Articles
Solomons security pact: Sogavare, China, and Australia by Peter Hooton
22 Apr 2022 | Author: | Theme: Civil society and politics; Leadership and institutions
Labor has described Solomon Islands’ security pact with China as Australia’s biggest foreign policy failure in the Pacific since the Second World War, but this is hyperbole. Australia’s biggest foreign policy failure in the region – ever – is its failure to address (at both a national and international level) the issue which poses the gravest single threat to the future viability of Pacific island countries as sovereign states: climate change. And it is this that has reduced Australia’s leverage in the region and made it harder to protect its vital economic and geostrategic interests there in the face of competition.
Download
About Climate Change and the Federal Election by Philip Huggins
20 Apr 2022 | Author: Bishop Philip Huggins | Theme: Civil society and politics; Leadership and institutions
Today's report is that Australia's Climate change isolationism has driven a further fall in the global ranking of how nations are responding to global warming. Our nation, which should be a leader by virtue of our relative wealth and natural advantages, has fallen from 35 to 52 and is in a group called ‘climate laggards’
Download
Easter and the universality of forgiveness at a pivotal moment in our nation's history by Philip Huggins
14 Apr 2022 | Author: | Theme: Public theology and ethics; Religions and dialogue
Forgiveness from the heart is profoundly beneficial and very demanding. That is why the Cross is such an enduring symbol. Both on Good Friday and then, thankfully, the Easter Sunday Cross, garlanded with flowers.
Download
Considering what national renewal looks like by Philip Huggins
14 Apr 2022 | Author: Bishop Philip Huggins | Theme: Civil society and politics; Public theology and ethics
If people feel our institutions are corrupted, unfair, unsafe and unaccountable, then democracy falters. People feel less safe. Social cohesion fragments. There is a perception that this is what we are seeing take place. A media which focuses on conflict stories amplifies this perception.
Download
The opportunity of a new beginning
21 Jan 2022 | Author: John Hendry, Philip Huggins, Hugh Kempster, and Felicity McCallum | Theme: Civil society and politics; Public theology and ethics
The recent loss of Archbishop Desmond Tutu is being sorely felt throughout the world. Tutu’s life was devoted to opposing apartheid and racial injustice in favour of reconciliation and forgiveness. We often hear that anger and revenge are deeply ingrained in the human psyche, yet Tutu reminded us that there is also the capacity for kindness, forgiveness, compassion, and mercy. In particular, forgiveness is essential to meaningful human relationships precisely because of the way it creates the conditions for healing. Forgiveness not only sets us free from the toxicity of resentment, it also licences us to be kind and to “give-for” a better future.
Download
