Category: Politics

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

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Thousands of escapees from chilly southern cities are currently cruising northern Australia in search of warmth, wildflowers, new friends and a little adventure.

The grey nomads prefer caravans, some so lavishly equipped they’re really villas on wheels with solar panels, family pets and air conditioning. The young and foreign go for small vans with a mattress and a gas stove.

All bring money into backblock towns to buy fuel, food, souvenirs and spare parts.

Local government reaction is mixed; some see opportunities so encourage visitors, others begrudge using ratepayers’ funds to supply services for outsiders, particularly budget travellers. The confusion is damaging tourism. Duncan Graham reports:  (more…)

 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…)

Statistics of voting patterns over the past forty years have shown a consistent drift towards fringe and minor parties. Such a drift seems likely to continue whilst the duopoly of the LNP and the ALP  continue to ignore the mainstream, both ideologically and as group worthy of receiving some intrinsic recognition. (more…)

There’s a big hint in the job title – “leader”. It means the job is to lead, not to follow, not to merely manage a disparate group by appeasement, compromise and bribery. (more…)

As Malcolm Turnbull was pushed from pillar to post on his National Energy Guarantee and renewable targets over the last month or so, Bill Shorten and his team were enjoying the spectacle from across the aisle. At no point did it occur to them that if they stepped in to support the proposed renewable energy targets – insufficient as they may be – they could have ensured that we at least had some targets. Labours own target is 50% renewables by 2030. But rather than compromising on a solution that could ensure at least a target better than no target, they sat on their hands. Seeing the self-destruction of a political opponent is, of course, more important than taking action against the destruction of our planet. (more…)

Gary van Duinen took his own life after a thirteen-hour binge on the pokies two months ago. His body was found by a walking trail near Narrabeen lagoon. The tragic death of the 45-year old husband and father has cranked up the spotlight once again on Australia’s predatory poker machine industry and the shameful connivance of governments, pubs and clubs in sharing the billions in loot. (more…)

The Prime Minister’s intervention last week to take charge of China policy and begin to set out a clearer framework for managing the relationship was much too late and probably too little, but it was a welcome start nonetheless. (more…)

On Monday the Fairfax-Ipsos poll showed that the combined support for Labour and the Liberal/National coalition was 68% – down almost 10% since the 2016 election. In other words, one third of voters prefer neither party. On Tuesday, we witnessed the unsavoury spectacle of yet another leadership spill in the Liberal Party; the sixth such spill in ten years within the major parties. The decline in support for the majors is closely linked to how they conduct their affairs and is at the heart of why trust in politicians is at an all-time low. But it is still a welcome development – the decline, not the spectre of Peter Dutton as PM. (more…)

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The 19 August Fairfax-IPSOS poll showed the Coalition with 33 per cent of the primary vote and Labor with 35 per cent.  John Menadue added the two figures and deduced that 32 per cent would not have voted for any of the major Parties. The problem for pollsters after the drama of Tuesday morning in Canberra will be knowing what question to ask. (more…)

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…)

Attached is a collection of articles on drug policy reform, which were published as a series on Pearls and Irritations between 6 and 11 August 2018.This series is designed to draw attention to this important issue, and to the failure of our current policies.

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Barnaby Joyce’s downfall has exposed the National Party as an outfit more concerned with dealing with corporate rent-seekers than with attending to the interests of its traditional rural base. It has also exposed Turnbull’s lack of resolve in dealing with deep fissures in the political alliance between the Liberals and the Nationals. (more…)

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…)

The crisis really is in real wage growth. – Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe, 2017

Increased inequality and low wage growth are constraining economic growth. But why is wage growth so low? And how should policymakers respond? (more…)

The use of labels in the public debate is too often a lazy way of dismissing an idea or an opponent. However, Richard Denniss’ use of neoliberalism in his recent Quarterly Essay works well. He uses it as a catch-all for the ills of public policy formulation in Australia over the past several decades – in essence, the over-emphasis on economics as the only determining factor of our national wealth and individual happiness, and the dire consequences of that emphasis. (more…)

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…)