Our Prime Minister and Foreign Minister often refer to the “rules based world order.” This “order”, of course, was established primarily by the United States after the end of World War 2. The “rules” have been disregarded by the US itself when it has suited it to do so. As a result It is not accepted by some major countries, especially China, which would want to be involved in the development of any new rules based order. In this context, the dominant influence of the defence and intelligence communities in Australia and in the US must be restrained. (more…)
John Menadue
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ROBERT MANNE. The Muscovian candidate? Donald Trump and Russia.
This article was first published by The Monthly in December 2016.
To uncover the truth about the relations between Trump and Russia, therefore now requires not only painstaking investigation but, even more, political courage from members of the Republican Party in the Senate, the US intelligence services and the American mainstream media. The future of the Trump Presidency now rests in their hands. (more…)
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WALTER HAMILTON. Bad hombres.
Donald J. Trump likes to sound off about ‘bad hombres’ sneaking into the United States to spread terror and crime. Bad hombres come in many shapes and disguises, not only as bad people but also bad ideas. (more…)
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Welcoming the Stranger
In solidarity with refugees, young Catholics joined in a Mass in Lafayette Square outside the White House. See link below to article in ‘America, The Jesuit Review’. (more…)
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GEOFF HISCOCK. Key Indian states go to the polls in February
While most of Asia-Pacific focuses on the beginning of the Trump presidency and China’s prickly response so far, a substantial slice of the world’s biggest democracy, India, is about to enter a crucial round of state elections that will also have an impact on regional stability and economic growth. … in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, where 140 million of its 200 million people are on the electoral roll — more than the 130 million American citizens who cast votes in the US presidential election. (more…)
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GREG WOOD. The TPP is dead – so scotch ISDS
With the Trans Pacific Partnership’s (TPP) demise, Australia should take the chance to reconsider its approach to international trade negotiations. Certainly we should never again sign an agreement with wide ranging Investor State Dispute Settlement provisions (ISDS) which are definitely not in the interests of our society, democracy or economy. (more…)
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JOHN FALZON. The housing crisis in Australia is not an economic inevitability
The government is actually intervening in the market, especially through such levers as negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, to ramp up housing inequality! (more…)
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TIM LINDSEY. Indonesia’s inconvenient truths.
Concerns regarding Australian military teaching materials and remarks uncovered late last year have placed strain on relations with Indonesia. The strange affair of our on-again-off-again defence cooperation arrangements with Indonesia continues to confuse most observers. (more…)
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ROBERT BROWN. Financial advice reform – when will the journey end?
The financial advice industry is on a journey towards professionalism”. While I can’t say exactly what this tired assertion means, I can say that it is invariably offered as an impatient response to pesky commentators who dare to suggest that the latest round of reforms (responding to the latest round of financial services industry scandals) may not achieve the results that consumers deserve. (more…)
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THOMAS BABOR, DAVID JERNIGAN, CHRIS BROOKES. Alcohol marketing: the simple truth
According to the World Health Organization, there are 3.3 million deaths attributable to alcohol use worldwide each year. Alcohol marketing, promotion and sponsorship are widespread in most of the world today and marketers are moving increasingly to digital and social media, where efforts at regulation have fallen far behind industry innovations in producing audience engagement and brand ambassadorship. (more…)
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WALTER HAMILTON. Rush for the exits
When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month stood alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull near The Gap––once Sydney’s favourite suicide spot––they presented themselves as brothers-in-arms for multilateral free trade. How quickly things can change. (more…)
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Karl Rove’s Prophecy.
The neocons stayed put in the State Department and other positions closely linked to the Obama White House, where they became allies with the liberal hawks in continuing ‘spreading democracy’ by overthrowing regimes. America’s mainstream news and opinion purveyors, without demurring, accommodated the architects of reality production overseen by Dick Cheney. This did not end when Obama became president, but in fact with seemingly ever greater eagerness they gradually made the CIA/neocon-neoliberal created reality appear unshakably substantial in the minds of most newspaper readers and among TV audiences in the Atlantic basin. (more…)
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BERNARD KEANE. Good riddance to the trade deal from hell.
The bigger problem with the TPP was that it simply had virtually no benefits for Australia. (more…)
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RONALD MACKINNON. Do we as doctors always put our patients first?
After his retirement, Dr Chris McCaffrey requested that his gravestone be inscribed:
‘I was always on the side of the patient‘.
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AHMAD RIZKY M. UMAR. ASEAN countries should find a solution to end the persecution of Rohingya.
ASEAN’s non-intervention is aggravating the plight of ethnic Rohingya Muslims suffering widespread abuse by the Burmese military in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. The Rohingya are one of the world’s most persecuted ethnic minorities. (more…)
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PHILIP CLARKE & PETER SIVEY. Why don’t we know how many people die in our hospitals?
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…)
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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…)