Two weeks ago, Australia was chosen as one of two new member nations on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). Before one gets too excited about this achievement it is worth noting that our country’s election was uncontested. There were three countries vying for two positions on the HRC – Australia, Spain and France. France dropped out of the race just weeks before the election was due to be held. Spain and Australia, therefore, walked unopposed into the two spots that remained. It was just as well that there was no contested election. This nation’s human rights record is nothing of which we can be proud. And as it happens, the UN itself has been sharply critical of several aspects of Australia’s human rights performance in the three months before, and the two weeks after, the country’s success. (more…)
Blog
-
SUSAN RYAN. Skills retraining still more miss than hit.
Like car manufacturers who, despite decades of notice, still left many workers stranded, NAB’s more sudden announcement underlines the fact that massive redundancies are not only a feature of “old” industries. (more…)
-
MARTIN TAYLOR. How weak laws and weak enforcement are failing our wildlife.
How weakened laws in Qld and NSW are failing our wildlife and how the Australian Government is doing little to prevent it. (more…)
-
PETER ARNOLD. Ethics and the AMA
Interestingly, the committee appointed by the Victorian government to report on ‘assisted dying’ was headed by the immediate past-president of the AMA, neurosurgeon Brian Owler. Neurosurgeons have a close connection with this problem when patients with severe head injuries have been on life-support for days or weeks with no apparent chance of meaningful survival. (more…)
-
RAMESH THAKUR. Australia’s gulag of shame
Manus Island detainees are back in the news. In this article published more than a year ago, in the Japan Times, Ramesh Thakur asks: Do Australian Cabinet ministers and departmental heads really value their jobs, and the power and perks that come with them, so much that they are prepared to be complicit by association in the torture of innocent children, facilitated by a policy of bribing and bullying Pacific neighbours? Has Australia really been reduced to this sorry state? (more…)
-
FRANK BRENNAN. Questions Ardern can ask Turnbull about Manus.
When Prime Minister Turnbull meets with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Sunday, he will receive a renewed offer of help from New Zealand in relation to Manus Island. For the last four years, New Zealand has offered to take 150 refugees from Manus Island. Messrs Turnbull and Dutton have seen fit, unilaterally and contrary to the signed agreement with PNG, to step in (on behalf of PNG presumably) and refuse New Zealand’s offer of help. At the same time, they continue to say that these refugees are the responsibility of PNG. It’s hard to see how they continue to have it both ways. (more…)
-
TESSA MORRIS-SUZUKI. Manus Island – Mr. Turnbull, Just Say ‘Yes’
The nightmare scenario that everyone has predicted for months is now unfolding. Desperate and frightened refugees are digging in the ground for tainted water. Hundreds of men who are dependent on psychotropic medication because of neglect and mistreatment now have less than a month’s supply of medication left. But there is a small window of hope. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern has offered to take 150 of the refugees, possibly opening the way to other resettlement arrangements. Malcolm Turnbull meets Ardern on 5 November, and has the choice of accepting this offer, or slamming the door in the faces of the refugees. Mr. Turnbull, just say yes. (more…)
-
GREG LOCKHART: Remembering the charge at Beersheba and forgetting the Balfour Declaration
This week, as our $600 million Great War centenary rolled on, the Australian Light Horse charge at Beersheba on 31 October 1917 has come out of the culture in a tsunami of centenary excitement at home and abroad.
Media enthusiasm for the charge has been unbounded in Australia, while talks in Tel Aviv between the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on defence cooperation in industry, intelligence and cyber-strategy lent a business-like touch to proceedings. At the same time, 2,000 descendants of light horsemen, many aged and wearing period costume, gathered near the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Beersheba in Israel’s southern desert. (more…)
-
The Manus Island agreement is a failure; Turnbull and Shorten need to accept that: Robert Manne, Tim Costello, Frank Brennan and John Menadue.
There is now a humanitarian disaster on Australia’s doorstep. And it’s our responsibility. The refugees on Manus Island must be resettled promptly. After four years, all options other than Australia have come to nothing or have been rejected by our government. There is now no option but to resettle them in Australia.
There are 600 persons, most of them proven refugees, who are at risk on Manus Island. They were taken there under an agreement between the governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea. They have been there more than four years.
-
GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND …
In 1974 Rex Connor, Minister for Minerals and Energy in the Whitlam Government, had a vision of a national pipeline linking the gas fields in WA to the gas markets in the nation’s southeast. His attempt to raise funds for that project led to the so-called Loans Affair, which was central in the 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam Government. Come forward 43 years and Fairfax journalist Cole Latimer reports that ACIL Allen, in partnership with engineering firm GHD, has been contracted by the federal government to carry out a pre-feasibility study on a west-east gas pipeline to link the gas markets.
Jack Waterford says his ‘bet’ is that the ultimate source of the AWU raids leak was the AFP‘
Jake Adelstein in Forbes tells us that the anti-Korean prejudice of Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is a big problem
Australia hijacks important Anzac victory at Bersheeba – Tony Wright (Newshub)
-
ANDREW GLIKSON. Hurricanes and megafires abound, but don’t mention the words ‘climate change’
As extreme hurricanes and extensive wildfires proliferate around the globe, an internet search suggests that, in reporting these events, the words “climate change” have almost disappeared from much of the mainstream media. Some exceptions include the SMH[1] and the Guardian[2]. Nor have numerous ABC reports of the Houston floods included references to climate change. See for example at the following links[3] (more…)
-
RAMESH THAKUR. Heading over the nuclear cliff.
The answer to growing regional uncertainty isn’t to build up nuclear arsenals. (more…)
-
PETER MARTIN. It’s Time (to take Labor seriously)
The shape of the next Labor government is becoming clearer.
This week we learnt that it will end the practice of signing Australia up to trade agreements that haven’t survived a benefit-cost analysis. (more…)
-
JOHN AUSTEN. Trouble in NSW infrastructure paradise, Part 2.
This is a second instalment about the onslaught of NSW infrastructure puff pieces. (more…)
-
ANDREW FARRAN. Parliamentary eligibility – did the High Court get it wrong?
The response to the High Court’s decision in the Parliamentarians eligibility case has been largely uncritical and disappointing. While Section 44 (i) of the Constitution allows for a simplistic literal interpretation the Court’s failure to transpose that provision into the social and political context of the present day, and have better regard for its historical antecedents, will create more problems than it has solved and does not sit well with our multicultural and regional realities. (more…)
-
FRANK BRENNAN. A mate’s take on Rudd’s call to arms.
Kevin Rudd is back. Last week he was blitzing the country with a whirlwind book tour, having flown in from New York where he continues his post-prime-ministerial life as President of the Asia Society. He is promoting volume one of his autobiography entitled Not for the Faint-hearted. I caught up with him at Australian National University where he met in conversation with Stan Grant in front of a large crowd. (more…)
-
JOHN MENADUE. We need to curb rent-seekers and lobbyists.
In the series “Fairness, Opportunity and Security” last year I drew attention to the pervasive loss of trust in institutions. Essential Research revealed that the six least trusted institutions were: the news media, state parliaments, trade unions, business groups, religious organisations and political parties. The three most trusted institutions were all public: the ABC, High Court and Reserve Bank. In light of Jacquie Lambie’s proposals to curb the ‘lobbying racket in Canberra’ I decided to repost an earlier blog on the collapse of trust with the growth in rent seeking and lobbying, with some up dating. (more…)
-
JIM COOMBS. Doing right by our First Peoples needs a little understanding but a LOT MORE RESPECT.
As my Dad, “Nugget” Coombs, said in his Boyer Lectures years ago, though still ringing true, we are all demeaned by our treatment of our aboriginal people. Even back then, he implored our leaders to consult with, listen to and empower our first peoples to have not just some say, but some control over their destiny. (more…)
-
TRAVERS McLEOD. Patient policy-making for a region on the move.
There are no quick fixes for a crisis like the forced displacement of Myanmar’s Rohingya, but a new collaboration has been preparing the way for an effective regional approach. (more…)
-
PETER BROOKS AND ALEX WODAK. A response to the open letter from Crown Resorts on gambling.
On Tuesday 31 October a rally to support Women against Gambling, coordinated by the Alliance for Gambling Reform ( pokiesplayyou.org.au), was held outside the Victorian Parliament. This was (amongst others) supported by Fiona Patten MLC to send a message to MPs not to weaken laws on gambling – which may occur when Parliament returns next week.
-
HENRY REYNOLDS. Beersheba and the Militarisation of Australian History.
The commemoration of the centenary of the battle for Beersheba illustrates many features of the progressive militarization of Australian history. No other aspect of our past attracts the lavish funding provided by the federal government. The cost of the commemoration must be considerable given the abundant travel grants and the funding of the new Light Horse Museum. The attendance of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and other prominent Australians, including the Ambassador to the USA Joe Hockey, further enhances the asserted national importance of the event. The uncritical reporting of the accompanying Australian media contingent provided little scope for sceptical assessment of the battle itself and its long term significance. (more…)
-
ROGER SCOTT. Personalities and Millstones in Queensland
Personalities are increasingly significant in political contests, particularly as voters in all countries are abandoning the dominant parties. Politics in most Australian states are firmly controlled by capital city interests. Queensland has been slightly different, in this as in so many other ways. (more…)
-
KEVIN PEOPLES. The Dangers of a Feminine Touch
The Catholic Church’s misogyny is one of the cultural causes for its sexual abuse scandal. It is impossible to believe that any female bishop, or any woman assisting her bishop as a consultor, on hearing rumours or allegations of the raping of young children by priests, would have readily accepted priestly denials or agreed to move the accused to anther parish. Could a woman admit publically she was not particularly interested in the issue? (more…)
-
JOAN STAPLES. Civil Society Highs and Lows
Australian civil society has seen the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) win the Nobel Peace Prize, the High Court uphold Bob Brown’s challenge to Tasmanian protest laws, and the Coalition extend its attacks on NGO advocacy, targeting GetUp. (more…)
-
IAN VERRENDER. Productivity Commission pulls no punches on ‘appalling’ energy crisis, calls for carbon price
Basil Fawlty couldn’t have done it better.
Treasurer Scott Morrison last week stood at the lectern and delivered a thundering dissertation on the urgent need for cuts to company taxes. (more…)
-
GRAEME WORBOYS. About Snowy water, catchment restoration, Snowy 2.0 and jobs
The Snowy 2.0 project, if it is to realise its contribution to lowering carbon emissions, should proceed hand in hand with a program of environmental restoration of alpine ecosystems which have not recovered from past and present alpine grazing and which, as a result of global warming, will have less water yield for downstream users, including Snowy 2.0. (more…)
-
IAN McAULEY. Scott Morrison commissions an economic platform for a Shorten Government
Last week the Commonwealth released a major report on productivity challenges facing Australia over the next five years. Although it was commissioned by Treasurer Scott Morrison, it is unlikely that the government, which shows no appetite for meaningful economic reform, will act on its recommendations. But the report may form a useful guide for whichever government takes the reins following the next federal election. (more…)
-
BRUCE MOUNTAIN. Energy prices are high because consumers are paying for useless, profit-boosting infrastructure
The preliminary report on energy prices released last week by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) suggests that the consumer watchdog is concerned about almost every aspect of Australia’s electricity industry. It quotes customer groups who say electricity is the biggest issue in their surveys, and cites several case studies of outrageous price increases experienced by various customers. (more…)
-
ANDREW FARRAN. Middle East World Cup – match schedule unravelling – a report.
The Middle East World Cup should be advancing towards the Finals but the match schedule is in disarray due to disqualifications and suspensions. (more…)
-
GEOFF MILLER. Xi Jinping’s China: this too will pass?
Xi Jinping’s first five years have produced a China in which the Communist Party is in more control of more things, and restrictions on dissent and the free expression of opinion have grown. The recently concluded Party Congress seems to offer more of the same. But how will this recipe stand with a population growing steadily more prosperous, better educated and more familiar with the outside world? (more…)