Rarely have politicians demonstrated their ignorance of the real risks and opportunities confronting Australia than with the recent utterances of Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and other ministers promoting development of Adani and Galilee Basin coal generally, along with their petulant foot-stamping over Westpac’s decision to restrict funding to new coal projects. Likewise, Bill Shorten sees no problem in supporting Adani. (more…)
Blog
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JOHN TULLOH. The winds of change in Iran.
‘Iran’s nation chose the path of interaction with the world, away from violence and extremism’. President Hassan Rouhani on his election victory looks forward to a fresh new era for Iran. (more…)
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ALISON BROINOWSKI. Press freedom is a minefield
Julian Assange has cleared the Swedish legal minefield between him and freedom. The two which lie ahead are British and American. (more…)
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MICHAEL McKINLEY. Australia-as-Concierge: The Need for a Change of Occupation
Albert Camus, the renowned French philosopher, author and journalist, frequently recounted the story of the concierge in the Gestapo headquarters who went about her everyday business in the midst of torture explaining, “I never pay attention to what my tenants do.” (more…)
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SAUL ESLAKE. Housing affordability and the 2017-18 Budget: a missed opportunity
Housing affordability was to be a key focus of the Government in this year’s federal budget, according to the ‘nods and winks’ that traditionally precede the Treasurer’s budget speech. A journalist who has often been privy to the thinking of those at the highest levels of the Abbott and Turnbull Governments wrote that the budget would represent “the most comprehensive intervention by a federal government into the life cycle of home ownership”, involving “every aspect” of the housing market. (more…)
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The White Man’s Media — Part I
Ramesh Thakur highlights how a biased coverage of the war on terror and the Iraq War by the US media eroded US soft power. (more…)
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The White Man’s media – Part 2
In the second part, Ramesh Thakur extends his analysis of bias in the Western media to their coverage of Iran, Russia, Ukraine and India. (more…)
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TIM LINDSEY. Conviction Politics: The Jailing of Jakarta’s Governor Ahok
The conviction for blasphemy last Tuesday of the outgoing governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (known as ‘Ahok’) was not a surprise. It followed a common pattern for blasphemy cases in Indonesia. (more…)
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JOHN TULLOH. Jockeying for the big prize in Iran
‘Trump’s rhetoric towards Iran is so harsh that to have someone on the other side who is equally harsh might provoke an unintentional confrontation’. (more…)
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PETER Sainsbury. Crisis … what crisis? Australian government discussion paper downplays climate change
By ratifying the Paris Agreement on climate change in November 2016 the Australian government committed to a target of reducing Australian carbon emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030. The government also agreed to review its climate change policies during 2017 to ensure that its policies ‘remain effective in achieving’ the 2030 target and the other commitments in the Paris Agreement. In March 2017 the government released Terms of Reference for the review and a discussion paper ‘Review of climate change policies’ (http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/review-climate-change-policies). (more…)
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JULIAN CRIBB. The war drums are beating…
Australia risks being drawn into new US wars in Asia. Having been continually at war since 2001 at America’s behest, it is time the Australian people had their say about whether we should continue to engage in belligerent actions in Asia, which are also costing us our freedoms. (more…)
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BRIAN TOOHEY. How to repair neo-liberalism
The policy debate needs fresh ideas to fill the gap left by the lack of popular and political support for the neo-liberal economic agenda. Paul Keating, who championed that agenda, recently said neo-liberal economics “has run into a dead end and had no answer to the contemporary malaise”. (more…)
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RICHARD CURTAIN. Good information on outcomes is missing in the Higher Education Reform Package.
The Minister for Education and Training, Senator Simon Birmingham, in the new Higher Education Reform Package released on 1 May, states that ‘Students deserve improved information from which to make an informed choice on the most relevant course of study for them…’. There is much emphasis in the package on reforms to the information provided to students at the front-end of tertiary education but precious little on providing better information on graduate employment outcomes. (more…)
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NICOLE GURRAN and PETER PHIBBS. Policy sentiment rather than substance in housing policy
The Federal Treasurer clearly understands the housing affordability pressures facing moderate and low income renters and Australia’s growing homeless. His budget speech set the scene for a package of measures to boost affordable housing supply and recalibrate demand settings. A record number of new and recycled measures recognise the spectrum of crisis housing to home ownership, but there’s little in the way of substantive policy change.
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ANDREW FARRAN. More troops to Afghanistan: at best a patch job; at worst perpetuating futility
Whereas economic globalisation might seem for a time to be on the wane, in the military sphere globalisation is on the rise. Regional alliances are being transformed into global alliances. ANZUS has been merged de facto into NATO, and where NATO is persuaded to go so shall we. Australia has been involved in Middle East conflicts – in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria – and is now under pressure to expand its Afghanistan commitment. We should be clear about the purpose and intended outcomes of such commitments. (more…)
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JEAN – PIERRE LEHMANN. Conspicuous Western & Japanese Absence from Belt & Road Initiative Summit is a Big Mistake
The conspicuous absence of the heads of state from the major Western economic powers and Japan at the 14/15 May Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) in Beijing is a big mistake and a missed opportunity for enhancing dynamic and cooperative globalisation. (more…)
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JUDITH WHITE. Arts policy and the need to counter the undermining of public cultural institutions
Writing a book is a solitary occupation, but with this one I’ve been constantly aware of the hosts of people – staff, members, volunteers, benefactors – who are concerned about what is happening to our public institutions. And they are public institutions: they belong, by Acts of Parliament, to the people. (more…)
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Death and departure at the ABC
The death of ABC broadcaster Mark Colvin on Thursday, May 11th, came as we were preparing to farewell religious broadcaster John Cleary from the ABC after a 37 year career. (more…)
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ROBERT MANNE. An urgently needed compromise
In recent weeks I have been involved in an extended argument on the Monthly’s website over the fate of the refugees on Nauru and Manus Island whose lives all participants in the discussion agree are being slowly destroyed as a result of Australian policy over the past four years. (more…)
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. And with one bound, our hero was free
Well, perhaps not completely; it will take more than one agile budget to loose Malcolm Turnbull from his self-imposed bondage, He remains chained hand and foot to the right over climate change and same sex marriage, and he cannot remove himself from the Nationals’ pork barrel of provincial perks in the name of infrastructure. (more…)
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ALLAN PATIENCE. What values are we talking about?
How much longer must we endure the so-called culture wars? How much longer do we have to put up with vacuous phrases like “Australian values” in our politics? Now, it seems, the Prime Minister has taken to using this disagreeable language. (more…)
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JOHN DWYER. Policy mayhem is stifling efforts to have more Australian doctors “in the bush” – part one
In this two part article, I am reviewing the basis for the serious problem we have in providing adequate health care for Australians who live in rural, and particularly, remote areas. Good intentions are, as ever, intertwined with political machinations which make policies for solutions harder to implement. Currently, yet another government review is soon to be released. Here is the background needed for judging the results. (more…)
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JOHN DWYER. Policy mayhem is stifling efforts to have more Australian doctors “in the bush” – part two
In this two part article, I am reviewing the basis for the serious problem we have in providing adequate health care for Australians who live in rural, and particularly, remote areas. Good intentions are, as ever, intertwined with political machinations which make policies for solutions harder to implement. Currently, yet another government review is soon to be released. Here is the background needed for judging the results. (more…)
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JAMES O’NEILL. The Ongoing Disaster of Australia’s Policy in Afghanistan
According to a recent news report Australia is “open” to a request from the United States for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan. According to the report, Australian troops “mostly work in a training and support role aimed at strengthening the Afghan force’s ability to protect their own country.” “It is important,” said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, “that we work together to build up the capacity of Afghanistan’s own security forces so that they can keep that country secure from the threat of terrorism.” (1) (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. Is the seat of Wentworth to become an hereditary fiefdom?
In Malcolm Turnbull’s electorate, we have had a media blitz on behalf of his son-in-law, James Brown. Could it mean that James Brown is readying himself to take the seat of Wentworth, perhaps before or after the next election? (more…)
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The Honest History Book (UNSW Press 2017)
This is a book of singular importance. It provides the evidence and materials for the correction of the distortion of Australia’s history resulting from Anzackery and the continuing insistence that our national character was forged in and remains defined by our participation in foreign wars. (more…)
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LOUIS COOPER. Trump and Trudeau – Trouble at the border
The political, economic and social connections between Canada and the United States of America are being kicked and stomped on. (more…)
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Is the sun setting on the US imperium?
China is on the march to a dominant military footprint while American policy lacks strategic intent. (more…)
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JAMIE LINGHAM. 457 visa changes 95% political
On April 18, the Australian government made an ‘Australia First’ announcement that abolished the current 457 visa program and replaced it with the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa. And for political effect, the move eliminated any opportunity Pauline Hanson or Tony Abbott might have to slam the government by highlighting the abuses of the 457 program by unscrupulous immigration agents. What is clear now that the dust has settled is that this change was 95% political and 5% practical, torching local political challenges and appearing to offer an Australian response to the global anti-immigration sentiment across the western world. (more…)