This poster appeared in the Wentworth electorate yesterday. Very pertinent! John Menadue
John Menadue
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ROD TIFFEN. These News Corp newspapers are first and foremost propaganda sheets.
It takes rare genius to provoke Scott Morrison and Andrew Bolt to express sympathy for Bill Shorten, but the Daily Telegraph managed it. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. A Repost: The facts on boat arrivals that the media won’t face.
From September 2015, almost four years ago, Peter Hughes and I have pointed out repeatedly that Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison triggered the surge in boat arrivals from September 2011 and did not stop the boats as they claim from December 2013 when Operation Sovereign Borders commenced. (more…)
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PHILIP GIRALDI. Pompeo Lies, Cheats and Steals (But He’s Still a Good Christian) (American Herald Tribune 4.5.2019)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently recounted to an audience at Texas A&M University that when he was head of the Central Intelligence Agency he was responsible for “lying, cheating and stealing” to benefit the United States. “Like we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” -
J.A. DICK My Religion, Your Religion, Our God
Theological understandings change over time. My own theological understanding of world religions has been greatly influenced by the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. It was issued on October 28, 1965, shortly after my arrival as a younger man and a theology student in at the University of Louvain/Leuven.
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MICHAEL SLEZAK. Climate change a bigger threat to Australia’s interests than terrorism, Lowy Institute poll suggests (ABC 8.5.2019)
Climate change is a “critical threat” to Australia’s interests according to almost two-thirds of Australians — ranked as a more serious concern than international terrorism, North Korea’s nuclear program or cyber attacks from other countries. -
Scott Morrison is not an ‘accidental’ Prime Minister. ‘He was in it right up to his neck’ in the overthrow of Malcolm Turnbull(Peter Hartcher, SMH 26.3.2019)
The first vote of the week, on August 21,was a two man contest between Turnbull and Dutton. Morrison was not in the contest. His numbers men organised for five Morrison supporters to vote for Dutton in the first spill ballot. It was a ruse-those five votes were not aiming to instal Dutton as leader. They were ‘parked ‘temporarily as votes for Dutton in a bid to slam Turnbull. Then, when Turnbull’s position became hopeless, the way would be open for Morrison to enter the contest. The five would then switch to Morrison. It worked..
Joyce told Turnbull. ‘But Morrison is a schemer.Watch out for him. He’s going to come for you’
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TONY KOCH. For 30 years I worked for News Corp papers. Now all I see is shameful bias. (THE GUARDIAN 9.5.2019)
No editor I worked for would publish the rubbish they now produce.
About six weeks ago I cancelled my subscription for The Australian newspaper after getting it for more than 30 years. As soon as this election is over, I will do the same with the Courier-Mail. (more…)
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ELIZABETH SAVAGE. It’s hard to find out who Labor’s dividend imputation policy will hit, but it is possible, and it isn’t the poor. (The Conversation 8.5.2019)
Labor’s proposal to end cash refunds of unused dividend imputation credits is highly targeted. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. News Corp – a rogue organisation (Repost from 21 September 2018)
Rupert Murdoch’s form in abusing power and finding truth hard to handle continues. ‘Turnbull has to go’ is typical behaviour for a man who has done more to damage democracy than any living media person .
I worked with Rupert Murdoch for seven years in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I was General Manager of his Sydney operations. It was then exciting working for him.He derided the stuffy old guard establishment . He was open to new ideas and opportunities. Then it all steadily went down hill. Ending his days in the embrace of the extreme right of the American Republican Party and Donald Trump says it all. What a wasted life that had so much going for it. What a disappointment.
My assessment of News Corp and Murdoch in 2014 follows.Little has changed. The media tragedy and abuse continues. (more…)
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ANDREW EDGECLIFFE-JOHNSON, LINDSAY FORTADO, JAMES FONTANELLA-KHAN. Elite gathering reveals anxiety over growing inequality. Financial Times 2.5.2019)
“Throughout centuries what we’ve seen when the masses think the elites have too much, one of two things happens: legislation to redistribute the wealth . . . or revolution to redistribute poverty. Those are the two choices historically and debating it back and forth, saying ‘no, it’s capitalism; no, it’s socialism’ is what creates revolution.” (Alan Schwartz) (more…)
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PATRICK WOOD. Federal election 2019: Could these 15 ideas restore faith in politics? (ABC News)
Should Australia have fixed parliamentary terms? Or real-time disclosure of political donations? How about a “citizen jury” that can decide on issues of national importance? (more…)
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STEPHEN M WALT. America Isn’t as Powerful as It Thinks It Is (Foreign Policy)
The era of unilateralism is over—and Washington is the last to realize it. (more…)
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VACY VLAZNA. The ABC is USA/Israel’s mouthpiece on Gaza
The ABC yet again, obediently, is cranking out Israeli propaganda on Sunday’s Israeli assault on the besieged Palestinians in Gaza parroting that Israeli is merely protecting its citizens against Hamas ‘militants’- rather than the truth that Hamas resistance is protecting Palestinian families from Israeli belligerence and Israel’s 12 year illegal siege. (more…)
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It is no surprise that News Corp is even less and less trusted
American owned News Corp Australia is the least trusted media company in the country and is a cellar-dweller in the Reputation Index of Australian companies. Its behaviour in this election will ensure that it is even less trusted.
Murdoch rewards generously employees who are tame and loyal. But how can self-respecting journalists, and particularly senior journalists, continue to take his coin? (more…)
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CHRIS TURNEY. UK becomes first country to declare a ‘climate emergency’. Why not Australia?
Last Wednesday night a bipartisan UK Parliament passed an extraordinary measure: a national declaration of an Environment and Climate Emergency.
The UK is the first national government to declare such an emergency. The decision marks a renewed sense of urgency in tackling climate change, following a visit to Parliament by teenage activist Greta Thunberg , the broadcast of David Attenborough’s documentary Climate Change: The Facts and 11 days of protest by environmental group Extinction Rebellion that paralysed parts of London.
With 70% of Australian media run by a climate sceptic it is not surprising that this major story was largely ignored. (more…)
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MICHELLE PINI. The Morrison Government’s strange bedfellows (Independent Australia)
This week, the Coalition finally admitted what many had already suspected: preference deals with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (PHON) and Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party (UAP). (more…)
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JOHN FITZGERALD. In response to Bob Carr on China.
Professor Bob Carr singled me and a few others out for criticism on the Menadue blog. Fair cop. Along the way however he made demonstrably false claims about my stance on China and Chinese Australians which have since been reproduced on official sites of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and on 30 April in Beijing’s premier international propaganda journal, The China Daily. This is going a bit far. I respectfully ask that my corrections are published in all three places.
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JOHN DUGARD. Why aren’t Europeans calling Israel an apartheid state? (Al Jazeera, 18.04.19)
Israel’s apartheid is not that different from the one South Africa used to have, both in terms of policy and brutality. (more…)
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ALAN PEARS. The cost of Labor’s Paris Climate Change Policies
Economic modelling is one of many tools for policy development. It is often taken out of context and misused. The present debate over the cost of Labor’s climate policy provides an example. Lack of context, modelling assumptions and selective use of modelling results risks distorting future climate and energy policy, with serious consequences. (more…)
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RICHARD DAY Pharmacy Guild Out Muscles Government Again
Most medicines on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS) are for chronic, conditions that affect one in two Australians and include conditions such as hypertension, raised cholesterol and type II diabetes. Treatment invariably involves medications, often multiple, adding significant costs to other barriers to obtaining adequate health care, notably for the elderly with multiple health conditions. Fronting up to the pharmacy every month to pick-up ‘repeats’ and paying a co-payment (up to $6.50 for concessional patients and up to $40.30 for general patients) and a ‘dispensing fee’ (if a non-concessional patient) might seem more than necessary, especially if there is little if any interaction with the pharmacist.
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RICHARD FLANNAGAN. I’m willing to go to jail to stop Adani and save our beloved country. Will you stand with me? (The Conversation)
In this anti-Adani rally speech, novelist Richard Flanagan says the fight against the Carmichael coalmine defines the fight against the climate crisis
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DAVID WROE AND DANA McCAULEY. Sack ‘nutter’ spy chiefs to fix relations with Beijing, Paul Keating urges (SMH 6.5.2019)
Former prime minister Paul Keating has launched an extraordinary attack on Australia’s spy chiefs, calling them “nutters” and urging Bill Shorten to sack them to improve relations with China if he wins the election.
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DAUD BATCHELOR. Sacrificing national interest in Australian Embassy move
In today’s geopolitics, Australia must balance relations with its largest trading partner China and key defence ally, the United States, at a time of spirited jousting. Maintaining good relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also becomes essential with expanding Chinese power. Significantly, ASEAN has a dominant 67% majority Muslim population. (more…)
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KATE McDOWELL. Together or not in the performing arts.
The way the performing arts is funded in Australia hasn’t changed since the 1990s, but the Australian cultural landscape has changed dramatically. (more…)
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MARK SWIVEL. Why is no-one talking about non voters?
Australia is famous the world over for our compulsory voting system. We are one of a handful of countries that require our citizens to vote. Technically we only require voters to turn up and get their name marked off the roll, but compulsory Roll Call doesn’t sound as good as Compulsory Voting. Maybe we should extend the vote to teenagers on their Ls and Ps. Either way voting is a right, a privilege and for me, a dead set obligation we should all embrace. (more…)
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MIKE KELLY. Spirituality and religion
“Spirituality is important to me but I don’t like organised religion.” The social, psychological and historical forces that underlie this juxtaposition cannot be traced here; but it is still possible to suggest that it fails to notice (or at least to give due weight to) several important facts. A sick body has to be healed,not abandoned.
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MARJORIE COHN. Human rights and global wrongs in Venezuela,Cuba and Nicaragua.
Under the guise of protecting human rights, the Trump administration is illegally meddling in three countries it has dubbed the “troika of tyranny” — Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. National Security Adviser John Bolton claimed, “Miami is home to countless Americans, who fled the prisons and death squads of the Castro regime in Cuba, the murderous dictatorships of Chavez and Maduro in Venezuela, and the horrific violence of the 1980s and today under the brutal reign of the Ortegas in Nicaragua.” But the U.S. government’s human rights record doesn’t compare favorably to Cuba’s. And the Trump administration, which ignores notorious human rights violators like Saudi Arabia, is acting out of more cynical motives in its commission of egregious human rights violations against Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. (more…)
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MARTIN WOLF. The politics of hope against that of fear (Financial Times 1.5.2019)
Charismatic politicians entice disillusioned people into giving them support. Some of those politicians are would-be despots. Others are scoundrels. Yet their siren songs are enticing. (more…)
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BERNARD KEANE. The media has failed spectacularly on climate change (Crikey)
The media’s coverage of climate change in the election campaign has reflected the Coalition’s long-term strategy of denialism, rather than a desire for genuine scrutiny. (more…)