World Youth Day organiser Bishop Anthony Fisher has been criticised over the Church’s response to a case of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest in Melbourne.
“Happily, I think most of Australia was enjoying delighting in the beauty and goodness of these young people and the hope – the hope for us doing these sorts of things better in the future – as we saw last night, rather than, than dwelling crankily, as a few people are doing, on old wounds,” he said. Read more »
CARDINAL George Pell, speaking after the Pope’s Sydney arrival, has warned of a crisis if people don’t have faith in God and more children. Read more »
Abbott defends ‘honourable’ Cardinal Pell.
Federal Liberal frontbencher Tony Abbott says the current scandal over the Catholic Church and Cardinal George Pell’s handling of a sexual abuse case is “unfortunate”.
Core handling? Non core handling? Hard core handling? Read more »
Adelaide Crows footballer Scott Thompson has been given a suspended jail sentence for hoon driving.
Thompson, 25, had pleaded guilty in Port Adelaide Magistrates Court to causing serious harm by dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident at Fulham last November.
Magistrate Paul Foley said Thompson panicked after crashing into a pole.
His friend Adam Sampson was seriously injured. Read more »
Roberta Williams, the convicted drug trafficker and mother-of-four, has revealed a vampy new look.
Williams, 39, has stripped down to her bathers for Zoo Weekly magazine. Read more »
Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue has been honoured by Britain for her services to the music industry with an OBE. Fellow Australian entertainer Rolf Harris also received a gong.
The Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne will be a twilight race for the next seven years, the Victorian Government has announced. Premier John Brumby said the Government had agreed to push back the start time of the race to 5pm in order to secure the event until 2015. Read more »
"Police will not prosecute artist Bill Henson over his photographs of naked teenagers, declared "mild and justified" by Australia's Classification Board."
"NSW police today indicated charges would not be laid."
Mr Garrett says the courtroom is not the right place to debate the merits of art.
“The courts were not the appropriate forum for resolving strongly held views in a debate which I think is much wider than just the impact or otherwise of works of art,” he said. Read more »
A Liberal backbencher had multiple orgasms on the floor of Federal Parliament tonight.
Victorian MP Jason Wood was supposed to be talking about genetically modified organisms when he ran into trouble.
And just in case anyone missed him talking about “genetically modified orgasms” the first time, he repeated it. Read more »
When I was at primary school a few centuries ago, on the class room wall, alongside the portrait of the monarch of the day, hung this painting. Read more »
CHANNEL 9 is bringing Eddie McGuire out of hibernation. The former network chief executive officer is to spearhead Nine’s bold bid to erode Channel 7’s Friday night ratings dominance in Melbourne. Read more »
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are American household names and were created decades ago to foster affordability and stability in the US housing market.
Together, they guarantee around $US6 trillion in outstanding home loans. But with 50 million mortgage customers, the two government-backed companies are weathering the lion’s shares of the subprime mortgage crisis.
So comments from a former Federal Reserve president, William Poole, that the pair might need bailing out, rocked confidence in an already troubled sector. Read more »
IF CHRISTIANS believe they have seen the light, the faith of 30,000 young Catholics was made certain at the Telstra Dome last night with a spectacular laser display at Melbourne’s commissioning Mass. Read more »
Federal Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop and child protection campaigner Hetty Johnston both called the use of the images exploitative.
“Unfortunately, this sounds as if a child has been exploited for the purposes of making a political point,” Ms Bishop told Sky News. Read more »
Our Declan, the ABC's ace work experience stub editor has again been doing a spot of moonlightning over at Melbourne's Herald Son. Read more »
DRINKERS who quench their thirst with four or more middies of beer will be defined as binge drinkers under new national guidelines released next month.
In what one health professional has slammed as a message that "makes no sense at all", the guidelines will say that more than four standard drinks per day constitutes a binge. A middie of beer is about 1.1 standard drinks and an average glass of wine is 1.5 standard drinks.
What's that hoary old joke about that fine pack of wowsers, the Methodists? Read more »
The CSIRO is the latest organisation to urge governments to invest more in public transport.
It says the high price of oil will result in people changing their lifestyles and trying to reduce the distances they have to travel, especially to work.
CSIRO energy adviser David Lamb says this is where public transport is vital.
“We’re in a mess today and we’ve got to get out of it,” he said. Read more »
Everyone else is having their two bob's worth, so here's my farthing from the madding crowd
So everyone from Kevin Rudd (who hasn't seen the exhibition) to John Brumby (who hasn't seen the exhibition) reckon Henson's photos are beyond the pale, overstepping the mark or plain pornographic. Read more »
Republican US presidential candidate John McCain has sought to distance himself from President George W Bush's handling of the Iraq war, telling veterans on Memorial Day he was "sick at heart" at mistakes made in the conflict which is now in its sixth year. Read more »
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