We demand the freedom to infect others! The anti-vaccination demonstrations are dour, sour and disingenuous. (more…)
Tony Smith
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In sport and in society, women eclipse the antics of boorish males
While women display their abilities in fields monopolised by men, people in power not only allow these talents to be wasted but actively inhibit them.
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AUKUS: the latest capitulation on defence by our born-to-rule elites
Conservative Coalition leaders have a history of committing Australia to overseas military adventures – and the ‘patriotic’ media have never questioned the propaganda. (more…)
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Gladys Berejiklian, deep in farce yesterday, threatening chaos today
Faced with a Covid crisis, the NSW government has failed to lead when its people needed it the most.
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Time for facts on Afghanistan, not platitudes and propaganda
Facing the all too predictable chaos left behind by yet another unnecessary Australian military adventure, the prime minister mouthed insulting platitudes about ‘freedom’ and sought propaganda value about no member of the military dying in vain. Such remarks display historical ignorance as well as insensitivity.
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Letting the Liberals off the Barnaby Joyce hook
The return of Barnaby Joyce to the leadership of the National Party and the Deputy Prime Ministership has been somewhat awkward for the Liberal Party. It is puzzling however that the Labor Opposition has not managed to make the Coalition Government more uncomfortable.
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Australian human misery: a dirty dozen cases
The prime minister has an eye for the public relations opportunity. Recently he was quick to be seen at the announcement of the success of an FBI-AFP operation targeting drug traffickers. He condemned criminals for bringing misery to Australia. Regrettably, we have plenty of misery already, thanks to his government’s policies.
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Australian traditional culture under threat again and again.
The changing of a word in the national anthem from ‘young’ to ‘one’ indicates that Australia did not begin in 1788. So aspects of society going back beyond that date are clearly Australian culture. Around Bathurst today, real Australian culture has been threatened by inappropriate and unnecessary developments. All Australians should object.
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Mice and men: the mouse plague and aggressive land clearing
Over the years, Australian authorities have made many poor decisions about allowing the introduction of biocidal agents into the environment. In most cases, such decisions have been based on the demands of powerful minorities with no responsibility to the general community. The Berejiklian-Barilaro government looks set to outdo them all by authorising the use of the bromadiolone rodenticide. -
Evelyn Araluen’s Drop Bear demands our engagement
No objective observer could fail to notice how inadequately we are closing the gaps we have created between Indigenous and other Australians. Part of the difficulty could be that 250 years of European occupation have damaged the language on which oral cultural transmission depends.
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Douglas Newton’s Private Ryan and how peace efforts were sabotaged in WW1
Every now and then a historian produces a book that gives a rational and compassionate insight into the war of 1914-18 and the origins of the Anzac legend. Douglas Newton has given Australia such a work in his story of Private Ryan set against the backdrop of war aims and peace movements.
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Do we need to remove men from power?
As the Sex Discrimination Commissioner conducts an inquiry into federal parliament’s toxic culture, it is clear that her task is to diagnose misogyny and make recommendations for its removal. The easiest way to achieve this would be to remove men from positions of power.
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Gladitorial arena adds toxic element to politics. Part 1
Upper houses of parliament usually have a better gender balance. While often explained away by being a result of proportional representation, a better explanation is that the most ambitious men – the megalomaniacs – have no interest in being senators. They know the locus of power is in the lower house.
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Petulant, punishment politics is becoming the norm
The $50 million spent on re-opening the Christmas Island detention facility just because it lost out on the Medevac bill was a every expensive Coalition dummy spit. Many politicians are starting to think there must be something special about them when they get re-elected, rather than it simply being a function of the system.
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Santos changes tack: rugby charm offensive replaces lobbying efforts
The issue of gas extraction in the Pilliga, in north-west NSW, has caused conflict. Early this month, mining company Santos tried to win hearts and minds in the town of Narrabri by sponsoring a rugby carnival. This charm offensive was a change in tack from lobbying governments and enlisting police and courts against protestors.
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Survival Day 2021: What January 26 means to me
Many Australians believe that January 26 fails in its purpose. While it aims to unite, it actually divides us. Instead, the customary Indigenous theme ‘Always was, always will be Aboriginal land’ has the potential to unify.
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Putting all our eggs in the vaccination basket is delusional
Governments worldwide have placed their hopes for fighting the pandemic in the roll-out of vaccines. But the jab will not be a panacea for society. Behavioural modifications will still be required.
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The Government championing free speech is a red herring
The refusal of some social media to allow Donald Trump a platform to spread lies and incite violence is too little too late. Expressions of unease by senior Coalition figures about some dubious threat to free speech are no more than attempts to distract from the Government’s chaotic policies.
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Stop playing with our lives, this is not a game
While it has proven very difficult to convince politicians that we have a climate change emergency on our hands, we might expect that bushfires and the pandemic would rock their complacency. And yet, the New South Wales government insists on taking a relaxed approach to the public health crisis when it comes to mass entertainments. (more…)
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How NSW lost control of the virus. Yet Scott Morrison said that NSW was the ‘gold standard’ in infection control.
When Covid was detected in Sydney’s northern beaches area, the peninsula was locked down strongly by the Berejiklian government. While that cluster seems to have been contained, outbreaks elsewhere around Sydney have thrown some curious decisions into the limelight.
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On Grace Karskens’ The People of the River. A remarkable story of settler and Indigenous co-existence
The Nepean-Hawkesbury – Dyarubbin – witnessed a remarkable story of settler and Indigenous co-existence. In her recent tome, Grace Karskens uncovers this story while shattering many myths and setting new standards for interpretation of historical records.
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We need the diplomatic skills of a ‘Chinese Morrison’
Tensions between China and Australia over trade and security hurt both countries. It is time that the great salesman Prime Minister Morrison went to Beijing to resolve misunderstandings.
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The essence of war is to kill
A recent spike in the statistics has seen the number of suicides by Australia’s Afghanistan veterans pass 500. This is an appalling toll which raises many deep questions for us all.
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Anyone laughing has not heard the news. Vale Mungo.
In 2001 I reviewed Mungo MacCallum’s memoir ‘The Man Who Laughs’ (AQ 73(6), Nov-December). Although this entertaining writer appeared to have retired from political commentary, I, like so many readers, was thankful that he took up the pen for Pearls and Irritations. The review ran along the following lines.
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Wilful blindness of the Anzac myth and our military death toll
A recent spike in the statistics has seen the number of suicides by Australia’s Afghanistan veterans pass 500. This is an appalling toll which raises many deep questions for all of us. (more…)
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There is a crisis in Australian democracy. Corruption is rampant.
While a number of institutions exist to scrutinise federal government and MPs, calls for establishment of a federal corruption watchdog like the Independent Commission Against Corruption in New South Wales or the Criminal Justice Commission in Queensland have never been louder or more justified.
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Will they be renamed ‘koala tears’?
Possible koala extinction in New South Wales is a symptom of a deeper malaise. The inability of this cherished herbivore to bounce back following the summer’s inferno shows that many species are threatened by cynical human activity.
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An Indigenous inspired paradigm for the War Memorial
The debate over the purpose of the Australian War Memorial needs to be revisited with a view to recognising the Indigenous people who mounted heroic resistance to a ruthless invader from 1788.
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Parramatta needs a Jack Mundey
Students always had some difficulty believing that I remembered the first traffic light turned on in Parramatta. The pace of change is such that memories vanish before they can be recorded. In the cradle city of Australia, ‘development’ is about to obliterate significant features of the past.
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Remove place names dedicated to racists. *
* This article uses the names of some deceased persons.
The removal of the visual reminders of perpetrators of racism is a good move towards helping Indigenous peoples feel as though they belong in their own land. (more…)