Relentless Israeli oppression and dismissive American policy embolden settlers and further degrade Palestinian life. As a friend of Palestinian teacher and human rights activist Adwah Hathaleen said of his killing, ‘This is how Israel erases us – one life at a time.” (more…)
Category: Politics
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Tax, productivity growth and equality
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ upcoming economic summit has triggered renewed debate over the links between tax, productivity, growth and equity. And inevitably arguments between the right and the left – can we understand both and find a way through? I hope so. (more…)
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It’s time to talk about AI and national security
The federal government has recently introduced legislation to extend the looming sunset clause on compulsory questioning powers originally granted to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) following the 9/11 terrorism attacks. (more…)
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An entirely new approach to public policy
At the outset of the second term of the Labor Government, we may reasonably ask: What policy innovations will the prime minister and his colleagues bring forward? (more…)
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India tests strategic autonomy in fractured trade order
A flurry of free trade agreements with the UAE, Australia, the European Free Trade Association and the UK signals a more outward-looking Indian trade policy. (more…)
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The productivity paradox
A century ago, industrialists measured economic virility by tonnes of coal hewn per shift. Today, Canberra’s spreadsheets obsess over “GDP per hour worked”. (more…)
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It shouldn’t have taken this much for mainstream voices to start speaking up about Gaza
Israel’s top human rights group B’Tselem has finally declared that Israel is committing genocide, as has the Israel-based Physicians for Human Rights. (more…)
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‘How Israel defends itself matters’
Remember that declaration? It was a clear assertion from the Australian Government that the Israeli military response to the terrorist attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023 must have civilised limits. (more…)
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Australia employs ‘straddle’ diplomacy with China and the US
The approach is not doctrinal, but is about speaking frankly to both Washington and Beijing. (more…)
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‘Unequivocal’: Israeli human rights orgs describe Gaza assault as ‘genocide’ for the first time
“Genocide is never supposed to happen,” said the executive director of B’Tselem, one of Israel’s leading human rights groups. “Not here. Not anywhere. Not at all.” (more…)
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Roundtable warning: When they say ‘modelling’ grab your bulldust detector
The warm-up for next month’s three-day economic roundtable has begun, and this week we’ll start hearing from worthies who know exactly what we should do to improve our productivity. What’s more, they have the modelling to prove it. (more…)
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Silencing the mandate: US sanctions on Francesca Albanese a symbol of international law’s twilight
Imagine a scene worthy of Orwell’s worst nightmare: a United Nations envoy, appointed to report on human rights violations, excellently performing in her job despite formidable difficulties, and met with sanctions by one of the world’s most powerful nations. But this isn’t satire; it’s July 2025. (more…)
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Top Australian writers urge Albanese to abolish Job-Ready Graduates, calling their humanities degrees life-changing
“Earning a humanities degree was not only life-changing, in terms of opening up a world of knowledge otherwise beyond my reach, it also turns out to have been enormously productive – for me and many, many people around me,” said Tim Winton this week. “My little arts degree has created jobs and cultural value for over 40 years.” (more…)
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Thai-Cambodia clash and the Thai military’s short leash
The flare-up in fighting between Thailand and Cambodia in the Dangrek Ranges reflects a longstanding disagreement about border demarcation. (more…)
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No Indonesian high-speed rail wizardry for Oz
When PM Anthony Albanese was flying home after six days in Beijing, the Great Wall and a panda zoo, he told a newspaper that “Australia could learn from China’s fast-rail network”. The People’s Republic already has more than 45,000 kilometres of high-speed rail connecting 500 cities. We have zilch. (more…)
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The essential reader on Donald Trump
To learn the whole dreadful story of Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the presidency, one could not do better than to read Thom Hartmann’s forthcoming book, “The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink”. (more…)
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LDP’s historic electoral defeat upends Japan’s politics
Japan’s political landscape changed significantly on 20 July 2025 with the triennial upper house elections delivering a stinging blow to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner, Komeito. (more…)
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International law not only abused – but abandoned
As the world watches the destruction of Gaza unfold in real time, the legitimacy of international law faces a crisis more profound than any it has seen since its post-WWII codification. (more…)
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Guilty of the ‘crime’ of being Palestinian. Punishment: execution
My long solidarity with Palestine and Palestinians is well-known. I have written two books and countless articles on this topic, and have spoken publicly about it for years. (more…)
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Mass Palestinian starvation used as a weapon of war – Bob Carr
Former Foreign Minister and NSW Premier Bob Carr has compared the situation in Gaza with the Warsaw Ghetto, and urged the Government to move with the French on Palestinian statehood. He made his comments in an interview with ABC Radio National Breakfast host Sally Sara. (more…)
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Ley must be saved from drowning over net zero
When Napoleon remarked that one should never interrupt an enemy when it was making a mistake, he was referring to the way the enemy was disposing of his troops, not about the policies and programs with which he proposed to govern. Like all the countries arrayed against him, (even, effectively, England) Napoleon didn’t do elections. (more…)
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‘Everything beautiful in their lives is gone’: US physicians read aloud the searing testimony of desperate doctors and patients in Gaza
“I have a cold. And in one hour, I’ll have finished a 24-hour shift, heartbroken again. I lost a cardiac patient because we had no medication. (more…)
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A strange thing happened last week on the way to the office of Japan’s prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba
People from the parties that had just tried to vote him out of that office were demanding he stay in that office. (more…)
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How Chinese diaspora voters reshape Australian and US politics
Chinese diaspora communities in Australia and the US both face racism and loyalty suspicions under “China threat” narratives, yet their voting has diverged. (more…)
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Activists read out names of 17,000 Palestinian children killed by Israel in Gaza
The names of the 17,000 Palestinian children who have been killed in Gaza by Israel over the past 22 months were read aloud outside Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday. (more…)
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The new Commonwealth office of Multicultural Affairs unveiled
A new Commonwealth Office of Multicultural Affairs has been established within the Department of Home Affairs. (more…)
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The principal barrier to a rapid energy transition
With the dead-end nuclear energy scenario binned during the present reign of the Labor Government and rapid technological change facilitating renewable energy solutions, we must now come to grips with the principal non-technical barrier to a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. (more…)
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Israeli Knesset hosts conference on plan to ‘Occupy Gaza’ and ‘Relocate Gazans’
“There is a purpose to this war, and it’s a criminal one,” wrote Israeli journalist Gideon Levy in Haaretz this past weekend. (more…)
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Message from the Editor
This week the news from Gaza has been so gut-wrenchingly awful that it is tempting to turn away. To stop reading. To stop looking. (more…)
