The shape of the next Labor government is becoming clearer.
This week we learnt that it will end the practice of signing Australia up to trade agreements that haven’t survived a benefit-cost analysis. (more…)
John Menadue
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JOHN MENADUE. We need to curb rent-seekers and lobbyists.
In the series “Fairness, Opportunity and Security” last year I drew attention to the pervasive loss of trust in institutions. Essential Research revealed that the six least trusted institutions were: the news media, state parliaments, trade unions, business groups, religious organisations and political parties. The three most trusted institutions were all public: the ABC, High Court and Reserve Bank. In light of Jacquie Lambie’s proposals to curb the ‘lobbying racket in Canberra’ I decided to repost an earlier blog on the collapse of trust with the growth in rent seeking and lobbying, with some up dating. (more…)
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JIM COOMBS. Doing right by our First Peoples needs a little understanding but a LOT MORE RESPECT.
As my Dad, “Nugget” Coombs, said in his Boyer Lectures years ago, though still ringing true, we are all demeaned by our treatment of our aboriginal people. Even back then, he implored our leaders to consult with, listen to and empower our first peoples to have not just some say, but some control over their destiny. (more…)
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TRAVERS McLEOD. Patient policy-making for a region on the move.
There are no quick fixes for a crisis like the forced displacement of Myanmar’s Rohingya, but a new collaboration has been preparing the way for an effective regional approach. (more…)
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KEVIN PEOPLES. The Dangers of a Feminine Touch
The Catholic Church’s misogyny is one of the cultural causes for its sexual abuse scandal. It is impossible to believe that any female bishop, or any woman assisting her bishop as a consultor, on hearing rumours or allegations of the raping of young children by priests, would have readily accepted priestly denials or agreed to move the accused to anther parish. Could a woman admit publically she was not particularly interested in the issue? (more…)
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JOAN STAPLES. Civil Society Highs and Lows
Australian civil society has seen the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) win the Nobel Peace Prize, the High Court uphold Bob Brown’s challenge to Tasmanian protest laws, and the Coalition extend its attacks on NGO advocacy, targeting GetUp. (more…)
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GRAEME WORBOYS. About Snowy water, catchment restoration, Snowy 2.0 and jobs
The Snowy 2.0 project, if it is to realise its contribution to lowering carbon emissions, should proceed hand in hand with a program of environmental restoration of alpine ecosystems which have not recovered from past and present alpine grazing and which, as a result of global warming, will have less water yield for downstream users, including Snowy 2.0. (more…)
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BRUCE MOUNTAIN. Energy prices are high because consumers are paying for useless, profit-boosting infrastructure
The preliminary report on energy prices released last week by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) suggests that the consumer watchdog is concerned about almost every aspect of Australia’s electricity industry. It quotes customer groups who say electricity is the biggest issue in their surveys, and cites several case studies of outrageous price increases experienced by various customers. (more…)
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AMBER CARVAN. The health impacts of climate change in rural and remote Australia
Without swift action climate change stands to further cement the health deficit experienced in rural and remote populations. Conversely, taking action to build the climate-resilience of rural and remote communities, and the health care services that support them, could lead to a seismic shift in health outcomes for the seven million people living in rural and remote Australia. (more…)
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MARGARET BEAVIS. US militarism: what are the costs to Australia?
When it comes to the defence of Australia, much is made of the ANZUS treaty. Compared to other treaties, for example the NATO treaty, where an attack on one is explicitly regarded as an attack on all and consultation, assistance and the use of armed force all are clearly referred to, the ANZUS treaty is rather pallid. It promises consultation and the rather vague “act to meet the common danger in accordance with constitutional processes”. (more…)
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An open letter to the Prime Minister on climate and nuclear perils
This open letter was initiated by Dr Andrew Glikson (Earth and Paleo-climate science, ANU School of Anthropology and Archeology) and signed by over 200 Australian scientists, including those in the medical, environmental and physical disciplines, as well as scholars in the humanities.
It clearly shows the immense perils we now face due to climate change and nuclear proliferation.
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JOHN MENADUE. How a rogue organization operates.
This week Crikey has been running a series, the Holy Wars on ‘How The Australian targets and attacks its enemies ‘This prompted me to recall my own experiences and earlier writing on how News Corp intimidates its critics and threatens and seduces governments.
The way News Corp operates must be traced to Murdoch himself for he has told us that ‘for better or worse (News Corp) is a reflection of my own thinking, my character and my values’. (more…)
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GEORGE RENNIE. Senate crossbenchers take the first steps on lobbying reform – now to ensure it succeeds.
The suite of codes, statements and laws governing lobbying are failing Australian voters. Yet, for decades, the two major parties have been unwilling to meaningfully improve them. But, having recognised the seriousness of the problems with lobbying and corruption in Australia, the Senate crossbenchers – along with lower house independents – have finally begun the process of deciding how lobbying reform should occur. Into this space, the Jacqui Lambie Network has released a policy that has become the starting point for negotiations on one of Australia’s most important policy challenges. (more…)
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MICHAEL WOODS. Why reforming health care is integral for our economy
Australia’s productivity growth has been stagnant for over a decade and, according to a new report, our health policies and programs could be partly to blame. Released today, the Productivity Commission report also highlights how the health-care sector (among others) could play a starring role in improving productivity. (more…)
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OISIN SWEENEY. Let’s take the opportunity to put the wellbeing of people at the heart of forest protection.
Any Australian under the age of 30 is unlikely to have heard of Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs). The RFAs, signed in the late 1990s and lasting for 20 years, were designed to facilitate multiple uses of public native forests including timber extraction, nature conservation and recreation. They haven’t worked as planned, and logging now threatens multiple values of forests, including fundamentals for human well-being like water. We should heed the evidence and use the end of the RFAs to put forests at the heart of regional communities. We have a plan that can help us do that. (more…)
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JIM COOMBS. An energy crisis? My Hat!
The present ‘energy crisis’ is symptomatic of our nation’s leaders to obfuscate the truth to avoid doing what should be done. (more…)
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NAISHAD KAIN-REN. Saudi Arabia’s Footprints in Southeast Asia
Saudi Arabia’s increased influence in Muslim-majority countries will have wider ramifications for ASEAN. (more…)
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LEANNE WELLS. Who benefits from health insurance reforms? Check the sharemarket.
The notable feature of Australia’s heavy investment in health insurance is the lack of hard evidence to support the cost and performance of subsidised private health insurance. For health fund members baffled about the real impact of the Government’s private insurance reform plan, there was one indicator immediately available. (more…)
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EVAN WILLIAMS. Mobile addiction: the new scourge of our time
“That stupid woman!” my wife exclaimed, looking out through the front window of our house onto the street below. We were listening to the news, and at first I thought my beloved was referring to some blunder by Julie Bishop or Theresa May. But the object of her scorn was a woman wheeling a baby in a pram down the centre of the street and studying her mobile phone while cars edged past on either side. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. The NBN and the wholesale/network arm of Telstra that should never have been sold.
Yesterday Malcolm Turnbull , perhaps unwittingly,sheeted home the real responsibility for the NBN debacle to the privatisation of Telstra by the Howard Government. In his attempt to blame the Rudd government for the current problems, he really let the cat out of the bag. He said
If you want to look at a country that did this exercise much better, it was New Zealand. What they did was they basically ensured the incumbent telco – the Telstra equivalent – split its network operations from its retail operations and then that network company, called Chorus, became in effect the NBN.’
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WALTER HAMILTON. When Nothing Happened in Japan
After Sunday’s election, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be entitled to quote Mark Twain: ‘Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’. Political death, that is. His ruling coalition threw back all challengers and retained the crucial two-thirds majority in the lower house required for a constitutional amendment. (more…)
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STUART HARRIS. The US and North Korea: the importance of history.
North Korea’s belligerent missile tests have given rise to fears that the hardening rhetoric on both sides will lead to military conflict involving nuclear weapons. These fears have resulted in moves to moderate this tension by some of the players, with US Secretary of State Tillerson seeking to communicate with the North, and South Korea’s President Moon seeking dialogue with the North. (more…)
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PETER ARNOLD. Calling for medical help at night
Obtaining first-line medical attention at night, especially if the patient is house-bound, has become increasingly difficult. Proposals to improve affordable access to such services need to take account of changing urban structures, medical culture and community expectations. (more…)
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MICHAEL LAMBERT. The National Energy Guarantee – what do we make of it?
After a progression of schemes, such as the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), The Carbon Pollution Tax (CPT), Direct Action, including the Renewable Energy Target (RET) as well as dabbling with the Emissions Intensity Scheme (EIS) and the Clean Energy Target (CET) we have now being presented by those proud parents, Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg, with the latest addition to the energy policy family, the NEG, the National Energy Guarantee. Will it work and how; is it better or worse than its alternatives; and what are the key issues to address if it proceeds? (more…)
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WE ARE ALSO READING AND LISTENING TO …
Pearls and Irritations provides the following links for weekend reading and listening: (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. Rent-seekers and corruption risks in the Australian mining industry and elsewhere.
In this blog Gigi Foster and Paul Frijters said: ‘The vast majority of the richest Australians work in property, mining and banking/finance. … Tellingly, the highest earning workers in these industries do not invent or use advanced production or distribution technology… People in these highly regulated industries are handsomely rewarded when they can negotiate special favours, such as property rezonings, planning law exemptions, mining concessions, labour law exemptions or money creation powers.’ (more…)
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PETER RODGERS. Australia and capital punishment – rhetoric and reality
In pursuing Australia’s ultimately successful bid for election to the UN Human Rights Council, Foreign Minister Bishop declared that Australia would be ‘unrelenting’ in its efforts to abolish capital punishment globally. But Australia’s track record of selective outrage gives little hope for an energetic, universalist approach that goes beyond the rhetorical.
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ALAN PEARS, ANNA SKARBEK, DYLAN MCCONNELL. Federal government unveils ‘National Energy Guarantee’ – experts react
The federal government has announced a new energy policy, after deciding against adopting the Clean Energy Target recommended by chief scientist Alan Finkel. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. John Kerr talked to John Guise
We know that John Kerr spoke in advance to many people, in secret ,about the dismissal of the Whitlam Government . He spoke to Garfield Barwick, Anthony Mason, Prince Charles and Lord Mountbatten. But he did not speak to his own Prime Minister
We are now told that he also spoke to Sir John Guise, the Governor General of New Guinea about the dismissal. The following is a letter printed in the Canberra Times on 18 October 2017 from Mark Lynch who was Secretary of the National Executive Council of New Guinea. (more…)