Tag Archives: Australia

You may recall our post yesterday about Alex Greenwich (above with Sydney Mayor Clover Moore) and his campaign in the by-election for the state seat of New South Wales’ capital city.

Well, the photo above was taken about an hour ago and somewhere in the crowd is Irish emigrant Darren Conlon who writes:

I’m really happy to tell you that our candidate Alex Greenwich won the by-election and is now the Member for Sydney, in the State Parliament of New South Wales. He is the first member of any Australian Parliament in a same-sex marriage.
I also want to let you know that I was approached outside the polling booth by a emigrant Irish voter who recognised me from Broadsheet and who told me she had decided to vote for Alex after reading the article and better, she had also recommended him to several friends!
All in all it has been a great result for equality, but the fight goes on…

 

Greenwich Wins By-Election For Seat Of Sydney (ABC)

Oh.

And that’s just Melbourne.

[Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Professor Des Cahill] told the [Australian] parliamentary inquiry [into clerical sex abuse] that 14 of 378 Melbourne priests were convicted of child sexual abuse, and church authorities had admitted that another four who had died were also abusers.

But the actual figure was much higher when under-reporting was taken into account. “One in 20 is a minimum. It might be one in 15, perhaps not as high as one in 10,” Professor Cahill said.

Professor Cahill said the Church hierarchy was incapable of resolving abuse issues because of the way the institution operated with a “clerical caste system” that made protecting the church’s reputation and priests more important than caring for victims. Bishops who did want to put victims first were prevented by the Vatican.

It operated by canon law rather than civil law, “but canon law has nothing to say about the rights of child victims”.

 

One In 20 Priests An Abuser, Inquiry Told (The Age)

From Australia’s ABC:

The Department of Immigration has taken two Irish Backpackers into custody after they overstayed their visas.
Immigration officials and Police carried out a dawn raid at a house in Carlisle this morning, after tracking down the pair.
An Immigration spokeswoman confirmed the women were being detained at the Perth Immigration Detention Centre and would be removed from Australia at the earliest opportunity.


Irish Backpackers Detained After Visa Overstay (ABC)

Yes, that headline.

He argued that a person who gets into the lake under those conditions would need a bit of luck to survive. He was asked whether the headline implied that the person was stupid. “A man gets into a shark-infested lake, late at night, when inebriated. Would you consider this person to be stupid?” Mr [Peter] Gleeson [Gold Coast Bulletin editor] asked.

 

Sounds fair.

Wait. What?

Editor Defends Luck Of The Irish Headline (Aisling Mockler, Irish Echon)

Previously: Sensitively Handled

Thanks Mark Geary

Paddy doesn’t like Paddy.

An Irish publican has said he is no longer willing to take Irish backpackers at his Queensland hostel due to a spate of drunken and disorderly behaviour in recent years.

Dublin-born Thomas Dunne claims several incidents have caused chaos for longstanding members of the Irish community in the locality.

He said he has had to continuously deal with property damage caused specifically by the Irish contingent of guests at his hostel, Main Street Backpackers.

Mr Dunne, his wife Audrey, and their three children, have been running their bar O’Duinns and adjoining backpackers hostel since 2006.

 

Queensland hostel closes doors on Irish backpackers (Irish Echo)

Thanks Marko Van Bosnich