Most international attention on East Asia today is sharply focused on North Korea’s nuclear and missile developments. But this does not mean that we can neglect the significant developments taking place in Japan’s domestic political landscape. Since winning the December 2012 elections, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has maintained a commanding majority in the national Diet, and Abe himself is sometimes called ‘all-powerful Abe’. (more…)
Blog
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JON STANFORD. Australia’s Future Submarine; Part 2 of 3 : Addressing the problems in a second-best world
At the National Press Club in Canberra on 27 September 2017, Hugh White, Professor of Strategic Studies at the ANU, launched an independent report by Insight Economics on Australia’s future submarine (FSM). The report, Australia’s Future Submarine: Getting This Key Capability Right, was commissioned by Gary Johnston, a Sydney businessman and owner of the website, submarinesforaustralia. (more…)
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Welcome to Malcolm’s brave new world.
Malcolm Turnbull began last week with the regular ritual of re-announcing that, yet again, he had solved the gas crisis. (more…)
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MICHAEL KEATING. Trump’s Economic Policies: Part 1 of 2
President Trumps economic policies have so far received much less attention than his foreign and national security policies. The examination here and in a following article concludes that the economic policies are based on fundamental contradictions and are therefore bound to fail. This failure will be felt by Americans and by the rest of the world. (more…)
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JOHN AUSTEN. Priorities for Infrastructure Australia.
The new Infrastructure Australia chair said the organisation is open to ideas and seeks priorities from the public. Sitting in the public gallery I suggest three priorities: (1) revisit some of its advice; (2) set out the Commonwealth’s role; and (3) become more independent. The aim is to improve its reputation as a Commonwealth adviser. (more…)
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PAUL FRIJTERS. Observations, lessons, and predictions for the Catalan situation
I make the following observations about the Catalan situation:What might happen! (more…)
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TONY SMITH. Australia’s worst threat from terrorism lies in the home.
The recent shooting in Las Vegas is a reminder that massacres are not the preserve of international terrorists. While the US Ambassador in Canberra has suggested Australia’s firearms laws could be a useful model for the USA, we cannot feel complacent while we tolerate domestic violence. Yet, politicians seem not to appreciate that cultural change is needed to address this scourge. (more…)
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PETER DAY. One of us: the sanity behind an act of insanity
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the Right of the people to Keep and Bear Arms shall not be infringed.” (U.S. Constitution, 2nd Amendment)
Thanks to the literalist and, thus, intellectually corrupt interpretation of this archaic 18th century sentence, there are more guns in the United States today than there are citizens – over 300 million. Indeed, the 2nd Amendment ‘gundamentalism’ that abounds continues to wreak havoc on its people. The U.S. is at war with itself; a war in which only the innocent are being targeted. (more…)
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JOHN CARMODY. Same-sex marriage survey is All Over, Red Rover.
Newspapers and the electronic media seem to flourish on controversy, novelty and scandal; the temptation is to expand and prolong their coverage unduly. The current postal survey on “same-sex marriage” seems to be a classic instance. (more…)
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Rejoicing in the good old days.
I may be getting nostalgic n my old age – hell, I am getting nostalgic in my old age. But it was hard not to rejoice in the good old days as Bob Hawke and Gareth Evans arrived at the National Club Press last week to spruik Evan’s memoir. (more…)
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LEONID PETROV. Imagining the catastrophic consequences of a new war in Korea.
The 1953 Armistice Agreement brought a sustainable halt to the Korean War, but has never ended it. Nor did it transform into a peace regime. During the last sixty four years the North and South Koreans have lived in conditions of neither war nor peace, which has certain advantages and downsides for both regimes separated by the Demilitarised Zone. (more…)
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JON STANFORD. Australia’s Future Submarines: A response to Christopher Pyne
Last week at the National Press Club, Hugh White launched a report by Insight Economics, Australia’s Future Submarine: Getting This Key Capability Right, of which I was the principal author. The report was sponsored by Gary Johnston, a Sydney businessman with no commercial interest in the SEA 1000 Future Submarine (FSM) program but an abiding concern with the waste of taxpayers’ money in failed defence acquisition projects. (more…)
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MICHAEL KEATING. Can Parliament control Government Expenditure?-The Use of the Advance to the Minister of Finance
The High Court has upheld the Government’s decision to use the Advance to the Minister of Finance to pay for its survey of attitudes regarding same-sex marriage, and notwithstanding that funding for this survey was unlikely to gain parliamentary approval. Furthermore, the Court found that while the Finance Minister’s decision must be “formed reasonably”, he “is not obliged to act apolitically or quasi-judicially” in determining access to the Advance. My concern is that this High Court decision may have tipped the balance too far against parliamentary control of government expenditure, which is a key feature of our democracy ever since Magna Carta. The question we now face is what should and can be done to restore this parliamentary control, while still allowing governments to respond to unforeseen and urgent circumstances? (more…)
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ELIZABETH EVATT. Our Rights and Civil liberties- Death by a Thousand Cuts
Its time to give the Courts power to determine whether our anti-terrorism laws violate our fundamental rights of liberty and freedom from arbitrary detention. (more…)
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DUNCAN MACLAREN. Catalonia is not Scotland and Vice Versa
Scotland’s independence referendum campaign, described by an academic, objective source as one of the best examples of participative democracy in Europe, was completely peaceful apart from triumphant Unionists who were followers of the Orange Lodge attacking forlorn “Yes” voters on the day after the referendum which the ‘pro-indy’ side narrowly lost. In Catalonia, before and during the referendum, blood was spilt by police drafted in from the other parts of Spain by the Madrid Government in scenes reminiscent of the repressive tactics used by Franco. The all-seeing social media and even serious TV channels showed elderly women bleeding because of the brutality. Not a good look for an EU member country which has only been a democracy for 42 years. But what are the differences between the Catalan and Scottish desires to be an independent state? (more…)
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WE ARE ALSO READING AND LISTENING TO …
Pearls and Irritations provides the following links for weekend reading and listening: (more…)
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JOCK COLLINS. How refugees overcome the odds to become entrepreneurs
Refugees face monumental challenges when starting a business. Many lack formal education, capital, social capital (relationships in the community), English language skills, and knowledge of the local market and regulations. (more…)
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EVAN WILLIAMS. University education: the monster in the room.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone lacking a rewarding occupation must be in want of a degree. A university education is not only a good in itself, but an indispensable passport to a satisfying career and a secure lifestyle. It follows that universities should be open to all, that everyone should be encouraged to take a degree and that greater public investment in higher education is the key to national progress and prosperity. All of which, as we are now discovering to our cost, is nonsense – a dangerous fallacy that politicians on all sides are unwilling to confront. (more…)
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MICHAEL WEST. Why are we still pursuing the Adani Carmichael mine?
Why, if Adani’s gigantic Carmichael coal project is so on-the-nose for the banks and so environmentally destructive, are the federal and Queensland governments so avid in their support of it?
Adani employs the lobbying firm Next Level Strategic Services.. The director of this lobbying firm is Cameron Milner,who was Bill Shorten’s Chief of Staff, former ALP State Secretary in Queensland and who helped run the last election campaign of the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszcuk. The co-director of the same lobbying firm is David Moore who ran Campbell Newman’s successful 2012 election campaign
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RAMESH THAKUR. Incorrigible Optimist by Gareth Evans – review-Part 2 of 2
At a time when the world’s political landscape seems starved of good policy-making, Gareth Evans’ political memoirs are a reflection on the pursuit of good leadership in Australia and the world, Ramesh Thakur writes. (more…)
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REBECCA PETERS. Las Vegas and Port Arthur – a tale of two tragedies.
Here’s what the Las Vegas massacre has in common with Port Arthur – Las Vegas is the worst mass shooting in modern US history; Port Arthur set the same record for Australia, and in fact for the world at that time. Both massacres occurred at iconic holiday locations, popular with tourists and honeymooners. The victims, survivors and witnesses came from across the country and even overseas. This means the events have personal significance for enormous numbers of people. (more…)
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MICHAEL KEATING. Contestability and Defence Advice
Major defence decisions have long been made with a minimum amount of consultation. That is certainly true of the recent decision to give the French Naval Group a monopoly over the design and build of Australia’s next submarine. The way this decision was made seems to reflect a long-standing view that civilians are not competent and cannot be allowed to question military expertise. This post suggests this is not good enough as many relevant considerations in defence planning and acquisitions range well beyond military expertise. (more…)
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SHAUN KING. The White Privilege of the “Lone Wolf” Shooter
White killers are invariably ‘lone wolves’ and not terrorists.Muslim and African-Americans killers are treated differently (more…)
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DAVID STEPHENS. Who’s Schlesinger now? Something that may have happened in the Nixon era could be relevant today.
It is said that, when President Richard Nixon, assailed by Watergate, drunk and psychotic, wandered the corridors of the White House in the dead of night, talking to portraits of his predecessors, members of his administration put measures in place to keep the President’s hands away from ‘the football’, the briefcase that always accompanied him, containing the codes to launch a nuclear attack. Is this true and could something similar happen today? (more…)
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RAMESH THAKUR. Incorrigible Optimist by Gareth Evans, a Political Memoir – A review-Part 1of 2
Gareth Evans’ memoir makes clear his vision of good international citizenship would have foreign ministers pursuing national self-interest within the ennobling vision of global moral purposes. -
THOMAS ALBRECHT. Australia’s refugee policy is a failure. This is not the time to shirk responsibility.
Australia’s current refugee policy has been an abject failure. A proper approach by Australia must include, at a minimum, solutions for all refugees and asylum seekers sent to Papua New Guinea and Nauru, and an end to offshore processing. (more…)
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WALTER HAMILTON. Koike’s coup.
Japan is going to the polls on 22 October, with the conservative coalition led by Shinzo Abe facing a stiff challenge from a new party led by the right-wing governor of Tokyo. (more…)
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MICHAEL LAMBERT. Achieving Clean Energy
The constant refrain from the Commonwealth of reliable, secure and affordable power appears to dismiss the other objective of clean energy. This is reinforced by the failure to endorse the Clean Energy Target recommendation of the Finkel report. However, clean energy is feasible, affordable and can be made secure and reliable and certainly is good for the environment and long-term health of people and the economy. (more…)
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BOB CARR. Australia declares rhetorical war on China.
This year Australia declared rhetorical war on China.
The words being used by Australian leaders are the harshest any time since diplomatic relations commenced in 1972, with the exception of comments at the time of Tiananmen. The tone is harsher than that of any other US ally, including Japan. (more…)
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Mounting housing stress underscores need for expert council to guide wayward policymaking
A recent policy pledge by Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has given fresh heart to campaigners for the restoration of the former National Housing Supply Council (NHSC). (more…)