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Australian Cardinal George Pell has been named head of a new Vatican department that will supervise the Holy See's economic affairs.
Topics: catholic, religion-and-beliefs, community-and-society, men-religious, holy-see-vatican-city-state, australia
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A witness to violence at the Manus Island detention centre last Monday night says guards from the security firm G4S allowed locals armed with makeshift weapons into the facility.
The Federal Government has backed away from its initial claims about what happened during the violence at its off-shore detention centre that killed one detainee and left dozens more injured.
A large crowd of local residents had also gathered to watch a stand-off that continued for several hours.
The witness says asylum seekers were taunting local staff with highly offensive insults and G4S guards asked the locals to come inside the centre.
Topics: immigration, community-and-society, refugees, government-and-politics, federal-government, papua-new-guinea
Posted
Topics: immigration, community-and-society, papua-new-guinea
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A pregnant Rohingyan couple seeking asylum in Australia but transported to Nauru say the conditions are so bad there that they decided to get an abortion.
Mamun Motiur, 24, says he and his wife, Salima, met in Indonesia while on their way to Australia.
The father says he and his wife made the decision to terminate the pregnancy because of the heat in the camp, the long waits for food and the poor state of facilities such as toilets.
The couple's lawyer says Salima was about six weeks pregnant when the couple was flown to Brisbane, where she had an abortion.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has denied that the conditions were to blame and labelled the claim "outrageous".
Topics: refugees, immigration, community-and-society, nauru, asia, australia
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The former bishop of Toowoomba has told the child sexual abuse inquiry he cannot understand why police were not told about sex abuse concerns at a local primary school.
Topics: royal-commissions, law-crime-and-justice, child-abuse, community-and-society, sexual-offences, catholic, brisbane-4000, toowoomba-4350
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The State Government has conceded it may need to spread the White Night festival across a greater area in the city or even stage the event over two nights to accommodate the number of people it attracts.
Topics: community-and-society, arts-and-entertainment, melbourne-3000
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Human rights and asylum seeker advocates are condemning a decision to employ a former Sri Lankan military officer as acting operations manager of the Manus Island detention centre.
The ABC has confirmed that Dinesh Perera has been running the facility for the G4S security company.
Emily Howie from the Human Rights Law centre says it its "completely inappropriate" for him to be in charge of "the welfare and well-being of vulnerable asylum seekers, including Tamils".
Activists say there are now about 30 ethnic Tamil Sri Lankan asylum seekers being detained at the camp, out of a total of about 1,300.
Topics: refugees, immigration, community-and-society, australia, papua-new-guinea, asia, pacific
Posted
Charlotte Dawson's death will mean something vague, something substantial, or absolutely nothing at all, to each of us - and that's all right, writes Lauren Rosewarne.
Topics: death, community-and-society, arts-and-entertainment
Posted
The Western Australian Government has announced a further $19 million in funding for the Home and Community Care (HACC) services program in WA.
Topics: programs-and-initiatives, federal---state-issues, community-and-society, aged-care, carers, wa, karratha-6714, broome-6725, roebourne-6718
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The Solomon Islands attorney-general is appealing for peace until a decision is reached over a disputed water source vital for the country's Western Province.
Topics: community-and-society, urban-development-and-planning, environment, water, water-management, water-supply, courts-and-trials, solomon-islands, pacific
Posted
Country Arts SA is expanding community art partnerships into three new regions.
Topics: community-and-society, regional, sa, port-augusta-5700, port-lincoln-5606, mount-gambier-5290, whyalla-5600
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The Federal Opposition is targeting the Immigration Minister and his handling of the Manus Island riot, with one Labor senator calling for Scott Morrison to resign and another accusing him of having "blood on his hands".
Last week, one asylum seeker was killed and about another 60 injured - some seriously - in a protest at the Manus Island detention centre.
Mr Morrison issued a statement late on Saturday to "correct the record" about the location of the violence after initially saying most of the trouble had occurred outside the centre.
WA Labor Senator Sue Lines says the Minister's handling of the issue has been disgraceful, while her colleague Doug Cameron has joined the Greens in calling for Mr Morrison to resign or be sacked.
Mr Morrison launched a counter-attack on Labor during Question Time, criticising Labor's handling of last year's riot at the detention centre on Nauru.
Topics: federal-government, government-and-politics, refugees, immigration, community-and-society, foreign-affairs, australia, papua-new-guinea
Posted
A state MP has joined criticism of Rockhampton library's new charges for those living outside Rockhampton.
Topics: activism-and-lobbying, local-government, community-and-society, rockhampton-4700
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A 110-year-old woman believed to be the oldest survivor of the Holocaust and who endured the ordeal partly through her passion for music, has died in London, her family has said.
Topics: death, world-war-2, history, community-and-society, united-kingdom
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The ABC's Four Corners program says suspects in the suspicious death of an eight-year-old Northern Territory boy are still living in his town of Borroloola.
When the boy known as "K" went missing in October 2007 a search took place involving members of the NT police and local community members.
Topics: community-and-society, death, law-crime-and-justice, murder-and-manslaughter, crime, borroloola-0854, nt
Posted
The Ballarat community has rallied together to raise money for the family of Sharon Siermans, who was bashed to death in her Ballarat home last year.
Topics: community-and-society, murder-and-manslaughter, ballarat-3350
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Words like "desire" and "choice" might be poor ways to describe circumscribed career moves that mothers make when trying to factor in childcare, writes Leslie Cannold.
Topics: pregnancy-and-childbirth, community-and-society, workplace, government-and-politics
Posted
Topics: world-politics, refugees, immigration, community-and-society, cambodia, australia
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Youth unemployment has reached crisis point in Australia, the Brotherhood of St Laurence says, in its analysis of the latest official figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Topics: unemployment, community-and-society, welfare, federal-government, government-and-politics, act, nsw, nt, qld, sa, tas, vic, wa, cairns-4870, bundaberg-4670, shepparton-3630, wodonga-3690, wangaratta-3677, mandurah-6210, bunbury-6230, australia
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New rules for licensed premises aimed at curbing alcohol-related violence have started in Sydney.
The changes mean pubs, clubs and bars will lock out patrons from 1:30am and call last drinks at 3am.
Bottle shops in Kings Cross are also banned from selling alcohol after 10pm.
There was a heavy police presence to enforce the new laws but the night was problem-free.
Topics: community-and-society, crime-prevention, alcohol, kings-cross-2011, sydney-2000
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A network of South Australian organisations will try to improve sports integrity, starting from the grassroots level.
The Australian Crime Commission last year found evidence of widespread doping and corruption in the nation's professional sport.
South Australia's Office of Recreation and Sport has coordinated a network of 28 organisations which will meet regularly to share resources and ideas.
Topics: community-organisations, community-and-society, doping-in-sports, drugs-and-substance-abuse, gambling, sport, sa, adelaide-5000, australia
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Thousands of people have held candlelight vigils around the country for slain asylum seeker Reza Berati, who died in violence at Manus Island detention centre last Monday.
Topics: immigration, community-and-society, federal-government, government-and-politics, activism-and-lobbying, sydney-2000, nsw, melbourne-3000, vic, australia
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Topics: immigration, community-and-society, activism-and-lobbying, government-and-politics, federal-government, brisbane-4000, qld, australia
Posted
Pope Francis has told the 19 newly appointed cardinals to stay away from intrigue, gossip and cronyism.
Topics: religion-and-beliefs, community-and-society, holy-see-vatican-city-state, pacific, asia
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Animals that have served in Australia's war efforts have been recognised at a new event at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
Hundreds of people attended the all-day event to pay tribute to the wartime animals.
The event showcased the contribution of the Australian light horse in World War I, pack animals such as donkeys in Gallipoli, carrier pigeons in Kokoda, and detection dogs in the Vietnam War and Afghanistan.
Topics: defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, history, world-war-1, world-war-2, community-and-society, unrest-conflict-and-war, canberra-2600, australia
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