A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts covered in other media. (more…)
Category: Politics
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PERCY ALLAN. Process, not Policy is where Left/Right can Agree.
The End of Hegemony
The battle between Left and Right is intensifying. Major parties thinks they will win this contest at the ballot box. (more…)
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CHENGXIN PAN. Pence on China: reviving a neo-conservative Dream (Lowy Institute, 08.10.18)
Ever wondered who is now the culprit for many of the woes of the United States? Then look no further than a major speech delivered by US Vice President Mike Pence last week. (more…)
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JIM COOMBS: “What’s good for General Bullmoose….” The Everest Affair and the Banking Royal Commission show the highly limited (I am attracted by the old term “purblind”)thinking which is driving the nation.
Prime Minister Morrison, for such, alas, he is, sees the Opera House as a billboard for promoting whoever can pay for it. That’s BUSINESS, isn’t it ? Anything that turns a quid is, for them, Business, and that’s good enough. Indeed this government seems to think its job is done if it looks after business, and devil take the hindmost. And then sell off government functions so that some entrepreneur (French for middleman) can squeeze a profit out of the citizens. The sale of NSW Land Titles Office ( which one would think was a key function of government : control of land and title) led to gouging up to 1800% of previous state charges. Great for Business, bad for the state and its citizens. The privatisation of the responsibilities of government, such as the operation of prisons is an abrogation of its responsibilities and has dire results, due to lack of adequate supervision. When children are taken into care, subject to court orders, the government should not pass them on to agencies which may or may not do justice in the situation, which is the state’s responsibility. (more…)
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JOHN TULLOH. The non-great expectations in Saudi Arabia
Perhaps the most masterful PR campaign of international diplomacy this year was the visit to the US of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman commonly known as MBS. He was feted on a two-week coast-to-coast tour by politicians, big business, oil tycoons and the tech industry. President Trump fawned over him with a photographic display of the billions of dollars of American weaponry the Saudis were buying. ‘Just peanuts to you’, said Trump with some admiration. The media lined up like drooling supplicants. The main reason was that they all thought the new ruler of Saudi Arabia in all but name was a reformist who would steer the theocratic kingdom into the sunlit world of freedom and democracy. (more…)
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WANNING SUN. PM Morrison’s Strange Speech to China and the Chinese: A Selective Charm Offensive?
Last week, on 4 October, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, accompanied by Immigration Minister David Coleman, paid a visit to Hurstville in south Sydney, dropped in on some local Chinese shops, and had lunch with around 80 people—members and leaders of the local Chinese community. The event generated quite a buzz among the Chinese communities but went mostly unnoticed by the English-reading public.
It was a strange way to do diplomacy with China or was it domestic electioneering.It was all very odd. (more…)
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JERRY ROBERTS Bill Shorten, Chris Bowen, Steve Bannon and the TPP
When Bill Shorten on camera announced that Labor would support the TPP he looked like a schoolboy telling the teacher that the dog ate his homework. Bill knew his excuse was phony. Will the TPP be the issue that finally forces the ALP back to the labour movement or will the Party fudge its way into office as it has done throughout the 30 years of neoliberal ascendancy? (more…)
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DENISE FISHER. New Caledonia’s independence referendum
On 4 November, indigenous and some other longstanding New Caledonian residents will vote on the question “Do you want New Caledonia to accede to full sovereignty and become independent?” The referendum process will re-shape the role of France in the South Pacific at a time of geostrategic change, and yet is passing relatively unmarked in our media and our region. (more…)
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KATE MALTBY. What to Expect When a Woman Accuses a Man in Power.
Last week, the world gazed on as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified against a man backed by the strongest political forces in America. I couldn’t watch. (more…)
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ADAM MORTON. In a canter? Climate experts say Australia will not meet emissions targets. (Guardian 11.10.2108)
Guardian Australia spoke to 12 economists and scientists – almost all reject government’s claim to be on track. Leading climate researchers have overwhelmingly rejected the federal government’s claim it is on track to cut greenhouse gas emissions as promised under the 2015 Paris agreement.
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JOHN MENADUE. Ignore the planet and our grand children at our peril.
The government has thrown in its lot with climate sceptics, the loony right which includes the Murdoch media and the coal miners.
We have a government with no policy on climate change at all. The responses by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Ministers for the Environment and Energy to the latest IPCC report are a disgrace. (more…)
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MARK BUTLER. There is only one energy future: firmed renewables. (AFR 10.10.2018)
Australia is in the deep throes of the most severe energy crisis in living memory. Power and gas prices have skyrocketed in recent years and are continuing to go up in spite of claims from the Liberal government that they have solved the energy crisis and prices are coming down.
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SCOTT MORRISON. Speech at Chinese-Australian Community Event
This speech by Scott Morrison on 4 October 2018 does not seem to have been run anywhere in the mainstream media. It is the most constructive statement from the government in a long time. Interestingly, the speech was posted on the Australian Embassy website in Beijing six days ago! (John Menadue) (more…)
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JOHN AUSTEN. Pain before more pain and then no gain in Berejiklian’s growing Sydney transport mess
The NSW Government says there is an ‘amazing’ light at the end of the tunnel with the closure of the Epping-Chatswood line that is part of the Metro project. The analogy is apt. An approaching light in a railway tunnel heralds big trouble. (more…)
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IAN McAULEY. Outdoor advertising – enclosing the commons
The furore over the projection of horse racing on the Sydney Opera House raises not only the issue of the treatment of Louise Herron at the hand of a radio shock jock and her lack of support from the NSW Government, but also the broader issue of appropriation of public space for commercial purposes. (more…)
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SUSAN CHENERY. The Scribe: portrait of Freudenberg, author of the speech that changed Australia (The Guardian 9.10.2018)
Legendary Labor speechwriter Graham Freudenberg was at the centre of power for more than 40 years. A new film sheds light on the man who wrote the script. (more…)
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CAVAN HOGUE. Do we really need an American Ambassador? Or will Rupert Murdoch do?
Do we really need an American ambassador? Ambassadors are paid to represent their own country, not ours, so what’s in it for us? Do we really need an imperial legate to keep us in line when we never get out of line? Our media relies on American sources for its news and Rupert Murdoch makes sure we get the right message. We may expect increasing pressure to join in putting pressure on China to do what the US wants it to do but an ambassador is not really needed for that. We can salve our wounded pride with the thought that a very large number of other countries don’t have an American ambassador either and President Trump prefers twitter to send his messages. Anyway, Joe Hockey has lots of mates in Washington so leave it to him. (more…)
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KIM WINGEREI. (Art) encounters of the Jones kind.
When the artist by the name of Banksy had his own artwork shredded, it was his right. It was (and is) his own artwork and he wanted to make a statement about his work being sold at an auction. But when NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian instructed Opera House CEO Louise Herron to allow Jørn Utzon’s iconic sails to be defaced by advertising for a horse race, she is in the wrong in more ways than one. (more…)
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ANDREW TILLETT. Deputy PM Michael McCormack shelves inquiry into road pricing
A raft of economists have called for a road-user charge, including former Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, in his tax review, and former Productivity Chair, Peter Harris.
[We continue to waste billions of dollars on more and more roads, but refuse to face the political hot potato of road congestion charges. John Menadue] (more…)
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MICHAEL SAINSBURY. ScoMo’s Turnaround: Peter Dutton and Stuart Robert ride to the rescue
The Chronicles of a Fleeting Prime Minister
And so he sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from The Destruction. Then came the season of The Renewal, and now, The Turnaround is upon the people. With 50 days and 50 nights in office, PM Scott Morrison just smote the record of Arthur Fadden, our fourth shortest-serving PM, and is on his way to vanquish the fifth, Chris Watson. Michael Sainsbury reports. (more…)
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MAX HASTINGS. Smoke and Mirrors (New York Review of Books, 27 September, 2018)
The United States spends more than $70 billion a year on the gathering and assessment of information about its enemies—and friends. Other nations lavish proportionate amounts, which can only increase now that cyberwarfare and information games have become inextricably entangled with intelligence and counterterrorism. China is estimated to employ some two million people on electronic data collection and surveillance, much of this directed at its own people. (more…)
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ROGER COHEN. Confirmed: an insidious presidency (the New York Times)
Trump believes that judges should be agents of those who appoint them. That would be the end of the rule of law. (more…)
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PAUL BONGIORNO. Political climate uncomfortably hot for Scott Morrison (New Daily 9.10.2018)
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison found himself in a very awkward spot on the day the world’s most authoritative climate science body released its latest report. (more…) -
MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison actually does something.
Sound the trumpets, fire the cannons, stop the presses – Scott Morrison’s fledgling government has actually managed a result. (more…)
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ROSS GITTINS. Why businesses are behaving badly. (SMH 6.10.2018)
While we digest the royal commission’s evidence of shocking misconduct by the banks and insurance companies, there’s another unpalatable truth to swallow: they have no monopoly on bad behaviour. (more…)
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STEPHEN COSTELLO. Who controls US policy on the Korean peninsula? (East Asia Forum, 5 October 2018)
Much has been made of the theatrical stand-off between North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. But most signs show that the two could quickly reach a deal on how to move forward with DPRK denuclearisation and economic development. The real tension is between Trump, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on one side, and White House figures, department secretaries and the US Congress on the other. (more…)
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ROSS GARNAUT. Where Australia’s at 10 years after climate change review. (AFR 8.10.2018)
Energy costs will be lower if there is more investment in renewables capacity. (more…)
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JANE PERLEZ. Pence’s China Speech Seen as Portent of a ‘New Cold War’ (New York Times, 05.10.18)
BEIJING — Vice President Mike Pence’s accusations in a stinging speech Thursday warning of a tougher approach toward Beijing may have been familiar to China’s leaders. But until now, such remarks were delivered in private, in fairly decorous terms, and rarely threatened direct action. In Australia,another important ally, the government has been saying many of the same things as Mr. Pence,though in more muted tones. In some ways,Australia has been viewed in Washington as a test case of what China could get away with in a country with a strong economy and Western values The American and Australian intelligence agencies have consulted on what they see as the China threat,
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WAYNE MCMILLAN. Insecure work by another name
The NSW Business Chamber and the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) are leading the charge on behalf of employer business interests. It’s obvious that both their main concerns are to create a new class of insecure workers that can be dismissed at the whim of employers under the guise of better pay. Flexibility without security will only create a new underclass of workers who will be disadvantaged. (more…)
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CHRISTOPHER BROWNING. The Suffocation of Democracy (New York Review of Books, 25.10.18)
As a historian specializing in the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, and Europe in the era of the world wars, I have been repeatedly asked about the degree to which the current situation in the United States resembles the interwar period and the rise of fascism in Europe. I would note several troubling similarities and one important but equally troubling difference. (more…)