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Education and employment key to overcoming disadvantage
Jesuit Social Services works with people who are often frustrated at the lack of access to job opportunities. This is most acute for people from disadvantaged backgrounds who often lack employment experience. Research by the Productivity Commission notes that more than 30 per cent of people who are unemployed experience deep social exclusion. In a…
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National Reconciliation Week - it is important for all Australians not to keep our history a mystery
National Reconciliation Week is a reminder that Indigenous Australians have faced challenges to educate an Australian public that prefers not to be reminded of the wrongs Indigenous Australians have suffered or of the need for reconciliation, writes ANDY HAMILTON SJ. The theme of National Reconciliation Week (May 27 – June 3) this year is ‘Don’t keep…
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How the corporate sector can promote social cohesion
Supporting people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds into work ultimately benefits the entire community, writes Jesuit Social Services volunteer FRAN SHEAHAN. “Job candidates with diverse experience contribute to companies.” AAIP participant Rosi and her People Leader at NAB, Matt. So says Rosi Matlhabaphiri-Quaremba, a graduate of the African-Australian Inclusion Program (AAIP), run in partnership…
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Palm Sunday - reflection by Andy Hamilton SJ
ANDY HAMILTON SJ writes that nationwide Palm Sunday rallies offer a much needed opportunity to demonstrate the compassion and humanity that is often absent in Australia’s treatment of refugees. In its original setting Palm Sunday was a day of transitory celebration at the beginning of a week that culminated in rejection, torture and death and…
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Harmony Day - reflection by Andy Hamilton SJ
Confidence in our own identity is the key to embracing the differences of others, writes ANDY HAMILTON SJ In nature diversity is a good thing. Lack of diversity makes for inbreeding and impoverishment of the gene pool. It makes crops more liable to catastrophic disease with consequences for all those who rely on them for…
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International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - Reflection by Andy Hamilton SJ
Looking inside ourselves to uncover the sources of our prejudices is the key to welcoming difference as a gift, writes ANDY HAMILTON SJ We have seen the evil of racism in historical and current events. The Nazi persecution of Jews and attempt to eradicate them are among the greatest evils of last century. The…
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"The Apology engendered great hope. It remains unrealised".
Picture credit: butupa A decade on from Prime Minister Rudd’s landmark Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples, ANDY HAMILTON SJ reflects that the great hope engendered by it remains unrealised. Ten years have passed since the Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on behalf of Parliament and the nation. It seems…
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Federal Government’s MYEFO seeks to create second class citizens
The Federal Government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook seeks to create second class citizens who are excluded from full participation in society, writes Jesuit Social Services Media Relations Manager KATHRYN KERNOHAN. This week, the Federal Government handed down its Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), an update on this year’s Federal Budget. The Federal Government…
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ANDY HAMILTON SJ explores how justice can hold people to account while also offering hope and a pathway forward. In recent years in Australia justice has increasingly been seen through the lens of punishment. It is retributive. You do the crime, you do the time. In public controversies about justice critics usually complain that the…
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NDIS not meeting the needs of marginalised members of the community
The harrowing tale of a young man languishing in prison due to a lack of suitable accommodation in the community highlights that the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) does not meet the needs of some of the most marginalised members of the community, writes Jesuit Social Services Media Relations Manager KATHRYN KERNOHAN. The story of…