Leslie Cannold

Events

20 Sep 2009: Speedy Fish at Cafe Umalicioius

Leslie left-of-centre rock and contemporary trio is playing au deau – just Mark on keys and Leslie doing vocals. Where: Cafe Umalicious, 134 Nepean Highway, Aspendale (just up from Nachos Cantina) Date: Sunday 20 September – 1:00 to 2:30pm Need more information? Ring Uma at Umalicious on 0433 462 462

Writings

Pulling Out the Racist Tag is a Lazy Way to Argue About Policy

There is little evidence to support racial motives behind criticism of Obama. THE cry of “racism” has sounded, and the hounds are off and running. Since last week’s outburst by Joe Wilson during President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress on health care – the congressman

Events

17 Sep 2009: Leslie and Adam the Classic Couple

Leslie and her partner Adam were just named the first “Classic Couple” for the Elsternwick Classic Cinema. After a stint in makeup and a whirlwind photo shoot in the local area, they are slated to arrive at the opening of Days of Summer at the Classic to find the images

Events

30 Aug 2009: Leslie and Catherine Deveny Talk Manners

Listen in to ABC local radio 744 this Sunday 30 August 2009 at 11:00am for an irreverent look at the whether knowing which way to tilt your soup bowl really matters.

Writings

Circumcision - Who Decides?

Circumcision used to be the done thing. Now, only around 10 per cent of Australians circumcise their male infants. But in Tasmania, they are trying to find a way to stop them. A recently released Tasmanian Law Reform Institute issues paper makes no bones about its desire to use the

Events

23 Aug 2009: Speedy Fish Rock St Kilda

If you’re free Sunday arvo, come on down and have a listen to Leslie’s left of centre rock and contemporary trio. What: Speedy Fish gig When Sunday, August 23rd 2009 – 3:30pm to 4:30pm Where:The Grocery Bar, 135 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Writings

One Step Forward, Two Back, in Fight for Reproductive Rights

RU486 is available, but in Queensland a teenager is charged over an abortion. This week’s announcement by Marie Stopes International that clients of its clinics in Victoria, NSW, Queensland, the ACT and Western Australia can now terminate pregnancies at less than nine weeks using RU486 is one more step

Events

09 Aug 2009: Leslie to Speak to NSW Dying with Dignity

Come hear Leslie speak to a general meeting of NSW Dying with Dignity about doctor’s conscience rights, and politician’s conscience votes When: Sunday 9 August, 2009 2:00–3:00pm Where: Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 380 Pitt St, Sydney For more information: mail@vesnsw.org.au

In the media

Leslie made Dying with Dignity Ambassador

We as Ambassadors for law reform say: “For decades the majority of Australians have believed that those who are suffering intolerably from a terminal or advanced stage of an incurable illness should have the legal right to request and obtain medical assistance to end their lives with dignity. Today, 85%

In the media

Leslie Interviewed by Fairfax’s Sunday Life Magazine

In the 9 August 2009 Body Issue Leslie, Federal Minister Kate Ellis, Ad man Russell Howcroft and plastic surgeon Howard Webster chat with Libby Gorr about “The Future Perfect.”

Writings

When Giving Cuts Right to the Bone

Years ago, when I was doing a Masters of Bioethics under renowned philosopher Peter Singer at Monash University in Melbourne, I signed up to the newly founded Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry. The donation of bone marrow is not a simple or pain-free procedure, but I was young and single

Writings

Gene Patents Violate Civil Liberties

There’s a question that’s been around for about 30 years: whether private, for-profit companies should be allowed to gain exclusive control over knowledge about our genes. Should private interests profit from their understanding of the human genetic code or from tests or cures they may – or may not

In the media

Leslie’s Idea on Childless Make the Australian Women’s Weekly

In the July 2009 editorial, the high circulation Australian Women’s Weekly, quotes Leslie’s ideas from her book What, No Baby in its comments about their cover story exclusive on TV personality Sonia Kruger’s decision to have a baby with the help of her gay best friend and

Writings

Labels Rarely Go More Than Skin-Deep

The recent rallying of Indian migrants in Sydney and Melbourne, and last Monday’s Four Corners about the death of Aboriginal man Mr Ward, are just two recent reminders that racism is alive in Australia. While much remains the same on the racism front, there are also small changes. These

Writings

There’s no Rule Book for Families

“I was upset by what happened. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever felt so humiliated in my life. I understand that the president made a ruling based on the current rules. But as any mother knows, sometimes families don’t play by the rule book … I hope

Writings

What we Have is the Failure to Communicate

We have a problem. Despite broad and sustained scientific consensus about the growing incapacity of the planet to sustain us and the threat posed by climate change, our elected decision makers and key corporate players seem incapable of doing enough of what is required, to avert the coming crisis. This

Writings

Where Rights, Medicine and Law Collide

Last year an Australian woman undertook a medical procedure. This week she and her boyfriend will face court because of it, charged with a crime. If found guilty, the 19-year-old and her 21-year-old boyfriend could get 10 years’ jail. The names of the couple don’t matter. They could be

Writings

You’re Off to a Party? Its no Laughing Matter, You Sick Swine

Why would someone hold a swine flu party, a celebration intended to help you catch the virus? If you are invited to one, should you attend? Should viral socialites be shunned and pilloried, or are they providing a much-needed warning to those in charge of public communications about H1N1 that

Writings

Sexual Freedom Won’t Spare You Regret

Here’s how a 15-year-old West Australian girl described a sexual encounter she had with three boys at a party after too much drink: “It felt really good at the time but afterwards I felt cheated and used.” The Matthew Johns affair is the last in a long line of

Writings

Sex Test Engenders a Skewed Reality

The Mother’s Day press release was cloying. The innovation it heralds is unnecessary at best and, at worst, a sexist menace. The product is IntelliGender, a $95 urine test that claims to identify the sex of a foetus from as early as eight weeks. It went on sale last

Writings

Stand Firm Against Race to the Bottom

An Open Letter to the Greens and Senator Nick Xenophon on Australia’s Emissions Trading System Global warming is the most significant moral issue of our time. Current generations still have a choice. We can act to reduce dangerous climate change or persist with business as usual, despite knowing that

Events

03 May 2009: Leslie to Speak at Melbourne High School About What Elite Sportsmen Are Teaching Our Boys

The charge of sexual assault against rugby-league poster boy Brett Stewart is just the latest of a long list of alleged and often proven misdemeanors by elite male athletes. What can mothers and grandmothers do to ensure our teenagers look down on the misconduct of their heroes, and grow to

Writings

We Must Respect the Wrong Decision

Should pregnant women smoke? OK, that’s a no-brainer but here’s a harder one. When pregnant women do smoke, what should we do about it? The reality is that 16 per cent of Australian women of childbearing age smoked through their last pregnancy. Most would have less education and

Writings

We Need a Population Policy Debate

Tuned into the boat-people debate this week? If yes, you’ll know that the stress and disagreement that has long characterized the debate about migration is over. We all agree now that it’s the people-smugglers we love to hate. People smugglers, the PM said, are “the absolute scum of

Events

21 Apr 2009: Leslie to speak at Steve Guest Rally on the Victorian Parliament House Steps

Come along and support the right to die with dignity. What: Rally in memory of Steve Guest, sponsored by Dying with Dignity Victoria Where: Steps of the Victorian Parliament, Spring Street, Melbourne When: 21 April at 9:45 for 10:00 Open to the public For more information visit the