If he had been voted in as prime minister on 18 May 2019, Bill Shorten proposed to pay for increased government spending with a crackdown on franking credits, future limitations on negatively geared property assets (that were grandfathered) and new measures to limit multinational company tax avoidance. Amongst other significant campaign shortcomings, Shorten failed to convince Australian about the fairness of these polices. (more…)
John Menadue
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MARILYN HATTON. Will the Australian Catholic Church face “the elephant in the room”?
Australia could lead the way on reform of Church governance. The scrutiny of the Royal Commission and work arising from the 2020 Plenary Council has equipped the Australian Catholic Church like no other in the world at this time. (more…)
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JOAN CHITTESTER St Benedict’s Rule offers fresh insight into age-old problem
A new series written by Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister OSB is exploring the question of institutional breakdown through the Rule of St Benedict.
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TRACEY WEST. 3 lessons from behavioural economics Bill Shorten’s Labor Party forgot about (The Conversation)
The Australian Labor Party’s 2019 election campaign showed a depth and breadth of economic policies rare for an opposition party to present. Its policy agenda was boldly extensive. But in developing these policies over the past five years, it seems Labor’s economic minds overlooked some fundamental principles of behavioural economics. (more…)
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PAUL BARRY. With pollsters and pundits getting the election result so wrong, how fair and balanced was Australia’s media this election? (Media Watch ABC 20.5.2019)
So how did the Coalition make it happen? And what effect if any did a partisan media have on the result? News Corp’s army of right-wing commentators barracked tirelessly for the Coalition throughout the campaign, warning the nation would be destroyed if Labor won. News Corp’s news, meanwhile — meant to be opinion free — was often as one-sided. (ABC Transcript) (more…)
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MILES LITTLE – Israel Folau. Free speech and its limits?
The skilled and charismatic Rugby player Israel Folau has caused a stir at many levels by posting the unambiguous message that certain categories of sinner will go to Hell. His attitudes to gay people have surfaced before and since, but this time the response has been sharp and censorious at official levels. His contract with Rugby Australia has been cancelled. Why were such strong responses provoked in a supposedly pluralist society? (more…)
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BERNARD MOYLAN A bold but courageous platform.
I have been wondering why last weekend’s election result has affected me so deeply. I suppose that the many polls led me to think that the Coalition Government had been so discredited after three prime ministers in six years , constant internal bickering , inaction over energy policy and climate change and an almost policy-free agenda , save for tax cuts directed mainly towards the rich, that a Labor victory was an almost lay down misere. Labor had been working on its own visionary agenda for the future over the past six years and had deliberately put it out early for all to consider. It was a bold but courageous platform. (more…)
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NEIL IRWIN. Australia and the US are old allies. China’s rise changes the equation. (New York Times 11.5.2019)
Economic geography is proving more significant than historical alliances. (more…)
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CHARLOTTE PALMER. Is the Australian War Memorial a place of healing?
Dr Brendan Nelson, director of the Australian War Memorial, has defended the expansion of the Memorialas a way to provide a ‘therapeutic milieu’ for veterans and their families. Critics say the obscenely large amount of $498 million is needed, not for a big expansion, but to address the unmet needs of veterans’ mental health. (more…)
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NICK HALLETT. Christian persecution ‘near genocide levels’
The worldwide persecution of Christians is at near “genocide” level, a report for the British government has said. The review, led by the Anglican Bishop of Truro, Philip Mounstephen, said Christianity is set to be “wiped out” from parts of the Middle East as people are killed or forced to flee.
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WALEED ALY. Australia Isn’t Right-Wing. It’s Cautious. (New York Times 21.5.2019)
Ahead of Australia’s general election on Saturday, one party had campaigned on the idea that politics and the economy were rigged in favor of the elites. It attacked its opponent relentlessly for siding with the “top end of town.” It insisted that things needed to be shaken up to stop serving multinational corporations and vested interests. That party lost. (more…)
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BRIAN HOWE. Vale Bob Hawke
It was my great honour to serve as a cabinet minister and Deputy Prime Minister under R J Hawke. He was a courageous, compassionate and disciplined leader who had the great political gift of wanting to be engaged with people, and for Bob, it was always a two-way conversation. (more…)
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NATHAN GARDELS. “Huawei to Hell” recalls Toshiba threat. (The World Post 11.5.2019)
The US was able to coerce Japan on trade, but China will be much harder to coerce.
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JOHN FITZGERALD. Reply to Bob Carr
Writing on this blog on 13 May, Bob Carr took me to task for not saying and not writing a good many things, particularly about Chinese Australians. This debating technique is new to me. As a rule, debaters rebut what people do say, not what they don’t. So let me say this.
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JOHN MENADUE. Negativity and a policy vacuum win the day.
On Saturday, the quiet Australians that Scott Morrison spoke of so fondly voted for self-interest and in fear of change. All the democracies are suffering from a disgruntled working class that wants to blame outsiders and has thrown in its lot with the extreme Right . That is why they chose Brexit and Trump and now Morrison without thinking through the dire consequences. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. Housing for use value or exchange value
In this election the Coalition and the property industry with the help of the media have obsessed on the financial value of property,property as a commodity and property for wealth creation. Surely housing policy should be about housing as a human right where in homes we raise families, entertain friends and where we can close off from markets and business.
My grand children’s generation is unlikely to have fair access to the housing market unless my generation is prepared to accept, indeed welcome, a steady and substantial reduction in property prices.My wife and I have done nothing to earn or deserve the large increase in the value of our home. (more…)
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KOBI MAGLEN. Improving the outcomes for older women at risk of homelessness
Older single women are the fastest growing cohort of people experiencing homelessness in Australia, though their plight remains for various reasons invisible to many. Designing solutions to this problem involves first understanding the root causes of the problem, including structural gender inequality, and then identifying the drivers of better outomes for such women. Not least amongst these is the need for more social and affordable housing, appropriate to their needs.
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MARK SWIVEL. ‘To be without a home. Like a complete unknown. Just like a rolling stone’. – Bob Dylan.
Having a home one of the most basic human needs. We talk about housing or shelter as a human right – as we should. But that is not what we want. Not just the bricks and mortar but the sense of place and belonging. It’s why homeless people gather. Sure there’s safety in numbers when sleeping rough but we need each other and want to be together with others. (more…)
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TANYA PLIBERSEK. Education in an election year
As we approach the election, I’m thinking carefully about how a Shorten Labor Government will be remembered for our reform of education. It feels like every week, I meet someone in their 60s or 70s who reminds me about how Gough Whitlam was responsible for them going to university. I’m struck by the way they passionately talk about this – even after so many decades. They tell me how the opportunity of a university education transformed not just their life, but the course of their family’s life. (more…)
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ANNIKA DEAN. We cannot afford inaction on climate change
There has been a lot of recent speculation in the media about the economic costs of each party’s climate policies. But so far, there has been little talk of the costs of inaction. (more…)
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BRENDAN COATES AND JOHN DALEY. Someone has to lose for first homebuyers to win: This is who it should be. (ABC 14.5.2109)
The one thing that would actually help home buyers the most: letting housing prices fall. (more…)
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ANDREW JAKUBOWICZ. Election 2019: finally, the beginning of the end of White Australia?
Somewhere along the road to May 18, the Australian media discovered multicultural Australia, and began to sense its import and influence. Journalists who could speak Putonghua or track threads through WeChat, or tap away on one of the many desi social media, suddenly found they were in demand. Names never before seen on by-lines suddenly were paired with the old guard Euro-Australian reporters. (more…)
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MICHAEL MAZENGARB. Global fossil fuel subsidies reach $5.2 trillion, and $29 billion in Australia (Renew Economy)
New analysis commissioned by the International Monetary Fund has shown that global fossil fuel subsidies continue to grow, despite the growing urgency of the need to decarbonise the global economy. (more…)
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MARK CROSYBY. Trick question: who’s the better economic manager? (The Conversation)
In 1995 I co-authored a paper with Diane Brown and Louise Malady which examined economic outcomes under Labor and Liberal governments in Australia to that time. (more…)
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BELINDA KINKEAD. Australia’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
Australia is experiencing a remarkable renewable energy transition – not that you would know if you listen to some federal politicians. The Coalition consistently tells us that Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions are “coming down” and that we’re on track to meet our Paris climate targets “at a canter”. In reality, neither of those statements is true. (more…)
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THOMAS FRIEDMAN. Has Our Luck Run Out? (New York Times)
Most crucial problems today are global in nature and can be dealt with only by a global coalition. (more…)
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GRAHAM FREUDENBERG. Vale Evan Williams
No Australian adorned the professions of politics and journalism like Evan Williams. He was much more than a beautiful writer. He was a beautiful man, who brought a shining light and grace to thousands of lives. He died a few days ago. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. The communist threat curbed capitalist greed, but no longer
Five years ago in this blog I warned about growing inequality.With the communist threat gone we have seen again greed coming back into full play around the world. We have seen it here in the greed and anti social behaviour of our banks and massive tax avoidance by large multinational companies in co-operation with our major audit and accounting firms.Paying tax has become optional for many powerful people and companies.Our largely American owned print media is promoting this dangerous lurch to the right. Conservative political parties have turned a blind eye to this more aggressive attack on fellow citizens and the consequent inequality.
And the greed for economic growth at any cost is endangering our planet.
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JAMES O’NEILL. There are “Nutters” and then there are “Nutters”
In interview given to Australia’s ABC network former Prime Minister Paul Keating referred to the Australian intelligence agencies as “nutters”. The comment was in the context of the advice that those intelligence agencies were giving the government on relations with China, Australia’s most important economic partner by a considerable margin. (more…)
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BRIAN COYNE. The great fallacy of our neoliberal affluent times
Brian Coyne offers this addendum to what he wrote in response to Richard Cooke’s searing analysis of Rupert Murdoch and his publishing empire. It might be a difficult-to-appreciate observation for many in our world today: (more…)