On Tuesday, a committed group of over 1,000 activists rained on the Government’s parade, using the day of the opening of Parliament to protest Australia’s ongoing complicity in the Israeli Government’s genocidal actions in Gaza. (more…)
Category: Politics
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The new pricing scam: How surveillance pricing exploits us all
Imagine booking an Uber ride on your shiny new iPhone 16, only to discover it costs $10 more than the same trip booked on your friend’s older Android. (more…)
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National security ‘experts’ go ga-ga over China
There was a time when Australian writings on China were first-class. (more…)
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Evans gobsmacked by ANU change plan
Former ANU Chancellor and Federal Minister Gareth Evans has expressed ‘acute concern’ at proposed changes in humanities and social sciences at ANU. In a letter delivered to the Vice-Chancellor and Chancellor this week, he says the university’s distinctive national mission is being ‘ignored or gravely under-valued’. (more…)
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Change proposals risk relegating ANU to middle-ranking regional uni
Well known historian and long-time ANU staff member, Frank Bongiorno, says he has never seen, “such a lack of vision, such a vacuum of ideas, such general disorganisation, nor such cavalier decision-making about institutions and programs built up through hard work over decades” in all his years at ANU. He outlined his concerns in this submission to ANU management. (more…)
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Famine expert: Israel’s starvation of Gaza most ‘Minutely designed and controlled’ since WWII
“This is preventable starvation,” said Alex de Waal. “It is entirely man-made.” (more…)
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Economic reform must included industrial transformation – Part 1
For a while it looked like federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ Economic Reform Roundtable would turn into a tax summit, such was the clamour to revisit missed opportunities. And we have an abundance of those in Australia. (more…)
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Albanese’s China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra’s spine’ in face of US pressure
Beijing rolled out the red carpet for the Australian leader this week and the two sides appeared to keep a lid on tensions. (more…)
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Cutting HECS debt is the least Albanese could do for young Australians. He should do more
It may seem an age since the federal election, but the new parliament has just convened for the first time. Anthony Albanese will be giving top priority to enacting his election commitments – “an honest politician? Really?” – and starting with his promise to cut uni graduates’ HECS debt by 20 per cent. (more…)
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The woman everyone loves to hate: Erin Patterson and the danger of certainty
Like Lindy Chamberlain before her, Erin Patterson has become the woman everyone loves to hate. (more…)
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Prabowo’s economic agenda faces a fiscal stress test
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s first 100 days have seen a shift towards initiatives driven by national security and ambitious populism, most notably the Free Nutritious Meals program, along with rice and fuel subsidies and tax breaks, all aimed at stimulating consumption and achieving self-sufficiency. Yet slowing growth, weak tax revenues and efforts to limit VAT increases are tightening the budget. Meanwhile, the creation of new ministries and the Danantara sovereign wealth fund have added overhead costs and off-budget spending. Together, these measures strain Indonesia’s fiscal space and raise concerns about the long-term sustainability of Prabowo’s security-focused agenda. (more…)
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Will Labor take Australia further from the global core?
As Anthony Albanese opens a new term and Treasurer Jim Chalmers signals a renewed focus on “abundance,” Australia stands at a pivotal juncture. Will Labor seize the opportunity to lead the nation into a high-value, sovereign economic future—or simply double down on the market-led path that has kept us stranded in the semiperiphery? (more…)
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Australia and Japan cannot accept America’s war on China
Japan and Australia together must induce the US to face the reality of what it is asking. (more…)
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It’s clear – Israel now has a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza
Adolf Eichmann began his Nazi career as the head of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration at the security agency charged with protecting the Reich. Joseph Brunner, the father of Mossad chief David Barnea, was three years old when he fled Nazi Germany with his parents, before the evacuation plan was implemented. (more…)
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Vale John Deeble – an architect of Medicare
Following John Menadue’s refection on 50 years of Medicare this week, many have raised the contribution of John Deeble. Below is an edited version of a 2018 tribute to the man without whom the scheme would not have been possible. (more…)
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Stephen Colbert’s firing: the critical unanswered question
Why now? It was either pandering to Trump, management’s incompetence, or both. (more…)
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Will Albanese and Xi “cooperate” to acquire “common ground” in the fullness of time?
China policy and related diplomacy has recently made important progress based on the postponed resolution of apparently hard differences, but how long can the “reservation” of difficulty delay the explicit correction of the separation of economy and security? (more…)
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Denials can’t cloud the truth that Google is complicit in the Gaza genocide
Google and Sergey Brin know their company’s technology is not neutral – it is a pillar of Israel’s machinery of destruction. (more…)
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From ‘Stone Age’ treasury boss to National Party Senator: John Stone 1929–2025
John Owen Stone AO was a legendary leader of the Commonwealth Treasury. He was secretary (departmental head) from January 1979 to September 1984 but was an intellectual driving force before then as deputy secretary from 1971 to 1978. (more…)
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Effective philanthropy: A model partnership
Effective philanthropy is hard to achieve. It’s difficult to access money for a worthy cause but also difficult to give money away effectively with impact. (more…)
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Progressive patriotism fails the independence test
Anthony Albanese’s recent John Curtin oration sparked hope among some that Australia might pursue a more independent foreign policy. (more…)
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Time to clarify the scope for bipartisan cooperation in a new Federal Parliament
It would be wise if the Prime Minister and the new Leader of the Opposition were to meet early in this new Federal Parliament to clarify what they think is the desirable and possible scope for bipartisan cooperation. (more…)
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AUKUS – an American problem
Australians who have been critical of AUKUS have tended to focus on Australian problems with it – it’s too dear, we have neither a nuclear industry nor a nuclear workforce, etc. (more…)
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Pope demands ‘Immediate Halt to the Barbarity’ of Israel’s war on Gaza
Pope Leo XIV said the Israeli military’s deadly attack on Gaza’s sole Catholic Church was “just one of the continuous military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship” in the Palestinian enclave. (more…)
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Trump’s negotiation position diminishes as Albo sits him out
Anthony Albanese’s visit to China has exceeded everyone’s expectations, including mine, and arms him with extra weapons and arguments for when he meets President Donald Trump and United States officials, whenever that is to be. One can expect that Americans, and the advocates on The Australian will accuse him of weakening perceptions that Australia is firmly in the western camp. But he studiously said and did nothing that he has not said and done before, and one would have to parse each statement carefully to see evidence of any shift away from America, let alone movement towards the Chinese camp. (more…)
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How Chalmers can square the budget circle despite stagnant productivity
As if Treasurer Jim Chalmers didn’t have a big enough problem trying to improve the economy’s productivity, we now know Treasury has privately reminded him he’ll need to find additional tax revenue and reduce government spending to keep the budget “sustainable” – that is, to stop the government’s debt getting a lot higher. (more…)
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Time for Australia to look beyond China and the US
Opportunities for diplomacy in the Indian Ocean will help secure Australia’s future in a multipolar world. (more…)
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Why a surprise jump in unemployment isn’t as bad as it sounds
New figures show Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 4.3% – its highest level since late 2021 – in June this year, up from 4.1% in May. (more…)
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The war on US science
The US was already having problems with the performance of US academic institutions in scientific areas when Donald Trump arrived with the mission to nobble universities. (more…)
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Out beyond right-doing and wrong-doing there is a field. Let me meet you there (Part 2)
Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing there is a field.
Let me meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about. (Rumi) (more…)