John Menadue

  • CAMERON MURRAY.  Game of Mates: How favours bleed the nation A REPOST

    Excerpt from Chapter 1 of Game of Mates: How favours bleed the nation. 
    Get the book via gameofmates.com. Follow author Cameron Murray on Facebook and Twitter. Come to the Brisbane book launch on 23rd May, 6pm at Avid Reader, West End (Details and RSVP link).  (more…)

  • CHRIS SHEIL AND FRANK STILLWELL. Bad data collection means we don’t know how much the middle class is being squeezed by the wealthy

    There is a glaring need to reform Australia’s archaic wealth inequality statistics to make them commensurate with international practice. (more…)

  • GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND …

    Ross Gittins says that we would be mugs to panic and cut our company tax rate.

    In his book review of Polanyi’s A Life on the Left in the New York Review of Books, Robert Kuttner argues that ‘Democracy cannot survive an excessively free market and containing the market is the task of politics.”

    In his book review on Inequality and the Coming Storm, Edoardo Campanella comments: “the super-rich are not all the same. Some are entrepreneurs or entertainers who create real wealth for society. Others run hedge fund, private equity firms or other rent seeking businesses who contribute nothing or little.” Inequality and the Coming Storm by Edoardo Campanella – Project Syndicate

    Laura Kipnis in the New York Review of Books says ‘Like  beauty contestants, women at Fox are hired on the basis of looks, then laminated into near mannequins…the optics at Fox make clear what’s expected from women’. Rupert Murdoch boasts his businesses reflect his values.

  • ALAN PEARS. Turnbull has politicked himself into irrelevance on energy and climate in 2018

    As we approach the end of the year, it’s useful to look back and forward. Now is an auspicious time, as two major energy-related reports have been released this week: the federal government’s review of their climate change policies, and a discussion paper from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on future energy paths. (more…)

  • FRANCIS SULLIVAN. Australian Catholic Church must take abuse commission report seriously or risk irrelevance A REPOST

    After five intense years of inquiry and more than 400 recommendations — with 20 new recommendations specifically relating to the Catholic Church — the report of Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is due a considered response. (more…)

  • MICK PALMER. Australia’s Illicit Drugs Policy – There Really is a better Way A REPOST

    It happens time and time again. We are told breathlessly  by the media  with photos of bags of seized drugs flanked by Border Protection officials and police officers about how   successful  we are in containing the drug problem.. But is it ‘success’ when despite the new records in drug seizures the drug problem in the community gets worse and worse. Do Border Protection officials and police officers ask the key questions about whether existing policies are working?

    . A former Police Commissioner did this earlier this year in Pearls and Irritations after  another record drug haul

    .For over half a century Australian Governments have relied heavily on law enforcement to curb the drug trade, but, despite increasingly sophisticated and efficient policing strategies and operations Australia’s illicit drugs problems have continued getting bigger and the marketplace ever more dangerous, and prosperous If we are to improve the outcomes we achieve we have to stop simply being “tough on drugs” and start being “smart about drugs”. There is a way, we have a responsibility to explore it.  (more…)

  • CHRISTINA HO. Racist reporting still rife in Australian media

    Half of all race-related opinion pieces in the Australian mainstream media are likely to contravene industry codes of conduct on racism. (more…)

  • GEORGE WRIGHT. A year of dashed hopes and tyranny in Cambodia

    To many, dissolution of the main opposition party caps a year in which the country became a full dictatorship. (more…)

  • Worries about Malaysia’s ‘Arabisation’ grow as Saudi ties strengthen

    Malaysia’s growing ties to Saudi Arabia – and its puritan Salafi-Wahhabi Islamic doctrines – are coming under new scrutiny as concerns grow over an erosion of traditional religious practices and culture in the multi-ethnic nation.  A string of recent events has fuelled the concern. Hostility toward atheists, non-believers and the gay community has risen.   (more…)

  • AMANDA BIGGS. Whither the private health insurance rebate?

    The private health insurance rebate is an important element in maintaining the attractiveness of private health insurance membership. The government rebate subsidises the cost of private health insurance premiums (hospital, general, and ambulance policies). It is usually applied in the form of an upfront discount to the consumer on the price of the premium, although it can be claimed back through the tax system. The rebate amount varies, depending on income levels and age. (more…)

  • LINDSAY MURDOCH and KATE GERAGHTY. A REPOST-The little girl in the pretty dress.

    In Pearls and Irritations we have posted reports of ghastly experiences of the Rohingya people fleeing genocide, rape, starvation and displacement.  Lindsay Murdoch and Kate Geraghty of the Fairfax Press, who have visited the camps in Bangladesh, have prepared a vivid recount of refugees’ experiences. This is one small extract, “The little girl in the pretty dress” (reproduced with permission).    (more…)

  • HAMISH MCDONALD. Australia still on smoko over Asia.

    When Malcolm Turnbull hosts the ten leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for an unusual summit in Sydney in March, the Australian public will know virtually nothing about most of them or the current state of affairs in their countries. (more…)

  • JASON HOROWITZ. Cardinal’s death highlights sex abuse divide.

    Early on Wednesday morning, hours after Cardinal Bernard F. Law died in a Rome hospital, a priest unlocked a small chapel at the Basilica of St. Mary Major and pointed to the spot under the marble altar and life-size crucifix where the once-mighty American prelate had arranged to be buried. (more…)

  • Pope Francis, on Christmas Eve, says faith demands respect of immigrants.

    VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis strongly defended immigrants at his Christmas Eve Mass on Sunday, comparing them to Mary and Joseph finding no place to stay in Bethlehem and saying faith demands that foreigners be welcomed.    

    (more…)

  • JOHN HANNON. Failed leadership and systemic failure

    I believe it is time to address the elephant in the room, now that the Royal Commission has presented its findings. Last weekend’s Saturday Age had a dark front-page image of a large cross with claw like hands descending from the horizontal crossbar, an almost sacrilegious image, reflecting the darkness and wrongs perpetrated by some in the name of the Church. At the foot of the cross is a young man, on his knees, hands joined in front of a candle, a striking contrast between the bright light of innocence and the darkness of evil.   (more…)

  • MARILYN HATTON and MOIRA COOMBS. Catholic women speak out.

    The Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’s report and its recommendations are essential for the care and protection of children and care of victims and their families. They are also important steps in preventing the perpetuation of the destructive clerical culture that produced the horrifying sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.   (more…)

  • GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND …

    Writing in the Fairfax Press, Andrew Norton of the Grattan Institute explains the government’s planned $ 2.2 billion cuts to university funding – cuts they can make without going through Parliament.  He explains how they will have their greatest impact on resource-intensive courses such as engineering and education, while leaving courses such as law and business largely untouched.

    “Under the influence of more than a century of relentless advertising and commercialisation its original significance as a religious holy-day has been submerged beneath an orgy of consumerism, materialism and over-indulgence” writes Ross Gittins in his Christmas message. He reminds us of the waste around our commercialised Christmas – food we don’t eat, clothes we don’t wear, unwanted gifts that we never use.

    The Climate Council reports that Hidden Pollution Data has been released, and it is not good.

    A gas shortage next year is unlikely, but that’s the only good news – The Conversation

    Heretics welcome! Economics needs a new Reformation – Larry Elliott in the Guardian

    A report on Burma’s Methodical Massacre at Rohingya Village

    Pearls & Irritations put together a Making Housing Affordable Series, organised by John Menadue, Susan Ryan and Oliver Frankel.  A copy of the PDF is attached. 2017-05-22 – Making Housing Affordable series.

    The Rohingya crisis has put lives in limbo – Lindsay Murdoch in the Age

    Brothers from male-only religious orders outnumber priests in historic child abuse allegations involving the Catholic Church. Despite the forensic efforts of the royal commission, the operations of the most prolific offenders remain shrouded in secrecy.

    Yanis Varoufakis writes on “Taking the Red Pill or the Blue Pill” in the Journal of Political Economy.

    Why Rupert’s Really Splitting Up the Family Business – Michael Wolff

    “People on low incomes are sacrificing basic goods to take out insurance” – the Conversation.

     

  • Hunger and disease haunt Rohingya refugees

    ‘Sometimes we borrow from neighbors or we starve’  
    (more…)

  • JONATHAN PILBROW. IPAN on the link between war and refugees

    Human Rights Day, recently observed, is a very significant day, commemorating the UN General Assembly endorsement on 10 December 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the right to seek asylum.  Human Rights Day is an important time to highlight that that wars create and exacerbate humanitarian crises and the conditions that lead to refugees, which raises critical issues about Australia’s continued involvement in U.S. wars. (more…)

  • PATTY FAWKNER SGS. Of Mary and Maya.

    When we see the images of Mary and her child this Christmas, may we pause and think of Maya and the countless victims of sexual exploitation, writes Sister Patty Fawkner.   (more…)

  • TONY DOHERTY. A Christmas reflection.

    Christmas is the celebration of a story. A story told in the gospels by two storytellers – Matthew and Luke. It’s a tale told and retold, and often so badly that, should the original storytellers be alive today, I could imagine them squirming. (more…)

  • DES CAHILL and PETER WILKINSON. Clericalism, celibacy and child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Australia

    The Final Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was published on 15 December 2017.  Among its 409 recommendations was one which is proving controversial, namely, the introduction of voluntary celibacy for diocesan priests. There are compelling reasons why the Commission chose to urge a change to a long-held tradition. (more…)

  • MATTHEW FISHER. Ministers for Health in name only

    Evidence on social determinants of health, health inequities and primary disease prevention and health promotion present many, currently under-utilised opportunities for Australian Government Health Ministers to genuinely be Ministers for health as well as for remedial healthcare services. (more…)

  • KERRY MURPHY. Retaining a cruel and punitive policy towards asylum seekers.

    Recently re-elected deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce warned the New Zealand Prime Minister to back off on her offer to help resettle refugees from Manus Island and Nauru in New Zealand.  His statement seemed to hint at a warning that if New Zealand continued to push this offer, it could harm bilateral relations[1].  Ironically he said they should not interfere in Australia’s sovereignty, regarding non Australians sent to non Australian Manus Island and independent Nauru. (more…)

  • KEVIN PEOPLES. An end of sorts.

    There is a time for everything …a time to be silent and a time to speak…Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

    Today the Royal Commission came to an end. I feel as if I have lost a friend. It seems somehow improper to say anything. In its place endless prattle, numbers, interviews, politics. Seventeen volumes. I am left numb. There will be a time to read them. But not today.  (more…)

  • GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND …

    In case you missed Geraldine Doogue last week on Saturday Extra, she conducted three thought-provoking interviews. First was Professor Julian Le Grand of the London School of Economics, on the possibilities of employee-led mutuals contracting to the public sector. Then Sarah Barker and Karl Mallon talked about how firms are incorporating climate risk into their financial analysis. And former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten warned about the politics of identity – a political movement that “savages democracy”. He described how in Northern Ireland he developed practical methods to move beyond identity politics.

    In the Fairfax press Peter Martin explains why low pay rises have become routine. Going back to the Howard era, he explains how successive Coalition governments, fearful of wage inflation, have weakened trade unions and other mechanisms to keep wages rising in line with productivity.

    Writing in the Canberra Times Andrew Leigh (Federal member for Canberra) explains how the super-rich – “the top 1/10,000 th of the population” are using offshore tax havens to avoid tax, and Labor’s proposals to close tax loopholes.

    “We should rescue economics from the folly of neoliberalism” writes Ross Gittins, in an outline of the work of Harvard’s Dani Rodrik. Neoliberalism is simply “bad economics”.

    Ireland is still debating the scandal of child abuse in the Catholic Church, eight years after a royal commission into the matter delivered its groundbreaking report  – ABC News

    Grappling with Rome: David Marr’s lessons from the royal commission – the Guardian

    Public service boss Martin Parkinson proposes national survey on government – Canberra Times

    AGL says batteries are coming, but coal is uninvestable – RenewEconomy

    Is the Rohingya repatriation to Myanmar a reality or illusion – La Croix International

    A study has found that the new penalty rate cut has not stimulated jobs – Sydney Morning Herald

    The Audit Office has slammed the Federal Government’s dud investments in ‘clean coal’ RenewableEnergy

     

     

  • SANITSUDA EKACHAI. Why Buddhists fail simple test of compassion

    When Pope Francis avoided addressing the Rohingya genocide directly during his recent Myanmar visit, questioning his silence is missing the crux of the problem. (more…)

  • MATTHEW FISHER. Australia’s policy failure on mental health.

    Australia rates highly on international measures of physical health status such as life expectancy at birth, suggesting we are healthier than ever before, but the data on mental health and illness tells a very different story. On measures of mental health and illness we are doing poorly and compare badly to other OECD countries. Despite a large body of evidence on social determinants of metal health and illness, our policy responses are overwhelmingly dominated by individualised responses such as drug treatments, counselling and resilience programs. This unwillingness to recognise major social causes of mental illness is a national policy failure.  (more…)

  • Jared Kushner is wreaking havoc in the Middle East

    The entire Middle East, from Palestine to Yemen, appears set to burst into flames after this week. The region was already teetering on the edge, but recent events have only made things worse. And while the mayhem should be apparent to any casual observer, what’s less obvious is Jared Kushner’s role in the chaos. (more…)

  • DAVID ISAACS AND ALANNA MAYCOCK. Australia is wilfully damaging the health of children on Nauru to make a point – and it is appalling.

    When we visited Nauru as paediatric specialists three years ago, we were asked to see 30 of the 100 children being detained on the island. Among them was a six-year-old girl who had tried to kill herself and a two-year-old boy with such severe behaviour problems a doctor had prescribed anti-psychotic medicines. Their parents were in despair. They had fled persecution, trying to save their children from harm, but had ended up imprisoned on a remote island, without hope. We left with the view that these were the most traumatised children we had ever consulted on, far worse than children we had seen in Australia, Africa, Asia or Europe.  (more…)