All Articles
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JOCELYN PIXLEY. Morrison bows to monied men
Liberal UK Prime Minister Gladstone, 1868-94, grumbled that William III put the state in a position of ‘subservience’ to induce ‘monied men to be lenders’ in 1694. As Australia faces recession, the Government bows to every bank demand for low wages and flatter taxes, to foster more household debts, rather than a fair and cautious Continue reading »
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MIKE BRUCE. No jobs here: Penalty rate cuts fail to fire up employment growth (New Daily)
Jobs growth in the retail and hospitality sectors has more than halved since the introduction of Sunday penalty rates, a new study has revealed. Continue reading »
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NARGES BAJOGHLI. Trump’s Iran strategy will fail (New York Times, 2 July 2019).
As tensions with Tehran escalate, Washington has been struggling to understand the internal thinking of the Iranian government, and especially that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The organization, which functions as an elite military branch and a bulwark of the country’s revolution, is today the most powerful force within Iran’s complicated political structure. Understand Continue reading »
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DONALD COZZENS. How much corruption can we tolerate in the church before we leave?
After reading James Carroll’s lengthy lament in The Atlantic on the corruption in the Catholic Church and its priestly caste, I remembered reading an article in America magazine by the late Jesuit theologian Walter Burghardt. “In the course of half a century,” the weathered scholar wrote in Tell the Next Generation, “I have seen more Continue reading »
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NIALL McLAREN Times change. Fools never.
Times change, and people who refuse to change with them will be left behind. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI: South Australia – Canary in the Ageing Coalmine
In terms of the impact of population ageing, South Australia provides a glimpse into Australia’s future. Over the next decade, ageing will impact Australia more significantly than at any time in our post World War II history. By 2030, all the 5.5 million baby boomers will be past age 65 and predominantly in retirement. Continue reading »
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Trump’s disdain for Japan is insulting and high-risk
In his forays abroad, US President Donald Trump increasingly resembles a bull carrying his own china shop on his back, to be set down for wrecking at diplomatic confabs. At the moment a grave crisis seems imminent with regard to Iran. As former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer notes, soon Trump will come to a Continue reading »
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PAUL BARRATT. What are we to make of Iran’s nuclear program?
Iran’s nuclear program, never out of the news for long, is on the front pages of the world with President Trump’s insistence that his belligerence towards Iran is driven by a desire to ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons. The facts are that there is no reason to believe that Iran has made Continue reading »
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TONY WALKER. Acting on Iran has painful shades of joining the US in Iraq. (SMH 1.7.2019)
Here’s a word of advice to Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Unless he wants to risk a smudge on his reputation of the sort that accompanies John Howard to this day: don’t get involved in conflict with Iran beyond limited naval engagement in a Gulf peace-keeping role. Continue reading »
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STEPHEN KINZER. In an astonishing turn, George Soros and Charles Koch team up to end US ‘forever war’ policy (Boston Globe, 30 June 2019)
BESIDES BEING BILLIONAIRES and spending much of their fortunes to promote pet causes, the leftist financier George Soros and the right-wing Koch brothers have little in common. They could be seen as polar opposites. Soros is an old-fashioned New Deal liberal. The Koch brothers are fire-breathing right-wingers who dream of cutting taxes and dismantling government. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARMODY. The enduring farce of British politics
To Australian eyes, British politics appear relentlessly chaotic, even anti-social. The solutions seem impossible to find, forever out of sight, let alone reach and – as in true tragedy – entirely self-inflicted. Continue reading »
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BERNARD MOYLAN. Homily on Israel Folau
I intended to speak today about the hyperbolic language Jesus used in order to get a point across. The point in today’s gospel is that life is more than rigid responsibilities and that our following him should be unencumbered. He is also reported as saying that “if your eye offend you, pluck it out; if Continue reading »
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RORY MCGUIRE. Middle East: Comedy or Tragedy?
It is increasingly difficult to decide whether the ongoing drama in the Middle East is a comedy or a tragedy. The actors are performing roles written for comedians but the consequences of their actions are tragic too often. Continue reading »
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ROBERT MICKENS. Pope Francis or Steve Bannon? Catholics must choose. American alt-right leader enlists Catholic allies to turn people against the pope
Among all the world’s political and social leaders, Pope Francis stands increasingly alone as the most powerful force for global peace and stability. Thank God – and the cardinals who elected him in March 2013 – that the Argentine Jesuit is the current Bishop of Rome. Continue reading »
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JENNY HOCKING. The ‘Palace letters’ case heads to the High Court
Professor Jenny Hocking’s long-running case against the National Archives of Australia seeking the release of the secret ‘Palace letters’ about the 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, stepped up again this week with the announcement of a Special Leave hearing in the High Court of Australia on 16 August. Continue reading »
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GARETH EVANS. Breaking through the bamboo ceiling: Asian-Australians in the Asian Century.
Asian-Australians are an underappreciated and underutilized national resource as we face the challenges and opportunities of the Asian century. The 2012 White Paper, and everyone else, agrees that we dramatically need to lift our ‘Asian capability’ – defined by the Diversity Council of Australia as meaning ‘individuals’ ability to interact effectively in Asian countries and Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. The Union movement has never been more important.
Last week Scott Morrison spelled out what he called his economic policy. But, as usual, it was little more than a series of motherhood slogans about the need for more productivity, less regulation, and a spot of union bashing for good measure—nothing new, nothing of real substance, much like the prime minister himself. Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE It’s time for a democratic socialist agenda for Australia
Australians have suffered greatly because of the free-market fundamentalism that has been running riot across the political landscape for nearly half a century. Neoliberalism has at last run its destructive course. It’s time for a new era of public policy reconstruction for which a democratic socialist agenda has much to offer. Continue reading »
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KIM WINGEREI The NBN is wrecking a whole industry
NBNCo is not just a costly technological failure, but a policy debacle that has cost Australias taxpayers billions of dollars that should have been better spent, as well as contributing to the severe devaluation of a whole industry. Continue reading »
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Slandering Assange, Conning the Public, Why This Process Must End
On June 26 at the National Press Club, media bosses demanded greater protection for whistleblowers and journalists, yet in the treatment of journalist /whistleblower Julian Assange, mainstream media have colluded in slander promoted by the US, UK and Australian political establishment. In response to this campaign, journalists have been negligent. Perhaps intimidated by threats Continue reading »
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ELAINE PEARSON. What Next for Australian ISIS Suspects? Government Should Pursue Full Investigations, Fair Trials (Human Rights Watch)
The Australian government is taking an important step by helping eight Australian children of suspects of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) return home from northeast Syria. The children were held for months without charge under horrific conditions in Syria’s al-Hol Camp. The youngest is two years old. Continue reading »
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PATRICK BUCHANAN. Memo to Trump: Trade Bolton for Tulsi (The American Conservative)
“For too long our leaders have failed us, taking us into one regime change war after the next, leading us into a new Cold War and arms race, costing us trillions of our hard-earned tax payer dollars and countless lives. This insanity must end.” Donald Trump, circa 2016? Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. Iran : Coalition of the less than willing !
The spectacle of Prime Minister facing the “full court press” from President Trump and his team across the dinner table in Osaka starkly demonstrated how G20 Osaka was to be Morrison’s real initiation to the global arena. As the Iran crisis threatened to intensify it was little surprise that this became a prime focus of Continue reading »
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JACK WATERFORD. Pyne turning public role to private profit (Canberra Times 29.6.2017)
Australia yet again at the bottom of the democracies for standards of public conduct, and the will to enforce them. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. The exhumations have resumed.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the graveyard, the exhumations have resumed. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. Urban and Regional Policy
Spatial inequality has risen dramatically over Australia in the last forty years, and our cities are in many ways becoming less liveable. This article draws on the recent CSIRO report on the Australian National Outlook to summarise the major policy shift that is required affecting urban development to enable well-connected, affordable cities that offer more Continue reading »
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PAUL BARRATT. Australia should not participate in conflict with Iran.
Australia should not participate in any military action against Iran. The current tensions have been created by the Trump Administration, and the ANZUS Alliance creates no obligation for us to assist. President Trump may think that a war against Iran “would not last very long”, but any significant military action really would set the Middle Continue reading »
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JOHN KERIN. Trump’s latest Farm Bill and Implications for Australia’s Farm Exports.
Trump’s trade policies and reaction to the rebound of them has resulted in another increase of $23b subsidisation on top of the $12b supposedly one-off package last year for US farmers who are ‘collateral damage, as a result of his policies. Put together, this represents two thirds of Australia’s total agricultural output.Do good allies damage Continue reading »
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The Facts About School Funding in NSW
The reputation of the NSW Government for fully implementing the Gonski funding model is totally unwarranted. The NSW Government took the opportunity of increased Commonwealth funding for public schools during 2013-2017 to cut its own inflation adjusted funding of public schools while maintaining funding for private schools. This continued the trend from earlier years. Continue reading »
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Folau saga: when employers and sponsors become the thought police
Like Paul Collins, I am destined for Israel Folau’s version of hell on multiple counts of sin. Indeed I will be even deeper in it since I have repeatedly, over several decades, refused to embrace the love and salvation offered by Jesus Christ despite countless missionaries and proselytisers pleading with me to do so and Continue reading »