The Federal Opposition’s energy policy includes the construction of nuclear power plants. Peter Dutton says that we need them because Australia’s emissions reduction target of 43 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 is unachievable. Is this true? We argue that it is not – and especially if the Australian Government works with State and Territory Governments to stop native forest logging and land clearing. (more…)
Category: Policy
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Record numbers of temporary graduates in immigration limbo
Temporary graduate visas are for overseas students who complete their study and wish to undertake work in Australia, often as a pathway to permanent residence. These visas work best when the bulk of temporary graduates seeking permanent residence are able to secure skilled work and eventually a permanent residence employer sponsored (or other) permanent visa. (more…)
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Ageing policy ignores the majority of older people
‘Old’ is defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as any person over the age of 65. This is a wildly outdated notion given our longer life expectancy and the fact that most of us will live many years beyond that arbitrary date in active service to the community. (more…)
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Beyond US hegemony: creating a visceral fear of China
It is difficult to understand why Senator James Patterson and “dewy eyed” Defence Minister Richard Marles think of China as part of a threat environment. There is a remarkable agreement between these two defence mavens from the opposite sides of politics that has a common source. (more…)
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A call to civil society: it’s time to reframe media policy
The health implications of media policy are wide-ranging but not usually front of mind in national debate, whether for governments, communities or even the health sector. (more…)
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A critique of ‘a world call to action’ on the multiple crises now enfolding humanity
This initiative is important in making a strenuous plea for urgent action on the global “poly crisis”. But it fails to make clear the fundamental cause of the problem, or the way out of it. (more…)
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‘Gas Trojan horse’: Coalition nuclear push slammed as fossil wedge aimed at renewables
The chair of Australia’s largest group of clean energy investors has described the federal Coalition’s push for nuclear power as a “gas Trojan horse,” and a political wedge intended to douse investment in renewables and prolong the use of fossil fuels. (more…)
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Escalation of national terrorism threat level misleads Australians
The announcement by ASIO Boss Mike Burgess that the National Terrorism Threat Level would be raised from ‘possible to probable’ has received massive mainstream publicity, a spike in talkback radio angst and widespread freelance interpretation about who presents the incipient threat. (more…)
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Good science has no bias
I do agree with Ken Russell that inaction on the climate crisis is indefensible and I understand why he believes that climate scientists should be at the forefront of the global campaign to take targeted and effective action. (more…)
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Urgent policy reform needed to fix fast track injustice affecting thousands of refugees
Refugee advocates are calling for the new Minister for Home Affairs, Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Tony Burke, to urgently provide victims of the flawed Fast Track process with permanent protection visas. (more…)
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Evan Gershkovitch and Krasikov is bad policy
The trading of Russian FSB assassin Vadim Krasikov for various Russian political prisoners, including US citizen Evan Gershkovitch and a number of Russian dissidents, illustrates the incompetence of US and German leaderships in foreign policy – and reflects the reason that Russia is winning the war in Ukraine! (more…)
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Social cohesion should not be used for political expediency
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland’s warning that the ballot box is ‘not a guide to Middle East policy’ (The Australian, 26 July 2024), coupled with her concerns about social cohesion, highlights federal Labor’s naivete and how out of touch it is with the electorate. Moreover, these views from senior Labor MPs border on dismissiveness of our democratic principles and our parliamentary system of government. (more…)
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A to do list for the incoming immigration minister
Cabinet reshuffle – policy and outcomes matter, not who is in charge, say refugees. Here is the pressing to do list for the incoming immigration minister: (more…)
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Silos are for grain, not for National policies
One of the characteristic features of modern western democracies is, as John Ralston Saul has pointed out, that it has focused on the development of narrow forms of expertise and then used reason to apply that narrow expertise to addressing specific social, cultural, economic and political issues. This is particularly true of the proliferating management elites produced by the also proliferating Business Schools in Universities across the West. (more…)
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Mega-thinktanks have one dangerous thing in common
With former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Varghese undertaking a review of taxpayer dollars spent on strategic policy work, Australia’s China hawks have argued a Canberra-based thinktank, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), cannot be touched. (more…)
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Half hearted housing policies ignore key role of public housing: Michael Pascoe
The housing crisis will not be solved for those who are suffering the most by the mish mash of half hearted, small steps, and policy responses currently favoured by governments. They lack the courage to commit to direct government intervention on a sufficient scale in the failed housing market in the form of publicly funded, developed and owned housing for the most vulnerable. (more…)
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Superficial coverage of Dutton’s nuclear policy does Australia a disservice
Noel Turnbull correctly writes that media coverage of the federal opposition’s nuclear power proposal is superficial. There is a very wide range of as yet unanswered issues. (more…)