Tony Abbott's Knighthood to Prince Philip:..... Why Ellen’s service to our community should matter!
Ross B. Taylor AM I was at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women two days ago to visit our daughter Lisa and our gorgeous first granddaughter, Ember Katherine. KEMH is a wonderful old maternity hospital with incredibly dedicated staff and doctors. The hospital cafe is, so I learned, operated to raise reasearch money for babies and mums’ who have been disadvantaged or facing major challenges in their life. As I waited for Lisa’s coffee I couldn’t help notice the lady behind the counter. Her name was Ellen and her badge also s…
Indonesia back-flips on Visa-free Bali holidays for Aussies
Ross B. Taylor AM The Indonesian Government’s plan to waive the visa requirement for Australian visitors to Bali and other parts of Indonesia has been dropped amid concerns surrounding repeated turbulence over Jakarta-Canberra diplomatic ties. Jakarta has decided to only proceed with the visa-free policies for Chinese, Russian, South Korean and Japanese tourists, Co-ordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Soesilo said on Thursday. “We have confirmed the visa-free policy for Japanese citizens. Russia and South Korea…
Tragedy that define's political leadership
Ross B. Taylor One of the ironical aspects of any major tragedy is how such an event will so often define - for better or worse - a political leader's role and standing within their community and the world-at-large. For John Howard it was Tampa. More recently for our foreign minister, Julie Bishop, it was MH17 and the subsequent handling of the dispute with Russia. And so it will be, with Indonesia's new president Joko Widodo who, barely three months into his presidency, has been faced with the loss of over 162 people …
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