Poverty
Good budget still misses the poorest
The Australian Council of Social Service welcomes the Federal budget as ‘visionary’ for disability and education reforms but criticises the lack of measures to increase income for the poorest. 
Flawed beauty in back-to-the-wall budget
With Labor's back to the wall due to fiscal pressure and an election only four months away, last night's Federal Budget represented this Government's last statement of its values and priorities, writes Paul O’Callaghan for Eureka Street.
Adios austerity
With all the attention on the country’s finances, Russell Marks for New Matilda asks why we are letting economic rationalists dominate the discussion. History has shown that austerity doesn't work.
Online learning revolutionises results in poor areas of Auckland
Eleven schools including two Catholic primary schools in Auckland’s lower-socio-economic areas of Tamaki and Panmure are revolutionising their results through an online programme that gives students 24-hour internet access and facilitates teacher-student communication.
See also
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Refugees and migrants
Families behind razor wire a sad day for a fair nation
Bishop Christopher Saunders, Chairman of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council has expressed deep concern over the Government's proposed detention of children and families in remote immigration facilities.
‘There is something particularly uncaring about locking away children and families in a starkly isolated facility such as Curtin in the Kimberley,’ he says.
Despite reforms, Myanmar's ethnic violence continues
When the European Union recently lifted economic sanctions on Myanmar, it closed a decades-long chapter designed to encourage democratic reform in the country.
Although an arms embargo remains in place, the action will send an unequivocal message of ‘mission accomplished’, reports CNN.
But while the EU is celebrating the ‘new Myanmar’, Rohingya Muslims in the western part of the country are targets in what appears to be an ongoing campaign of government-supported crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
Human rights
They’re taking our kids
West Papua's youth are being removed to Islamic religious schools in Java for ‘re-education’, writes Michael Bachelard in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Making them Indonesians
One Indonesian soldier was particularly nice to me. He gave me pretty clothes and sweets and used to take me for walks and to his office. Then one Sunday, it was just after my first communion, I was coming out of church with other children when soldiers took me and put me into a vehicle.
Work
Sweat shops where corporate greed and human misery meet
Corporate greed and human misery often meet in the workplace. Nowhere else is that more true than in sweatshops.
Taking advantage of extremely poor workers in the developing world, many wealthy companies from economically developed nations, like Wal-Mart, demand employees work at a fast pace for long hours in deplorable conditions with no benefits, all for the sake of corporate profit.
The Political Community
Time to draw the line between Australia and Timor Leste
Australian governments of both political persuasions have reassured the Australian public that they are decent and special when it comes to dealing with the Timorese over disagreements in the Timor Sea. Time for such special pleading is over. For the good of ongoing relations between these two unequal neighbours, it is time for Australia to commit to negotiating final maritime boundaries.
Syria a toast to Israeli state terrorism
While the United States peddled the threat of chemical weapon use to justify its arming of the 'opposition' in Syria, Julie Webb-Pullman writes that Israel destroyed a chemical research facility near Damascus which was allegedly developing such weapons thus unleashing every single potentially-poisonous particle on the Syrian public.
Expanding the debate on Israel and Palestine
Full video, including Q&A session, of the Middle East Policy Council's 72nd Capitol Hill Conference, ‘The Future of Israel and Palestine: Expanding the Debate’ This event was held 25 April 2013 in Washington, DC.
Full video, a podcast and an unedited transcript can be found here.
Cultivating Peace
Subsidiarity and collaboration
Sandie Cornish’s reflection for CatholicCare Sydney focuses on subsidiarity and collaborating with those whom we serve. What do you think of when you hear the word ‘subsidiarity’? Do you think of a small company that is owned by a larger company? Subsidiarity is a key principle in Catholic Social Teaching.
Use it
SPC forum: The Future of Work
Professor Brian Howe with Ms Ged Kearney
Tuesday 28 May 2013 7:30pm
For increasing numbers of people, work is becoming less and less secure, with fluctuating hours and pay, and inferior rights and entitlements. ‘Casual’ employment and fixed-term and sham contracts allow employers to cut costs.
Held at the Study Centre, Yarra Theological Union, 34 Bedford Street, Box Hill (best entry)
Tea/coffee and snacks provided afterwards. Your donations welcome. |
