Dear Prime Minister,
The Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) congratulates you upon becoming the 30th Prime Minister of Australia. We have two concerns we would like to raise with you: firstly, your Government’s response to the Ruddock Report, and secondly, your urging Australians to pray for rain in drought affected areas. (more…)
Now more than ever we need to work together as a nation to address the immigration department and the mechanisms of safe passage, and put a stop to Australia’s unacceptable practices and inhumane treatment of individuals. (more…)
The president may be shunned nearly everywhere but at the bottom of the world he has finally found a loyal mate. (more…)
“Each Australian story I’ve heard is etched on my heart, permanently shifting my views and perspectives on leadership. I pray that you also have the humility to silence the chatter in your own minds and be inspired by the people you represent.” (more…)
Sheila holds 10 teaspoons in her hands and every time the cooker whistles, she puts one down. After 10 whistles, she switches the cooker off. The rice is done. She takes down two pots and prepares one of the five vegetable dishes she remembers. When dinner arrives at the table, there are two places set for five people but she is resolute about particular people being assigned particular plates. There is to be no intermingling or sharing of plates; everyone must know their plate and place at this table. (more…)
To ensure we remain as the world’s most successful multicultural society, it is important to get the China debate right from now on to prevent the re-emergence of sinophobia in Australia. (more…)
“No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money as well.” (more…)
This summer, the fifth anniversary of Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA surveillance passed quietly, adrift on a tide of news that now daily sweeps the ground from under our feet. It has been a long five years, and not a period marked by increased understanding, transparency, or control of our personal data. In these years, we’ve learned much more about how Big Tech was not only sharing data with the NSA but collecting vast troves of information about us for its own purposes. And we’ve started to see the strategic ends to which Big Data can be put. In that sense, we’re only beginning to comprehend the full significance of Snowden’s disclosures. (more…)
A common framework for crime fiction builds on the notion of a heavy character leaning on target persons in order to ‘encourage’ them to fund the provision of protection from even heavier characters. Hoping for security, the targets oblige and meet more and more demands, until at last they baulk. So then the heavies appear with some attendant thuggery, and the ‘protection’ turns out to be a bit of a myth. It was really only exploitation. (more…)
12 September)marks 40 years since the World Health Organization member countries gathered for the International Conference on Primary Health Care in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and signed off on the declaration of Alma-Ata. (more…)
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts covered in other media. (more…)
In July, I joined 43 other scholars of international relations in paying for a newspaper advertisement arguing that the US should preserve the current international order. The institutions that make up this order have contributed to “unprecedented levels of prosperity and the longest period in modern history without war between major powers. US leadership helped to create this system, and US leadership has long been critical for its success.” (more…)
Parramatta Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv. has joined other faith leaders in denouncing Australia’s indefinite detention of refugees and asylum-seekers on Nauru and Manus Island.
According to the OECD’s 2018 Education at a Glance report, one measure that places Australia in an extreme position internationally is its high proportion of private funding across the primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors. And Australia is certainly out on a limb when it comes to the public/private funding mix for private schools. (more…)
PM Prayut Chan-ocha vowed to tackle the kingdom’s politicized income inequality but has failed to pass a redistributive land tax that would hit elite holdings (more…)
When former president Barack Obama called on the nation to oppose Donald Trump at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign last week, he said there was only one way to do it, by voting. This was a criticism of the internal resistance supported by the anonymous op-ed writer in The New York Times. Obama said that people who “secretly aren’t following the president’s orders” are not defending democracy: “These people are not elected. They’re not accountable.” (more…)
The Invictus Games will be familiar to all who watch the ABC, their promoter and sponsor. The Games will be taking place in Sydney in October, the participants being injured service personnel from 18 countries.But why are major arms manufactures ‘official supporters’? (more…)
In his first major policy address since joining the White House in April, national security adviser John Bolton offered a particularly aggressive demonstration of President Trump’s “America First” agenda. He threatened the International Criminal Court, a U.N.-mandated body based in The Hague, with punitive measures should it pursue an investigation into alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan. He warned that the United States would ban ICC judges and prosecutors from entering the country, sanction their funds in the U.S. financial system and punish any company or government that complies with an ICC investigation into Americans.
People are generally living longer than previous generations across most parts of the world. Rising life expectancy is a result of advances in medicine as well as improving living standards and healthier lifestyles. But while this should be celebrated for social reasons, is it beneficial in economic terms? Does the increase in the older population create an economic burden on society or can older people be mobilised to enhance the productivity of communities in which they work and live? (more…)
Unlike a lot of my compatriots, I’m happy about the expansion and hope there will be many more Australians in years to come, from all kinds of ethnic, religious and national backgrounds.
Most of us in the outer Sydney suburb where I grew up in the 1950s were descendants or children of migrants from the British Isles. Every Monday morning at school we listened to “God Save the Queen,” the British national anthem, while one of us held the Southern Cross, Australia’s national flag, and another, the British Union Jack.
The inflow of more cultures has only made Australia a more interesting and secure place.
When then minister Simon Birmingham accepted the recommendations of the Gonski 2 Education funding model it was a courageous attempt to redress the mistakes of the past. His replacement post Turnbull by Dan Tehan sent a message that the traditional powerful education lobbies are still well and truly the influential players. It doesn’t auger well for government schools which historically end up the greatest loser because their primary source of revenue, the states, cannot or won’t match the federal largesse and they don’t have the capacity of the non government sector to game the system. (more…)
Respected US public interest group Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) has issued a public warning that uncontrolled escalation of the final battle for Idlib in Syria is worsening the risk of direct US-Russian military clash there. They appeal to Trump to seek better advice and to get involved. (more…)
Australia has navigated a somewhat stormy passage through the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru. Scott Morrison’s new-look government faced renewed accusations at the summit about the strength of Australia’s resolve on climate policy. (more…)
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called recently for laws to protect religious freedom, in order, he says, to safeguard personal liberty. While there is little evidence that religious freedom is under threat in Australia, there is a demand in some quarters for legislation to extend the exemptions from laws which protect against discrimination on the ground of sexual preference. This is unnecessary and would be regrettable. (more…)
Now there is talk about a new generation in Australian Politics. So what is new? Not the players. Not the structures, nor the rules of engagement. Could it be a more basic factor is needed? Could it be, for want of a better term, the ‘moral infrastructure’? Is this the bedrock foundation, the sine qua non for any successful rebuild? This would involve the ways in which individuals and groups regulate their behaviour. (more…)
New medications are increasingly expensive. In Australia, where the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) covers the vast majority of prescription medications, the spiraling cost of medicines has a significant impact on the sustainability of our health system. In countries where patients are required to contribute substantially to the medicine cost, high prices can negatively influence their health outcomes. (more…)
In 19th century Queensland, the Native Mounted Police were responsible for “dispersing” (a euphemism for systematic killing) Aboriginal people. (more…)
To be a dissenting voice is a risky business. If you oppose the prevailing orthodoxy, you are either disowned because you are wrong; or you struggle to have your voice heard, because your message is not popular. (more…)
The Productivity Commission – the Australian government’s highly influential economic advisory body – released a report titled Rising Inequality? last week. The question mark indicates its scepticism about other research findings on rising inequality in Australia. The commission responded to its own question in the report’s very first heading: “Over nearly three decades, inequality has risen slightly in Australia”. (more…)