Writer
Frank Brennan
Frank Brennan AO is a Jesuit priest and Rector of Newman College at the University of Melbourne. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the PM Glynn Institute at Australian Catholic University and an Adjunct Professor at the Thomas More Law School at ACU.
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Offshore people dumping by a spooked government
The Albanese Labor Government has been spooked by recent High Court decisions which protect the human rights of non-citizens who cannot be returned to their home country because they are owed protection obligations. Continue reading »
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A tribute to Lowitja O’Donoghue
In 2017, I was privileged to deliver the Lowitja Oration at her invitation marking the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum. I thanked Lowitja for her national leadership, for her trust, for her hopeful example, and for her friendship. Continue reading »
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Rejected by the people who dispossessed and colonised them
This morning, I call to mind the Aboriginal woman who spoke at the end of a forum we held in Darwin on the Voice. She told us: ‘A lot of my people don’t understand all the law and politics about this Voice. All I know is that when they wake up on Sunday 15 October Continue reading »
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An Easter reflection: dreaming dreams, hoping against hope
Easter is a time for dreaming dreams and for hoping against hope. Pragmatists, even if they be religious believers, are unlikely to expend too much energy doing so. But with the state of our troubled world in Ukraine, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Somalia, and Myanmar, it behoves us to take a breather and contemplate what peace Continue reading »
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Asylum Seeker policy: compromise has finally led to decency
Six years ago, John Menadue, Robert Manne, Tim Costello and I agreed that Australia’s refugee and asylum seeker policy was in a complete mess. The trouble started with the 2013 election campaign when Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott tried to outdo each other, pledging that the boats would be stopped and that anyone headed for Continue reading »
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A 2022 Christmas reflection
I’ve just spent a week in Assisi – the home of Christmas cribs. At every turn there was a nativity scene – large and small, tasteful and kitsch, prayerful and gauche. By night, church facades were lit with truly spectacular scenes of Mary and the angel at the Annunciation and of the manger with Joseph, Continue reading »
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The Albanese reset: Stopping boats while treating onshore asylum seekers decently
In his message for this year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees which is entitled ‘Building the future with migrants and refugees’, Pope Francis says: ‘No one must be excluded. God’s plan is essentially inclusive and gives priority to those living on the existential peripheries. Among them are many migrants and refugees, displaced persons, and Continue reading »
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Keeping them honest: A book review
This book Keeping Them Honest: the case for a genuine national integrity commission and other vital democratic reforms puts solidly the case for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission known in the trade I’m told as a CIC. Continue reading »
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The cry of refugees
The Coalition remains committed to detaining asylum seekers in Australia if they have arrived by boat without a visa. The Labor Party has not made any commitment to cease such detention. Continue reading »
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Three unjustified problems with the Queensland euthanasia bill
The Queensland Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill goes too far in trampling on the rights of those who want nothing to do with it in the last stages of their own life or in their long term relationships with their patients and residents. Continue reading »
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Clive Palmer, border closures and the High Court
Clive Palmer has already lost one High Court case challenging the WA border closure. He is threatening another. That too will fail. Continue reading »
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Unsought, unnecessary and unexplained red tape aimed at silencing charities
The Morrison Government is committed to reducing red tape. Charities have more work than ever to do during this time of pandemic. The Senate is being asked to disallow a new regulation which would impact unduly on all charities, making them liable to deregistration should any of their members or volunteers commit a simple offence. Continue reading »
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The fraying of judicial nerves in migration cases
George Brandis as Attorney-General started a round of appointments to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and to the Federal Circuit Court which has continued to adversely impact the fair and efficient resolution of refugee and migration cases. The under-resourcing of these bodies is also impacting decisions. Continue reading »
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The High Court’s surrender to the Morrison-Dutton immigration detention regime
For almost thirty years, there has been a tussle between the courts and government in Australia over immigration detention. Alas, the High Court called a truce on Wednesday with a 4-3 decision which is as unprincipled as it is harsh. Continue reading »
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Easter Homily: women have witnessed to the truth.
Women have been commissioned to lead the way as our society makes its way out of the present commotion of disrespect, discrimination and violence. Continue reading »
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Will President-elect Biden restore US leadership on refugees?
Biden told the audience of JRS supporters: ‘The United States has long stood as a beacon of hope for the downtrodden and the oppressed, a leader in resettling refugees and our humanitarian response. I promise, as president, I’ll reclaim that proud legacy for our country.’ Continue reading »
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Many of Trump’s supporters feel disempowered by the elites
We’ve all been doing quite a deal of waiting of late – whether it be for the lifting of lockdown restrictions at a time of pandemic, or for the outcome of this week’s US presidential election. And all the time, we believers are waiting for the coming of the Kingdom with signs of its breaking Continue reading »
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Homily to Susan Ryan
As we gather here in the Lady Chapel at Newman College, people are gathered in socially distant numbers at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney for the state funeral of Susan Maree Ryan. Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN SJ. ‘I can’t breathe.’
Martin Luther King said ‘in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard’. Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN Constitutional Recognition of the Indigenous Voice
Addressing the National Press Club during NAIDOC Week, Ken Wyatt, Minister for Indigenous Australians said: ‘I will develop and forward a consensus option for constitutional recognition to put to a referendum during the current parliamentary term. That means working through until we reach a point in which there is consensus across all the relevant groups Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. Australia and the refugees who come by boat
We have now all endured our third election in a row when boat turnbacks and the punitive treatment of refugees and asylum seekers featured. The overwhelming majority of our politicians and the overwhelming majority of voters are agreed that the boats from Indonesia carrying asylum seekers transiting Indonesia should be stopped, and the refugees and Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. Our Church or Our Museum? Contributing to a confident, humble, listening, and questioning Church.
Even with changes to governance and participation, the Catholic Church remains at a cross roads between life and death, between relevance and irrelevance, between a Church and a museum in our post-modern world. Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. Safe Turnbacks and Appropriate Medical Care for Asylum Seekers (Eureka Street, 18 February 2019)
We are all gearing up for the third election in a row when boat turnbacks and the punitive treatment of refugees and asylum seekers feature. It need not be so. It’s time voters sent a message that it should not be so. The overwhelming majority of our politicians and the overwhelming majority of voters are Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN, TIM COSTELLO, ROBERT MANNE, JOHN MENADUE. Boat Turnbacks and Medical Transfers.
It’s time to stop the shrillness. The boats have stopped. Both sides of politics are now committed to turnbacks. Both Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten will do whatever it takes to stop asylum seekers setting sail from Indonesia. If asylum seekers do set sail, they will be returned. Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. Compassion and justice after abuse apology.
Tomorrow in our national parliament, the Prime Minister will offer an apology to the victims of child sexual abuse. Many survivors will be here in Canberra. Some will be here at taxpayer expense having been successful in a ballot to attend. Others will come under their own steam hoping to get into the parliamentary gallery Continue reading »
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Walking together for a better future (Eureka Street, 01.10.18)
Frank Brennan’s keynote address to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council Assembly entitled: ‘Strong Faith. Strong Youth. Strong Future — Walking Together in a movement of the Australian people for a better future’. 1 October 2018, Technology Park — Bentley, Perth Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. Consolations from the Liberal Party mess.
What a mess! Poor Fellow My Country. Today is not a day for reckoning about any big policy issues, because none of them was in play when members of the Liberal Party cast their votes in the party room. Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. A planet to heal (Hiroshima Remembrance Ecumenical Service, Adamstown Uniting Church, Newcastle, 5 August 2018).
I join with you in acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet. This weekend at the 20th Garma Festival held on Yolgnu lands in Arnhem Land, the acclaimed Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan spoke. Having disclosed his own potential Indigenous heritage for the first time, he told the audience: Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Woe to the shepherds (Homily, 22.07.18 at St Michaels’ Church, Kaleen)
Sometimes the lectionary throws up a reading from scripture which just hits you in the face given what’s been going on in your world the previous week. Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. The sentencing of Archbishop Wilson. (Eureka Street 3/7/2018)
Philip Wilson has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment to be served by way of home detention. It’s very likely that he will appeal his conviction and sentence. An appeal may well succeed, but that’s not the end of the matter. This has been a six-year saga relating to events which occurred more than 40 Continue reading »