Hal Pawson UNSW. Chris Martin UNSW. Australian governments acted to protect homeless people from COVID-19 in 2020 on an even larger scale than previously thought. In the first six months of the pandemic, the four states that launched emergency programs housed more than 40,000 rough sleepers and others. The states were anxious about rough sleepers’ […]
Andrew Stewart. Adriana Orifici Monash University. Joellen Riley Munton University of Technology Sydney. Shae McCrystal University of Sydney. Tess Hardy The University of Melbourne. 5 March 2021 The government’s Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill presently before parliament was drafted at the end of a six-month consultative process that brought together […]
Editorial Bruce Duncan 5 March 2021 Business leaders, economists, and social agencies were stunned and appalled by the recent refusal of the Morrison government to lift unemployment by more than a measly $3.57 a week, amounting to a grand total of $44.35 a day on which to live. The increase will go to nearly two […]
Jenny Begent. 5 March 2021. Now that we have happened upon fortunate times, let us recognise that we are our brother’s keepers, and set to work, regardless of party distinctions and religious differences, to make this world of ours a little bit like home for those whom we call our brethren. William Booth 1890. Over […]
Reviewed by Denis Blackledge SJ. 5 March 2021 This is a timely, challenging, stimulating, knowledgeable, and, yes, frightening volume by a well-known author who knows his stuff as an environmental theologian. Moreover, he writes in a style which is crisp and clear, and ends all eleven chapters with a brief summary conclusion. The book deals […]
Greg Lockhart. 5 March 2021. There are disturbing parallels between what occurred in Afghanistan and what occurred in Vietnam 50 years earlier than that. The accidental killing of innocents is one link. So is the intelligence vacuum into which our expeditionary military tradition sucked us in both countries. The Brereton Report [released in November 2020] […]
Noel Turnbull. 5 March 2021 After seven years of a Coalition government, household debt is the second highest of 43 countries; we ranked third last out of 35 OECD countries for wage growth and we have the third most unaffordable housing market in the OECD. But the good news is that the combined worth of […]
Alex Baumann Western Sydney University. Samuel Alexander University of Melbourne. Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already huge fortunes by 27.5%. And as many ordinary people lost their jobs and fell into poverty, […]
Claire Higgins UNSW. As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged vastly to increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is any guide, the new president’s forward-thinking approach could help drive Australia’s commitments to refugee protection, as well. Over the past four decades, […]
David Peetz Griffith University. The federal government’s industrial relations ‘reform’ bill offers a new definition of ‘casual’ employment which creates more problems than it solves. It effectively defines a casual job as anything described that way by the employer at the time a job commences, so long as the employer initially makes “no firm advance […]
Bruce Duncan. 8 February 2021. The assault on the US Capitol building by Trump supporters trying to overturn the election not only shocked the United States, but also raises urgent questions for the rest of the world, particularly for the churches, and for Australians too. The mob was shouting to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi […]
