Tony French On Saturday afternoons, I take to my couch. Not for a siesta, but to seek. Laden with the weekend editions of the Age and Australian newspapers, I try, you see, to make some sort of sense of the week’s events, hoping to arrive at a consensus between their competing commentaries. More and more, [...]
Bruce Duncan Very disturbing questions are arising from reports of Australian intelligence officers rebutting claims by former prime minister, John Howard, that their advice supported allegations of an imminent threat from Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. Howard repeatedly claimed that he had clear and conclusive evidence about the imminent threat from Saddam’s weapons, and on [...]
By Bruce Duncan The tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq fell on 19 March, but one wonders if we have learned the lessons from that war. To mark the anniversary in Iraq, a bomb killed 50 people and wounded many more. For a country of 24.6 million in 2003 (31 million in 2012), the [...]
By Jamie Pearce. Readers of this newsletter will be aware of the new leadership of worldwide Christians that we have just seen installed. Just how has this taken place, and what will it mean? You may be wondering just what Jorge Mario Bergoglio, elected Pope on 13 March, will bring as the 266th Bishop of Rome. Others [...]
By Bill Frilay. Note This article was written prior to Stephen Smith’s announcements concerning Australia’s commitments in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been described as ‘the graveyard of empires’. The British suffered defeats there before reaching agreement on the border between India and Afghanistan during the great empire game with Russia in the 19th century. The former Soviet Union, too, had its nose well [...]
By John Bottomley The Australian church and the nation both face difficult times. National reconciliation, the place of worship in contemporary mission, injustice at work through work-related death, grief, and bullying, the tension between business and theological understandings of corporate governance, and the suffering brought by post-traumatic stress to victims and perpetrators of violence – [...]
By Bruce Duncan Just when we thought demonising of asylum seekers was moderating, the Opposition’s spokesman on immigration, Scott Morrison, plunged the debate lower. He contended that, because an asylum seeker living in Sydney on a bridging visa had assaulted a young woman, all asylum seekers in the community should have to notify police of [...]
Paul Grundy On 6 January 2013, Paul Grundy (12 May 1935-6 January 2013) died, after a very distinguished life and career. Professor Emeritus with Monash University, Paul was a consultant across many fields of engineering structures, especially his great love, bridges, such as the Westgate Bridge and in many places including in East Asia where [...]
By Geoff Lacey The need for alternative economics In recent years, I have taken part in a lot of discussions about sustainability. I have found that many people agree we must work towards a profound transformation in our culture and in its patterns of production and consumption if we are to find a way out [...]
By Bill Frilay It may be appropriate to take stock on where we are with this issue that Kevin Rudd described as the greatest moral challenge of our time (and which he subsequently ditched!). We now have a carbon tax. It is impacting and will continue to impact significantly or substantially (depending on your definition) [...]
