Roaring at the man drilling tattoos into my sensitivities

By Nancy Cato March 3, 2013 At my usual early hour on a sunny Melbourne Saturday, I pushed back the covers along with the urge to go back to sleep and wondered why I felt discomforted. I’m a happy soul, usually. And then I remembered; the images of Scott Morrison’s many interviews the day before […]

Refugees tell @latingle how they would change our policy and practice

By Jane Cattermole March 5, 2013 I recently attended the Perth Writer’s Festival and heard heard refugees tell their own stories and describe the mistrust and bitterness they felt from some Australians. Laura Tingle moderated the forum on ‘Refugees: Where do they come from?’ and the panel was: Robin de Crespigny, Author of The People […]

Please let us stay

By Ursula Nolks March 4, 2013 EDITORS NOTE: Thorsten, son of Ursula and Frank Nolks, rang me yesterday about the impending deportation of his parents on Wednesday after more than 30 years in Australia. Their lives changed course when Thorsten wanted to get married in 2008, because it was discovered his parents had changed their […]

The new terrorists

By Margo Kingston November 22, 2001 Source: Webdiary EDITORS NOTE: I was going to write a piece about Morrison’s play this week to trap Gillard in Western Sydney with his asylum seeker ambush when I realised I already had, more than a decade ago. Looks like Abbott is copying his political father’s playbook to win […]

Laura Tingle reveals why some policies don’t get covered any more

By Jane Cattermole February 23, 2013 On Friday I attended a forum at the Perth Writers Festival titled Refugees; where do they come from. The speakers were Robin de Crespigny, author of  ‘The People Smuggler’, Kooshyar Karimi, refugee and author of ‘I Confess: Revelations in Exile’ and Carina Hoang, author of ‘Boat People: Personal Stories […]