Search Results
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The light on the hill could soon be solar powered
Global warming runs amok thanks to our coal, cities are unsustainable, more roads means more trucks, more anti-China Cold War rhetoric, and all undoing the many positive features of Australia and its diverse population…. Continue reading »
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Scott Morrison’s danger zone
Sovereignty isn’t going to be protected by everyone joining hands and singing Danger Zone in the face of an advancing enemy. But Morrison makes a mockery of reality…. Continue reading »
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Most viewed posts 2020: Father Glen Walsh paid a heavy price (Sep 9, 2020)
The revelations never end about priests and brothers, of monsignors and bishops with their secret sexual lives, masturbating, buggerizing, sodomizing and raping boys and girls – protected by an amoral hierarchy and a few corrupt members of the upper-echelons of various police forces…. 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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Heart of Darkness: Our expeditionary imperial culture and alleged war crimes in Afghanistan – and elsewhere
We tend to forget that our military, political and other cultures were formed in the frontier wars of British imperial expansion in the 19th century. Because those wars were fought in the process of taking the land of Aboriginal and Maori peoples and of inflicting partial genocide en passant, they were always going to produce… Continue reading »
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Of warriors, bad apples and blood lust
Talk of “warrior culture” in the wake of the Brereton report rings hollow. Sir Galahad never burnt villages or killed children. But “bad apples” has a ring of truth, especially if applied to the estimated 2% in any army who take too much pleasure in killing. But as usual the taboo topic of “hedonistic killing”… Continue reading »
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The failing pursuit of school success in NSW
Yes, it was announced in a Sunday newspaper, but this is serious: The NSW Department of Education will intervene in public schools that fail to meet performance targets in priority areas such as HSC and NAPLAN results, and other measures of success…. 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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Sunday environmental round up, 1 November 2020
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing presents a major threat to security and fish stocks. Seagrasses and snow leopards suffering from environmental destruction. Aussie coal companies turning to the Canadian Rockies. Insights into what might be influencing American votes on Tuesday…. Continue reading »
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Despite more than 30 major inquiries, governments still haven’t fixed aged care. Why are the lobbyists getting away with it? (The Conversation Oct 21, 2020)
The government funds the sector and provides a relatively “light-touch” oversight, while the providers attend to the day-to-day running of the facilities. However, there is concern this alignment has meant successive governments are not as involved as they should be and proposals for change are diluted by the influence of industry lobbyists…. Continue reading »
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Australia and VC Awards
Among the many memorial plaques in the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral is a small plaque and bust honouring Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, VC & Bar, MC (9 November 1884 – 4 August 1917)…. Continue reading »
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Father Glen Walsh paid a heavy price
The revelations never end about priests and brothers, of monsignors and bishops with their secret sexual lives, masturbating, buggerizing, sodomizing and raping boys and girls – protected by an amoral hierarchy and a few corrupt members of the upper-echelons of various police forces…. Continue reading »
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The perils of privatisation and private greed
The pandemic has starkly shown us the importance of good government, good public policies and good public institutions. It has also shown us the failure of private institutions, private markets and outsourcing to private providers. If the wholesale arm of Telstra had been kept in public hands we would have had a modern NBN long… Continue reading »
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Transport infrastructure: our States biggest waste
The Reserve Bank governor recently asked States to support jobs – by spending $40 billion more on infrastructure. Please don’t – at least not on the usual transport projects!… Continue reading »
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The UK’s Russia Report on the “Londongrad Laundromat” (Counter Punch July 29 2020)
The UK parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), drawn from MPs and peers of all parties, last week published its report on possible Russian interference in UK politics…. Continue reading »
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Millionaires who pay no tax and Australia’s richest and poorest postcodes revealed (ABC 18.7.20)
Seventy-three millionaires paid no tax in 2017-18, while Australia’s richest people live in Sydney’s Double Bay, on average earning more than 13 times the nation’s poorest, who live in central-west Queensland…. 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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The white elephant in the room: Australia is ideal for planes, not trains!
How can Australia spend $130 billion that would best benefit the country? A response, but not an answer, is not to spend it on an HSR (high-speed rail) system on the east coast…. Continue reading »
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What Does China Want under the Leadership of Xi? -The South China Sea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Part 1 of 2
China now is no more aggressive than China in the era of Mao or the post-Mao period. But China is now seen to be more assertive because it has grown in economic and military capabilities. In the three US-led Western agenda setting issues of the South China Sea, Hong Kong and Taiwan China wants to… Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. High Speed Rail – shooting a corpse?
The Grattan Institute’s recent condemnation of high-speed rail is fair enough. However, its further speculations on ‘renovating regional rail’ and urban commuting need questioning…. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL POWELL Morrison seeking unimpeded power
Conservatives always seek unimpeded power and Scott Morrison is no exception. Some cynics suggest this is a ‘right to rule’ mentality, but it is not. It is a duty. A ‘right to rule’ is arrogance; a ‘duty’ is more sinister because it is steeped in moral certainty…. Continue reading »
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ROY GREEN. Australia’s Manufacturing Future. Part 2 of 2
The framework for a national industrial strategy can draw with great benefit from the experience of other countries, but it is important to recognise that such a strategy should also be adapted to the specific conditions and prospects of the Australian economy…. Continue reading »
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NOEL TURNBULL. Australians aren’t like that are they?
As consumers fight over toilet rolls and marauding bus-loads of city dwellers pillage local country stores of products, the PM says we will get through it all because we are Australians. This is probably a good time to ask the question – what are Australians really like?… Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 5 April 2020
Coronavirus is yet another serious disruption to daily life in Africa, while the Brazilian President prefers clearing the Amazon to managing the epidemic. Two reports from WWF highlight the contributions that nature-based solutions can make to solving global problems but not everyone agrees. Coal no longer ‘cheap’…. Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL: NSW Labor should be streets ahead of the Libs
Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s Coalition government is regarded by voters as being among the worst in living memory. So why isn’t Jodi McKay’s Parliamentary Labor Party in front by miles?… Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 22 March 2020
Marine and coastal environments are the focus this week: how ‘The Blue Acceleration’ poses threats to natural environments, economies, lives and homes through ocean warming, melting ice caps, changes in ocean currents, sea level rise and even bushfires. And some early attempts to protect flood-prone areas in the USA…. Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Placating the Infrastructure Club
Infrastructure Australia’s 2020 priority list doesn’t recognise – let alone address fundamental problems…. Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Sydney Metro developments
Are recent developments with Sydney’s Metro railway straws in the wind or embers heralding an infrastructure inferno?… Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. Brexit Has Happened: Good Night and Good Luck
The divorce has gone through, and now begin the negotiations as to who gets the house, the car and the kids…. Continue reading »
