In 2007, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd famously described climate change as "the greatest moral challenge of our time." Last week, the federal government's Climate Commission released an important report titled, The Critical Decade: Key Messages. Supported by the best recent scientific research, the report claims that "the global climate is changing and humanity is …
Ian Harper on school chaplaincy
In NSW, we have had the school ethics classes battle; in Victoria, a bitter war of words has broken out between Christians and secularists over chaplaincy in state schools. The federal government recently added fuel to the fire by allocating an extra $222 million to fund chaplains in a further 1,000 schools over the next three …
Freedom to talk about Jesus
The stories are mounting up: stories of honest and sincere citizens expressing their faith in harmless ways, trapped and punished by well-organised bands of secularist zealots. One of the latest victims is British GP Dr Richard Scott, aged 50, who has been censured by the General Medical Council for talking to a 24-year-old patient about …
National Reconciliation Week
This weekend marks the beginning of National Reconciliation Week, a time for reflection on the past, an honest assessment of where we've got to as an inclusive society, and an opportunity to forge a better future together as Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It is 43 years last Friday since the 1967 referendum, and this coming …
Dear tobacco industry: Do no harm
In recent weeks tobacco sales and advertising have again been in the news as the tobacco industry reacts to the Gillard Government's courageous plan to mandate that all tobacco products be sold in plain packaging by July 2012. The good news is that public education campaigns and restrictions on tobacco advertising have made a significant …
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