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/ 15 December 2006
It’s rare that a proposal that is opposed by the prime minister, his deputy and the opposition leader, passes through Parliament to become law, but that’s what happened last week when the Australian Parliament approved a law enabling the creation of human embryos for use in medical research.
Nations build their influence on the world as much through culture as they do through guns. This is referred to as ”soft power”. South Africa’s image has benefited from the presence of its artists abroad, writes Greg Barns.
Seven years ago Australian Prime Minister John Howard was fêted for the way in which his government helped the people of East Timor — located only 700km from Australia’s north-west coast –gain their independence from Indonesia, which had occupied the island since 1975.
Last year alone, 1,6-million people were arrested by United States-Mexico border protection authorities and at least that many escaped detection and made it into the US. It is an issue that is splitting the Republican and Democratic parties as they grapple with new laws to regulate this movement of people.
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/ 20 December 2005
Australia has long cherished its image as a tolerant, diverse and relaxed nation — a haven for those seeking a safe and secure life away from the world’s trouble spots. That image has taken a battering as the world watches and reads about hordes of drunken young white Australians who assaulted their fellow Australians of Middle Eastern descent, many of them Lebanese.
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/ 15 December 2004
Ten years ago, Aboriginal Australian Michael Long was a champion in Australia’s most popular winter sport — Australian Rules football. In his country, Long was a universally popular hero because of his exploits on the football field. Last week, Long was back in the limelight, trekking 400km to meet with newly re-elected Australian Prime Minister John Howard about the deplorable state of Aboriginal affairs in his country.
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/ 17 September 2004
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, facing a general election on October 9, has been one of United States President George W Bush’s most reliable allies in the "war on terror". But the bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, last Thursday by a radical Islamic group potentially makes Howard’s loyalty to the US a political liability, as his political opponents accuse him of neglecting Australia’s security.
East Timor’s President Xanana Gusmao believes his impoverished country of 800 000 people will become a failed state unless Australia relinquishes its claim to 80% of royalties from rich oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea. The Timor Sea, which lies between Australia and East Timor, contains two major gas fields — Greater Sunrise and Bayu Undan. It is also rich in oil deposits.
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/ 10 February 2004
Australian Prime Minister John Howard is under minimal pressure to follow the lead of United States President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and hold an independent inquiry into intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq. Howard is so far resisting calls to hold an independent inquiry.
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/ 18 February 2003
Australian politicians are using President Thabo Mbeki’s stance to shore up their case for or against war. Many Australians, including political leaders, are impressed by Mbeki’s calm counsel to world leaders about the need to avoid a war with Iraq if at all possible.