The best ideas are common property
I recall opening Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang on its publication in 2000 and being struck by the absence of quotation marks around speech. I found it distracting. Dialogue merged into narration, and the visual markers that guide readers through conversations had disappeared. Why, I thought, would an accomplished novelist dispense with such a …
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The tragic deaths of five-year-old Katherine and one-year-old Harry in Cabramatta, Sydney, on 17 June 2026 confronted Australians with one of the most painful realities imaginable. Yet amid their grief, the children’s parents publicly expressed forgiveness towards the driver involved. Their response echoed another well-known Australian tragedy. In 2020, Danny and Leila Abdallah lost three …
Freedom of the press is one of the foundational principles of a democratic society. It refers to the ability of journalists and media organisations to investigate, report, publish, question those in positions of authority, and express opinions without intimidation, censorship, retaliation, or undue interference. Yet press freedom is not primarily a privilege exclusive to journalists. …
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Recent events at the National Press Club have prompted renewed reflection on freedom of the press, one of the foundations of democratic society. The immediate catalyst was an exchange between One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Guardian Australia journalist Sarah Martin. During questioning following Hanson’s National Press Club address, Martin asked about the employment of Hanson’s daughter …
Our world often assumes that happiness is the highest human good. Happiness is measured, marketed, pursued, and celebrated. But what does it mean to live a truly fulfilled human life? From both Christian and Buddhist perspectives, happiness is important to human wellbeing, but genuine and lasting happiness cannot be detached from truth, virtue, compassion, and …
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