[T]he greatest danger of a [real] Sino-American war is Taiwan. Taiwan is a former Chinese province that was recovered from its Japanese occupiers by Nationalist China at the end of World War II. In 1949, having been defeated everywhere else in China, Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist forces retreated to it.
John Menadue
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MOTOKO RICH. ‘We Are Koreans’: Diaspora in Japan Looks to Trump-Kim Summit With Hope (New York Times).
Every time Jiro Oshima wants to see his siblings, he must travel to North Korea.
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DAVID HUTT, PHNOM PENH. Vietnam’s new view of an old war (Asia Times).
Hanoi marked the 40th anniversary of its bloody 1979 border war with China with unprecedented candor, a revisionist reflection of declining contemporary ties
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STEPHEN de WEGER. Clerical sexual abuse of adults. Another blind spot.
In 2013, after working as a research assistant project into clergy sexual abuse of children, I decided to undertake an exploratory study into clergy sexual misconduct against adults. During this study I came across what I believe should be a strategic document regarding the understanding of the clergy sexual abuse crisis we are witnessing right now – Sipe’s 11-point thesis. (The late Dr Richard Sipe was a note US psychotherapist and acknowledged expert in the psychosexuality of Catholic clerics).
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FRANCIS SULLIVAN. Pell conviction blows apart bishops’ mantra
Yesterday’s announcement of the conviction of Cardinal George Pell has been shattering for many and a relief for others.
The fact that the most senior cleric in Australia has been found guilty is devastating on many levels. Not the least because he was such a high-profile proponent for the safeguarding children in the church and its provision of compensation to victims.
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BARNEY ZWARTZ. George Pell has fallen, but the cardinal’s legacy casts a long shadow
So Cardinal George Pell – by far Australia’s best-known church leader of the past 25 years, the highest-ranked Australian ever at the Vatican, a confidant of prime ministers – faces a jail sentence for child sexual abuse. The dispenser of God’s grace (through the sacrament) has surely reached the nadir of human disgrace.
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JOHN MENADUE. Hospitals should be the last resort, not the first resort.
Politicians, the media and the public focus on iconic hospitals rather than health. We have too many hospitals and too many hospital beds. We need to focus health improvement not in hospitals, but in primary care in the community – general practice, community clinics and at home. The expensive and wasteful hospital frenzy must end. (more…)
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GEORGE MONBIOT. Dark money is pushing for a no-deal Brexit. Who is behind it?
Modern governments respond to only two varieties of emergency: those whose solution is bombs and bullets, and those whose solution is bailouts for the banks. But what if they decided to take other threats as seriously?
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JOHN MENADUE. The Liberal and National parties have deserted country people on climate change, NBN and more.
Both the Liberal and National parties are taking a drubbing from country voters. A while back it was New England and Lyne. More recently it has been Indi and Wagga Wagga. (more…)
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DANIEL WARNER. The Martin Ennals and Victorian Prize winners contrast with Australia’s policies against human dignity.
Australia’s refugee policies have been condemned for violations of the detainees’ human rights. The recent winners of two prestigious prizes, both detained on Manus, are further proof of the international community’s condemnation and highlight the shocking plight of those sequestered on Manus and Nauru. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. Julie Bishop – Style and substance?
Julie Bishop did leave a positive impression with her interlocutors. She did present well. But the media seemed to mis understand that there should be much more to being foreign minister. Just compare her ‘achievements’ along side Gareth Evans. (more…)
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MARGARET BEAVIS. Selling weapons to Saudi Arabia – your taxes at work.
How many Yemeni children have to die from the famine before Australia stops selling weapons to the Saudis, who are coordinating the blockade that is causing mass starvation? In November last year Save the Children reported that 85,000 children have died from acute malnutrition, and last week the UN reports the situation has worsened. Not only does the Australian government boast of its weapons deals with Saudi Arabia, but also it has emerged the Australian government is heavily subsiding companies involved in these sales. For example, Electro Optic Systems, which makes weaponry enables remote operation of cannon, machine guns and missile launchers, received $36 million dollars of taxpayer funds. (more…)
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KELSEY MUNRO AND ALEX OLIVER: Polls apart: how Australian views have changed on ‘boat people’. (Lowy Institute 19.2.2019)
Since 2005, the annual Lowy Institute Poll has been tracking the attitudes of Australians to foreign policy issues and their place in the world. The issue of boat people, unauthorised asylum seekers, irregular maritime arrivals, refugees – the politics is so contested that it is difficult to find a neutral term – has been a lightning rod in Australian politics since 2001.
The issue of boat people, unauthorised asylum seekers, irregular maritime arrivals, refugees – the politics is so contested that it is difficult to find a neutral term. (more…)
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MEKERE MORAUTA. Australia Should Come Clean on Intentions Behind Paladin Contract.
The money spent by Australia on Manus is not aid, In fact it disadvantaging PNG because it’s helping corruption.
Public Statement by Rt Hon Sir Mekere Morauta, former Prime Minister and Member for Moresby North-West Port Moresby, 19 February 2019 (more…)
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OISÍN SWEENEY. Lessons from the Murray-Darling disaster run deeper than water.
Environmental mismanagement runs deeper than the ecological tragedy gripping the Murray-Darling Basin. Recent policy decisions around native forest logging in NSW follow the same pattern of ignoring science and favouring extractive industry over the public interest.
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DAVID WALLACE-WELLS. Time to panic (The New York Times).
The planet is getting warmer in catastrophic ways. And fear may be the only thing that saves us. (more…)
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JOSEPH E STIGLITZ. How Can We Tax Footloose Multinationals? (Project Syndicate)
Apple, Google, Starbucks, and companies like them all claim to be socially responsible, but the first element of social responsibility should be paying your fair share of tax. Instead, globalization has enabled multinationals to encourage a race to the bottom, threatening the revenues that governments need to function properly.
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KERRY BREEN, M TAFFY JONES. Mandatory reporting: Health ministers still have their heads in the sand.
There are a number of unsatisfactory elements of the so-called “national” scheme for regulating doctors (and all health professionals) but the most problematic from day one in 2010 has been the requirement for mandatory reporting of ill doctors by their treating doctors. As we reported here in 2017, the state and territory health ministers chose to reject unambiguous advice provided by their consultant, Mr Kim Snowball, who conducted an independent review of the national scheme. He advised the ministers in 2015 that “the National Law (to) be amended to reflect the same mandatory notification exemptions for treating practitioners established in the Western Australian law.” Instead the ministers embarked on a further round of consultation wasting four years to reach their final conclusion that only a very minor change was needed to the mandatory reporting provisions, thereby maintaining a regressive regime. For those interested in the use of language, the minor change (see page 20) is to alter the threshold for mandatory reporting from the existing ‘risk of substantial harm’ to a ‘substantial risk of harm’. In all the public consultations held over mandatory reporting, the medical profession has repeatedly advised health ministers that mandatory reporting is contrary not only to the health and well-being of doctors but also contrary to the best interests of the community because it deters unwell doctors from seeking help. (more…)
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PEPE ESCOBAR. US elites remain incapable of understanding China
A new report on US policy toward China launched by the Asia Society in New York is another example of how supposedly bipartisan US intellectual elites, instead of offering impartial advice, do little more than parrot Washington’s talking points, failing to admit they know nothing of substance about the existential “threats” posed by Russia and China. (more…)
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JOHN CARMODY. The federal Parliament reasserts its authority – and the Speaker’s.
It was reassuring to see that, in a previously unrecognised consequence of the Morrison Government’s slip into minority status, the Commonwealth Parliament recently asserted its authority over the feckless Executive and, at the same time, enhanced the authority of the Speaker. That would have been significant at any stage but, at a time when both polls and commentators have been saying, ominously, that the Australian people have been losing their faith in democracy and yearning for a strong leader, that declaration of the importance of Parliament has been reassuring. (more…)
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SCOTT BURCHILL. Australian minds have not been decolonised.
Australia has never been properly decolonised, particularly in both the political and psychological senses, as most states which came into existence during the 20th century were. This has had a profound effect, not only on the way aboriginal Australians have been treated by settlers from around the world. It has also contributed to a lack of sympathy for those who have had to fight for their political independence elsewhere. (more…)
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DEMETRI SEVASTOPULO AND DAVID BOND . UK National Cyber Security Centre says Huawei is manageable risk to 5G( Financial Times London 18.2.2019
British intelligence has concluded that it is possible to mitigate the risk from using Huawei equipment in 5G networks, in a serious blow to US efforts to persuade allies to ban the Chinese supplier from high-speed telecommunications systems.
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MARILYN HATTON. Pray and light a candle for our church in crisis.
For years a small but expanding number of Catholics in Australia have beenappealing for church reform and have struggled to gain attention from our bishops. Our prayers and entreaties for change in the clerical, male-dominated cloisters have fallen on unattentive ears.
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LAURA TINGLE. Senior bureaucrats send a message to the Government and the Opposition (ABC 19.2.2019)
The political significance of his [Mr Pezzullo’s] interventions are twofold — the first is that it makes clear the security establishment does not believe the legislative changes, of themselves, will spark a wave of new boat arrivals.
The second is that, just as Mr Lewis and Mr Pezzullo were sending a clear message to the Government to stop using their advice for political purposes, they are sending a message to Labor — as the alternative new government — that as long as they maintain a tough rhetorical and policy line on border protection, there is no reason to believe that Labor in government is a risk to border policy. (more…)
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JILL MARGO. Why Denmark is reducing hospitals while we are building more. (AFR 19.2.2019)
“About 15 years ago, we realised the solution to these problems is not more hospitals but to think about how we can deliver healthcare in a different way,” says Hans Erik Henriksen, CEO of Healthcare DENMARK.
“We aim to deliver as many services as possible through primary healthcare, municipalities, health centres and outpatient clinics and as little healthcare as possible from our hospitals.
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PETER BROOKS. Will Labor Really Be Brave On Health Reform – Response To National Press Club Address By Catherine King.
The major challenges that beset our health system are well articulated with the obvious commitment to strengthening Medicare, making it fairer and tackling some of the major funding deficits introduced over the past decade such as the Medicare rebate freeze. The major and anticipated announcement of the establishment of the Australian Health Reform Commission is very welcome – but will it bring real change to the health system. Will preventive care and public health be funded appropriately, will we start to focus on health systems instead of just on hospitals. Lets hope so. The system needs real and probably disruptive reform – lets hope that a Labor Government will really set in place the mechanisms and governance structures for lasting change. All Australians deserve nothing less for a system that is good BUT could be GREAT. (more…)
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ALAN PEARS. The Politics of Confusion on Achieving the Paris Commitment
Will Australia meet the government’s Paris climate commitment? Experts disagree, while the government avoids explaining exactly how it will achieve its goal. This creates confusion and conflict, which suits the government in the lead-up to the election. Lack of information and widespread disruptive change mean it is not yet possible to make a definitive judgement. The government must, as a matter of urgency, explain in detail the assumptions, policies and expected outcomes underpinning its claim that it will meet the 2030 Paris commitment ‘at a canter’.
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PATRICK JORY. Explaining a Thai royal’s aborted electoral debut (East Asia Forum).
On 8 February 2019, Thai Raksa Chart (a Thai political party aligned with exiled, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra) made the bombshell announcement that it was nominating King Vajiralongkorn’s elder sister, Ubolratana, as its candidate for prime minister. Late that same night, the King issued a royal command, almost as explosive, effectively forbidding the nomination. (more…)
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EKA KURNIAWAN. Indonesia’s next election is in April. The Islamists have already won. (New York Times 14.2.2019)
When Joko Widodo, the incumbent presidentof Indonesia, last year chose Ma’ruf Amin as his running mate for the general election this April, it became clear that Indonesian politics is now backed into a corner. Mr. Ma’ruf is an Islamic cleric and scholar, and Mr. Joko was perhaps hoping to dampen attacks from conservative and radical Islamic groups that have called him anti-Islam (even though he is Muslim himself). Instead, he has built a Trojan horse for his opponents outside the walls of his own city.
The presidential race, in which Mr. Joko is again facing Prabowo Subianto, a ex-army general and former son-in-law of the dictator Suharto, looks like a replay of the 2014 contest. Back then, Mr. Joko won by a small margin, on a platform promising a grand maritime strategy for Indonesia and to revitalize the economy partly through major infrastructure projects. This year, it seems, the decisive issue will be the candidates’ professed commitment to Islam.
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PAUL BONGIORNO. Did Scott Morrison miss his Tampa moment? (The New Daily 18.2.2019)
The question playing on the minds of nervous Coalition MPs is whether Scott Morrison has missed his “Tampa moment”.
Should the embattled Prime Minister have seized the moment of last week’s humiliating government defeat in Parliament to have called an immediate election? (more…)