearing here in Ireland 30 years ago.’ Continue reading »
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SANG JIEJA. Tibetans get home decor order: Hang Xi, Mao portrait
Dalai Lama images removed from temples, monasteries as Party reinforces iconography of its ‘heroes’; households next Continue reading »
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RICHARD KINGSFORD. The catastrophic fish kill on the Darling River– decades in the making
The plight of the Darling River shocked the nation last week, when up to a million fish were killed by lack of oxygen, accompanying the disruption of a blue-green algal bloom on a forty kilometre stretch of the river near Menindee, southeast of Broken Hill. This followed a similar kill of tens of thousands of Continue reading »
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‘CHRIS HARRINGTON. Care? The scourge of the ward station’
The professionalism in hospitals may have contributed greatly to better data collection and use of technology, but after a visit to a hospice and an ICU unit recently, I wondered what has happened to care. Our system is failing us. Continue reading »
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JEFFREY SACHS and others.- Fully Filling the Global Fund.
In a world divided by conflict and greed, the Global Fund’s fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria is a matter of enlightened self-interest and a reminder of how much humanity can accomplish when we cooperate to save lives. For public and private donors, that means providing the financing needed to eliminate all three scourges Continue reading »
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JONATHAN WEISMAN. American Jews and Israeli Jews break up
The events of the past year brought American and Israeli Jews closer to a breaking point. President Trump, beloved in Israel and decidedly unloved by a majority of American Jews, moved the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May, with the fiery evangelical pastors John Hagee and Robert Jeffress consecrating the ceremony. Continue reading »
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PETER WOODRUFF. What Matters at the Show and in the Church.
I spent my childhood and youth in Tasmanian towns, never had any desire to live on a farm but always enjoyed going to what I knew as ‘the show’, which was in fact an agricultural show. The show offered two kinds of spectacles: what went on in the side-shows and what happened in the main Continue reading »
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GARRY EVERETT. A Legal Leap of Faith?
GARRY EVERETT. A Legal Leap of Faith? In the Weekend Australian (5/6 Jan.’19), Professor Greg Graven wrote an article entitled Taking a Legal Leap of Faith. In essence it is an examination of the key issues involved in trying to legislate in the matter of religious freedom. This is a disappointing contribution. Continue reading »
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CHRISTOPHER LAMB. Pope Francis comes out in support of Macron and Merkel in warning against the resurgence of Nationalism.
The Pope said the ‘resurgence of nationalistic tendencies’ is at odds with the ‘vocation’ of international bodies The Tablet 08 January 2019. Pope Francis leads an annual meeting to exchange greetings for the new year with diplomats accredited to the Holy See, at the Vatican Jan. 7. Photo: Pope Francis leads an annual meeting to Continue reading »
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MARTYN LLOYD JONES, PAUL KOMESAROFF. Here’s why doctors are backing pill testing at music festivals across Australia
For many years experts in the field of drug policy in Australia have known existing policies are failing. Crude messages (calls for total abstinence: “just say no to drugs”) and even cruder enforcement strategies (harsher penalties, criminalisation of drug users) have had no impact on the use of drugs or the extent of their harmful Continue reading »
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STEWART FIRTH. China, Samoa and debt-for-equity swaps- East Asia Forum Jan. 3 2019
Last year, Australia discovered the debt owed to Chinese banks by Pacific island countries. As the debate over China’s intentions in the region grew, commentators pointed to the possibility that Pacific countries might be compelled to accept debt-for-equity swaps if they could not repay. The port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka, where a Chinese company Continue reading »
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KELLIE MERRITT. Stepping up to the war crease.
Unaccountable spin and double standards are the stuff of “good bloke” politicians. It’s a skilful charade that perpetuates unchecked executive power and distances the parliament and public. Kellie Merritt’s husband Paul was killed “whilst on operational duty” in Iraq. She doesn’t want to collude with the “good blokes”. Truth is often the first casualty of Continue reading »
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JOE ROACH. Inequality-A case of wood and trees.
Economists love data. For some it is a case of the more the merrier….or, at the least, the more data the more articles than can be published. Whether this contributes much to the overall good is doubtful. When it misleads it needs to be called out. Continue reading »
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NICK DEANE. Armistice Day
On ‘Remembrance Day’ we should not forget that the majority of war’s casualties are actually non-combatant civilians. We should also remember that the original day was a day of great joy, as warring came to an end. Peace is the ‘default position’; war an aberration. However, current commemorations still focus on the ‘warrior hero’. Continue reading »
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JOHN HANNON. Complexities of Catholic marriage.
As Brendan Byrne SJ, scripture scholar, comments on today’s Gospel( 7 October 2018): “Any pastor would be aware that no Sunday Gospel read throughout the year… will require more careful handling than this one… To simply read out the rulings of Jesus in the Gospel without comment or nuance would be to turn Gospel into Continue reading »
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DAVID BOOTH, JOHN TURNBULL. The backflip over Sydney’s marine park is a defiance of science.
The New South Wales government’s decision to back away from establishing no-fishing zones in waters around Sydney leaves significant question marks over the plan, which is open for public consultation until September 27. Continue reading »
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CHRIS FOTINOPOULOS. Bigotry is bad business, so why not let the consumer decide?
Take a drive along any arterial road in Australia and you’re likely to pass dwellings dedicated to various deities with its congregants practising their brand of faith free of external interference. Apart from the exclusive varieties, most churches are open to anyone seeking respite from secular life. But as much as most churches are welcoming, Continue reading »
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LYNDSAY CONNORS. Coalition recycles old nonsense with business-as-usual schools deal (the Guardian, 22.09.18)
The prime minister’s announcement of an extra $4.6bn in funding over the next decade for private schools makes no sense. Continue reading »
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MARK BUTLER. Coalition exposes its ignorance in anti-renewable stance (The Big Smoke, 21.09.18)
On Tuesday during Parliamentary Question Time, new Energy Minister Angus Taylor announced: “the (RET) target reaches a peak in 2020 and we will not be replacing that with anything.” Continue reading »
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DENIS MULLER. Media power: why the full story of Murdoch, Stokes and the Liberal leadership spill needs to be told (The Conversation, 20.09.18)
The first German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, said there were two sights the public should not see: the making of laws and the making of sausages. To this list of enduringly nauseating spectacles we should add one more: the political machinations of media moguls. Continue reading »
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IAN BURUMA. From Charlottesville to Chemnitz: the West’s race problem.
For obvious reasons, the sight of a German mob chasing foreigners through the streets and throwing up their arms in Hitler salutes is particularly disturbing. This is what happened recently in Chemnitz, a bleak industrial city in Saxony that was touted in the former German Democratic Republic as a model socialist city (it was called Continue reading »
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BRUCE GUTHRIE. The growing power of media mates (The New Daily, 20.09.18)
The news that billionaires Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Stokes essentially war-gamed the ousting of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should appal all Australians wanting media diversity and an open and transparent polity. Continue reading »
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KATHARINE MURPHY. AMA president calls for urgent transfer of refugee families from Nauru.
Exclusive: Tony Bartone writes to Scott Morrison saying situation is ‘a humanitarian emergency requiring urgent intervention’. Continue reading »
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MELISSA SWEET. Please support this crowdfunding campaign, so we can cover the 4th Peoples’ Health Assembly – #PHA4.
Please consider supporting this crowdfunding campaign to enable Dr Lesley Russell to report for Croakey from a landmark global health meeting in Bangladesh from November 15-19 – the 4th Peoples’ Health Assembly – or #PHA4. Continue reading »
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ISABELLE LANE. Six big players dominate Australia’s scandal-hit aged care sector (The New Daily, 19.09.18)
Aged care providers are expected to rake in $1.7 billion worth of profits in 2018-19, but reports of poor living conditions in nursing homes have raised concerns that the industry is putting profit before people. Continue reading »
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TROY BRAMSTON. Ex-Labor leader Bill Hayden, 85, baptised into Catholic Church.
Bill Hayden, at age 85, has renounced his atheism and been baptised into the Catholic Church. Continue reading »
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JAMES FERNYHOUGH. Claim we’re on track to meet emissions targets is false.
Australia’s new energy minister Angus Taylor made a claim about carbon emissions this week that looked on the surface to be fantastic news, but on closer inspection is false. Continue reading »
