Tag Archives: community

Review: ‘Working for the world: the evolution of Australian Volunteers International’

Working for the world: the evolution of Australian Volunteers International Peter Britton Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne If two approaches can be said to reflect many Australians’ approach to assisting others, they are probably volunteerism and working with communities. It was this approach which characterized Australia’s Volunteer Graduate Scheme (VGS), which from the early 1950s pioneered […]

Investing to address causes of crime, not the consequences

LAST week was a big week in Canberra. While much of the focus was on Julia Gillard’s work for the Australian Workers’ Union in the mid 1990s, the Parliament also considered laws for the national disability insurance scheme, education funding recommended by the Gonski review, pokie reform, the Murray-Darling basin plan, and recognising indigenous Australians […]

From stalker to dobber: parenting on social media

My research and thinking, and even my identity with regard to social networking has evolved, but not in a way I have anticipated. Over the past three years, I have offered a number of conference addresses and keynote presentations focussed on the use of social media and networking in education. I have co-authored chapters in […]

Community legal centres: revolutionaries, or going around in circles?

Once again, activist lawyers from across Australia are coming together at the National Conference of Community Legal Centres (#naclc12). It’s a terrific opportunity to reflect on the work of Community Legal Centres (CLCs), and to identify challenges and opportunities. For those that don’t know, CLCs are independently operating not-for-profit, community-based organisations that provide legal services […]

There’s more to homelessness than ‘rooflessness’

  It’s fair to say that homelessness is at crisis point in Australia. According to the 2006 census, almost 105,000 Australians were homeless on any given night. And the problem clearly hasn’t disappeared over the past six years, with more than 91,000 Australians seeking assistance from specialist homeless services in the three months to September […]

Peace should now be the norm for Timor-Leste’s political contests

As Timor-Leste goes to the second round of the presidential elections, the peace that marked the first round appears to be holding. Apart from an incident in Viqueque District, there have been no notable outbreaks of violence, so far, to mar this electoral process. Many have congratulated Timor-Leste for this important achievement. The peaceful environment […]