- Free Article: No
- Contents Category: Editorial
- Review Article: Yes
- Article Title: Editorial – October 2001
- Online Only: No
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There are times when the act of editorialising seems reckless, if not otiose. Any such column, written on 20 September, runs the dual risk of belatedness – or prematurity. So appalling were the events of 11 September, and so ominous their ramifications, no one can be confident of the likely international developments in coming weeks, days, or even hours. All we can do at ABR is to sympathise with the families of those killed in New York, including a number of Australians, while also following events and covering the issues and inevitable publications in these pages.
Far from forgotten during the past week has been the dismal Tampa saga. Here, surely, was bitter proof of the pusillanimous drift of government and talkback constituencies in this country. Rarely has the divide between the electorate and the community of writers, academics, and liberal-minded onlookers (led, impressively, by the odd national newspaper) seemed so wide, so unbridgeable. Liberty Victoria, as we know, responded with strategic flair and celerity to the Howard Government’s repulsion of the Afghan refugees. ABR is very pleased to be able to publish an article by someone who was intimately involved in that case. ‘When did we become so heartless?’ writes Julian Burnside in his ‘Commentary’, which opens this issue.
Students of the Internet will have noticed that we have made some changes to ABR’s website. The latter has existed for some time, attracting almost 40,000 ‘hits’. Given the myriad changes in the magazine’s content and appearance in 2001, now is clearly the time both to revamp and expand the website. In coming months, we shall be adding several new features to complement the existing ones. Your comments and suggestions would be helpful as we continue to improve the website, so let us know what you would like to see on it in the best of possible worlds. Send us an email perhaps. Apropos which, we now seek email addresses from new and renewing subscribers, so that we can apprise them of ABR events and highlights. If you have not given us your email address, please forward it to Tina Tsolos (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or ring us on (03) 9429 6700. That way, we’ll be able to keep you posted about ABR news.
Each month, ABR benefits from help and advice – practical, editorial, intellectual – from myriad supporters. We are particularly grateful, this month, to Anne-Marie Thomas and Dianne Schallmeiner, who have assisted us in the preparation of this issue. Michael Shmith generously allowed us to reproduce his late father’s portrait of H.G. Wells, which complements Barry Smith’s essay about Wells’s visit to Australia in 1938, when the photograph was taken.
Peter Rose
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