Binoy Kampmark

It should never have been the case. Peter Dutton, leader of the Coalition opposition, is in with a chance to win the 3 May Australian election. (more…)

February 7 saw the first AUKUS meeting held between officials of the Trump administration and their Australian servitors since the changing of the guard in the White House. In attendance was the US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and his unbearably compliant Australian counterpart Richard Marles. From all general appearances, the sense was that a change of government in Washington would not herald the scuppering of a ludicrously wasteful project that will cost the Australian taxpayer in the order $400 billion (a modest assessment) for nuclear powered submarines the country does not need, nor ever will. (more…)

Just before last Christmas, the National Security Archive based at George Washington University, published an illuminating cable on US-Russian relations. Authored by political analyst E. Wayne Merry in March 1994 from Moscow’s US Embassy, it was sharply prescient – so much so that it had to be sent by the Dissent Channel to limit its incendiary worth. It’s theme: the failings and potentially insidious effects of US “shock therapy” for the post-Communist Russian economy, along with aid that was endangering, not just Russian pride, but the relationship between Washington and Moscow. (more…)

The late centenarian, Jimmy Carter, occupied a difficult position in the line of imperial magistrates we know as US presidents. Coming to power in the aftermath of murderous US adventurism in Indochina and the debauching of the presidency by Richard Nixon (“when the president does it, it means that it is not illegal”), he took an axe to the welfare state, nourished the strapping, dangerous creature that would become neoliberalism, and made foreign policy decisions of disastrous consequence, punctuated by such successes as normalising relations between Egypt and Israel. (more…)

How reassuring it is to be a mining magnate in Australia. Far more significant than royalty, such figures are the unelected captains of industry who know that governments will do whatever they can to accommodate their wishes and whims. True, the rhetoric might sometimes be sharp and seemingly at odds, especially when it comes to that great irritant known as climate change, but the business of Australia is mining, and so it remains. (more…)

The US submarine base was always going to come first, not for the sake of supplying useless boats for Australia’s phantom defence needs, but for keeping an ever watchful US imperium stocked. (more…)

Australia’s establishment parties are running scared. The Albanese Labor government is particularly scared. Tumbling in the polls, increasingly weakened and choked (inexplicably) by the bruising tactics of Coalition opposition leader Peter Dutton, the sinking vessel that is this government is scrambling for existential remedies. One is to try, as much as possible, to limit the reach of independents and minor parties, those frightfully irritating creatures who have served to change the Australian electoral landscape by encouraging cooperation in Canberra. (more…)

From the outset, a question mark hovered over whether Australia’s federal National Anti-Corruption Commission would serve the purpose of shedding light on corruption in the public sector. The enacting legislation that brought it into existence, for instance, limit public hearings to “exceptional circumstances”, a reminder that transparency was going to be heavily conditioned. (more…)

Lock up criminally minded children and teach them a firm lesson. Mind your cars, mind your keys. Chat about the Olympics and moan about whether stadia should be built or refurbished. Mumble about water, dams, and roads. Bridges for cassowaries that are not used by those magnificent yet inconsiderate birds. Marvel at members of parliament with duplicate names such as Grace Grace. (more…)

Organisational management, especially when it comes to large entities, has little to recommend it. Arrange the schedules. Pamper sponsors and behave simperingly. Ensure a diet of pills to null the embarrassment. Mind the assets and fret over the brand. Sigh over ledgers and order spreadsheets. (more…)

Israel’s remorseless campaign in Gaza continues, with the ever-increasing risk of its spread to the north and the east. One of the reasons for such incessancy is the assurance Israel has in its support, one shored up by the strength of its lobbies in various Western states. What then, can we do? (more…)

In Australia, the demon of penal regulation clings in its stubbornness. Keeping government accountable and open to the suspicious eye of the public is a weary worn task that yields little by way of change. Secrecy remains addictive, even pathological. Reforms, to that end, remain cosmetic, patchy, and indeterminate. What is the public interest useful for but to frustrate the public? (more…)

From the time Kevin Rudd romped into office as Australia’s first Labor Prime Minister since Paul Keating, the life of Australian Prime Ministers has been dangerous. Party hacks, factional gangsters, and pollsters shadow, stalk and linger, attempting to note signs of the weakness. A decline in the polls is treated as genuine political calamity, the equivalent of a famine to an ancient, superstitious civilisation. And as for policy – what of it? Weak leaders will be cut down, their legacy laid waste. (more…)