National Observer - Australia and World Affairs articles from December 2007

National Observer - Australia and World Affairs archives from December 2007

Little children are sacred.(EDITORIAL COMMENT)
December 22, 2007... Immediate action was required following the shocking revelations in the "Little Children are Sacred" report on Aboriginal child abuse. The Northern Territory Government was unwilling or unable to address the problem in a decisive way so the...

Kevin Rudd's touching ways.(EDITORIAL COMMENT)(Interview)
December 22, 2007... Do we really want to elect as our prime minister a man who, as shadow foreign minister, visited a lap-dancing joint while in New York on an official trip funded by the Australian taxpayer? A man who then proceeded to behave in such a way as to...

Mr Howard's populism.(John Howard)
December 22, 2007... Populism in a political leader can express itself in a variety of ways. In descending order of commendability and disinterestedness, one could include: 1) the desire to monitor the general will via opinion polls, referenda, talk-back...

Mr Costello's repeated budget failure.(ARTICLES)
December 22, 2007... As this article is being written, our politicians are gearing up for a federal election, which could even be held in late August or 1 September, before publication. Most commentators, however, seem to think an October-November date most...

Dr H.V. Evatt--part one: a question of sanity.(Herbert Vere Evatt )
December 22, 2007... Nemo Repente Fuit Turpissimus. In his memoirs, Bill Hayden, Treasurer in the Whitlam Government and Foreign Minister in the Hawke Government, noted of Dr H.V. Evatt (1894-1965), High Court judge (1930-40), Attorney-General and Minister for...

The national interest: can we any longer define it?
December 22, 2007... The national interest has always been a difficult concept to pin down. Once, we were given a helping hand by the profile of national issues like defence and immigration that were largely bipartisan. Moreover, the concept was illustrated in...

An unwanted birthday party.(demonstration on mayor Freddy Thielemans' 63rd birthday)
December 22, 2007... A demonstration against the "Islamicisation of Europe", scheduled to take place in Brussels on September 11, 2007 and put together by the umbrella organisation Pax Europa, has been prohibited by the socialist mayor Freddy Thielemans. The...

Europe's Turkish Conundrum.
December 22, 2007... Is the 71-million-strong, nominally secular, Turkish state suited to become a fully-fledged member of the European Union (EU)? That is a question which increasing numbers of European politicians and voters are asking themselves and will...

North Korea's nuclear game under scrutiny.
December 22, 2007... North Korea is a rogue state which abandoned a 1994 agreement with the US Clinton Administration to dismantle its nuclear programme, expelled inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in December 2002, and withdrew from the...

The wrongs of a WA human rights act: a rights-based critique.(LEGAL NOTES)(Government of Western Australia)(Report)
December 22, 2007... The Government of Western Australia is preparing to enact a human rights act. The government suggests a particular model similar to those existing in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. For such a...

While Europe slept.(How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within)(Book review)
December 22, 2007... How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within by Bruce Bawer (New York: Doubleday, 2006) Hardcover: 256 pages It is no surprise that so many home burglaries take place at night. Because the home-owners are asleep, the...