Dr Leslie Cannold

Dr Leslie Cannold is a bio-ethicist, researcher, writer, commentator and an Honorary Fellow at the School of Philosophy, Anthropology, & Social Inquiry (PASI) at the University of Melbourne, and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at Monash University. Leslie is a member of the ethics panel of the Infertility Treatment Authority, the statutory authority responsible for administering Victoria's Infertility Treatment Act 1995, President of Reproductive Choice Australia, a national coalition of pro-choice individuals and organisations that in early 2006 played a key role in removing the effective ban on RU486 and Spokesperson for Pro Choice Vic, a coalition of organizations and individuals committed to achieving a change to Victoria's abortion laws that maximises the reproductive rights and freedoms, fosters the dignity and respects the moral agency of women and their partners. In 2008, Leslie was appointed to the Victorian Department of Human Services Human Research Ethics Committee and to the Physiotherapists Registration Board.

Leslie is the author of the award-winning The Abortion Myth: Feminism, morality and the hard choices women make and more recently What, No Baby: Why women are losing the freedom to mother, and how they can get it back (which made the Australian Financial Review's top 101 books list for 2005).

She has been a regular guest over the years on ABC local radio, Radio National and ABC TV. Since the late 1980's her views have appeared in The Age (Melbourne), the Sydney Morning Herald, the Herald Sun (Melbourne), the Courier Mail (Brisbane) and the national broadsheet The Australian. She currently writes a weekly column called Moral Maze, which appears on Sunday in the Extra section of the Sun-Herald (Sydney) and is the resident ethicist on Brisbane radio 4BC where she speaks to Greg Cary every Thursday morning. She also speaks regularly to Deborah Cameron on ABC 702 Sydney about ethics and participates in Friday's "water-cooler" segment on 9am with David and Kim on Network Ten. In 2005, Leslie was selected as one of Australia's top 20 public intellectuals.

She is in high demand as a public speaker on issues to do with life, work, gender and ethics to community groups, professional organisations and secondary students. Leslie is also the vocalist of the Melbourne-based rock cover band Speedy Fish.

 Sexual Freedom Won't Spare You Regret

24 May 2009

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."

 Sex Test Engenders a Skewed Reality

17 May 2009

The Mother's Day press release was cloying. The innovation it heralds is unnecessary at best and, at worst, a sexist menace.

 Stand Firm Against Race to the Bottom

10 May 2009

An Open Letter to the Greens and Senator Nick Xenophon on Australia's Emissions Trading System

 Leslie to Co-Host an ABC Local Radio Around Australia on Coping with Pandemics - Is Australia Ready?

6 May 2009

As H1N1 influenza continues to spread across the world, we ask: how Australia would cope if it were hit right now by a pandemic, bio-terror attack or other large-scale disaster?

 We Must Respect the Wrong Decision

3 May 2009

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?

 We Need a Population Policy Debate

26 Apr 2009

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 the earth."

 Collaboration Takes Sting Out of Separation and Divorce

19 Apr 2009

A kindler, gentler divorce may be a contradiction in terms, but the means to achieve it has arrived in Australia. Just a few weeks ago at a conference in Sydney, a group of good-hearted, specially trained lawyers met to discuss the ways a marriage in this country could be dissolved using a process called collaborative family law.

 A Welcome Shift to the Political Middle Ground

12 Apr 2009

Something is happening to conservative political parties in Australia and overseas. Left-of-centre parties have gained power in the UK, US and Australia by advocating agendas far more centre than they are left. This has left the conservative side of politics floundering, unsure if they should stay the course or contest the middle ground by bringing their policies into line with voters who want greater regulation of the market and less government intrusion into their personal affairs. In Australia, centrist Labor governments are in government Federally and in every state except Western Australia. However, this may change with moderate Opposition leaders in both NSW and Victoria seen to have a chance next time voters go to the polls.

 Private School, Public Shame

5 Apr 2009

Australia has come a long way-some might say the wrong way-when the Education Minister dismisses debates about equity in school funding as a diversion from what she laughably calls Federal Labor's broad and deep reform agenda.

 Parallel Imports and Copy Wrongs

29 Mar 2009

Australian publishing is a success story. In contrast to the uneven product of the heavily subsidized film industry, publishing continues to go from strength to strength. Around 45% of general audience books sold in Australia have been published here, and 40% of the top 5000 trade books have Australian authors. Not bad for an island at what Former PM Paul Keating reportedly described as the universe's arse-end.

 Stop Conroy's Great Australian Firewall

22 Mar 2009

Fond of kiddy-fiddlers? A friend of the porn industry? You must be, if you oppose a mandatory filter on the net. Or so says Senator Stephen Conroy and his allies in the Christian Right and Authoritarian Left.

 In the AFL and NRL, Booze No Excuse for Sexual Assault

15 Mar 2009

The rugby and footy season have begun. I know, because allegations of sexual violence are in the news.

 Give Us Better Biking Infrastructure, Please!

8 Mar 2009

I was centimeters away from death or serious injury. Millimeters, even. The woman in the car hadn't meant any harm. She had only just parked and was now hurrying on her way, probably wondering if she had enough coins in her wallet for the meter, if the space she'd just backed into was truly legal, and if she still had time to avoid being late.

 Ethics in a Time of Media

1 Mar 2009

We expect a lot of our media. Not more than we should, but a decent amount, often without either acknowledging the importance of a free press to democracy, or the structural factors that can get in the way of well-meaning journalists doing the right thing.

 Save The Net
30 Feb 2009

 

 Read Leslie's Expert Comments on Modern Contraception in The Sunday Age

28 Feb 2009

Jill Stark interviewed Leslie for her article in the Age.

 Women's Rights? Don't Make Me Laugh

22 Feb 2009

It wasn't true then, and it still isn't now. In fact, it's a big, fat porky pie. I'm talking about women's rights and the scary potential that, however flaccidly they are enshrined in law now, things are about to get worse.

 This Valentine's Week, a Few Thoughts About Love

15 Feb 2009

Philosophers struggle to define love, little less explain it in ways we all crave. Ways that allow us to find and to nurture it, so as we journey through life-with the same lover or someone different-it will continue to flourish.

 Global Gag Leaves Blood on Our Hands

8 Feb 2009

For Labor, the problem seems grim. Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith can either follow the lead of the Obama administration in lifting Australia's version of the global gag rule, or ensure we remain the only country in the world that limits its foreign aid in this way.

 Should We Play Big Brother with our Kids?

1 Feb 2009

British and American parents are about to get it, and Australian parents may want it too. Electronic babysitting, using a hard-to-remove wristwatch device with a GPS chip, is coming to a retail and online outlets soon. Want your tubby daughter to walk to primary school, but need assurance she's arrived safely? Have reason to doubt your year 9 son's insistence he is spending Saturday night at a friend's house? Child location devices offer peace of mind to any parent with a mobile phone or computer.

 Centennial Warriors by Elizabeth Kehoe

21 Jan 2009

In the wake of the passage of the Abortion Law Reform Bill here in Victoria late in 2008, Elizabeth Kehoe sent me this beautiful tribute.

 Whats Wrong with Adults Paying for Sex

18 Jan 2009

This summer, Norway has quietly joined Sweden in outlawing paid sex. Men who have sex with prostitutes working in brothels or on the street face hefty fines or six months in gaol, while the women involved will be offered assistance to exit the industry. "We want to send a clear message to men that buying sex is unacceptable," said the Norwegian Justice Minister, echoing the sentiments of Swedish detective Kajsa Wahlberg. "We don't have a problem with prostitutes. We have a problem with men who buy sex."

 Why We Must Sometimes Refuse to Help

11 Jan 2009

A while back a reader-let's call her Sharon-contacted me for help. Her story was confusing and hard to follow, so she directed me a website she had set up to publicise her cause. She also sent me some documents, which I committed to read with the view, if I could possibly make it work, of writing a column on her case. I wanted to help.

 All's Fair in the Battle of Ideas

8 Jan 2009

On Tuesday, Crikey broke a story about conservative magazine Quadrant's publication of an essay on scientific criticism by Sharon Gould. Gould is described as having a PhD in Applied Science (biotechnology) and being employed as a biotechnology informatics consultant.

 Natural Earth Burials: Should our last decision be environmental?

4 Jan 2009

Ethical talk about the dead usually focuses on rights. The rights of the dead to have their last wishes carried out, and their bodies treated with respect.

 Women's Forum Australia is "Faking it"

28 Dec 2008

Tune out or wise up. Late December and January is the season for think-tanks and institutes. The time where the lack of action on the government and university fronts leaves a hole in the news agenda that third-party mouthpieces for political, industrial or religious interests are more than happy to fill.

 Lars and the Real Girl Show Us the Way

21 Dec 2008

It's that time of the year again. No matter what we believe or commemorate, December offers most of us a few days off work. A chance to reflect on what really matters in our complex, crowded lives, and how it can be nurtured so more will grow.

 Torturing Others Does Most Harm to Us

14 Dec 2008

Defenders of torture are fond of the ticking bomb scenario. It describes a terrorist who has planted bombs around a city that are set to blow, but who refuses to tell authorities where they are. The implicit claim of the scenario is clear. That in some cases, in particular where lives are at stake and time is running short, torture may be justified.

 Should We Let the Gene Out of the Bottle

7 Dec 2008

How much do you know about your genes? Does your genetic profile match that of a sprinter, or is it more like an endurance athlete? Are you lactose intolerant, malaria resistant, possessed of wet or dry ear wax or at an increased risk, compared to others with similar ancestry, of breast cancer, Crohn's or Parkinson's disease?

 Let Women Speak for Themselves

30 Nov 2008

For years, we've been tied up in knots, unsure how to protect the rights of women in male-dominated religions and cultures.

 Leslie talks abortion rights

25 Nov 2008

Leslie discusses the recent decriminalisation of abortion in Victoria in an article by Stephen de Tarczynski on the Inter Press Service News Agency

 Dumpers and Martyrs and None of Us Saints

23 Nov 2008

There were a lot of contenders for this week's column. The inevitable arrival of paid maternity leave on the list of scuttled government initiatives because of the global economic crisis was one. Minister Stephen Conroy's decision to capitulate to the demands of the religious right and censor everyone's internet access was another. And there's a piece inside me just screaming to get out about what former government leaders must really think about the quality of reporting on the ABC given their decision to participate in The Howard Years, the first episode of which screened on ABC TV this week.

 Beyond the Nuclear Family
18 Nov 2008

Catch Leslie and a whole range of diverse families in this new educational DVD by the Victoria Educational Association. More information about this resource might be available on their website http://www.vea.com.au/. Or contact vea@vea.com.au.

 

 Breaking the Glass Ceiling of Courage

16 Nov 2008

The Bali Bombers are dead. When news of the executions came over the wireless I found it hard to shed tears. These men were murderers and tears are evidence of compassion. My opposition to the death penalty is motivated by more principled and practical concerns.

 Climate Change: It's about the economy, stupid

9 Nov 2008

Catastrophic climate change is the moral issue of our time. If we flub it, it is our children who will be denied their most basic inheritance - a habitable and sustaining planet.

 Leslie Debates Abortion on SBS Radio

3 Nov 2008

Hear Leslie and medical doctor Brigid Mckenna, the policy officer for the Sydney Catholic archdiocese's Life, Marriage and Family Centre on SBS World View Forum.

 Church and State Should be Separate

2 Nov 2008

This week, in a rare moment of bi-partisanship, the Federal Government and Opposition joined forces to reject Speaker Harry Jenkins's call for a debate on whether the Lord's Prayer should continue to be said at the start of each parliamentary day.

 Leslie Replies to Kate Gleeson

13 Sep 2008

In an article in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, academic lawyer Kate Gleeson takes Leslie to task for comments she made on radio regarding the importance of reforming Victoria's abortion law. In this article, in the same edition of the Journal of Bioethical inquiry, Leslie replies to Gleeson's criticisms.

 Who's the Father? Rethinking the Moral 'Crime' of 'Paternity Fraud'

25 Aug 2008

In Australia, men's mobilisation around paternity fraud has led to numerous father-favouring changes to family law. Despite this, feminists have been slow to interrogate discrepant paternity discourse. In this paper, I analyse and respond to the empirical and normative assertions contained in the paternity fraud charge.

What, no baby? What, No Baby? takes us on journey into the lives of contemporary women who plan to have it all - marriage, motherhood and work - yet have been derailed by reluctant men, insatiably demanding jobs and ever-climbing expectations of what it takes to be a "good" mother.
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The Abortion Myth book cover The Abortion Myth forges a new women-centred abortion ethic capable of preserving a woman's right to control her body and her freedom to choose or reject motherhood.
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