David McKnight recently suggested that people who are seen as nominally conservative, like Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, could actually be new partners in the “progressive” project.
From my occasional listening to Jensen’s Boyer Lectures McKnight could well be right. He and Jensen both seem to share a […] Continue Reading…
December 20, 2005 | Graham
Jensen laments materialism…but he sells!
December 20, 2005 | Jeff Wall
“Celebrating Christmas”…Where are the churches?
The most fascinating aspect of the current debate about taking the political correctness out of “celebrating” Christmas has been the absence and silence of the mainstream Christian church leaders.
The Prime Minister has a view, the Premier has a view, so do the radio “shock jocks”, and the citizenry has […] Continue Reading…
December 19, 2005 | Graham
It’s not racist
I’ve been on a beach holiday, watching the Cronulla debate with bemused interest, but with my brain too disengaged to want to blog. Now I’m back from the traditional mystical Australian Christmas ritual, and I could have been on sabbatical for ten years, rather than just a week. Almost […] Continue Reading…
December 17, 2005 | Ronda Jambe
A Summer of Apartheid and Sedition
As with large software projects, the only way to test Howard’s new laws is to run them in real time.
If I went about threatening men of other cultural backgrounds because I took offense at their dress, manners, or choice of facial hair and headress, I would expect (even before […] Continue Reading…
December 09, 2005 | Jeff Wall
Defending the Supremacy of Parliament
It has long been my belief that one of the duties of the Opposition is to defend the supremacy of the Parliament in our system of Government.
That is why the statement yesterday by Lawrence Springborg that the former Health Minister, Gordon Nuttall, should be charged before the law courts […] Continue Reading…
December 05, 2005 | Jeff Wall
Why the community is very divided over capital punishment
I was surprised that the community’s reaction to the hanging of Van Nguyen was not more overwhelmingly against what is a barbaric form of capital punishment than it was and given a generally sympathetic media coverage to his plight.
Listening to a range of open line programs, and talking to […] Continue Reading…
December 04, 2005 | Ronda Jambe
From the Gulf to the Gold (2)
The drama, the excitement, the shiver of shadenfreude has passed with the wind. Katrina? long gone, months ago now, just another major crisis somewhere else. Not much mention anymore about the ongoing problems, the health complaints of the over-stressed returning refugees. Like Kashmir, these can be forgotten, now that […] Continue Reading…
December 01, 2005 | Graham
Rethink the RBA board
I met Rob Gerard once. We bought an investment property in a development where Gerard Industries was one of the tenants. I ended up doing some negotations with Gerard over a lease. There is no doubt that a man who involved himself in a small matter (in the context […] Continue Reading…
December 01, 2005 | Jeff Wall
The public view on capital punishment
The “disconnect” between our politicians and the people is sometimes only exceeded by that between the media and the people.
And the issue of capital punishment, and the imminent execution of a young Australian drug trafficker illustrates that one again…and does so very starkly.
If the media were to be believed, […] Continue Reading…
November 30, 2005 | Graham
Where have all the workers gone?
I ran into my friend, Dr David Watson, former MLA for Moggill, the other day. We talked about the increase in bureaucracy in the Queensland Health Department without any apparent improvement in outcomes. This was of course in the context of the Jayant Patel inferno. Whatever else you say […] Continue Reading…