Unfortunately no one yet has been able to overcome the federal/state divide in order to combine Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data held in Canberra with hospital and mortality data from each state. Making this type of data available would facilitate research to improve the quality and safety, as well as the efficiency of our health system. Better health data and statistics should be a priority of politicians across Australia. (more…)
John Menadue
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JIM CHALMERS. We can’t let go of the fair go.
New unreported data shows Australia’s proud tradition of inclusive economic growth is at risk, writes Shadow Finance Minister Jim Chalmers. (more…)
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STEVE GEORGAKIS. How professional sport handicaps youth sporting culture.
The recent spate of incidents and reports of doping, match-fixing and wall-to-wall TV coverage of betting, alcohol and junk food advertisements has stimulated considerable debate about the impact of commercialised sport on Australian youth. (more…)
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MICHAEL GARCIA BOCHENEK. EU cannot copy Australia’s offshore asylum model
Casting about for ways to manage refugee flows, some European policymakers speak of emulating Australia’s use of offshore processing centres. But Australia’s approach to asylum seekers is fiscally irresponsible, morally bankrupt, and increasingly unsustainable politically. It’s no model for Europe.
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WALTER HAMILTON. Thank you, Mr. Trump
Friend or foe, ally or rival, it no longer seems to matter: hey, world, make way for the guy who pushes in at the checkout, double parks at the school gate, dumps his garbage in the park, talks through the movie, and calls in sick every Monday. The idea of American Exceptionalism was bad enough, but now comes ‘American Entitlement’. (more…)
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FRANCIS MARKHAM & MARTIN YOUNG. When it comes to election campaigns, is the gambling lobby all bark and no bite?
The gambling lobby’s influence in overriding popular opinion and the public interest in Australia is well-known. But is its electoral power exaggerated? A look at this year’s ACT election suggests that perhaps the gambling industry is less influential than it appears to be. (more…)
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PETER DAY. Kyrgios: the anti-hero
Like the rest of us, Nick needs time: time to mature; time to know himself; and time to sort out the wheat from the chaff – as regards the latter, I think he’s already worked out that the media is mostly full of chaff… and don’t the media hate it, love it, know it, resent it, milk it. (more…)
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MARIAN SAWER. What can be done about political trust? The 2016 federal election inquiry
The major political parties largely control the process of electoral reform and judge any proposal by its possible partisan effects. Considerations of partisan advantage almost always take precedence over the restoration of public trust in the political system. (more…)
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GETHIN DAVISON & EDGAR LIU. Neighbours’ fears about affordable housing are worse than any impacts.
Housing affordability is a hot topic in Australia. Governments are increasingly recognising that more needs to be done to provide a greater range of affordable housing options, especially in the major cities. It is well documented, however, that proposals for affordable housing development often encounter opposition from host community members. (more…)
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ALAN MORRIS. Why secure and affordable housing is an increasing worry for age pensioners.
There is no doubt that an increasing proportion of older Australians on the age pension will be dependent on the private rental sector in coming decades. This is because of the housing affordability crisis and increasing divorce in later life, combined with the virtual stagnation of the social housing sector. (more…)
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DAVID JAMES.Wage inequality is a bigger threat to workers than robots
he issue of jobs cannot be seen as separate from wealth distribution. The problem is — as Henry Ford understood when he paid his workers well so they could buy his cars — that too much social inequality means insufficient demand for products and low economic growth. The issue is not whether or not there will be jobs — it is most likely that there will be — but how fair the wages system will be. (more…)
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BRUCE ARNOLD. The Hanson Card is unworkable rather than just very nasty
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has reportedly proposed that every Australian be required to carry a national identity card. The rationale? The card will supposedly significantly reduce fraud by non-citizens who are resident in Australia. The proposal may be good politics – a timely diversion from Hanson’s very public tendency to lose candidates – but it is unviable. (more…)
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TONY KEVIN. Obama’s years of promise and frustration.
For eight years I have delighted in Barack Obama’s words – even richer and more inspiring to see and hear in his ringing tones , than to read in cold print. . Those days are, sadly, about to depart. The Chicago valedictory address was his last, magnificent, gift to us.
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WALTER HAMILTON. Rex Tillerson and Australia’s national interest
President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks are being cross-examined in public for the first time. Here begins the real business of assessing how a Trump administration might behave––in more than 140 characters. The indications so far suggest the need for an early reappraisal. (more…)
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TONY KEVIN. The Rex Tillerson confirmation hearings, and wider issues
Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State and Trump’s best Cabinet choice so far, will probably survive his gruelling full day of confirmation hearings by the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee last Wednesday 11 January (Washington time). (more…)
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The strange career of American exceptionalism.
In this article in The Nation, George Grandin of New York University comments
Obama’s recomposition of American exceptionalism was tactically successful, at least as measured by his 2012 reelection, which expanded the multiracial and cross-class coalition that had given him the White House four years earlier. (more…)
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CHARLES LIVINGSTONE. Gambling industry finds plenty of political guns for hire to defend the status quo.
“Responsible gambling”, like “responsible drinking”, is a clever-sounding way of deflecting attention away from the product. (more…)
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BOB BIRRELL. GP Oversupply and Medical Migration
There are many indicators of GP over-supply in Australia. … One consequence has been an escalation in the cost of GP rebates to the taxpayer. … Better distribution of GP services could be achieved by restricting new provider numbers to under-supplied districts.
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CHRIS SIDOTI. 30th Anniversary of the Australian Human Rights Commission. Part 2 of 2.
Human rights work has a cost, and we need to remember the cost and the toll that it takes on the people who are doing it. Those who are paying the price need the support of those who are not paying so much.
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RICHARD WOOLCOTT. Indonesia – Complexities, restraints, and opportunities for Australia
The importance of our relations with Indonesia in the future and in the wider context of the Asian century cannot be overstated. It is essential that each country acts to know more about its neighbour.
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DENIS FITZGERALD. Non-violence is the key to peace, and it starts at home.
For Pope Francis, peace has been a constant theme, as it was for his name-sake, St Francis of Assisi. His message for 1 January 2017, his fourth such message, draws on the major documents of his pontificate as it focuses on the role of nonviolence in building peace. (more…)
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CHRIS SIDOTI. 30th Anniversary of the Australian Human Rights Commission. Part 1 of 2.
Chris Sidoti recounts the context for the establishing of the AHRC, (formerly called the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) and records the frequent conflicts over the years between the AHRC and the government of the day.
This is an edited first half of the speech. The second half will appear in the next P&I. (more…)
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RICHARD TANTER. Fifty years on, Pine Gap should reform to better serve Australia.
Pine Gap has capabilities that could genuinely contribute to the defence of Australia. This would depend on the will and resolution of an Australian government capable of identifying these. (more…)
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PETER DAY. Homelessness v houselessness
We need to change the way we do charity and welfare; we’re out of kilter: lots of giving and receiving of things, but too little giving of ourselves – we just don’t have the time. It hardly needs saying, “People need people.” (more…)
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RICHARD WOOLCOTT. Australian governments have made us more at risk from terrorism.
We should not refer to ISIS as a state. It Is not a state. It has no Air Force or navy. It has no fixed boundaries. It is really a series of militant groups. It behaves in a ruthless manner, as does Saudi Arabia and its agents in Yemen. (more…)
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WALTER HAMILTON. An Emperor Asks to Step Down
In August 2016, Japan’s Emperor Akihito took the highly unusual step of asking publically to be relieved of his duties – to be able to abdicate. The government is still mulling over its response many months later. The article below is a repost from August 9, 2016. (more…)
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Chomsky interview on the ravages of neoliberalism.
In this interview, reported in The Wire on 31 January 2016, Noam Chomsky talks about the ravages of neoliberalism. this is a repost from 21 February 2016. (more…)
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CHRISTINA HO. Hothoused and hyper-racialised ethnic imbalance in our selective schools.
This is a repost from November 3, 2016.
“Across Sydney students from a language background other than English (LBOTE) regularly make up 80% or 90% of enrolments in selective schools.”
As families increasingly turn away from their local public schools, our kids are less likely to experience the full range of our diverse society.
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DAVID MENERE. How the mainstream media mislead the public on Syria
The bias in the treatment of the Syrian conflict by the mainstream media is not accidental or due to laxity on the part of the media. Rather, it is the result of the opposition groups’ exclusion of independent reporting, coupled with western governments’ financial assistance to the opposition for media production. (more…)
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WALTER HAMILTON. The Sideline is Out of Play
‘Taking sides’ is a schoolyard conception of how a nation’s strategic interest is to be calculated and diplomacy shaped. Standing on the sidelines of a fight, pointing an accusing finger at other barracking spectators and crying ‘you’re taking sides’ is merely a way of avoiding the more challenging task of assessing the rights and wrongs of an issue and how it might, sooner or later, directly involve others. This is a repost from 20 September 2016. (more…)