Articles
Rodney Croome
Rodney Croome
15.10.09 6:06 am
The Tasmanian Government has finally given in to pressure from the Catholic Church to allow Church schools to legally turn away or expell students who aren’t Catholic. The Government says this ıs reasonable. But it’s anythıng but.
The Catholic Church justifies immense public funding of its schools on the basis that this gives parents a choice about how their children are educated. Now the Church wants to take away that choice AND keep its funding. The people who will suffer most are non-Catholic families who swallowed the choice rationale and enrolled their kids at the local parish school. Now they will be sent to the back of the enrollment queue.
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | State | Legal | Religion | Society
27.07.09 4:40 am
RODNEY CROOME Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group
Applause for Tas Labor endorsement of same-sex marriage vote sends strong message to Rudd Government
‘Bogans’ are the most important catalyst for social change
08.07.09 8:59 am
RODNEY CROOME
Jane Rankin-Reid hits the nail on the head. Why have our political leaders remained silent on this issue? For that matter, where are the voices of the Anti-Discrimination and Social Inclusion Commissioners? Part of me hopes the Government is waiting till it can announce a properly-funded education program about how indispensable minority communities are for Tasmania’s future. But that’s so naive, it makes me laugh to write it. Justa Bloke also has an important point. In my experience the most effective advocates for minorities, especially in the work place and in domestic settings, are blue collar workers, or “bogans” as this discussion is labelling them. They say what they think, they’re direct and they’re heartfelt. In the end, they are the most important catalysts for social change in the state. Read more, Comment at the end of the article, HERE
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | State | Society
07.07.09 8:43 am
RODNEY CROOME
The two instructive points here are,
1. sections of Tasmanian society have not benefitted from the island’s recent economic progress and resent what they see as symbols of this progress (Asian students, gay immigrants, the new green-tinged middle class etc) Read more, Comment at the end of the article, here
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | State | Personal | Society
01.06.09 4:40 am
RODNEY CROOME
Writers | Rodney Croome | Education | HistoryWhat we’re seeing here, driving the common human failing of inconsistency, is the equally common failing of conceit. We legitimise what we like about ourselves, or dislike in others, by anchoring it in the past. We delegitimise what we don’t like about ourselves by denying it any lineage.
What we’re also seeing is how superficial Australia’s acceptance of our convict past really is. Unless our convict ancestors can be embraced for bequeathing qualities we value, we isolate them in a past that was forever locked and sealed by the end of transportation – ironically, a typically nineteenth century response that is as strong as it ever was.
02.02.09 3:10 am
Rodney Croome
It is an all-too-Tasmanian habit to believe we can transcend our history. The very name “Tasmania” was meant to wipe away the stain associated with “Van Dieman’s Land”. In the same way 150 years later by calling ourselves “the New Tasmania” we hoped to be released from any association with the prejudices and close-mindedness of the old one. Never looking back is a hard habit to break, having, as it does, its origins in the desperate hopes of our emancipated convict forebears to have their crimes forgotten and their reputations rehabilitated. But break the habit we must, if we are to grasp that for better or ill our history makes us who we are.
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | State | History | Society
23.12.08 10:16 pm
Rodney Croome
Concern over gay exclusion from social inclusion strategy. Call to strengthen inclusion in Commissioner’s role
Part of the solution, rather than the problem
22.12.08 1:04 am
Rodney Croome http://www.rodneycroome.id.au/weblog
On Tuesday, Assistant Tasmanian Police Commissioner, Steve Bond, launched a new publicity program ( Here ) for TasPol’s LGBT liaison officers, including flyers, brochures and posters.
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | Local | State | Society
10.12.08 9:47 pm
Tonight’s HCC Salamanca Market arrest apology:
Here’s the latest ABC radio news story
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/10/2443118.htm
Here’s the apology
http://tglrg.org/more/401_0_1_0_M/
Here’s Rodney Croome’s formal response at last night’s reception
http://tglrg.org/more/402_0_1_0_M/
Here’s the text of the flyer for the Salamanca arrest photo exhibition as a backgrounder
http://tglrg.org/more/402_0_1_0_M/
04.11.08 6:33 am
Rodney Croome
The island which shaped him, meanwhile, is dismissed as ignorant of his talents, and too flawed and conflicted to meet his high hopes for it. By its ingratitude - by casting him out for his “treasonous” truthfulness - Tasmania has forsaken its claim on Richard Flanagan and Sydney has assumed the lease.
A one-sided protrayal of Tasmania
09.10.08 1:00 am
Rodney Croome
WHEN Brant Webb and Todd Russell emerged from the gold mine that almost became their grave, they were hailed “great Australian heroes”.
But when they stumbled in an interview with Oprah, the mainland media immediately dubbed them “inarticulate Tasmanian miners”.
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | State | Arts
The Anti-Discrimination Act: why it’s important and how it’s threatened
22.09.08 2:10 am
Rodney Croome
Ever since the Anti-Discrimination Act was passed it has been slowly whittled away. Within three years of the Act’s passage, the State Government had already bowed to the wishes of the Catholic Church and changed the Act to allow it to discriminate on the grounds of religion when hiring and firing teachers. The Act allows organisations to apply for time-limited administrative exemptions and this is the route the Church should have taken. But, instead it demanded and was granted a special status written into statutory stone. In response to concerns about this special legal status the Church gave the impression that it was satisfied with its exemption. But four years later it was back asking for another exemption to allow it to discriminate against students. Ostensibly aimed at allowing Catholic schools to enroll more Catholic students, in reality the exemption will allow schools to turn away anyone who does not conform to church dogma. This could include students whose parents are unmarried, who are found in possession of contraception, or who are openly-gay.
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | National | State | Personal | Society
17.06.08 7:36 am
Rodney Croome
When should we say ‘sorry’?
Turning a leaden Tasmania back into gold
09.06.08 1:07 am
Rodney Croome
Under former strongman premiers like Eric Reece or Robin Gray a pulp mill might have masked all this. Like dams and factories of old, a mill might once have been sold to a large slice of Tasmanians as a solution to our problems, instead of a cause. But too much has changed. Too many Tasmanians have heeded the environmental message. Lennon had too little of Reece’s affability or Gray’s cunning. As a result of this, the golden Tasmania we were promised under Bacon seemed to turn to lead under his successor. That Lennon constantly invoked Bacon’s name to legitimise his rule only deepened the perceived contrast.
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | StateShredding the Anti-Discrimination Act?
27.04.08 9:00 am
Rodney Croome
WILL A review of the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act, possibly to be released this coming week, recommend an exemption allowing religious schools to discriminate against students on the grounds of their religious faith?
This is the rumour which is circulating through Hobart.
This rumour is credible enough, and its implications serious enough, to warrant a response from the Government. We must know if it is true.
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | State | Legal | Religion | Society
14.04.08 12:59 am
Rodney Croome
In social terms, Tasmania’s embrace of her sons and daughters is as fierce as her rejection. Both are quite unpredictable, and often accompany each other. Tasmania can clutch you to her breast at the same time as she spits in your face. As famous children like Richard Flanagan know, you don’t have to be gay to be subject to this strange, intense, disorienting love/hate. But as people like Stephen Roche show, it helps.
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | State | Society
31.03.08 1:56 pm
Wayne Morgan Online Opinion
While criticising the Rudd Government for opposing the “ceremonial aspects” of the ACT’s civil partnership law, Carol Johnson in On Line Opinion (February 14, 2008) described the Tasmanian Relationships Act as a “watered-down form of so-called ‘civil union’”. This is one of so many myths about the Tasmanian Relationships Act it’s hard to know where to begin. Read more here
Earlier, on Tasmanian Times: A Step Beyond
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | National | State | Personal
12.03.08 5:15 am
Rodney Croome TGLRG MR March 11, 2008
GAY RIGHTS advocates have called Tasmanian-born TV star, Jaason Simmons, a role model for young gay Tasmanians following Mr Simmons’ revelation that he has a male partner he intends to marry and that the couple have an adopted son.
24.12.07 12:50 am
Rodney Croome Myths of love and power: why Tasmania’s relationship registry isn’t a substitute for same-sex marriage but a step beyond it
But the worst offender by far is the ACT Government. As well as the myths mentioned already, it has claimed that the Tasmanian registry is “second-rate” and “watered-down”, that registration is for dogs, not people, and that, as a result, numbers of registered relationships are “low” (HREOC has also repeated this myth, along with the strange claim that most registering couples are men living in the inner-city). As explained, far from being second-rate the Tasmanian registry is groundbreaking for its equal treatment of such a diverse range of relationships.
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | National | Personal | Society
01.06.07 3:48 am
Rodney Croome
Writers | Rodney Croome | Politics | State | Education | ReligionThe new direction of Catholic education raises many questions. For example, who defines “Catholic”? Will students be turned away because their parents are single, in de facto relationships or not regular church goers? Will students be expelled if they are found with contraception, come out as gay or question Catholic doctrine?
…
There are also important questions for the Lennon Government to answer about the new Catholic school policy. Will it weaken an Act which has been hailed as setting world-class benchmarks of fairness and equity and which was one of the greatest achievements of the Bacon Government? If it gives in to the Church now how many other demands for religious exemptions will it concede to?
