Kim Beazley bombs out
March hasn’t been one of the better months for Kim Beazley, the former Hawke and Keating Government minister, leader of …
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Giant eight-hour battery project changes hands as storage costs plunge 40%
A giant eight-hour battery project in New South Wales has changed hands in a deal that also confirms that battery storage costs — a critical part of the green energy transition — are still falling significantly. Continue reading »
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Will Walter Sofronoff be prosecuted?
Maybe what Lehrmann Board of Inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff KC did was “serious corrupt conduct”, as the ACT Integrity Commission alleges. Or perhaps that description is “overreach”, as former Law Council of Australia president Arthur Moses SC told The Australian. Continue reading »
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Israel, not Hamas, Is derailing the Gaza ceasefire and preventing the hostages’ return
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid the asking price for Itamar Ben-Gvir’s return to the government in advance. Not out of his own pocket, of course, but with the blood of the 59 hostages whose fate could be sealed by the resumption of the war, which has already sealed the fate of hundreds of Palestinians, Continue reading »
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The limits of diplomacy
We live in a global community, and many of us enjoy the benefits. A far greater number have no such enjoyment, existing in disadvantage; in poverty, hunger, homelessness, oppression, violence of one kind or another- preventable travesties. Continue reading »
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Tensions over Taiwan
Ma Ying-jeou warns that William Ching-te Lai is leading cross-strait relations into “a major crisis”. Continue reading »
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The Coalition MP who tried to stop the solar farm that will help save thousands of local jobs
If you ever need an example of the idiocy and the ignorance behind the Coalition and LNP campaign against renewable energy in Australia, a good place to start would be the federal MP for Flynn, Colin Boyce. Continue reading »
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Misinformation in politics: Anti-China Media Watch
The ABC reveals Chinese social media is again facilitating foreign interference in our elections, Dutton is the true champion of China relations, while Chinese hospitals are overcharging Aussies for lifesaving surgery. Continue reading »
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Three reasons Victoria has joined Tasmania, SA as a beggar state
The Commonwealth Grants Commission’s annual updates of its recommendations as to how the revenue from the GST should be carved up among the states and territories almost always contain a few surprises – pleasant for some, and unpleasant for others, since carving up a pie is, by definition, a “zero sum game”. Continue reading »
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New report reveals Islamophobia in Australia reaching crisis levels
The Islamophobia Register Australia officially launched its latest report, Islamophobia in Australia Report 5, on 13 March in Sydney to mark the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. Continue reading »
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Federal-state politics: Western Australia’s election – why we need proportional representation
Because what is bad for the Coalition is usually good for Australia, Labor’s thumping win in Western Australia must be seen as a good outcome, but it points to a problem in our system of representative democracy. Democracies shouldn’t produce winner-take-all outcomes. Continue reading »
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Queensland’s autocratic ALP premier and Australia’s only Communist Party MP: The St Patrick’s Day bash
History and politics buffs should either be made aware, or be given cause to remember, that in Brisbane, on St Patrick’s Day 1948, Australia’s only Communist Party MP, Fred Paterson, was almost murdered by a Queensland policeman, almost certainly at the instigation of someone higher up. Continue reading »
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Gazan Ark: Reproductive violence and the right to life and death
While the biblical story of Noah’s Ark is certainly not the only ancient account of a devastating flood (the preceding Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, includes a story of the gods sending a great flood on earth), its basic plot of wrath, punishment, ethnic cleansing, and reproductive means of survival provides a compelling framework Continue reading »
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Democracy and our avoidable crises: Politicians disingenuous or undeterrably self-interested
Home ownership has almost become an impossible dream in Australia and other Western capitalist countries. Governing authorities struggle in vain to stem the unrelenting increase in prices of land for domestic dwellings. It is probable that the struggle is unable to succeed as long as capitalism is uncontained; as long as the rules of the Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
How long will the Australian Government ignore the murders in Palestine? Michele O’Neil asks who can think this is an act of defence. Francesca Albanese wants the conversation to be about international law, not what indicted leaders say. A US journalist asks the Deputy Secretary of DHS, referring to Mohammad Khalil, whether protesting is a Continue reading »
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Trump is surveying Australian academics about gender diversity and China – what does this mean for unis and their research?
Shortly after taking office, US President Donald Trump issued executive orders banning federal funding on so-called “woke” research. Continue reading »
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Much argy-bargy on the way to next week’s off-again, on-again budget
According to the business press, Anthony Albanese was desperately hoping for an early election so he could avoid next week’s budget and the drubbing he’ll get when Treasurer Jim Chalmers is forced to reveal projections of a decade of budget deficits. Continue reading »
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Geopolitics, Australia-China-US relationship and its impacts on Australian-Chinese voting priorities
The recording to the UTS ACRI panel discussion can be accessed via this link: Continue reading »
