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Climate emergency and prisons don’t mix
On a 38-degree December day in the middle of the desert, 15 people incarcerated at Alice Springs Correctional Centre used t-shirts and pedestal fans to rip a hole in a ceiling, in a desperate attempt to escape the stifling heat of their overcrowded cells. The incident reignited calls to air-condition the prison – one recommendation of the Northern Territory Ombudsman, and firmly in step with the Territory’s human rights obligations to people deprived of their liberty.
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A Christmas reflection by Father Andy Hamilton SJ
Christmas Day is a day of celebration. Of family, of children, of leisure, of freedom from work, of good food and drink. And yet in recent times, Christmas has also been a time of anxiety, of fear, of separation, of hardship. On one recent Christmas we lived with COVID and the isolation that...
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A reflection on the times by Father Andy Hamilton SJ
These have been hard days in a hard world, haven’t they? ...
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International Day of Persons with Disabilities
The theme of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities puts disabilities into a broader context of how society affects them and must change to meet them. Pope Francis has always commended the day, focusing on people’s personal needs. Both approaches are necessary. ...
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The Australian Government is developing a National Housing and Homelessness Plan – a 10-year strategy to inform future housing policy in Australia and the first long-term strategy since 1992. Jesuit Social Services recently contributed a submission to the Plan calling for an increase in social housing – with a focus on public housing – and urging the Government to raise the rate of income support and related payments, among other reforms.
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World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2023
Avoiding death and danger isn’t enough to live a life that’s truly free, writes Andy Hamilton SJ to mark this year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees.