Displaying items by tag: australia

Laws which mandated breaking the seal of the confessional were enacted in two Australian states last week. In Victoria, the penalty for failing to report child sexual abuse admitted in confession is up to three years imprisonment, while in Tasmania, the maximum penalty is 21 years’ in prison - which is the same penalty in that state for crimes such as rape.

In August, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Scott Morrison saying that although he is 'conservative' on abortion, he is leaving it to others to "have their own view on this and to articulate it as they see fit". Augusto Zimmerman responds by calling out ScoMo's cowardice.

The Australian Church has undertaken a radical and dangerous approach to charting her future, in the form of Plenary 2020, which was instigated by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference in 2018.

Shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ while stabbing innocent citizens in Sydney. A woman is dead and others are injured after a man went on a stabbing rampage in downtown Sydney – all the while yelling “Allahu Akbar”. But as is almost always the case, much of the media is not mentioning this latter fact. And just as bad, the authorities are telling us that this has nothing to do with terrorism.

The High Court of Australia today upheld as “reasonable”, and not unconstitutional, the decision of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to dismiss an employee who had made anonymous political comments about migration matters and government policies, contrary to various codes of conduct. The case provides interesting insights into the operation of the implied constitutional freedom of political communication. Many will see similarities with the dismissal of footballer Israel Folau for comments he shared about the Bible’s view of morality, but as we will see, while somewhat factually similar, the cases raise quite different issues.

A group of women from New South Wales have started a campaign to draw attention to abortion law reform in the state. But what they don't seem to understand is that these days, only pro-lifers get arrested.

In the last week, a major debate has restarted in New South Wales about abortion. Most of the commentary however, begs the question and dances around the central issue. The real issue, is not doctors conscience rights, certifying consultants, or whether carrying out an abortion at 39 weeks is too late. It is not a political debate about whether the Berejiklian Government is riding roughshod over the Liberal Party's voter base. The real debate is over whether killing unborn humans as acceptable.

"If the proponents of this bill are relying on Dr Sood's conviction as a justification for this bill, they are relying on a very poor case indeed. They are relying upon an instance of appalling mistreatment of a patient.”