Search Results
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Democracy in decline: Australia’s slide into ‘competitive authoritarianism’
Australia is at a critical point. A Coalition government that would cling to power to impose broadly unpopular policy threatens the very nature of our democracy. Continue reading »
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Local residents fight for critical birdlife habitat on the Great Ocean Road
Ten to 20 million years ago, the Southern Ocean and its ferocious winds sculpted the iconic limestone cliffs and caves that frame the rugged beauty of Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. Continue reading »
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Trading Covid freedoms in NSW
Among the wreckage caused by a near two-year pandemic, with far to go, is the idea and ideal of “freedom”. Continue reading »
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Australia – a lucky country run by second rate people
“Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people’s ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise.” That is a quote Continue reading »
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Nothing dollarable is safe in the Kosciuszko National Park
“Nothing dollarable is safe, however guarded” wrote the great American conservationist and protected area crusader, John Muir in 1909. He was right then, and he’s still right today: maybe more than ever. Continue reading »
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Our Democracy Needs Serious Reform
The Australian Government may be right to express concerns about China’s recent domestic and international behaviour under President Xi Jinping. But claims of having superior democratic values might have more credibility if the Government understood and genuinely upheld them. Continue reading »
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Labor’s plan for an anti-corruption body
The ALP this week released an outline of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) it would introduce if it were to come to power at the next federal election, a body based on the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) that has operated (mostly) successfully in New South Wales for more than three decades. Continue reading »
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Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy Continue reading »
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Car parks: certainly corrupt and probably illegal
An Audit Office report led to condemnation of ‘processes’ behind Commonwealth funding of commuter car parks. This is like merely looking at – not even touching – deckchairs on the Titanic. Continue reading »
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The Global Fight Against White Supremacy and White Dominance
Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation to make Juneteenth a Federal holiday, marking the day in 1865 when Black people in the U.S. gained freedom from slavery. Emancipation did not stop the repression of Black people, nor will this new gesture change much. Continue reading »
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John Barilaro is privatising Kosciuszko National Park
John Barilaro’s Snowy Mountains Special Activation Zone Precinct effectively wrests the control of developments in Kosciuszko National Park from the Minister for the Environment into the hands of the Minister for Regional NSW, John Barilaro. The plan is to heavily develop Jindabyne and surrounding areas for tourism, with little thought for the environment. Continue reading »
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Public service or politics?
Senior public servants are only as good as the leadership provided by politicians working in the national interest. With appropriate checks, balances and protections in place, senior public servants should be able to give the frank and fearless advice required of their position and as set out in law. Continue reading »
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Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy Continue reading »
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Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy Continue reading »
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Lockdown’s compulsory in Indonesia – if you like
Luhut Binsar Panjaitan doesn’t read Pearls & Irritations. That’s obvious because the former general and Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s Mr Fixit alleged he was blindsided by the latest tsunami of Covid 19. Continue reading »
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National Party greed was once restrained by Liberals
We ought to be asking questions about the mysterious failure of public service systems to hold any senior public official to account for anything, let alone to punish or dismiss. Continue reading »
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China Series: Where To From Here? (A repost from 23.12.2019)
A SERIES of posts on this blog in the last two weeks have highlighted aspects of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that are often overlooked in discussion of the bilateral relationship. We have to get used to living with the Chinese elephant in our neighbourhood. Continue reading »
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Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy Continue reading »
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Why can’t we agree on the powers needed for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission?
Ministerial discretion under the Westminster system as it is applied in Australia is a useful but corruptible power. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Ecosocialist advice for the G7’s leaders and encouragement to read a recent P&I article on carbon accounting. The price of solar panels is rising slightly and our sylvan friends are emitting ‘treethane’. Finally, a plea to dog owners. Continue reading »
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Mice and men: the mouse plague and aggressive land clearing
Over the years, Australian authorities have made many poor decisions about allowing the introduction of biocidal agents into the environment. In most cases, such decisions have been based on the demands of powerful minorities with no responsibility to the general community. The Berejiklian-Barilaro government looks set to outdo them all by authorising the use of Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Only a quarter of Earth’s land was ‘wild’ 12,000 years ago. Tropical deforestation increases despite international agreements to stop it by 2030. Plans to save Australia’s 50 most threatened plants, six unburnt forests on the east coast, and WA’s native vegetation. Continue reading »
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India’s Coronavirus emergency tells a story poorly understood
The blanket and punitive travel ban for Australians returning from India is neither justified, nor does it make much sense in the efforts to curb the spreading of the virus. The Indian Coronavirus emergency is also raising many questions of the policies imposed around the world during the pandemic. Continue reading »
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Prince Philip and that ‘socialist arsehole’ Gough Whitlam: the story The Crown forgot
It could not have escaped anyone’s attention that Prince Philip died three weeks ago. He was 99 years old, had a history of heart trouble and, as the Queen’s long-standing consort, was as familiar as the Monarch herself. With his death a remarkable transformation took place as saturation media coverage recast the public image of Continue reading »
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Vale Edie Mayhew
Prominent Australian Dementia Advocate, Edie Mayhew, died unexpectedly but peacefully aged 69 on 23 June 2020 in Ballarat, Victoria. Continue reading »
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Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy Continue reading »
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Monthly digest on housing affordability and homelessness: Feb/Mar 2021
The following is the latest instalment of a monthly digest of interesting articles, research reports, policy announcements and other material relevant to housing stress/affordability and homelessness. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 28 March 2021
Eight tips to save insects from catastrophic (for them and us) decline, followed by articles on a green COVID-recovery and the energy transition, including Do’s and Don’ts for subsidising hydrogen. Continue reading »
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Sidney Nolan’s St Kilda paintings: the ‘innocence’ of a man in his 20s with a wife and two mistresses
The Canberra Museum+Gallery is exhibiting several of Sidney Nolan’s St Kilda paintings until March 30, complete with a Children’s Trail for the nippers. But are the paintings as innocent as the stories that have built up around them – curated by Nolan himself – suggest? Continue reading »
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Brexit fallout: How London lost its place as the world’s financial capital
The Amsterdam stock market, which traded the first-ever equity in the Dutch East India company, has regained its position as the top European stock market after more than three centuries of trailing London. Continue reading »
