The Transit Lounge

By Rev. Alistair Macrae

I’ve just returned from a trip to Christmas Island to see first hand how asylum seekers arriving by boat first experience Australia. The spike in boat arrivals in Australia in the past 6 months represents the tiny tip of the massive worldwide refugee crisis. Countries in other parts of the world are looking askance at what they regard as a mean-spirited Australian response to the crisis. Compared with many other countries we are simply not carrying our share of the load.

Our delegation of church leaders wanted to explore how churches and other religious communities in Australia might join with voluntary and not-for-profit groups and compassionate locals to help humanize the strange and artificial world of Christmas Island Detention Centre for those on the inside.

by Tom Ganderton

James Cameron’s latest blockbuster Avatar is possibly the most talked about film of the moment; and with good reason.

The rich visuals, lush rainforests and fantastic creatures on a faraway planet setting, more than 140 years in the future all make for an exhilarating viewing experience. Putting on the 3D glasses literally adds another dimension to draw you into the pristine world of Pandora.

Out of cinemas, there’s also a lot of hype surrounding the film’s storyline, which has become the subject of countless reviews and opinion pieces, arguing not only about the origin of the storyline, but what this fictional representation is trying to say about tribalism vs capitalism on our own planet.

Alison Atkinson-Phillips

Advent is a time of preparing for Christmas. For most Australians that means shopping, parties and too much chocolate. For Philippines-based Transit Lounge contributor Sophie Bodegan, “This Advent season reminds of how similar the first Advent was - a time of repression and fear, a time of dislocation and poverty, a time of struggle and flickering hope.”

When you’re lucky enough to live in a peaceful, democratic country like Australia, reading about human rights abuses in other countries can seem a little remote. But for Sophie, the problems facing her homeland are way too close for complacency.

Alison Atkinson-Phillips

As world leaders meet at Copenhagen, religious leaders are doing what they can through prayer and messages of support to encourage them to do the right thing on climate change. Some say a binding agreement would be a miracle; others think what’s needed is a little faith.

Amy Goodhew

During the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic, people really wigged out about catching it. Masks became commonplace; international airports became (even more) security mad. Although its symptoms were relatively mild, it spread easily, as did the fear factor. And perhaps there was some basis for fear in certain developing countries, where vulnerability and the subsequent death toll were high. As we near the end of 2009, Swine Flu has killed some 8,500 people worldwide.