All Articles
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CHRIS MCDONNEL. A cry from the depths
It is often said that the darkest night comes in the hour before dawn. Recently the Church has passed, and is still passing through, a night time experience. We await the dawn hour. Continue reading »
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CAI FANG. A trade war will only hasten China’s structural reforms (East Asia Forum)
On 22 March 2018, the United States, invoking Section 301 of the Trade Act, increased tariffs on imported goods from China. Since then, the trade war has severely harmed both the Chinese and US economies. Yet despite 11 rounds of high-level negotiations between the two sides, the Trump administration has continued to escalate the trade Continue reading »
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GEETA PANDEY. Indian MP Mahua Moitra’s ‘rising fascism’ speech wins plaudits (BBC News)
A spirited turn at the mic by a first-time female MP in India’s parliament, in which she listed the “signs of early fascism”, has been hailed as the “speech of the year” on social media. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison climbs aboard Plan A
Last week Anthony Albanese passed his first test – at least the one the magisterial examiners of The Australian devised for him. He had retreated, gloated the paper – caved, rolled over to the majesty of the ScoMo mandate. By agreeing to pass the enormity of the coalition tax package, he had acknowledged the verdict Continue reading »
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JACK WATERFORD. Not quite Custer’s last stand, yet
Australia must have an independent defence policy as American power in Asia and the Pacific wanes. But there’s no reason to think us friendless. Hugh White is travelling the nation’s highways and byways trying to scare Australians out of their complacency about the nation’s security — not least by raising again the prospect of Australia’s Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN. Australia and the refugees who come by boat
We have now all endured our third election in a row when boat turnbacks and the punitive treatment of refugees and asylum seekers featured. The overwhelming majority of our politicians and the overwhelming majority of voters are agreed that the boats from Indonesia carrying asylum seekers transiting Indonesia should be stopped, and the refugees and Continue reading »
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TOM ENGLELHARDT. We’re Not the Good Guys Why Is American Aggression Missing in Action? (TomDispatch.com 2.7.2019)
Headlined “U.S. Seeks Other Ways to Stop Iran Shy of War,” the article was tucked away on page A9 of a recent New York Times. Still, it caught my attention. Here’s the first paragraph: “American intelligence and military officers are working on additional clandestine plans to counter Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf, pushed by the White House Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison cranks out surplus fetish
Scott Morrison has a new obsession – the budget surplus. In spite of his assurances to the contrary, this has not actually been delivered, and there are growing doubts that it will be – the storm clouds, the head winds of which the prime minister and his treasurer confusingly warn us, could well blow it Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. Can we trust Scott Morrison?
Scott Morrison is on record as saying that no programs or services will be cut to pay for the tax cuts. The evidence, however, suggests that real government outlays will decline on a per capita basis, which would seem to mean that services will contract. Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE and GARRY WOODARD. Morrison as a middle power statesman?
In attempting to predict how Scott Morrison will develop as a foreign policy Prime Minister, the obstacles in his way should first be noted. While his potential authority within the party room is considerable, he lacks the foreign policy experience of previous Prime Ministers such as Menzies, Whitlam, Hawke and Rudd. Continue reading »
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NOEL TURNBULL. The depths of hypocrisy
The defining characteristics of Australia’s right wing cultural warriors – whether in the Liberal Party, the Murdoch media or the usual think tank suspects – are their breathtaking hypocrisy and the very real threat they pose to the liberal values so many have fought to inculcate in society. Continue reading »
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ROBERT MICKENS. Pope Francis is seeking to unite humanity
“Among all the world’s political and social leaders, Pope Francis stands increasingly alone as the most powerful force for global peace and stability.” Thus began the prelude to an earlier article titled, “Pope Francis or Steve Bannon. Catholics must choose.” Continue reading »
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MARK BUCKLEY. Tony Abbott Will Never Be Prime Minister (Again)
One of my daughters, a wise young head, when describing certain individuals of less than stellar intelligence, uses the phrase “he (or she) will never be Prime Minister”. It is a curiously descriptive phrase, because it says everything about limits, of intelligence, of ambition, of drive, of the ability to think conceptually, to radiate warmth, Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 7 July 2019
While the Australian government continues to obfuscate and avoid any real action on climate change, other nations are ignoring the ‘our emissions are too small to make a difference’ argument and demonstrating ambition and leadership. Asian countries could help their populations, economies and environments by investing in renewable energy rather than coal, while Turkey’s changing Continue reading »
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SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media Continue reading »
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MIKE SCRAFTON. The real cost in How to Defend Australia.
In How to Defend Australia, Hugh White has produced a work that removes much of the mystery surrounding Australian defence policy making. The historical experiences and institutional influences affecting Australia’s major past and present strategic policy positions are lucidly set out. His main objective though is to make the case for a significant boost to Continue reading »
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China is not an enemy (Washington Post letter, 3 July 2019)
Dear President Trump and members of Congress: We are members of the scholarly, foreign policy, military and business communities, overwhelmingly from the United States, including many who have focused on Asia throughout our professional careers. We are deeply concerned about the growing deterioration in U.S. relations with China, which we believe does not serve American Continue reading »
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TREVOR WATSON. Crossing a line in the Korean sand; Trump goes where others have been before
Donald Trump’s crossing of the 38th Parallel into North Korea was a ten out of ten for symbolism. It was wonderful television and an outstanding PR move by the US President and the North Korean Leader, Kim Jun Un. The event took me back almost 30 years to my own crossing of the famous ceasefire Continue reading »
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LOUIS COOPER. Trudeau fights for re-election
Canada has a national election in October and a recent poll shows the electorate is feeling worried and conflicted. Will Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party be re-elected? Continue reading »
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ROSEMARY O’GRADY. Lost leaders.
The first words addressed by the Hon David Hurley AC as Governor-General were to the Australian First People and their successors, including, specifically, ‘future leaders’. Continue reading »
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KEVIN PEOPLES. Is the Male Clerical Church Irrelevant?
I first met the clerical God in 1964. I was 27. This was at Springwood, in the Blue Mountains. I met him while hiding away at St. Columba’s seminary. He was not to my liking and we parted in just under three years. Unlike my God, this distant and patrichal God lived somewhere outside his Continue reading »
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Christopher Pyne: Consultancy as government
The sudden elevation of Christopher Pyne – formerly Minister for Defence Industries – to defence consultant with Ernst & Young may have taken some people by surprise. Surely, though, it was always on the cards, especially since he retired from parliament at a relatively young age of 51 and with a pre-election likelihood of not Continue reading »
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ROB MAINWARING. Centre-left politics: dead, in crisis, or in transition? (The Conversation, 24 June 2019)
The ALP’s defeat at the 2019 federal election was a surprise. Shorten’s Labor fell short, against both wider commentariat predictions and unrepresentative polls. Yet, if we take a step back, the result is less surprising if we locate Labor’s defeat in the wider “crisis” of social democracy. Continue reading »
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MONIQUE ROSS. Why the Pharmacy Guild is the most powerful lobby group you’ve never heard of (ABC News)
It’s been called the most influential lobby group in Australia, and some believe it has the power to bring down a government if it really flexed its muscle. Continue reading »
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ROBERT MICKENS. Reforming the Church with ‘no possibility of return.’ How Pope Francis is initiating processes of Church reform that will be hard to undo.
How many cardinals does it take to help Pope Francis reform the Roman Curia? And how many years do they need to get the job done?Many Catholics – at least those who are hoping the pope can succeed in decentralizing ecclesial power away from the Vatican – have grown frustrated that after some six years Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING Why the Stage 3 tax cuts will need to be revisited.
In previous articles I argued that Stage 3 of the Government’s proposed tax cuts should be opposed (see Pearls & Irritations, 30 May and 24 June). However, the Government appears to have the numbers to pass its proposed tax cuts as one package, with or without the support of the Labor Party. Nevertheless, the Grattan Continue reading »
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HUGH WHITE. With China’s swift rise as naval power, Australia needs to rethink how it defends itself (The Conversation, 2 July 2019)
Visiting Wellington in April 1996, I fell into conversation with a very wise and experienced New Zealand government official. We talked about the still-unfolding Taiwan Straits crisis, during which Washington had deployed a formidable array of naval power, including two aircraft carrier battle groups, to the waters around Taiwan. The aim was to compel China Continue reading »
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GEOFF MILLER: Trump in North Asia; policy changes?
A lot of the reactions to President Trump’s visits to the G20 in Osaka and to Korea have been scathing, but there are some positive signs in regard to both US-China trade issues and negotiations with North Korea. But having encouraged hard-line one-dimensional attitudes on both issues within the US, Trump may find that maintaining Continue reading »
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PETER RODGERS: Israel-Palestine and the Bahrain conference – Jared in wonderland
Whatever happens with Donald Trump’s presidency, the future of his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, is assured. A career as writer of romantic fiction is his for the asking. Continue reading »
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NOEL TURNBULL. The curious incident of the dog that didn’t bark
There is nothing more beloved of apocalyptic thinkers, intelligence agencies, conservative politicians and general scare-mongers than the threat of some disaster. It is even better when the threat is insidious, little understood and able to be transformed into policies which actually have other purposes. Continue reading »