Marc Purcell. Waiting for the Government to invest in our international development footprint and to drive Australia’s international development program strategically, is like waiting for a bus which never comes. This year sees the sixth successive Australian aid cut. The long-term decline of aid adds up to a Government bereft of vision for development assistance, failing to meet […]
Bruce Duncan. Shocked by savage attacks on Muslims by a radicalised Australian in New Zealand, of all places, and on Christians and other Sri Lankans by Islamists, it is clear that the virus of ISIS is spreading, despite the defeat of the so-called Caliphate in Syria. Islamist and racist violence will never be eliminated simply […]
Marianna Brungs, University of Sydney. This is the final article in the Reclaiming the Fair Go series, a collaboration between The Conversation, the Sydney Democracy Network, and the Sydney Peace Foundation to mark the awarding of the 2018 Sydney Peace Prize to Nobel laureate and economics professor Joseph Stiglitz. These articles reflect on the crisis […]
Review of Matthew Shadle’s Interrupting Capitalism: Catholic Social Thought & the Economy. Joe McKay Matthew Shadle’s book, Interrupting Capitalism: Catholic Social Thought & the Economy, provides a good review of different strands of Catholic Social Thought (CST), which takes into account not just the magisterium teaching of the Catholic Church, but also the historical response […]
Bruce Duncan. In Panama for World Youth Day, Pope Francis drove home his message that faith in Christ demands engaging in the struggle for justice, peace, ecological sustainability, and social equity. His visit to Panama 23-27 January 2019 was short, but he was determined to help mobilise the social conscience of Latin Americans for a […]
Mark Moran The University of Queensland. If you set out by dinghy from the northern-most inhabited part of Australia, you will make landfall fairly soon in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Boigu Island, part of Queensland, is the most northerly island in the Torres Strait. With its own Australia Post outlet, it is less than ten […]
Julie Lawson RMIT University, Hal Pawson UNSW, Laurence Troy UNSW, Ryan van den Nouwelant Western Sydney University. Australia needs to triple its small stock of social housing over the next 20 years to cover the existing backlog and newly emerging need. That is the central finding of our new research report on the housing infrastructure needs of low-income […]
1-4 December 2018. Canberra. Micah Australia is hosting a four-day training program in Canberra 1-4 December 2018 for people committed to working for improved justice in the world. The program includes two days of training and workshops with leading speakers, and a final two days lobbying politicians in Parliament House. The program is hosted by […]
Bruce Duncan. Pope Francis has been relentless in his critique, indeed denunciation, of abuses in the international economy which are responsible for the Global Financial Crisis and its continuing unresolved consequences, especially growing inequality which he sees in Italy and much of Europe, destabilising governments and encouraging extreme nationalist movements. He blames growing inequality and […]
Sara Niner Monash University Giving small loans to people for small household purchases or to invest in businesses has been an integral part of Australian, American and other aid programs for decades. This is called “microfinance”, and the aim is not only to alleviate poverty, but to empower women. But simply improving a woman’s economic […]
Bruce Duncan. The Vatican has launched a stringent critique of widespread abuses in global economies, which are driving astonishing degrees of inequality, threatening ecological sustainability, and unleashing powerful reactionary political forces in response, as seen in parts of Europe and elsewhere. The issues are keenly pertinent in Australia, as we see in the Australian Royal […]
