Spruiking the Coalition’s 2020 tax cuts; Australians’ ‘$200 billion’ war chest; Google’s experiments; free speech; and even a Liberal Party self-congratulatory piece on the NBN.
Tag: mw
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“We are one and free” – sarcasm, lie or delusion?
Perhaps Morrison got muddled, fuddled and confused about what he was saying, and got the anthem mixed up in a marketing message about something else, like being “one and the same” with Donald, two sides of the Legion of Merit. (more…)
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After Georgia, Biden has no excuses but it’s a long road ahead
While on paper Joe Biden has the power to force his agenda through Congress, the reality is a little different. He will need to take action on many fronts, not just the pandemic. A critical first task will be the dismantling and discrediting of Trumpism.
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With a booby-trapped White House, many Americans will want the nightmare to end
Biden’s task of restoring unity is not merely a matter of being statesmanlike or breaking down the hyper-partisanship of recent years. It is a matter of restoring faith in democratic institutions, the media, and in facts as a basis for debate.
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Preparing for a 3°C warmer future: the ideological shift and institutional response Australia will need.
Three things are obvious. The collective emission reduction efforts of nations will not avoid 3oC global warming by the century’s end. Therefore, national adaptation actions will need prepare for the worse than expected scale and impact from the effects of climate change. As a result, earlier ideological assumptions about governments will have to give way to policies that are interventionist and systemic. (more…)
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The ALP – the Australian Liberal-lite Party
When Labor leader Anthony Albanese dumped his party’s franking credits policy, the mainstream media duly trotted out the “retiree tax” line. “Subsidies to wealthy superannuants to continue” doesn’t have quite the same ring.
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Strung out on centre court: the loneliness of the long distance tennis player
January has long been the month when the international circuit wends its way to Australia, with the Australian Open a key event on the calendar. While Covid-19 delayed the Grand Slam until early next month, January remains a bittersweet time for me. I can’t help but reflect on my professional tennis career. But while I remember the highlights, other memories come flooding back – the constant pressure to perform, and live up to the expectations of coaches, the public and family.
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Don’t scare the horses: Morrison’s business-friendly reforms change little
While the Prime Minister has acknowledged Australia needs to reconsider its policy framework to restore full employment, the areas identified for reform are poorly chosen, and little of substance is likely to emerge. An alternative will be discussed tomorrow.
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Post Brexit? It is not pages of legal text that sustains communities. It is political commitment.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government may have got Brexit across the line, and avoided the embarrassment and discomfort the country would have suffered had they not, but clearly they have not delivered on what was promised at the 2016 referendum.
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Whose Kangaroo Was It Anyway?
Q. When are a kangaroo and a dingo worth ten million dollars?
A. When they were painted by Britain’s premier equestrian painter, George Stubbs, from stuffed pelts brought back from Botany Bay by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770.
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Things you learn along the way
Occasionally friends suggest to me that I should write my autobiography. Ruefully I explain that I wrote ‘Things you learn along the way’ 20 years ago. The book sold about 8,000 copies but as far as I know is no longer available.
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Hotel quarantine report blasts government failures, but political fallout is likely to be minimal
The final report of the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry, issued by former judge Jennifer Coate, outlines monumental errors made by the Victorian government and its public servants.
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War Crimes: Where does ultimate responsibility lie? Only a Royal Commission will determine the answer
The Brereton report has major deficiencies around where ultimate responsibility lies for war crimes in Afghanistan. To understand this and to eradicate the cultural and systemic causes of the alleged crimes, we need a Royal Commission. (more…)
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Scott Morrison said NSW was the ‘gold standard’ in infection control but begging is not working in encouraging mask wearing
Recent infections in NSW demonstrate how fragile is our control of community acquired Covid infections. As it will be many months before Australians are immunised and immune to Covid-19 we must focus on stronger containment strategies now. It’s time to mandate mask wearing and not just ask people to wear masks. (more…)
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Fever Pitch: Who’s an Enemy of the State?
“The character of our own government at present is imbecility,” said Samuel Johnson to James Boswell. (more…)
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Why China has been exceptionally harsh on Australia (AFR Dec 17, 2020)
This is not a schoolyard, China is not a schoolboy, it hasn’t slunk away, and nothing about our predicament is as easy as the government would like us to believe. (more…)
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The 2019 Federal Election: was there a level playing field?
The multifarious attempts at voter suppression in the 2020 US presidential election might prompt Australians to be grateful for the quality of our electoral administration. Uniquely, Australia has had since the 19th century a tradition of professional electoral administration, with administrators taking pride in an electoral roll as comprehensive and accurate as possible.
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Prime Minister: Saying you no longer intend to cheat on climate change does not merit applause
The Prime Minister has brushed off his failure to gain a speaking role at the Glasgow global warming summit as inconsequential. But the reality is that the Prime Minister and his government continue to fail us.
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Undue influence? University grants questioned after ASPI US-funded research
The Australian Research Council launched an investigation into Australian academics solely on the basis of US government-funded research by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. (more…)
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Tamed Estate: IR changes good for workers. Really? The fine print is buried.
With workplace reform winging its way towards the Senate, the mainstream media’s coverage of the changes was predictably unbalanced.
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Divide and conquer – Google and Facebook show who’s the boss!
After a year of reports, submissions and public inquiries – and much posturing on all sides – the Government has finally delivered the draft legislation designed to bring Google and Facebook to heel. But who is holding the leash? (more…)
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What responsibility does ADF’s top brass have for war crimes in Afghanistan?
As much as clothes, language has fashions. This month’s in-vogue expression is “walking back” – a metaphor for resiling from a position previously taken. And in these changing times, there is a lot of walking back about.
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Morrison pitching babies into hot bathwater
Scott Morrison is a naturally cautious, if ruthless, politician who is not prime minister by accident. Almost every significant step in his career has been carefully — mostly successfully — gamed with close political colleagues.
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Returning, six years later, to the scene of my torture by SAS
As we walked on the military base in the dark early hours of Monday morning, with a full moon setting a stunning scene across Port Phillip Bay, it was hard to imagine that I was risking torture again. This was the place of my nightmares, my years of flashbacks, where my SAS torturers probably enjoyed a laugh and a few cold beers after they scarred me for life. (more…)
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Five Eyes, one tongue and hard of hearing – Australia and Asia in China’s Century
Chinese diaspora are the ones facing the foreign policy abuse at the moment—but don’t worry, racism is an equal opportunity affair—once your country falls from favour—they’ll be targeting your mob next. ANU – China in the World Annual Lecture 2020
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Political polarisation and public policy
Pragmatism should be the dogma, not capitalism or socialism. (more…)
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Reasons to be happy despite the media.
Journalists write about disasters because they sell more copy. A recent book tells us to look on the bright side. (more…)
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Tamed estate: War crimes and China tweets
The biggest story in town? That all depends – it might be the Brereton Report on the killing of Afghan children by Australian soldiers. Then again, it might be a China tweet.
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Corporate power in Australia
Companies can secure so much economic power they can translate it into the political power, which they use to get laws that further advance their economic power. (more…)
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From here on our recovery will need more than fiscal policy, it’ll need redistribution
From the 1980s right through to the global financial crisis, the standard response in Australia and elsewhere to too weak or too strong an economy has been monetary policy — the manipulation of interest rates by a central bank, in our case the Reserve Bank. (more…)