Category: Politics

  • ROSS GITTINS. Hey pollies: weak wage growth won’t fix itself. (SMH 4.2.2019)

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  • JOHN MENADUE. Conservatives like Scott Morrison set the gold standard in scare campaigns.

    With the Coalition policy cupboard  bare and broken we should not be surprised about the attacks on Bill Shorten and a scare campaign in the electorate. Last week Scott Morrison told us that he is ‘cashed up and ready to go negative’. We are  being warned about the coming disaster if many well off people are denied the benefits of negative gearing,capital gains concessions or denial of tax credits even for people who don’t pay any tax at all. But that was just the beginning. Rhodes scholar winner and Minister for Energy threatened that  ‘Labor’s energy policies would shut down Gladstone and Mackay’. At least that other Rhodes Scholar, Tony Abbott warned that only one town, Whyalla, would be shut down as a result of Labor’s energy policies. (more…)

  • MUNGO MacCALLUM. From catastrophic to merely awful.

    Coalition in new year bounce, screamed The Australian ecstatically. Well, not all that much of a bounce – the latest Newspoll showed that the government’s position had improved from catastrophic to merely awful.  (more…)

  • GEOFF RABY. How a desert book festival outshone the chill over Davos.

    Last week two major events on the calendar of global gatherings kicked off the New Year.  They could not have been further apart.  Some 20,000 attendees, mainly middle aged and older, made their way up the snow blanketed steep valleys of far eastern Switzerland to the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering of the global business and political elites.  Some 500,000 paid to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) in India’s largely desert Rajasthan State and 80 per cent of the participants were under the age of 30 years.  (more…)

  • DANIELLE WOOD, CARMELA CHIVERS AND KATE GRIFFITHS. Tasmania’s gambling election shows Australia needs tougher rules on money in politics.

    Today’s Commonwealth donations data release is a stark reminder of the deep flaws in our political donations system. Contributions to political parties are revealed up to 19 months after the event, and sometimes not at all. With most states now operating far more transparent regimes, the only conceivable explanation for the current Commonwealth system is that our political leaders don’t want us to see where the money is coming from.  And the information contained in today’s data dump gives clues as to why that might be.  (more…)

  • MIKE SCRAFTON. The Problem with the Nationhood Power

    When influential public officials take the podium to tell us what’s what we should pay attention, close attention, to their words. Mike Pezzullo is one of the most powerful Federal public servants and therefore his view of the Australian political system in which he operates and the arguments he puts forward in support of those views are important.

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  • IAN McAULEY. Labor’s policy on imputation credits is flawed, but it’s in the right direction

    Labor’s proposal to disallow imputation credits unless offset by other taxes is flawed on grounds of economic efficiency and equity. But it does try to deal with the terrible injustice that sees well-off retirees exempt from tax. That’s in contrast to the petulant complaints from lobby groups who offer no constructive alternatives to make the system fairer, and in contrast to the Coalition’s failure even to acknowledge the problem. (more…)

  • MUNGO MACCALLUM. The Basin plan has become a Basin scam

    If you take half the water out of a river, it will affect the river. (more…)

  • WILLIAM BRIGGS-The US, walls, and the paradox of a globally integrated capitalist economy

    Two significant events are being played out on the US-Mexican border. They appear at first to be unrelated and yet show the paradoxes and contradictions surrounding the economic structures that dominate our lives.

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  • JOCELYN PIXLEY. Trying to revive Howard-Costello market slogans.

    The Coalition’s strategies for 2019’s election include reiterating Howard-Costello slogans. Australia’s 1996-2007 racist divisiveness is a factor while its economic policies copied decades of attacks (UK and USA) on social justice. But the sainted banks delivered the GFC just as Howard lost his own seat. Rudd-Gillard prevented the worst finance crisis fallout of other rich democracies but could not reverse Howard’s tax cuts for the affluent, largesse to private schools, lards of privatisations, plus a Goods and Services Tax on everyone else, while unions’ ability to gain fair wages was reduced. Can Howard slogans resonate in 2019? (more…)

  • PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday’s environmental round up, 3 February 2019

    A complete focus on climate change this week, starting with a short video by the inspirational Greta Thunberg and finishing with a map of distinctly chilly Iowa. In between, articles about last year’s game-changing IPCC report on warming of 1.5oC, Germany’s plans to exit coal fired power, sweltering Adelaide and a report on feeding the world’s growing population.

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  • SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND

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

  • DAVID JAMES. Venezuela beset by American dirty tricks (Eureka Street, 30 January 2019)

    For those wishing to peer into the heart of darkness, the nexus between big oil and big money is a good place to start. Those who control the energy market and the financial markets control the world. (more…)

  • RICHARD KINGSFORD. The successive government failures behind the fish kills. (SMH 31.1.2018)

    With the NSW election looming, it’s time to make sure the next state government has environmental policy front and centre at the big table of decision making. On nearly every major measure for the environment – numbers of threatened species, pollution, state of ecosystems and burgeoning threats – we’re going backwards.   (more…)

  • WANNING SUN AND HAIQING YU. WeChat, the Federal Election, and the Danger of Insinuative Journalism

    A story appeared recently in The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) with an eye-catching title: ‘Warning WeChat could spread Chinese propaganda during federal election’. By linking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda with a forthcoming Australian election, the story draws heavily on views from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and represents a new and dangerous development in the China influence narrative. The story recites a now-familiar litany of concerns, including the lack of regulation of WeChat, Huawei, China’s desire for influence through the Chinese diaspora, China’s human rights record, and the issue of foreign donations—all of which are, to some extent, valid. Yet, despite its best efforts to breathe new life into these matters, the article still amounts to little more than a non-story at its best and fear-mongering at its worst. (more…)

  • MARTIN WOLF. China’s challenge of one world, two systems. (AFR 31.1.2018)

    The accelerating breakdown in relations between China and the US is the most significant current event. How is this to be managed, given today’s global interdependence?   (more…)

  • CJ Polychroniou. Noam Chomsky: Ocasio-Cortez and Other Newcomers Are Rousing the Multitudes (Truthout, 30 January 2019)

    A quick glance around the world today reveals that politics almost everywhere — from the federal government shutdown in the US to the power struggle in Venezuela and from Macron’s crisis in France and UK’s Brexit nightmare to the Israeli-Iranian rivalry – are engulfed in a state of uncertainty and turmoil. Meanwhile, oligarchy is replacing democracy as the widening social and economic gap between rich and poor continues unabated. So, who rules the world now? The US is in a state of relative decline, but neither Russia nor China has the capacity to control global developments. How do the super-rich and corporations factor into this equation? In this exclusive interview, world-renowned linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky provides penetrating insights into some of the most critical developments going on in the world today. (more…)

  • ISHAAN THAROOR. The lesson of Davos: – China has arrived (Washington Post 25 January 2019).

    “Can we live in a world where America is still a strong power but doesn’t have the kind of primacy it had in the past?” asked Mahbubani. That’s a reality an “America First” administration is staunchly trying to resist. In Davos, though, it is a fait accompli. (more…)

  • MICHAEL KEATING. The Prime Minister’s Economic Plan

    This week the Prime Minister promised to return the Budget to surplus, massively reduce net government debt, and create 1.25 million jobs over the next five years. However, there was no attempt to substantiate these promises, nor to argue that the promises were a logical outcome of his so-called Economic Plan. Indeed, apart from alleging he had a Plan, no further detail was provided. Accordingly, in this article I consider whether we can we believe the Government’s promises for jobs and future budget surpluses.   (more…)

  • ANDREW FARRAN. BREXIT: It’s all about the Tories

    The recent series of procedural votes in the British Parliament did not provide the hoped for route through the impasse for an unruffled Brexit. The hustle and bustle over the next few weeks will be more theatre than substance, deliberately, as Britain moves inexorably out the EU door, facilitated not surprisingly by Prime Minister May’s much maligned Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration.
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  • Arrested Diplomacy (Project Syndicate).

    The Japanese and Canadian governments have failed to manage effectively the reputational, economic, and geopolitical implications of the legal cases against Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn and Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. And, in a globalized world, the risks posed by such cases are likely to grow.

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  • IAN ROBINSON. The Myth of the Mandate.

    If they win the next election, “Labor will have a mandate to push through tax changes,” claims Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen (The Age 23/01 p. 1). (more…)

  • JACKSON LEARS. Imperial Exceptionalism -(The New York Review of Books February 7, 2019).

    It is hard to give up something you claim you never had. That is the difficulty Americans face with respect to their country’s empire. (more…)

  • CAVAN HOGUE. Democracy in Venezuela?

    Much of the current situation arises from internal conflicts and policies but US policy has nothing to do with democracy and everything to do with US commercial, ideological and strategic interests. Foreign support for Maduro or Guaidó is based on predictable ideological and national interest lines. Domestically the military supports Maduro against widespread unrest and public demonstrations but how long this can last is a moot question. All parties call for peaceful solutions although the US has reserved its options. I look at some of the complexities.   (more…)

  • MUNGO MacCALLUM. Warren Muldine is hardly a lifelong true believer.

    Warren Mundine is a serious politician. For most of his life he has been a player in the great game, either directly or more often and perhaps more effectively indirectly, through working in and around his community.

    His campaigns have not always been successful but he has a solid record of achievement in both advocacy and business. Under normal circumstances he would be seen as a worthy and effective candidate for parliament.   (more…)

  • JENNY HOCKING. Historical myths die hard: What the Queen really knew about the dismissal of the Whitlam government

    Historical myths die hard. And historical myths have plagued our understanding of the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government by the Governor General, Sir John Kerr, on 11 November 1975. Chief among these foundational myths is the claim that the dismissal was a solo act by Kerr, a lonely and isolated decision, that no other person was involved in its planning or knew of its execution. Not the leader of the Opposition, not the High Court justices, and certainly not the Queen.   (more…)

  • IAN ROBINSON. What has Captain Cook ever done for us?

    The Prime Minister is intent on making a big fuss about James Cook. He is even promoting, at great expense, a circumnavigation of the continent by a replica of Cook’s ship Endeavour. This is an insult to Matthew Flinders who actually did circumnavigate the continent, who made a much greater contribution to our nation than Cook, and who, moreover, gave us our name. Forget Cook. Let’s give Flinders his due. (more…)

  • KISHORE MAHBUBANI. What China Threat? How the United States and China can avoid war. Harper Magazine 22 January 2019

    Within about fifteen years, China’s economy will surpass America’s and become the largest in the world. As this moment approaches, meanwhile, a consensus has formed in Washington that China poses a significant threat to American interests and well-­being. General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), has said that “China probably poses the greatest threat to our nation by about 2025.” The summary of America’s 2018 National Defense Strategy claims that China and Russia are “revisionist powers” seeking to “shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model—gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions.” Christopher Wray, the FBI director, has said, “One of the things we’re trying to do is view the China threat as not just a whole-­of-­government threat, but a whole-­of-­society threat . . . and I think it’s going to take a whole-­of-­society response by us.” So widespread is this notion that when Donald Trump launched his trade war against China, in January 2018, he received support even from moderate figures such as Democratic senator Chuck Schumer. (more…)

  • MATTHEW O’NEILL. How the media’s fixation with Trump was exported. (The Interpreter 23.1.2019)

    The Trump administration has hurtled into its third year and the media circus that’s trailed the 45th president continues apace. Australians who didn’t tune out of the news over the summer holidays were fed a diet of chaos and controversy out of Washington, with the ongoing partial government shutdown featured prominently in bulletins nationwide.   (more…)

  • CRISPIN HULL. Solution to ABC budget cuts. (Canberra Times 19.1.2019)

    Here is an idea for how the ABC might deal with the inevitable round of cuts next Budget.

    Clever bureaucrats when faced with funding cuts go for the jugular. They attack some popular vote-sensitive function and announce it will be cut. The backlash often results in a funding rethink.  

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