John Menadue

ANDREW JAKUBOWICZ A multicultural whirlwind blowing up for the next election

Turnbull’s gone and with him, hopefully, his recurrent but incorrect mantra of Australia as the most successful multicultural society in the world. With the next federal election now just over the horizon, understanding how the ethnic vote delivered the last election to the Coalition may help us to understand how Australia’s multicultural present could shape the next government. Moreover the concerns of these over 150 different ethnic groupings, a mishmash of cultural, familial, human rights and political worries, may become vitally important once more at the tips of the voting tails.

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Aug 30, 2018
E. TAMMY KIM. Moon Over Korea (New York Review of Books 16.08.18 Issue)

Moon Jae-in eui Unmyeong [The Destiny of Moon Jae-in]

by Moon Jae-in

Seoul: Bookpal, 488 pp., ₩15,000

In Singapore on June 12, as Donald Trump vigorously shook hands with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, the man behind this improbable meeting leaned forward in his chair and smiled. South Korean president Moon Jae-in, just thirteen months into his five-year term, had helped arrange the first-ever summit between an American president and the leader of North Korea. Yet Moon was careful to keep a respectful distance. He watched on a television monitor in the Blue House, the presidential compound in Seoul. It was, however symbolic, a goal he had pursued over two decades in politics, and it brought him a step closer to healing familial and national wounds. Moon is a child of the Korean War, the son of refugees from the pre-division North. But unlike Trump and Kim, who swapped boasts and missile threats just months before their handshake, Moon didn’t feel the need to take credit. (more…)

Aug 30, 2018
TONY KEVIN. Australian politics: There has not been nearly enough change.

Reflections on last week’s political bloodbath and on what needs to happen now.

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Aug 30, 2018
JOHN CARMODY: The Catholic Right

While Malcolm Turnbull’s own manifest lack of political skills and understanding has played a major role in his downfall, he and others are perfectly correct to recognise that “outside forces” – including some journalists and other media figures who seek to be “players” rather than simply observers and commentators – have also contributed significantly to his fate . (more…)

Aug 29, 2018
ANTONIO SPADARO SJ. The prosperity gospel-dangerous and different

SCOTT MORRISON is described as a devout Christian who worships at Shirelive, an American style Pentecostal Church in Sydney.. He formerly belonged to Hillsong. An essential feature of the ‘prosperity gospel’ of Pentecostalists is that prosperity, success and good health is a sign of God’s favour. And the lack of faith leads to poverty and sickness. On this reckoning God does not care for the poor,the sick and refugees.

In the article below Antonio Spadaro describes the origin and spread of the prosperity gospel. These are extracts from an article in La Civilta Cattolica of 18 July 2018. The full article can be found here. John Menadue (more…)

Aug 29, 2018
SCOTT BURCHILL. Anti-Americanism and moral panic in the West

After a similar challenge posed by George W. Bush following popular opposition to his invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Trump presidency is another reminder to America’s allies of the dangers that emerge when individuals, rather than economic and political structures, are considered significant agents of change. (more…)

Aug 29, 2018
JAMES KYNGE. The US cannot halt China’s march to global tech supremacy.

The moment may one day be glorified in propaganda art. As the mist rolled off the Yangtze River, Xi Jinping stood on top of the Three Gorges hydropower dam in Yichang, a proud symbol of engineering prowess, and proclaimed that China would blaze its own trail to become a technology superpower. (more…)

Aug 29, 2018
Help from across the Tasman

Aug 28, 2018
DAVID HUTT. Does China really dominate Southeast Asia?

Widespread reports of China’s hegemony over the neighbouring region miss the nuance of fast-shifting political and strategic dynamics. (more…)

Aug 27, 2018
BRUCE WEARNE. Has the Party Ended?

“I’m not doing anything until I get legal advice as to whether his (Dutton’s) membership of the Parliament is constitutional.” (more…)

Aug 27, 2018
GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND

A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts covered in other media. (more…)

Aug 25, 2018
JANE McADAM, JOHN CHURCH. Rising seas will displace millions of people – and Australia must be ready

Sea-level rise is already threatening some communities around the world, particularly small island states, as it exacerbates disasters resulting from storm surges and flooding. (more…)

Aug 25, 2018
RODNEY TIFFEN- How Turnbull shrank in the job

The most important date in the history of the Turnbull government was December 1, 2009. That was the day Tony Abbott defeated Malcolm Turnbull after a revolt by the right wing of the party defeated Turnbull’s support for an Emissions Trading Scheme to address global warming. (more…)

Aug 25, 2018
JOHN WHITE, PETER FARLEY, DAVID GILLETT, CHRIS STOLTZ.- Wasted Capital in Major Project Development.

The establishment of the Australian Public Service (APS) Review Panel is a powerful opportunity to examine the state of play of project development at the federal government level and kick-start a positive step change in performance. This will apply pressure to state governments and business to achieve similar step changes in performance. (more…)

Aug 25, 2018
NATALIE ACTON. A revolution that starts in the heart.

An afternoon at the Sydney Writers’ Festival had delivered me an unexpected and precious gift. I think I’d experienced what Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister names as having an “unboundaried heart”, writes Natalie Acton. (more…)

Aug 25, 2018
DENIS MULLER. How the right-wing media have given a megaphone to reactionary forces in the Liberal Party.

The polarisation that is devouring Australia’s politics is reflected in the increasingly stark polarisation of the country’s professional mass media. (more…)

Aug 25, 2018
BRUCE GUTHRIE. Hello Rupert, bye-bye Malcolm (The New Daily 23/8/2018)

Anyone who doubts Rupert Murdoch’s role in the political chaos that has played out in recent days has never worked for him at a senior level.

Murdoch’s annual visits to Australia invariably trigger seismic events both in and outside News Corp, the company he’s presided over for decades.

So is it any surprise that Malcolm Turnbull is facing his political demise less than a fortnight after Murdoch arrived here? Of course it isn’t. (more…)

Aug 24, 2018
TIM COLEBATCH. Let the voters decide (Inside Story, 23.08.18)

An early election is the only solution to the chaos in the Liberal party room. (more…)

Aug 24, 2018
LARRY ELLIOTT. Think our governments can no longer control capitalism? You’ve been duped.

In reality there has been a class war, in which the right has spent decades using the state to undermine workers. We can fight back.

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Aug 24, 2018
VIC ROWLANDS: Where on earth are we going?

John Howard could smell political advantage under water. Tampa changed politics in this country for the worse and made any future rational discussion of immigration and refugees thereafter political poison. Howard was in Washington when the Twin Towers were struck and it understandably had an immense impact on him, but it is hard to avoid the conclusion that he also sensed opportunity. The “We will decide” 2001 campaign speech fed into the world wide climate of fear and enabled him to set in place refugee policy which became a race to the bottom in the treatment, detention and demonising of refugees and their children. Underpinning this policy, supported shamefully by both sides of parliament, was and is, whether we like it or not, racism . (more…)

Aug 24, 2018
LESLEY BARCLAY, HANNAH DAHLEN, NIGEL LEE. Australia is breaking records for intervention in childbirth, and the costs are many.

Variation in rates of obstetric intervention, including caesarean section, were recently cited by the Grattan Institute’s Dr Stephen Duckett when suggesting that a new Code of Conduct for doctors should include a focus on over-intervention.

In the article below, Emeritus Professor Lesley Barclay AO, Professor Hannah Dahlen and Dr Nigel Lee argue that concerted efforts to reduce caesarean section rates in Australia would bring benefits for women, babies and those who fund health services. (more…)

Aug 23, 2018
IAN BUCKLEY.Historical Light on Current Aims to Attack Iran

This article highlights the vitally important role played by former US intelligence officers to prevent ongoing illegal regime changes across the world, presently Iran. Then, to better understand current examples, it explores their historical origins, consequences and possible remedies aimed at prevention. (more…)

Aug 23, 2018
FENG ZHAUKUI. Joining B&R can open up new opportunities for Japan.

Recently, more and more Japanese companies have taken actions that show their positive attitude about participating in the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative, and Japanese leaders have also made some positive gestures.

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Aug 23, 2018
TIM COLEBATCH. A party too divided to rule.

The reckoning has arrived for a party — and its Coalition partner — riven by cultural fixations.

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Aug 22, 2018
MARK HUDSON. The too hard basket: a short history of Australia’s aborted climate policies (The Conversation, 20.08.18)

Less than three years ago, after Malcolm Turnbull had wrested the prime ministership from Tony Abbott, I wrote an article entitled “Carbon coups: from Hawke to Abbott, climate policy is never far away when leaders come a cropper”. (more…)

Aug 22, 2018
TONY BERG. To Close the Gaps, Deal with Alcohol Abuse.

For ten years our political leaders have talked about closing the gap. The harsh reality is that the gap in disadvantage suffered by indigenous Australians fails to close. Worse, there has been little discussion about why the gaps do not close despite all the money, the effort, the programs and the goodwill over the decade. Not only are the gaps obstinately immovable, but they are worse than they appear. (more…)

Aug 21, 2018
WILL STEFFEN. A Fundamental Re-think of the Climate Change Challenge

Using a complex systems framework, we argue that a set of feedback processes intrinsic to the Earth System could form a planetary threshold which, if crossed, would not only speed up climate change, but also take the trajectory out of human control and propel the system irreversibly to a Hothouse Earth state. (more…)

Aug 21, 2018
BEVAN RAMSDEN. The Force Posture Agreement between the U.S. and Australian Governments

This Agreement makes Australia a base in the Indo-Pacific-South East Asia for the U.S. military and from which they can parade their strength, intimidate and launch hostile acts against our neighbours. (more…)

Aug 21, 2018
STEPHEN GRENVILLE Who has been best for Australia: Trump or Obama? (Lowy Institute, 14.08.18)

US President Donald Trump comes in for widespread criticism, but he has at least one well-placed Australian defender. Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says that for Australia, Trump has been better than Obama. On the whole, Trump has been “good for us”. This is seriously misguided. (more…)

Aug 20, 2018
KOFI ANNAN. Stop ‘war on drugs’ (05.11.13, CNN)

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people around the world die from preventable drug-related disease and violence. Millions of users are arrested and thrown in jail. Globally, communities are blighted by drug-related crime. Citizens see huge amounts of their taxes spent on harsh policies that are not working…

.(In memory and honour of Kofi Annan who died recently.John Menadue) (more…)

Aug 20, 2018