Author Archives: John Menadue

JOHN MENADUE. Our cricketers The Ugly Australians. A REPOST

26 March 2018

Repost from 01/04/2015. Things have only got worse with the cheating in South Africa.. We need a clean out not just of players but coaching staff,Cricket Australia and the media . They are very good cricketers, but the behaviour of … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Media, Sport | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Henry Reynolds. Militarisation marches on . A REPOST

30 January 2018

The Australian military featured heavily again in our celebrations of Australia Day 2018. There were Army parades in Canberra and the Navy on show in Sydney Harbour. The militarisation of Australia and the language of war has become the new … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

GRAHAM FREUDENBERG. His speech at the Graham Freudenberg Tribute Dinner- A REPOST from June 19 2017

20 January 2018

On 2 June, the NSW Branch of the Labor Party hosted a dinner for Graham Freudenberg, former speechwriter for federal and state Labor leaders, including Arthur Calwell, Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke, Neville Wran, Barrie Unsworth, Bob Carr and Simon Crean. … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Comments Off on GRAHAM FREUDENBERG. His speech at the Graham Freudenberg Tribute Dinner- A REPOST from June 19 2017

JOHN MENADUE. The ongoing spin that Tony Abbott and the Coalition stopped the boats.- A REPOST from August 3 2017

20 January 2018

Peter Hughes and I posted two blogs in September 2015 (‘Slogans versus facts on boat arrivals’ Part 1 and Part 2) that pointed out first, that Tony Abbott kept the door open for tens of thousands of boat arrivals by … Continue reading →

Posted in Refugees, Immigration | 4 Comments

JOHN MENADUE. A Commonwealth Hospital Benefit to replace the $11b private health insurance subsidy.- A REPOST from October 18 2117

19 January 2018

The wasteful and unfair $ 11b  per annum cost to taxpayers of the subsidy to Private Health Insurance should be abolished and the savings used in two possible ways – part funding a Medicare dental scheme and/or part  funding private … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Politics | Comments Off on JOHN MENADUE. A Commonwealth Hospital Benefit to replace the $11b private health insurance subsidy.- A REPOST from October 18 2117

MICHAEL KEATING. Tax Reform and the Need to Raise More Revenue- A REPOST from August 2017

19 January 2018

This article considers the future Budget outlook and argues that the key issue for tax reform is how best to raise the additional revenue that will be needed. The article builds on Ian McAuley’s recent post arguing that well-designed taxes … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy | 6 Comments

HENRY REYNOLDS. Memories and Massacres- A REPOST from July 10 2017

18 January 2018

The release by Newcastle University’s Centre for 21st Century Humanities of a map of colonial frontier massacres has attracted a burst of media attention. It draws national interest back to those questions that were highlighted during the history wars of … Continue reading →

Posted in Indigenous affairs | 4 Comments

John Menadue. The Coalition, Barnaby Joyce rural poverty and rural health. (Repost from 16 January 2016)

18 January 2018

It is not surprising that independents are making headway in country electorates. But what is the ALP doing?  

Posted in Economy, Health, Politics | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

MICHAEL KELLY. Canada shows us how it is done.-A REPOST from July 5 2017

17 January 2018

The Refugee Council of Australia’s call for more affordable and community based ways of settling refugees is only the latest attempt to bring both community good will to refugees and the implementation of a proven and superior alternative to government … Continue reading →

Posted in Refugees, Immigration | 1 Comment

GEOFF RABY. Where have all the grown-ups gone on China policy?- A REPOST from June 23 2017

17 January 2018

Malcolm Turnbull’s glib talk of ‘‘frenemies’’ does nothing to help the urgent debate over how we handle the rising power of China.

Posted in International Affairs, Politics | 2 Comments

IAN DUNLOP. Facing “Disaster Alley”, Australia shirks responsibility- A REPOST from June 27 2017

16 January 2018

The first responsibility of a government is to safeguard the people and their future wellbeing. The ability to do so is increasingly threatened by human-induced climate change, the accelerating impacts of which are driving political instability and conflict globally. Climate … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment and climate | Comments Off on IAN DUNLOP. Facing “Disaster Alley”, Australia shirks responsibility- A REPOST from June 27 2017

GEORGE RENNIE. Australia’s lobbying laws are inadequate, but other countries are getting it right- A REPOST from June 23 2017

16 January 2018

Lobbying is a necessary component of representative democracy, yet poses one of its greatest threats.

Posted in Politics | 1 Comment

ALLAN PATIENCE. It’s Time for New Politics.- A REPOST from June 12 2017

15 January 2018

How do we explain the phenomenon of a Bernie Sanders, who almost certainly would have won the US presidency if he’d been the Democrat candidate running against Trump? How do we account for the astounding failure of, first, David Cameron … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

GARETH EVANS. Trump’s US has abdicated global leadership- A REPOST from June 20 2017

15 January 2018

Following his presentation at the EU-Australia Senior and Emerging Leaders’ Forum last week, ANU Chancellor and former Foreign Minister Gareth Evans spoke with Melissa Conley Tyler, Executive Director of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Evans said that by withdrawing … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs | Comments Off on GARETH EVANS. Trump’s US has abdicated global leadership- A REPOST from June 20 2017

CAROL SUMMERHAYES. At a tribute to Graham Freudenberg.- A REPOST from June 8 2017

13 January 2018

Graham revealed in his memoir that he wrote his first speech in Brisbane in May 1945, aged 10, at the time of VE Day, and delivered it to his mother. In 1946 he scored a job with ABC Radio reading … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Tributes | Tagged , | 2 Comments

STAN GRANT- We ignore our racist past-A REPOST from August 21 2017

13 January 2018

I passed by Hyde Park this week in the heart of Sydney and looked again on the statue of Captain James Cook. It has pride of place, a monument to the man who in 1770 claimed this continent for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights | 5 Comments

GRAHAM FREUDENBERG. Revising history – A REPOST from June 16 2017

13 January 2018

For octogenarians like me, the most astonishing development since the collapse of the Soviet Union is that so much of the West’s hopes for international sanity, civility and peace should now rest with, of all countries, Germany.  

Posted in International Affairs, Politics | 7 Comments

JOHN WARHURST. Corruption and decay of Australian politics. A REPOST from June 15 2017

12 January 2018

  This week’s ABC Four Corners program that revisited, after 30 years, Chris Masters’ revelations of police corruption in Queensland, “The Moonlight State”, brings to mind how widespread corruption in Australian politics has been since then. 

Posted in Politics | 3 Comments

PETER MARTIN. How billionaires get uber-rich at our expense- A REPOST from June 1 2017

12 January 2018

“The rich are different from you and me” the saying goes. “They have more money“. But that’s not the only way they are different. In the updated Financial Review Rich List released on Friday, 45 of the richest 50 Australians are men. And they are … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

IAN McAULEY. Private health insurers frighten the ALP-A REPOST from June 2 2017

11 January 2018

There was a recent flurry of media excitement about a supposed “secret hospital funding plan”, which turned out to be no more than an option under consideration by a think-tank. But the real (and overlooked) issue in health funding is … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Health, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

CAVAN HOGUE. White man’a media- A REPOST from May 29 2017

11 January 2018

That the Australian media gives us saturation coverage of Europe but much less on Asia is obvious but the question is why? Have they done market research which shows this is what the public wants or does it stem from … Continue reading →

Posted in International Affairs, Media | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

MACK WILLIAMS. Adrift in  the South China Sea? -A REPOST from May 22 2017

10 January 2018

While Washington is paralysed by alleged White House scandal the US has taken its eye off the South China Sea. Continuing developments in the region have reinforced China’s position. Australia cannot afford to delay its own examination of our long … Continue reading →

Posted in International Affairs | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

JENNY HOCKING. Pressure Builds on Turnbull Over the Secret ‘Palace Letters’ on the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government -REPOST from June 16, 2017

10 January 2018

Pressure is building on the Prime Minister to intervene in the long-running dispute over the release of the ‘Palace letters’, the secret correspondence between the Queen and the Governor-General Sir John Kerr in the months before Kerr’s 1975 dismissal of … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 7 Comments

MICHAEL KEATING. Inequality, wages and economic growth- A REPOST from July 31,2017

9 January 2018

Changes in inequality and in the relationship between wages and productivity help explain the poor economic performance of many advanced economies in this century. Interestingly the Governor of the Reserve Bank indicated that Australia might be facing the same risks … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy | 6 Comments

DOUGLAS NEWTON.  Beersheba – the Scramble for the Ottoman Empire- A REPOST From November 2, 2017

8 January 2018

The centenary of the bloodshed at Beersheba this month is being used to bolster a narrow nationalist understanding of Australia’s First World War. Vital truths about the worldwide catastrophe that had enveloped countless millions by October 1917 are being obscured … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs | 11 Comments

JOHN MENADUE. The Ausgrid decision and the growing power of security and intelligence agencies. A REPOST from August 2016

5 January 2018

  The Ausgrid decision on Chinese investment raises two important issues. The first is how do we get a proper balance between security concerns and the wider benefits of the relationship. Our major strategic ally the US sees China our … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, Infrastructure, International Affairs, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

JOHN MENADUE. Contracting out our foreign and defence policies -A REPOST from 2 February 2017)

4 January 2018

The military and defence establishment and lobbies, both in Australia and the US are determining Australia’s foreign policy. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and her Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are  sidelined. Locked into the US defence complex  with … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

HANS-J. OHFF. Acquiring an orphan submarine. A REPOST from January 2017

3 January 2018

If the RAN holds firm to the concept offered by DCNS it will acquire an orphan no other Navy will contemplate commissioning into service. It will own a submarines that will be expensive to build, expensive to maintain and expensive … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, Economy, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

CAVAN HOGUE. Let those who are without sin cast the first stone. A REPOST

3 January 2018

The USA is a complex place with its vices, virtues and differences. Despite its noble ideals and democratic institutions, it has a long history of aggression and of overthrowing democracies in the pursuit of American commercial or strategic interests. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

JOHN MENADUE. Is war in the American DNA? -A REPOST from JULY 2016

2 January 2018

In his book ‘Dangerous Allies’ Malcolm Fraser warned us how we can be drawn into US conflicts that are of no concern to us. We have seen that in  following the US into disastrous wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan , Iraq and … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, Politics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments