John Menadue

On Eureka Street Fatima Measham interviews Clare O’Neil, Federal Member for Hotham and Labor Shadow Minister for Justice. O’Neil explains how our economy is failing most people: the benefits of economic growth are not being shared. She explains the idea of inclusive growth, (Audio 27 minutes)

Writing in the Fairfax Press, Jessica Irvine outlines the findings of a survey on younger (aged 16 to 40) women’s attitudes to work – a survey released in time for International Women’s Day. Being “treated with respect”, job security, good pay and interesting and socially useful work are all ranked highly. The full report is available from the Australian Women’s Working Futures Project at the University of Sydney.

Also on women’s work experiences, on the ABC’s Religion and Ethics program Andrew West talks with Sister of Mercy Dr Margaret Beirne about the life of nuns with aspirations to help the poor as teachers, doctors or social workers. But many end up “cooking dinner, scrubbing floors and ironing shirts” for cardinals. Sister Beime suggests that because an article on this issue appeared in an official Vatican magazine this issue may be of concern to the Pope. (Audio 12 minutes).

South Korea has brokered a meeting between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump to take place by May. Writing in The Atlantic Uri Friedman takes is into the political background to this meeting. Although the meeting has taken the world by surprise, North Korea’s strategy follows a familiar pattern.

“Beware the green dragon, not the red one” writes Crispin Hull in the Canberra Times.  China’s plan for a renewable energy future will see it achieve moral and economic leadership. Hull warns that “it is disturbing to see the democracies allow a totalitarian state take leadership on the greatest threat to peace and prosperity – climate change”.

A guest on the ABC’s Late Night Live last week was Professor Geoffrey Robinson of the University of California, LA. He reminds us of Indonesia’s “anti-communist” purge in in the mid 1960s, in which the army, with help from religious groups, and possibly parties outside Indonesia, arranged for the slaughter of half a million people. Presenter Elizabeth Jackson reminds is that it’s one crime against humanity that’s been largely overlooked. (Audio 20 minutes)

You have probably read Mungo MacCallum’s Pearls and Irritations piece on the power of the pokie industry. If you would like to support pokie-free hotels there is a website Pokie Free Pubs. You can follow the links to your state to find a list of pubs without pokies. The site is still under development: it has long lists of pokie-free pubs in Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT. The New South Wales entry is a little clunky, the South Australian and Northern Territory entries are “coming soon”, and of course there is no need for a list in Western Australia – all pubs are pokie free.

From a frontline clinician:  here’s what’s wrong with private health insurance.  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/07/from-a-frontline-clinician-heres-whats-wrong-with-private-health-insurance

On Saturday Extra with Geraldine Doogue this 10^th March, trouble in Ethiopia, the African continent’s second most populous and strategically important country with Awol Allo professor of law at Keele University and Ahmed Soliman, Chatham House; Andrew Hughes from the ANU research school of management on political advertising outside campaign time; North Kore and the US to meet, what’s it all about with Dr Leonid Petrov, visiting fellow at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific; the future of the National Party with Jack Archer, CEO of the Regional Australia Institute, Gabrielle Chan, author of a forthcoming book on regional Australian attitudes and John Daley CEO of the Grattan; former NZ Prime Minister Bill English on challenges facing Australia and New Zealand and historian Ian Tyrell, an environmental take on the history of Sydney’s Cook River. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/

In Foreign Policy Analysis in 2010, Amy L. Catalinac reviewed the events that led to New Zealand withdrawal from ANZUS and the reasons for it.  She said:

In 1985, a dispute over nuclear ship visits led the United States to formally suspend its security guarantee to New Zealand under the trilateral ANZUS Treaty. In this article, I conceptualize this dispute as a case of intra-alliance opposition by a small state toward its stronger ally. I generate four hypotheses from the literature on alliances in international relations to explain why New Zealand chose to oppose its ally on the nuclear ships issue. Using new evidence, including interviews with 22 individuals involved in the dispute and content analysis of debates in the New Zealand parliament from 1976 to 1984, I conclude that a desire for greater autonomy in foreign policy was the driving factor behind New Zealand’s opposition.

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‘Open and transparent’ could scarcely be claimed as the style of Australian executive and bureaucratic rule. But even by our poor standards, the saga of the Office of the Information Commissioner has been a disaster of huge proportions. (more…)

In the Fairfax press Martin Myer of the Myer Foundation has an article “Rules around foreign donations threaten to cripple thousands of charities”.  It’s about legislation currently in Parliament, which ostensibly is designed to track foreign political donations, but which would actually place huge administrative burdens on organisations involved in policy advocacy and on their donors.

The principles of taxation are complex: in 2009 it took five volumes of the Henry Review to explain tax reform. But on ABC Radio National The Economists website is a lively 28 minute discussion “The joy of tax” between three experts, telling you (almost) everything you need to know about tax and tax reform.

Commenting on Tony Abbott’s rant calling for reduced immigration, Jessica Irving suggests that while at university he may have snoozed off at a crucial point in his economics lectures. Her article “Tony Abbott’s economic argument against immigration is flawed” dismisses the argument that immigrants take jobs from those who are already here, and she recommends that the government take up recommendations of the Grattan Institute to lower the discount rate governments use to evaluate infrastructure projects so that we can provide for a growing population.

On Phillip Adams’ Late Night Live is an interview with Kate Raworth of Oxford University about the need for “An economics for the 21^st century” to deal with problems of inequality, pollution and overuse of the earth’s resources.  She gives a convincing and empirically-based critique of the neoliberal idea that the workings of the market inevitability reduce inequality.

Philosopher and author Damon Young writes on his blog and in the Canberra Times about “The deceptive story of virtuous homebuyers”.  We can engage with the yarn that all first home buyers are struggling, but in reality many have significant support from parents. The most disadvantaged are those who will never be able to buy real estate and will face a lifetime as renters, and “those excluded from stable housing altogether, by poverty and violence.”

Love, justice and humility to abuse survivors – Robert Fitzgerald, Eureka Street (Audio).

Is the British Establishment finally finished – the Guardian

The book Xi Jinping wants people to read for all the wrong reasons – the Canberra Times.

Malcolm Turnbull decides he does need an NBN connection of 100Mbps – buzz feed.

Kevin Rudd protests that Clive Hamilton attacks are just not on – Canberra Times.

Battered Barnaby Joyce all too belatedly bails out – Jack Waterford, Canberra Times

Michaelia Cash’s slur on women staffers in Parliament this week further debased our already-degraded political system, forced Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull back into his post-Barnaby Joyce corner and further exposed a Coalition killing itself with its own mistakes, writes Michelle Grattan.

Lessons in feminism via Jacinda Adern, Michaelia Cash and Bill Shorten – the Guardian

Will Turnbull’s Snowy Hydro continue his war against battery storage – RenewEconomy

On Saturday Extra this 3^rd of March, Geraldine Doogue discusses primarily elections and leadership. Italy goes to the polls on Sunday under new electoral laws, writer Tim Parks explains; Germans find out on Sunday if Angela Merkel has been able to form a coalition with the SDP five months post the election, political analyst Mark Kayser discusses and Geoff Raby, former Australian ambassador to China talks about Xi Jinping’s grab for eternal power. Also academics Sarah Teo and Ralf Emmers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore discuss Asia’s middle powers. And in the month of March Saturday Extra will be bringing a special series on emerging and established historians bringing in a new genre. ANU’s Tom Griffith explains what this is and Tony Hughes d-Aeth discusses his literary history of WA’s wheatbelt area.