Despite President Trump’s latest supercilious Tweet, North Korea may still seek to make the cancellation of exercise Ulchi-Freedom Guardian the price of not firing its missiles into waters near Guam. (more…)
Blog
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PAUL COLLINS. An Open Letter to Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher
I am disturbed by your identification of your personal views on marriage equality with those of the Catholic Church… The saddest thing is that you have linked Catholicism with some of the most reactionary and unattractive political forces in the entire country. (more…)
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JEAN-PIERRE LEHMANN. Why the West and Japan should stop preaching to a rising China
Jean-Pierre Lehmann says the imperialist powers of old should acknowledge their own bloody history of plunder and exploitation, and work with Beijing to find a path to a peaceful rise, which so far is unprecedented. (more…)
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JIM COOMBS. Electricity and Banks.
A belief, without foundation, that “the market” is the best way to deliver any product, has our politicians gibbering, when the provision of Public Goods (see my previous article) is properly to be determined by the principle of universal access, not some illusion of competition providing it. (more…)
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GRAHAM FREUDENBERG. “Which of us is safe?”
Graham Freudenberg, of German, Scottish and Irish descent, whose Prussian-born grandparents were declared enemy aliens in 1915 after 50 years prolific residence in Queensland, has recently held a séance with King O’Malley (an American pretending to be a Canadian and Peter Dutton’s early predecessor as Minister for Home Affairs) and Prime Ministers Chris Watson (born in Chile, son of a stateless Swedish sailor), Billy Hughes (a London-born Welshman), Bob Menzies (‘British to the bootstraps’) and Malcolm Fraser (part-Jewish and therefore with a citizen’s right of return to Israel whether he wanted it or not) and writes: (more…)
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JOHN McCARTHY. The West needs to talk about Russia.
The place Russia occupies in the political maelstrom in Washington, the recent sanctions bills in Congress and Putin’s cuts to the American diplomatic presence in Russia are driving the US’s relationship—and hence the West’s relationship—with Russia from bad to worse. However, the following thoughts—from a Russia neophyte after a trip to Moscow and road journey to Archangel on the Arctic circle—are thrown into the mix, if only to colour reflections on what might, one day, make sense. (more…)
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BOB DOUGLAS An algal industry ready to bloom
A high level Roundtable held in Canberra in November 2017 concluded that algal technology can help to protect the Great Barrier Reef and create new jobs and growth for regional areas. (more…)
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MICHAEL SAINSBURY. Religious and ethnic persecution sours ASEAN’s birthday party
Against the backdrop of a rising China, positive news out of the region is being undermined by several major crises. (more…)
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‘It’s time to act’: Liberal MP calls for Australia to take refugees from Manus and Nauru
The Victorian Liberal moderate Russell Broadbent has called in Federal Parliament for “genuine refugees” in offshore detention to be settled permanently on the Australian mainland once the US resettlement deal has run its course. (more…)
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MICHAEL KEATING. Is it legitimate to pay for a postal plebiscite using the Advance to the Minister of Finance?
This article questions the legitimacy of by-passing the need for Parliament’s approval by using the Advance to the Minister of Finance to pay for the Government’s postal plebiscite regarding attitudes to marriage equality for same-sex couples. (more…)
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IAN McAULEY. Pauline Hanson, Malcolm Turnbull, and the ABC – a Faustian bargain
Turnbull’s deal with One Nation, to require the ABC to be “fair and balanced”, looks innocuous at first sight, but if implemented it would see the ABC cast into the wasteland of moral relativism. (more…)
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PAUL BUDDE. NBN goes against the very principles of conservative government
That the NBN goes against the very principles of conservative government became very clear to me in my discussion with the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network. When addressing the various well-documented problems of the NBN the chair of the committee repeatedly mentioned in defence of the current multi-technology-mix MtM policy that many other counties were also not deploying national FttH. (more…)
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JOHN AUSTEN. Infrastructure in Australia- the continuing policy confusion and advisory mess.
Infrastructure Australia’s ‘reform’ reports and its updated priority list – which assesses particular projects – add to evidence about problems with infrastructure advice. This article deals with the latest reform report – corridor protection – and the resulting depressing high speed rail humbug. (more…)
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LEANNE WELLS. Health insurance: the big shift that’s left patients short
The transformation of big health funds into for-profit business enterprises sheltered by significant government subsidy and regulations has failed to prompt a complementary response from federal governments, Coalition or Labor, to even the playing field for consumers. (more…)
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STEPHEN DUCKETT. Why it costs you so much to see a specialist – and what the government should do about it
Australians pay too much when they go to medical specialists. The government can and should do more to drive prices down. A current Senate Inquiry on out-of-pocket costs will hopefully lead to some policy action. (more…)
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RICHARD ECKERSLEY. What most concerns us about our personal lives and the societies we live in?
Our quality of life is about much more than our standard of living. (more…)
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JEAN-PIERRE LEHMANN. Aug 15: A day to mark Western imperialism
The date marks the 70th anniversary of the independence and partition of India, an event that has its roots in Western colonial conquest of the Indian sub-continent. It should also be remembered by the imperialists who plundered the planet. (more…)
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MARK BEESON. The unconventional wisdom
When it comes to military matters, there is – forgive the pun – a remarkable uniformity of opinion. Sensible and serious observers agree that not only is the ANZUS alliance the indispensable bedrock of national security, but Australian policymakers would be irresponsible to do anything that might jeopardize its status. (more…)
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RICHARD BUTLER. Has Bishop’s time come?
The publication by a leading journalist of an extraordinary puff piece on Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her leadership skills, is bound to set political hares running. But, where to? (more…)
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ALISON BROINOWSKI. Existential threats
In a sequence of events that recall the Cuban missile crisis, the world has again come within a brain-snap of nuclear destruction. This is the moment Australia should have been ready to deal with properly and democratically, by having a parliamentary debate to decide whether and why we should or should not go to war. Instead, this most serious matter of national security is reduced to party rivalry and media sensationalism. (more…)
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GREG LOCKHART. An old imperial reflex
Rawdon Dalrymple’s 4 August blog ‘A personal link to World War One’ presents us with an automatic defence of the old imperial order. (more…)
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TERENCE BEED. Turnbull’s postal “plebiscite” and the Australian Bureau of Statistics: next step in its fall from grace?
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has another debacle approaching brought on by its direction to conduct the government’s proposed postal plebiscite on same sex marriage. Little more than an outmoded postal survey it will be flawed from the start, plagued by biases both known and unknown. The survey will seriously erode the public’s confidence in this once peerless official statistical agency. It needs to start work now to salvage what it can of its reputation for trust and integrity. (more…)
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GRAHAM FREUDENBERG. Malcolm Turnbull’s response to the Korean crisis has been contemptible.
In his grovelling ‘hip to hip’ statement on 10 August, he served up to the Australian people an utterly false and misleading version of the ANZUS Treaty and its meaning. (more…)
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Strong leaders carry out their promises – Malcolm Turnbull.
It is impossible to imagine Gough Whitlam, Paul Keating or even John Gorton being so cowed by the vengeful has-beens and disgruntled bigots who are now calling the shots in what is laughingly described as the government. (more…)
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JAMES O’NEILL. Australia and North Korea: Dangerous Illusions Place Australia at Risk
The war of words between North Korea and the United states reached new heights last week. US President trump pledged to meet any further threats by North Korea to the US “with fire and fury like the world has never seen”. North Korea’s response was a threat to vaporize Guam, a US colony and important military base in the Pacific. (more…)
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RAMESH THAKUR. All the way with Donald J? No way Jose
Has the quality of Australia’s decision making on issues of life and death for the country and its people – not to mention Planet Earth – truly become reform proof? Going by the lack of any serious process before lining up dutifully behind the most strategically challenged president in American history and the most irresponsible suite of bellicose threats from his tweet-addicted thumbs, the answer to the question is anything but reassuring. (more…)
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RICHARD BUTLER. Turnbull’s Appalling Statement
Australia is not compelled to accompany the US in a war on North Korea, as PM Turnbull has asserted. His recent statement would seem to reflect his need to distract attention from the serious disputes within his government. That it has resulted in his endorsing the possible use of nuclear weapons is a profound moral failure. Trump seems dug in and maybe that’s where the deep state wants him. (more…)
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SUSAN RYAN. Tent City, Martin Place.
The Berejiklian government in NSW showed this last week that it could act fast. To deal with the reported discomfort of the Premier, caused for months by a tent city of the homeless situated in Martin Place just opposite the Parliament, a new law was passed, peremptorily. The Sydney Public Reserves (Public Safety) Act empowers NSW police to order people out of Martin Place. There was no dallying. Within a couple of days of this enactment, the embarrassing tent city was dismantled and its occupants cleared away. Is the Premier now free of discomfort? (more…)
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TONY SMITH. After the high hopes of Garma, disappointment sets in.
Last weekend, Indigenous leaders gathered at the Garma festival in north east Arnhem Land. The coverage on NITV showed a distinct slide from initial politeness and hope to disappointment and anger. (more…)
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JEAN-PIERRE LEHMANN. The Empires continue to strike back as international order continues to collapse
…as the international order continues to collapse. The best check is a return to a liberal, rules-based, multilateral order. (more…)