Human Rights
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JOHN MENADUE. Domestic violence, not terrorism, is the big killer in Australia- A REOST from November 10 2017
Compared to other risks, we have little to fear from terrorism. In the last two decades only three people in Australia have died from terrorism. But there is a ‘vividness’ bias in terrorism because it stands out in our minds. Importantly, a lot of politicians, businesses, stand to gain from exaggerating the terrorist threat. It Continue reading »
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STAN GRANT- We ignore our racist past-A REPOST from August 21 2017
I passed by Hyde Park this week in the heart of Sydney and looked again on the statue of Captain James Cook. It has pride of place, a monument to the man who in 1770 claimed this continent for the British crown. Continue reading »
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A Human Rights Bill 2009
As part of our campaign for a national Human Rights Act, a Bill was drafted to ‘respect, protect and promote Human Rights for Australia’. This model Bill formed the core of our group’s submission to the National Human Rights Consultation, chaired by Frank Brennan SJ OA. See following draft of Human Rights Bill 2009. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. A campaign from 2005, for a Human Rights Act for Australia.
In 2005, Susan Ryan, Spencer Zifcak, I and others, in association with New Matilda, launched a campaign for a Human Rights Act for Australia. This campaign is outlined in the following. It formed part of a submission to Frank Brennan SJ who was Chair of the Commonwealth Government, National Human Rights Consultation. As a result Continue reading »
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JUDE McCULLOCH, JANEMAREE MAHER, KATE FITZ-GIBBON AND SANDRA WALKLATE. Finally, police are taking family violence as seriously as terrorism.
Victoria Police recently announced that family violence perpetrators will be treated as seriously as terrorists and murderers. This strategy represents a major milestone in the evolving police approach to family violence. Though family violence results in far more death and injury, terrorism is nonetheless considered Australia’s leading security threat. The Victoria Police strategy represents an opportunity to Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE. Melbourne’s South Sudanese youth problem and the confection of a crime gang crisis.
That there are groups of disaffected and anti-social youths of Sudanese (and other) origin in Melbourne is not in dispute. What is at issue is the way it is being handled by the yellow press and by right wing politicians. Continue reading »
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MICK PALMER. Australia’s Illicit Drugs Policy – There Really is a better Way A REPOST
It happens time and time again. We are told breathlessly by the media with photos of bags of seized drugs flanked by Border Protection officials and police officers about how successful we are in containing the drug problem.. But is it ‘success’ when despite the new records in drug seizures the drug problem in the Continue reading »
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CHRISTINA HO. Racist reporting still rife in Australian media
Half of all race-related opinion pieces in the Australian mainstream media are likely to contravene industry codes of conduct on racism. Continue reading »
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Hunger and disease haunt Rohingya refugees
‘Sometimes we borrow from neighbors or we starve’ Continue reading »
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KIM OATES. The Royal Commission, a beginning, not an end.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is testament to both the evil in our society and to the courage and determination of many of the victims. But we need to be aware that most child sexual abuse occurs in places other than churches and institutions. Continue reading »
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KEVIN PEOPLES. An end of sorts.
There is a time for everything …a time to be silent and a time to speak…Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 Today the Royal Commission came to an end. I feel as if I have lost a friend. It seems somehow improper to say anything. In its place endless prattle, numbers, interviews, politics. Seventeen volumes. I am left numb. Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. A Catholic reflection on the Royal Commission as the curtain closes on Act One.
On Friday, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which has been part of the Australian political and ecclesial landscape for the last five years, will cease to exist. The commission will present its report to the Governor-General, and the commissioners will return to private life or to their previous public offices. Continue reading »
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GEORGE BROWNING. Child sexual abuse, the Church and the Royal Commission.
The findings of the Commission have sent shock waves through the institutional Church and generated disgust in the wider community. Is there any good news, any reason to hope for something better? Continue reading »
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JOAN STAPLES: Incredulous disbelief at Gary Johns to head charities regulator.
The appointment of Gary Johns last week as director of the regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), has created incredulous disbelief and concern amongst NGO leaders. For decades, Johns has been proactive in criticising the public advocacy of NGOs and even their very existence. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull ran dead on SSM
Malcolm Turnbull may not have wished to appear churlish last Thursday after the final vote on the same sex marriage bill, but he had no choice: that was his job. So rather than following the parliament to embrace bipartisanship at the long and tortuous procedure, he had the obligatory swipe at Bill Shorten. Continue reading »
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KATHARINE BETTS AND BOB BIRRELL. How do Australian voters’ view the level of immigration? TAPRI and Scanlon compared
There has been growing controversy about Australia’s level of overseas immigration. In the year to March 2017 Australia’s population is estimated to have grown by a massive 389,100, some 231,000, or 60 per cent of which was due to net overseas migration. For the last few years around two thirds of the net growth in Continue reading »
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KIERAN TAPSELL. The Royal Commission Report on the Melbourne Archdiocese
On 5 December 2017, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released a redacted version of its Report of Case Study No. 35: the Archdiocese of Melbourne. It strongly criticized Church personnel for failure to protect children under its care. It blamed both the culture of secrecy and inadequate structures for the Continue reading »
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ELIZABETH EVATT. Why not protect all our rights and freedoms?
The proposal to legislate for freedom of thought ,conscience and religion, as provided in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a half measure which would leave other rights and freedoms without equivalent protection. And it may not produce the result which is aimed at. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. What silent majority?
The best thing about the same sex marriage survey (apart, of course, from the entirely predictable numbers) is that it finally and conclusively disproves the myth of the silent majority – the conservative fantasy that somehow, somewhere, there is a great mass of Australians who are against all progressive change but have never actually said Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. Same sex marriage and freedom of religion
On Wednesday, the ABS will announce the results of the survey on same sex marriage. The return rate on the survey is a very credible 78.5 per cent. In Ireland only 60.5 per cent of eligible voters turned out. Continue reading »
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SPENCER ZIFCAK. Australia elected to UN Human Rights Council – despite international condemnation.
Two weeks ago, Australia was chosen as one of two new member nations on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). Before one gets too excited about this achievement it is worth noting that our country’s election was uncontested. There were three countries vying for two positions on the HRC – Australia, Spain and France. France dropped Continue reading »
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The Manus Island agreement is a failure; Turnbull and Shorten need to accept that: Robert Manne, Tim Costello, Frank Brennan and John Menadue.
There is now a humanitarian disaster on Australia’s doorstep. And it’s our responsibility. The refugees on Manus Island must be resettled promptly. After four years, all options other than Australia have come to nothing or have been rejected by our government. There is now no option but to resettle them in Australia. There are 600 persons, most of them proven refugees, Continue reading »
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JOAN STAPLES. Civil Society Highs and Lows
Australian civil society has seen the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) win the Nobel Peace Prize, the High Court uphold Bob Brown’s challenge to Tasmanian protest laws, and the Coalition extend its attacks on NGO advocacy, targeting GetUp. Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE. Is Australia a morally backward society?
Earlier this year a national conference of First Nation Australians at Uluru recommended that a Council representing all Indigenous Australians be enshrined in the Constitution. The purpose of the Council would be to advise governments on policies affecting Indigenous Australians. It would not have legislative powers; it would be a strictly consultative body, advising governments Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KELLY. The weakest to the wall.
The eyes of the world have been fixed on and appalled by the sight of more than 580,000 Rohingya fleeing the violence gratuitously inflicted on them by the military in Myanmar. And the story isn’t over yet. More will be targeted and more will run for their lives in what is the most serious humanitarian Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull and Daniel Andrews.
The success of Victoria’s Labor government in passing its Assisted Dying legislation through the lower house is surely an object lesson in how to handle a sensitive and contentious subject. Continue reading »
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PETER RODGERS. Australia and capital punishment – rhetoric and reality
In pursuing Australia’s ultimately successful bid for election to the UN Human Rights Council, Foreign Minister Bishop declared that Australia would be ‘unrelenting’ in its efforts to abolish capital punishment globally. But Australia’s track record of selective outrage gives little hope for an energetic, universalist approach that goes beyond the rhetorical. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL: Requiem for a democracy
The Australian Security agencies have asked again for further powers to enable them to prevent terrorist attacks. Among the requests made are for extended detention powers, increasing the time a “terror suspect” can be detained without charge from 14 to 28 days. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Welcome to Malcolm’s brave new world.
Malcolm Turnbull began last week with the regular ritual of re-announcing that, yet again, he had solved the gas crisis. Continue reading »
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TONY SMITH. Australia’s worst threat from terrorism lies in the home.
The recent shooting in Las Vegas is a reminder that massacres are not the preserve of international terrorists. While the US Ambassador in Canberra has suggested Australia’s firearms laws could be a useful model for the USA, we cannot feel complacent while we tolerate domestic violence. Yet, politicians seem not to appreciate that cultural change Continue reading »