From Beijing, where I now am, the UK looks small. It also looks as if it has fallen into the hands of lunatics engaged in an astonishing act of national self-harm. (more…)
John Menadue
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BEN POBJIE. Why ‘Q&A’ Is A Complete Waste Of Time (10 Daily).
With Tony Jones announcing his imminent departure from Q&A, it seems timely to take a good look at the little political panel show that his calm stewardship turned into a ratings semi-behemoth for the ABC. (more…)
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CHARLES MOREROD The Church under pressure: Reform or counter-reform? Throughout history there has been no change in the Church without at least some external pressure
Bishop Charles Morerod, who is recognized as one the leading intellectuals among the Catholic hierarchy of Europe, recently told La Croix “the Church reforms itself under the influence of seemingly adverse forces.” The 57-year-old Swiss Dominican, head of the Diocese of Lausanne-Genève-Fribourg since 2011, was referring to the sexual abuse crisis and how it is putting pressure for change on the Catholic Church. Mounting pressure is a key factor to consider in the debates within the Church about the institutional reforms that are needed to address how bishops have failed in handling sex abuse cases. But this pressure on the institutional Church is undeniably different today from that of the past. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. Labor’s proposed Australian Health Reform Commission is a welcome start.
For many years several of us in Pearls and Irritations have argued that we need an independent and professional health commission to lead an informed public discussion on health issues and recommend to the Commonwealth Government and COAG on how to improve our health system. In world terms we have a good system, but it is really unchanged since the Hawke government in 1983 introduced Medicare which was based on the Whitlam government’s Medibank of 1975. (more…)
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DANNY DAVIS. Super power: why the future of Australian capitalism is now in Greg Combet’s hands (The Conversation).
Right now Greg Combet is arguably the most powerful man in Australia.
Earlier this month the former trade unionist and federal politician declared his intention to transform Australian business. His radical idea: to promote the concept of “long-term value”. (more…)
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TERRY MORAN. The next long wave of reform — where will the ideas come from? Part 2
I want to talk about what I am going to describe as a mission – Australia’s next long wave of reform. It is the third wave of reform which must bring us to a compact on the big ideas which will drive policies and programs at all levels of government and within our national community for a generation. It should give effect to consistent Australian attitudes on government and democracy described by Rebecca Huntley in the latest Quarterly Essay, citing CPD’s research prominently. (more…)
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JAMES O’NEILL. Australian defence strategy still locked in a past era
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald (25 March 2019) the coalition government, if re-elected, would spend $2.5 billion on an air defence system. The object of the expenditure is said to “bolster Australia’s capacity to intercept enemy aircraft”. The new system will also defend against helicopters, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial systems. (more…)
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TERRY MORAN. The next long wave of reform — where will the ideas come from? Part 1
I want to talk about, what I’m going to describe as a mission – Australia’s next long wave of reform. It is this third wave of reform which must bring us to a compact on the big ideas which will drive policies and programs at all levels of government and within our national community for a generation. It should give effect to consistent Australian attitudes on government and democracy described by Rebecca Huntley in the latest Quarterly Essay, citing CPD’s research prominently. (more…)
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WILLIAM GRIMM MM. Schoolyard bullies in the sacristy. Sexual abuse by clergy should be blamed on emotionally immature men, not homosexuality or celibacy
Half a century ago, the bishops’ conference of the United States commissioned an interdisciplinary study of the priesthood in that country. Key parts of it were led by two priests who at the time were celebrities in the Catholic community, Andrew Greeley the sociologist and Eugene Kennedy the psychologist. (Disclosure: as a seminarian I was office assistant to Kennedy in the early stages of the study.)
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JOO-CHEON THAM. We’ve let wage exploitation become the default experience of migrant workers (The Conversation, 21.03.18)
Australia’s Fairwork Commission has so far this year examined more than a dozen cases of wage theft. Those cases involve hundreds of workers and millions of dollars in underpayments.
And it’s just the tip of the iceberg. (more…)
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GRAHAM HUNTER. A nationwide approach to Climate Change is possible.
Under the Paris Climate Agreement, all countries acknowledged that the total of their current targets for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases was insufficient to avoid dangerous climate change. They agreed to enhance the targets progressively. Developed countries are to lead the way. All countries have been invited to submit their new targets to a UN climate summit in September this year. This could be an opportunity for a new Australian national approach to climate change. (more…)
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LAURA TINGLE. Scott Morrison said all the right things after Christchurch attack, but his history tells another story (ABC News 22.03.19)
New Zealand artist Ruby Jones shared a simple drawing online last week after the massacre in Christchurch. It depicts a Muslim woman being embraced by another woman in grief . “This is your home and you should have been safe here”, the message says. It is an image that has gone viral online and now adorns buildings all over Christchurch.
Morrison has a history of low shots. He has form in this sort of politics.
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JUDITH BETTS. Dutton, the media and framing Lebanese migration as Fraser’s ‘mistake’
Events in Christchurch have prompted a long-overdue examination of our own tolerance of the dog whistling and hate speech our politicians and the right-wing media have engaged in for years now. But research conducted by a colleague, Dr Mehal Krayem, and I after Dutton’s comments in 2016 found that it was not just the right-wing media who have a case to answer. Our mainstream media have also failed to challenge politicians such as Dutton and right-wing commentators like Bolt, Devine and Henderson, over their inflammatory and misleading comments, in this case about Lebanese migration. (more…)
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DANIEL P. HORAN. Francis of Assis’s model for church reform may help in the abuse crisis
There is a famous story about St. Francis of Assisi that takes place early in his experience of ongoing conversion to live a more committed Christian life. According to those friars who knew St. Francis during his lifetime and documented their stories of him in an early Franciscan text known as The Legend of the Three Companions, one day he was walking by the country church of San Damiano and felt led by the Holy Spirit to enter and pray before the crucifix hanging there. As he was praying, the crucifix “spoke to him in a tender and kind voice: ‘Francis, don’t you see that my house is being destroyed? Go, then, and rebuild it for me.’ “
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ADRIAN PISARSKI. Tackling the Housing Crisis Properly Requires a National Housing Strategy
There is a plethora of well-intentioned research and opinion aimed at solving Australia’s growing housing crisis, including Labor’s proposed reforms to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount. However, to be really effective, all of this must be considered in the context of a new national housing strategy. Only by taking that sort of holistic approach can we transform Australia’s housing system to be fit for the 21st Century.
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ISABELLA HARDING. How would I sum up the youth climate strike in Melbourne last Friday ?
If I had to sum up the youth climate strike in Melbourne last Friday in one word, it would be empowering. If I had to sum it up in three words, they would be empowering, inspiring and disappointing. (more…)
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LINDA BRISKMAN. Let’s disentangle free speech and hate speech in the media.
We are all seeking answers to the heartbreaking mass murder of Muslims in Christchurch. It assuages consciences if we can attribute blame that absolves us as a collective of non-Muslim Australians. There are many nonetheless who cannot be let off the hook. The media is one. (more…)
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HAJO DUKEN. The Brexit crisis – devil’s work and people’s contribution – are the voters to blame?
Britain is in panic. The public realises that the Brexit crisis is self-inflicted and anger and frustration with MPs from all sides is palpable. MP bashing is now in vogue. The collective and individual responsibility of the vast majority of MPs for the Brexit mess seems to be established. ‘House of Fools’ and ‘muppets’ are some of the milder judgments. However, isn’t there an inconvenient question looming: under which circumstances do voters need to accept responsibility in a democracy?
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CRISTA PONGRATZ-LIPPITT. Renowned reformer: ‘Church has 5 years for a complete turnaround or it’s over’
Father Helmut Schüller of Austria says the sex abuse crisis shows urgent need to ‘desacralize’ the Catholic priesthood and empower the laity. .
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GWYNNE DYER. New Zealand vs. Australia: Terrorism and the difference (Japan Times 19.03.19)
LONDON – Extreme right-wing terrorism, mostly of the “white nationalist” variety, is becoming as big a problem as Islamist terrorism in many places. That’s certainly the case in the United States, where the U.S. Government Accounting Office calculated last year that 119 Americans have been killed by Islamist extremists since the 9/11 attacks, and 106 Americans by far-right extremists. (more…)
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ALAN PEARS. Electric vehicles thrill school children
My grandchildren were too young to go to the ‘school strike’ last Friday. But on Saturday they experienced the excitement and reality of a zero carbon future at the Electric Vehicle Expo.
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COLIN HAWES. Why Defamation Lawsuits Are Crucial for Protecting Rule of Law: A Comment on the Chau Chak Wing Case
Following the recent success of Dr. Chau Chak Wing’s defamation lawsuit against Fairfax and John Garnaut, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie stated that the judgment will be “carefully analysed”: “The ability to report freely and fairly on national security is a vital part of our democracy,” and “we are concerned about the impact that defamation laws in Australia are having on responsible journalism that informs Australians about important national security issues.” One can only hope that Hastie and related national security hawks do actually read the Federal Court’s 100-page meticulously reasoned judgment before jumping to conclusions about protecting “democracy” and “responsible journalism”.
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KATHERINE McKERNAN. Sydney’s rough sleeping problem – no rest for any of us!
Sydney’s incidence of rough sleeping, just the extreme manifestation of the broader problem of homelessness, remains on the increase and has been so for a number of years. Set against the backdrop of a booming NSW economy, ironically riding the stamp duty boom of a rampant property market, it is a sad indictment on the effectiveness of government responses to homelessness. As the people of NSW once again head to the ballot box, it is time that politicians of all persuasions showed determination and unity in solving this problem.
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ALAN KIRKLAND. Government gives in to mortgage broking lobbyists
“Unintended consequences”. It’s the clichè consumer groups like CHOICE are used to hearing from industry groups every time a major review recommends a change that would put people before profits.
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PETER DAY. To Light a Candle or Curse the Dark: The Cardinal Dilemma
‘Foolishly, indulgently’, Christian mercy does not depend on remorse, repentance, or even whether it is deserved. It takes the initiative in willing the good of the other.
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JOHN MENADUE. The crazed Brendan Tarrant did not operate in a vacuum. (See Postscript)
We now see the dreadful consequences in Christchurch of Islamophobia. There has been widespread hate speech against Muslims promoted not just by white extremist groups but also by politicians and the media. (more…)
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LOUISA MENADUE. Striking For Our Future.
On the 15th of March, I was one of the thousands of students from Australia who participated in school strikes for climate. Students from 105 countries worldwide are striking for climate because climate action is imperative. So many seem to view climate change as something far away that will have little effect on their lives, and for those of you old enough, maybe it is. However, for those of us with our lives still ahead of us, the climate crisis will devastate the world we live in. We have twelve years to stop the climate from worsening, and that requires a drastic change in the way we treat mother earth. Our current policies are killing the earth, and there is no planet B. (more…)
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RICHARD KINGSFORD. Policy holes drain the life out of Murray-Darling rivers.
This press statement by Professor Richard Kingsford outlines what needs to be done to protect the Murray-Darling rivers and the communities that rely on them in the lead up to the NSW state election. (more…)
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ANDREW J BACEVICH. The US foreign policy establishment (The American Conservative).
The only way we’ll defeat the foreign policy establishment is if the Left and Right can be brought together. (more…)
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TERRY FEWTRELL. Canberra Catholics lay out church reform agenda.
Inclusive, transparent, accountable, non-clericalist and humble – characteristics not usually associated with the Catholic church, but ones the church must adopt. That is the view of a large group of Canberra Catholics in a submission to the church’s Plenary Council being organised in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis. (more…)