PM Ardern and PM Morrison have, at best, had their differences which appear to be diluting as they tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps we just need encourage Mr Morrison and Ms Ardern to take on another challenge, another crisis where they can work together: coaching Carlton...
Read MoreThe 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, said in his second annual message to Congress on December 1, 1862: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country".
Read MoreIt is important to reassure substitute teachers that you are not going to harm your children's life chances. This crisis is like nothing most of us have ever seen. It has interrupted every aspect of our being with many critically ill and thousands of people dying across the world. Therefore, simply spending time with your children, whenever you can, is non-negotiable.
Read MoreThe chairs were assembled long before the meeting was scheduled to begin. The Chairperson, the son of a dour no-nonsense Scotsman and a gentle English lady, sat waiting for other members to arrive. It was a Sunday in March and he felt unaccustomed being in a school setting even though he astutely guides the Scotch Oakburn College Board.
Read MoreThe COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a common theme in the way we go about our business - the inbuilt desire we all have for relationships with one another. BRIAN WIGHTMAN tells the stories of three Tasmanians adapting their styles.
Read MoreThe COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a common theme in the way we go about our business - the inbuilt desire we all have for relationships with one another. BRIAN WIGHTMAN tells the stories of three Tasmanians adapting their styles.
Read MoreThe COVID-19 pandemic has already cost local jobs. There are businesses under extreme pressure and there will be more of our friends and colleagues who lose employment as a result.
For others, there has been instruction to work from home to "flatten the curve".
Read MoreMy Aunt Margaret sent mum an old postcard, stamped in England where my father was working for the Royal Mail after leaving the Royal Air Force. On the front, a photo of Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column, London by John Hinde, F.R.P.S. And on the back a beautifully handwritten message, which defies the fact that dad left school at 14 years of age, and simply reads…
Read MoreSchools are complex.
The very nature of providing education to young people who don’t always make great decisions builds in a layer of complexity that can’t simply be explained.
Read MoreThere's a basketball court at a typical Tasmanian primary school where children dream of making it big.
The court has a significant slope in a suburb where going fast downhill on a bike is set against the torment of inevitable hills on the way home.
Read MoreThis speech was as much a reminder to me as it was encouragement to those assembled.
I want to talk to you about Taylor Swift. That’s right – global music megastar Taylor Swift.
Read MoreI applaud the Tasmanian Government and other states and territories who are working towards changing the law, ensuring that Catholic priests are considered mandatory reporters. After all, it is the one issue where Church and State should not be separate.
Read MoreThe conviction of Cardinal George Pell and the lifting of suppression orders, the Lawyer X scandal destroying the credibility of the criminal justice system in Victoria, and bushfires raging across another state, has made explanations to children who consume news with enthusiasm challenging.
Read MoreWe will never stop evil, yet we must use our spheres of influence to try and make a difference. We must call out behaviour that we know is wrong. We must encourage young people to speak out. And we must encourage and recognise kindness.
Read MoreWandering through the Basin Café, I am trying to look relaxed, searching in vain for the event director of the 2018 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.
The café is far from unfamiliar, although dramatically renovated since the days we used to pause for a lemonade icy pole after a session of swimming and half-taped tennis ball cricket.
Read MoreWhen you walk in, the studio is simple - a minimalist set-up delivering a popular news program.
Blue and green screens, an archaic autocue, a single television camera, two small desks with stools, a hard copy of the bulletin as a backup, and pencils to underline difficult to pronounce words and complex phrases complete the set.
Read More“As school leaders, we have to be our very best every single day, we can't let them down," the leader concludes.
"In the bright and cheerful office, a moment of clarity has blissfully interrupted a hectic day.
Read MoreDoctors say recovering from lightning strike is complicated. Ironically, the term lightning is employed by AFL commentators to describe the elite foot speed of an electric small forward, not the working conditions of an AFLW superstar.
Read MoreHe strides onto stage, Akubra Stylemaster positioned precisely, exuding a calmness that makes nervous anticipation fall over the gathering, patiently, waiting.
We are in the presence of presence. It is a trait rarely witnessed; the ability to fill a room without saying a word.
Read MoreAustralian school children proudly, and without question, recite the Welcome to and Acknowledgment of Country. Most major events begin with the same gesture. And several Australian businesses and companies conduct annual cultural awareness training and, are beginning to construct or already have in place, Reconciliation Action Plans.
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