The preliminary report on energy prices released last week by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) suggests that the consumer watchdog is concerned about almost every aspect of Australia’s electricity industry. It quotes customer groups who say electricity is the biggest issue in their surveys, and cites several case studies of outrageous price increases experienced by various customers. (more…)
John Menadue
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AMBER CARVAN. The health impacts of climate change in rural and remote Australia
Without swift action climate change stands to further cement the health deficit experienced in rural and remote populations. Conversely, taking action to build the climate-resilience of rural and remote communities, and the health care services that support them, could lead to a seismic shift in health outcomes for the seven million people living in rural and remote Australia. (more…)
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MARGARET BEAVIS. US militarism: what are the costs to Australia?
When it comes to the defence of Australia, much is made of the ANZUS treaty. Compared to other treaties, for example the NATO treaty, where an attack on one is explicitly regarded as an attack on all and consultation, assistance and the use of armed force all are clearly referred to, the ANZUS treaty is rather pallid. It promises consultation and the rather vague “act to meet the common danger in accordance with constitutional processes”. (more…)
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An open letter to the Prime Minister on climate and nuclear perils
This open letter was initiated by Dr Andrew Glikson (Earth and Paleo-climate science, ANU School of Anthropology and Archeology) and signed by over 200 Australian scientists, including those in the medical, environmental and physical disciplines, as well as scholars in the humanities.
It clearly shows the immense perils we now face due to climate change and nuclear proliferation.
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GEORGE RENNIE. Senate crossbenchers take the first steps on lobbying reform – now to ensure it succeeds.
The suite of codes, statements and laws governing lobbying are failing Australian voters. Yet, for decades, the two major parties have been unwilling to meaningfully improve them. But, having recognised the seriousness of the problems with lobbying and corruption in Australia, the Senate crossbenchers – along with lower house independents – have finally begun the process of deciding how lobbying reform should occur. Into this space, the Jacqui Lambie Network has released a policy that has become the starting point for negotiations on one of Australia’s most important policy challenges. (more…)
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MICHAEL WOODS. Why reforming health care is integral for our economy
Australia’s productivity growth has been stagnant for over a decade and, according to a new report, our health policies and programs could be partly to blame. Released today, the Productivity Commission report also highlights how the health-care sector (among others) could play a starring role in improving productivity. (more…)
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OISIN SWEENEY. Let’s take the opportunity to put the wellbeing of people at the heart of forest protection.
Any Australian under the age of 30 is unlikely to have heard of Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs). The RFAs, signed in the late 1990s and lasting for 20 years, were designed to facilitate multiple uses of public native forests including timber extraction, nature conservation and recreation. They haven’t worked as planned, and logging now threatens multiple values of forests, including fundamentals for human well-being like water. We should heed the evidence and use the end of the RFAs to put forests at the heart of regional communities. We have a plan that can help us do that. (more…)
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JIM COOMBS. An energy crisis? My Hat!
The present ‘energy crisis’ is symptomatic of our nation’s leaders to obfuscate the truth to avoid doing what should be done. (more…)
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NAISHAD KAIN-REN. Saudi Arabia’s Footprints in Southeast Asia
Saudi Arabia’s increased influence in Muslim-majority countries will have wider ramifications for ASEAN. (more…)
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LEANNE WELLS. Who benefits from health insurance reforms? Check the sharemarket.
The notable feature of Australia’s heavy investment in health insurance is the lack of hard evidence to support the cost and performance of subsidised private health insurance. For health fund members baffled about the real impact of the Government’s private insurance reform plan, there was one indicator immediately available. (more…)
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EVAN WILLIAMS. Mobile addiction: the new scourge of our time
“That stupid woman!” my wife exclaimed, looking out through the front window of our house onto the street below. We were listening to the news, and at first I thought my beloved was referring to some blunder by Julie Bishop or Theresa May. But the object of her scorn was a woman wheeling a baby in a pram down the centre of the street and studying her mobile phone while cars edged past on either side. (more…)
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WALTER HAMILTON. When Nothing Happened in Japan
After Sunday’s election, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be entitled to quote Mark Twain: ‘Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’. Political death, that is. His ruling coalition threw back all challengers and retained the crucial two-thirds majority in the lower house required for a constitutional amendment. (more…)
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STUART HARRIS. The US and North Korea: the importance of history.
North Korea’s belligerent missile tests have given rise to fears that the hardening rhetoric on both sides will lead to military conflict involving nuclear weapons. These fears have resulted in moves to moderate this tension by some of the players, with US Secretary of State Tillerson seeking to communicate with the North, and South Korea’s President Moon seeking dialogue with the North. (more…)
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PETER ARNOLD. Calling for medical help at night
Obtaining first-line medical attention at night, especially if the patient is house-bound, has become increasingly difficult. Proposals to improve affordable access to such services need to take account of changing urban structures, medical culture and community expectations. (more…)
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MICHAEL LAMBERT. The National Energy Guarantee – what do we make of it?
After a progression of schemes, such as the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), The Carbon Pollution Tax (CPT), Direct Action, including the Renewable Energy Target (RET) as well as dabbling with the Emissions Intensity Scheme (EIS) and the Clean Energy Target (CET) we have now being presented by those proud parents, Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg, with the latest addition to the energy policy family, the NEG, the National Energy Guarantee. Will it work and how; is it better or worse than its alternatives; and what are the key issues to address if it proceeds? (more…)
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WE ARE ALSO READING AND LISTENING TO …
Pearls and Irritations provides the following links for weekend reading and listening: (more…)
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PETER RODGERS. Australia and capital punishment – rhetoric and reality
In pursuing Australia’s ultimately successful bid for election to the UN Human Rights Council, Foreign Minister Bishop declared that Australia would be ‘unrelenting’ in its efforts to abolish capital punishment globally. But Australia’s track record of selective outrage gives little hope for an energetic, universalist approach that goes beyond the rhetorical.
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ALAN PEARS, ANNA SKARBEK, DYLAN MCCONNELL. Federal government unveils ‘National Energy Guarantee’ – experts react
The federal government has announced a new energy policy, after deciding against adopting the Clean Energy Target recommended by chief scientist Alan Finkel. (more…)
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JOHN QUIGGIN. Jobs bonanza? The Adani project is more like a railway to nowhere
The dispute over the Adani Group’s proposed Carmichael mine and the associated port at Abbot Point has long been cast as a choice between jobs and the environment. Climate change is already well on the way to destroying the Great Barrier Reef, among many other things, and the development of the massive coal reserves of the Galilee Basin would make it almost impossible to stabilise the global climate. (more…)
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JULIE BISHOP. Foreign policy in an uncertain world.
“We have an independent foreign policy and we do not outsource our decisions to other countries.” Julie Bishop
Yesterday, we posted a speech by Shadow Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, ‘Engaging with China’. Today we post a presentation by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to the Australian Institute of International Affairs, 2017 National Conference in Canberra. (more…)
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NICHOLAS GRUEN. Which bank could give Australians a better bang for their buck? The Reserve Bank of Australia.
How would you like to be able to get most of your mortgage from the Reserve Bank of Australia at the cash rate of 1.5% rather than three times that after your bank has slapped on its margin for the same money? (more…)
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PENNY WONG. FutureAsia – Engaging with China (A speech to the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Canberra, 16 October 2017)
Last month, my friend and colleague Chris Bowen, the Shadow Treasurer, delivered a major speech to the Asia Society in Sydney. In it he outlined Labor’s approach to Asia. FutureAsia will be a whole-of-government framework underpinning our efforts to deepen and broaden our engagement. As the Shadow Treasurer said, Asian economies are changing, and Australia isn’t keeping up. (more…)
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RANALD MACDONALD. Open letter to Communications Minister, The Hon. Mitch Fifield
Can we just be serious just for a moment?
Having read your piece in The Australian headed “Shrill Attacks on ABC Adjustments Are Hysterical, Unhinged” (9/10/17), I cannot believe that you, Minister, REALLY believe in what you have written. (more…)
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KELLIE TRANTER. Pine Gap: Full Knowledge & Concurrence
Heavily redacted documents produced in accordance with Freedom of Information laws appear to imply that the Australian government has full knowledge of current and future operations taking place at Pine Gap and that it is given the opportunity to approve or deny proposed future conduct carried out at the base. This may have serious ramifications for Australia, a signatory to the Rome Statute, in any future proceedings in the International Criminal Court. (more…)
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KATE CHARLESWORTH and PETER SAINSBURY. The Devastating Health Costs of Coal.
Amid all the debate about energy policy – about security, affordability, and carbon emissions – there is one critical issue that has barely rated a mention: human health. Coal is hazardous to our health; renewables are not. In any discussion about energy, the human health costs of coal and the significant health benefits of switching to safe and healthy forms of energy must be considered as seriously as security, affordability and emissions. (more…)
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WALTER HAMILTON. Big changes mean more of the same in Japanese election
Early signs of trouble for the Abe government in Japan have seemingly evaporated under the more intense heat of election campaigning, and “more of the same” is now the likely outcome of the 22 October poll. (more…)
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WE ARE ALSO READING AND LISTENING TO …
Pearls and Irritations provides the following links for weekend reading: (more…)
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JOHN QUIGGIN. Socialism with a spine: the only 21st century alternative
Socialism is back, much to the chagrin of those who declared it dead and buried at the “end of history” in the 1990s. When the New Republic, long the house organ of American neoliberalism, runs an article on The Socialism America Needs Now, it’s clear that something has fundamentally changed. (more…)
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PAUL FRIJTERS. EU plans for VAT taxation are doomed to fail. Again.
Taxation is the potential downfall of the EU as an institution. The reason is that within the EU, several member states are making money from the tax evasion in other member states, a situation akin to having a wife slowly murdering her husband with poison. Unless this stops, a divorce becomes inevitable. (more…)