Does Morrison need Porter more than the votes of 50% of the population?
An inquest is not usually well placed to settle matters in contest. In the case of an alleged suicide, for example, the Coroner’s remit is to find the cause of death, not to conduct a wide-ranging inquiry. One the other hand, in cases before professional tribunals, lawyers, doctors, nurses and others have been struck off... Continue reading »
-
The Australian newspaper: Decades of disservice to climate science and climate education
In the penultimate paragraph of my 2020 essay 40 Years of Climate Warnings ignored by Australian politicians, I presented a “rogue’s gallery” which included the Murdoch media for waging war against climate science over more than two decades. This article explores a rather extraordinary, decade-old episode in the climate wars involving the Australian newspaper which... Continue reading »
-
Rollercoaster ride: UK Budget offers a blueprint to tackle biggest economic decline in 300 years
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget speech veered from generosity to menace, from sobriety to hyperbole, from statesmanlike caution to political recklessness. It was a masterclass in presentation from the government’s best communicator.... Continue reading »
-
BossKeeper: ports giant Qube bullies its way into JobKeeper and plush bonuses
Shipping group Qube Holdings will give back $17m in JobKeeper subsidies but pockets $13.5m and some fancy executive bonuses despite its revenue rising strongly. How did it pull this off? Callum Foote investigates how the Liberal Party-linked Qube gamed the Tax Office.... Continue reading »
-
Australia could learn a thing or two from Indonesia’s personalised approach to aged care
Our street in Indonesia has 70 households. Many are mixed-generation families. With few nursing homes or retirement villages, and those being far away, families have two options: The kids do the caring or employ a carer. Either way, Grandpa or Grandma stays home.... Continue reading »
-
Vaccine nationalism: Australia votes to deny Covid vaccines to poorer countries
Australia, the US, the UK and the European Union are refusing to waive intellectual property rights to Covid-19 vaccines so developing countries can produce the vaccine locally. This refusal, in the face of vaccine hoarding by rich countries, is likely to cause millions more deaths because of slower access to a vaccine. It is also... Continue reading »
-
In our hands: Will we ‘Reset’ or return to the Dog Days?
As we emerge from the Covid recession, Ross Garnaut argues that Australia is facing a critical choice: change for the good or return to the “Dog Days” that preceded the recession. Garnaut’s book ‘Reset’ makes a major contribution to how that can and should happen.... Continue reading »
-
ASPI, sycophancy and the deepening corruption of Australia’s strategic mindset
Last month, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute announced that its Executive Director, Peter Jennings, had warned another ostensibly independent think tank, the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, that China may trigger a major military crisis over Taiwan in the coming year. The catalysts are held to be twofold: the forthcoming centenary of the... Continue reading »
-
Your graces and my lord bishops of Australia: are you listening?
Ok. That’s it. Time to stand up. The alarm has sounded. Rub the sleep from your eyes, take off your embroidered nightshirts, do a few stretches and let’s get moving. No shilly-shallying. No dilly-dallying. Come on, just do it. Get out of bed. There’s work to be done. And the whole family’s depending on you... Continue reading »
Contributions to Pearls and Irritations
Your contribution will fund quality independent comment and analysis in Pearls and Irritations
Contribute-
The WA election: the most one-sided contest in Australian history?
Saturday’s State Election in Western Australia will set many records if polling and anecdotal evidence are to be believed. Mark McGowan and his Labor team look certain to build on the landslide victory he won in 2017. At that election, Labor won 41 of the 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly, with a 2PP vote... Continue reading »
-
Why dental care was excluded from Medicare and why it should now be included (an edited repost)
In 1974, the Whitlam Government decided to exclude dental care from Medicare for two reasons. The first was cost. The second was political. Whitlam felt that combatting the doctors would be hard enough without having to combat dentists as well. Forty-six years later, with Australia much richer and the proven success of Medicare, it is now... Continue reading »
-
New Zealand state pension fund divests from Israeli banks
New Zealand’s $33 billion national pension fund has excluded five Israeli banks from its portfolio because of their role in financing Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.... Continue reading »
Top 5 most read
- We have already ceded our sovereignty, not to China…
Racism, fear and lack of moral courage sees Australia tied… - Christian Porter responsible for serial breaches of…
Christian Porter is responsible for serial breaches of the law,… - How Australia sabotaged its own interests in… The destruction over the past five years of Australia’s mutually…
- Robodebt is far from dead, buried and cremated
Those who closely follow the news will believe that the… - That’s all she wrote I never thought I’d say it, but I can no…
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
Receive articles straight to your Inbox
PRIVATE. SECURE. SPAM-FREE.
