Blog

  • IAN MCAULEY. The finance sector: a drag on the real economy

    The royal commission into the finance sector is more about detecting “misconduct” in individual institutions than exposing the ways in which the sector has misallocated investment funding and caused other economic distortions. (more…)

  • MICHAEL KEATING. Tax cuts – what can we expect? Part 1 of 2.

     

    The evidence suggests that Malcolm Turnbull just doesn’t have the fiscal room to responsibly offer income tax cuts, which means it was very irresponsible to raise expectations in this way. Part 1 in this series of two articles examines the relationship between taxes and economic growth, and the demands upon the revenue to repair the Budget. In the following Part 2, the scope for expenditure cuts and the future of tax reform is discussed. The conclusion is that Australia will need to increase the share of tax revenue relative to GDP.  (more…)

  • JOHN DWYER: When will we seriously tackle the Inequity associated with the delivery of health services to rural and remote Australians? Part 1 of 2.

    Health outcomes for Australians living in rural or what are characterised as “remote” areas are far inferior to those of their city cousins. If you don’t live in metropolitan Australia your life expectancy is reduced by about four years. You are four times more likely to die of a stroke. Rates of obesity, infant mortality, mental health disorders, and diabetes are all much higher than is the case for our urban population. There is nothing new here, we have known about these realities for decades as well as the strategies needed to address the  problem. At least five major enquires have reached similar conclusions over the last decade yet hardly any of the recommendations have been implemented as needed policies are stymied by political wrangling and incompetence.This is particularly true for attempts to solve the biggest problem of all; the shortage of Australian trained doctors in the “bush”. (Part one of two contributions)   (more…)

  • DONELLA JOHNSTON. Why women should run the Catholic Church.

    You know an idea is starting to become mainstream when you read about it in the Australian Women’s Weekly. (more…)

  • BRUCE THOM. Keeping the Murray mouth open

    Maintaining an open mouth of the Murray River in South Australia was a key objective of the Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP). The Basin Plan was established by the Australian Government to address the chronic over-allocation of water for irrigation and other purposes. One aim of the MDBP was to recover more water for the environment including sufficient water to maintain an open mouth without the need for dredging most of the time. Following a review of the MDBP by the Wentworth Group it appears that this objective will not be meet. (more…)

  • MICHAEL KELLY. The Pope in Asia

    Pope Francis was true to his word about the best place for the Catholic Church to be is on fringes, away from the cosseted privilege that keeps reality at bay. Traveling to Myanmar and Bangladesh – both in the top five poorest countries in Asia – he was also visiting relatively tiny Catholic communities (accounting for one of the 220 million people who are citizens of the two nations) that find their entry among the marginalized.

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  • GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND …

    Australian shareholders should be told of climate risk to profits, says think tank

    Triple J did the right thing: we need a new Australia Day – Henry Reynolds in The Conversation

    Banks warned of ‘regulatory action’ as climate change bites global economy – the Guardian

    Why South Australia must, and will, lead world on renewables – RenewEconomy

    Stephen Hawkings promotes smart drugs – Jon Stewart in Forbes magazine 

    Behrouz Boochani exposed Australia’s evil on Manus. The shame will outlive us all | Richard Flanagan – the Guardian.

    “The cost of living is soaring: look at electricity prices for example.”  That’s a common belief, held by many people struggling to make ends meet, but Ross Gittins reminds us that the source of the struggle is low wage growth, not inflation (The real reason you’re feeling the pinch, Fairfax press 20 Nov).  Low wage growth and low inflation are both attributable, in large part, to intense competition and technological change.

    Marrying across Australia’s Catholic-Protestant divide in the old days – the Conversation

    South Australia’s Royal Commission into water theft may be just the tip of iceberg for the Murray Darling Basin – Jamie Pittock in the Conversation.

  • BRUCE DUNCAN. Did Pope Francis succeed in Myanmar?

    Myanmar’s neighbours were watching closely the Pope’s visit, worried that the shocking treatment of the Rohingya Muslims could inflame inter-religious conflicts throughout the region. Francis has intervened personally to promote deeper mutual understanding among the major religions, urging them to draw from their traditions to protect those in distress and promote social inclusion and universal human values. (more…)

  • MICHAEL LAMBERT. The Productivity Commission on Improving Productivity and Health Reform PART 2 OF 2.

    In part 1 yesterday, I outlined the five key areas or themes where the Productivity Commission believes that reform is essential and would deliver major benefits to individuals, the community and the economy. These five themes are summarised below.   (more…)

  • JERRY ROBERTS Parliamentary reform needs external drive

    Privatisation and corporatisation of government services such as Australia Post have reduced the power and influence of the Parliament and made it less relevant to our daily lives. Parliamentary reform is important but needs to be seen as part of a bigger picture – much bigger. (more…)

  • BRUCE WEARNE A Suggestion to the Ruddock Committee

    The discussion of Freedom of Religion in relation to proposed changes to the Marriage Act should not avoid analysis of how the current Act refers to a wedding ceremony’s “monitum”. The Marriage Act decrees that the “Monitum” must be announced when a marriage is conducted by one authorised to do so. But how now will a new “monitum” function under the proposed changes to the Act? How will the Act’s view of the wedding ceremony be configured?   (more…)

  • BOB DOUGLAS. Changing the Economic Narrative. How Feasible and How Soon?

    What will it take to develop a new economy in Australia that seriously addresses the problems of human inequality and environmental degradation? What is required to place radical economic reform properly on the Australian political agenda?  

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  • DAVID WATTERS AND COLLEAGUES. An open letter to the Australian Parliament regarding the health of asylum seekers and refugees on Manus Island

    (The following letter appeared in the MJA Insight on 27 November 2017)

    WE are senior Australian clinicians who write in our individual capacity to express our concerns about the ongoing health and well-being of the former detainees still based on Manus Island and now in alternative accommodation. They, like all human beings, have a universal right – enshrined in the United Nations charter – to health and well-being. Their political and citizenship status should not affect this right. All politicians regardless of their political party should respect the human right to health and themselves be strong advocates of “health for all” without discrimination. (more…)

  • MIKE WALLER. The Royal Commission we really need – into Australia’s public administration.

     As Terry Moran has recently pointed out, our system of public administration is in serious trouble.  The last fundamental look at Australian federal public administration was some forty years ago – the Coombs Royal Commission.  We urgently need a successor to Coombs’ forensic and thoughtful approach, but this time addressing the necessary reforms of all levels of government. (more…)

  • TERRY MORAN. Back in the game. Part 2 of 2.

    Active and effective government

    I want to highlight two messages from the attitudes research that I referred to in Part 1.  First, the health of our democracy can’t be divorced from the health of our public institutions and our public sector.  Second, getting back in the game means investing in an Australian Public Service (and a Victorian Public Service) that can think for itself, not smothering it with a dominant microeconomic paradigm that no longer works and the community no longer supports.   (more…)

  • MICHAEL LAMBERT: The Productivity Commission on Improving Productivity and Health Reform. Part 1 of 2.

    The Productivity Commission (hereafter the Commission) has recently released a very substantial and potentially important report, Shifting the Dial, and associated supporting papers. It was produced in response to a reference from the Treasurer for the Commission to investigate the state of productivity improvement and ways that government can enhance productivity performance. This is to be a five yearly review. The report is a most welcome contribution to public sector reform with major potential benefits to the community and represents a strategic and fundamental approach to public sector reform.  (more…)

  • BENJAMIN VENESS. NSW commits to improving health of doctors-in-training

    NSW has finally committed to addressing systemic problems with medical training in a bid to improve the mental health of doctors-in-training.   (more…)

  • ALLAN PATIENCE. Whose ruled-based international order?

    There is much bleating in Australia about the obligation on states to comply with a rules-based international order. The bleating intensifies whenever the Foreign Minister reacts to Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea or in relation to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute between Tokyo and Beijing.   (more…)

  • DOUGLAS NEWTON. First World War Centenaries that really matter are looming

    Centenary moments of huge significance are upon us: the centenary of the so-called ‘Lansdowne Peace Letter’ of 29 November 1917, and the centenary of the publication of the texts of the so-called ‘Secret Treaties’ in Britain, beginning on 12 December 1917. The possibility of peace was suddenly on the front page. Sensational diplomatic deals underpinning the war on the Allied side were exposed to the world. Will these centenaries be noticed in Australia? Or will we go on treating the centenary of the Great War as a chance to run again and again a kind of national ‘show-reel’ of battle honours?   (more…)

  • MICHAEL KELLY SJ. Pope Francis and The Lady meet

    The much-anticipated meeting between Pope Francis and Aung San Suu Kyi will disappoint those who expected an attentive focus on the Rohingya.   (more…)

  • Myanmar Is Not a Simple Morality Tale

    In this article published in the  on November 25, 2017, Roger Cohen writes about the dilemma of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.  He comments ‘The West made a saint of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The Rohingya crisis revealed a politician.’  
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  • TERRY MORAN ‘Back in the Game’ Part 1 of 2

    The policy pendulum is swinging away from a consensus on the primacy of light touch regulation of markets, the unexamined benefits of outsourced service delivery, a general preference for smaller government, and a willing ignorance of public sector values and culture because they’re not always compatible with efficiency as viewed by Treasuries. 

    Replacing this consensus is an increasing acceptance of a larger role for government, including involvement in service delivery, more effective regulation and bolder policy initiatives.   (more…)

  • LYN GILBERT. Healthcare-associated infections are important and often avoidable.

    Hospital, where you go to get better, can have the opposite effect and high on the list of hazards is infection acquired while there.   Progress has occurred  but more needs to be done.  IT opens up great possibilities for scaling mountains of data that could improve patient welfare and save wasted money.  (more…)

  • HANS J. OHFF. Nukes, the strategic advantage or otherwise.

    In a reply to Paul Dibb’s and Richard Brabin-Smith’s piece ‘Australia’s management of strategic risk in the new era’, Hugh White observes :  ‘…so much of the investments we’re now committing to in massive warship programs make no sense. [The] ADF that could defend Australia independently from China would be very different from the ADF today, and the country and economy that could sustain such a force on protracted operations would be very different too.’  Australia’s learned defence planners and strategist know that the corollary of a decline in US global supremacy is the continuing rapid rise of China and a more adventurist Russia. The Trump Administration’s demand for an increase in US nuclear strike capability will not reverse this trend.  (more…)

  • ELIZABETH EVATT. Why not protect all our rights and freedoms?

    The proposal to legislate for freedom of thought ,conscience and religion, as provided in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a half measure which would leave other rights and freedoms without equivalent protection. And it may not produce the result which is aimed at. (more…)

  • ANDREW GLIKSON. Humanity’s stark choice: continue genocidal wars or try to save our planetary home.

    CO2 levels reached 403.64 ppm in October 2017, a rise of 2.07 ppm above October 2016. This has triggered amplifying feedbacks from land and oceans. It is becoming clear the only way to avert environmental and nuclear catastrophes is to down-draw atmospheric CO2 using budgets on a scale currently only available to the military.           (more…)

  • ROSS BURNS. Syria: the Task Ahead

    The next attempt to hold UN-sponsored talks in Geneva with the main parties to the Syrian conflict is due to begin this week. With the defeat of ISIS on the ground, what hope is there that a clearer picture will emerge on whether the conflict might be reaching its final stages?   (more…)

  • IAN DUNLOP. Climate & Energy – Appeasement Does Not Work

    The current chaos around climate and energy policy brings to mind George Santayana’s caution that: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. That is exactly what we are witnessing, albeit with far more profound implications even than the advent of the Second World War.   (more…)

  • HUGH WHITE. The White Paper’s grand strategic fix: Can Australia achieve an Indo-Pacific pivot?

    By far the most important and sobering part of the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper is Figure 2.4. It offers the Treasury’s estimates of the sizes of the region’s key economies in 2030. They are calculated in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, which adjusts for differences in prices and exchange rates to give a more accurate picture of the relative weight of different economies. The choice of PPP measures is deliberate: it gives the strategists’ view of GDP. (more…)

  • CAVAN HOGUE. The White Paper – a curate’s egg?

    There is much to be commended in the Government’s White Paper but there are some assumptions which need to be questioned. The focus on Asia is welcome and most of the analysis of our changing world is good, in particular the recognition that the balance between China and the USA has been changing.  The Prime Minister’s claim that we will be guided by Australian interests is on the surface timely but is open to interpretation. The major weakness in the paper is the way it clings to the US as the unshakeable bedrock of our security while at the same tine arguing that the balance of power between China and the US will continue to move in favour of China.. In other words we will back the loser.. It also takes a naive view of American international behaviour and ignores its claim to ‘exceptionalism’. The paper regards America as a force for stability in our region without showing how American policies have and will be a force for stability. (more…)