Writer
Jack Waterford
John Waterford AM, better known as Jack Waterford, is an Australian journalist and commentator.
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Will secrecy trump justice for murdered Afghans?
Thousands of Australian men and women fought in Afghanistan and Iraq without being in breach of any of the rules of warfare, but one can imagine that whatever pride they have in their personal and military accomplishment is muted by their knowledge that a small minority face credible charges of murdering civilians and other war… Continue reading »
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Our MPs and Generals hope we forget the foolish Afghanistan war and the wounds it left on our honour
The aftermath of the Brereton inquiry into war crimes committed by SAS soldiers involves much more than continuing efforts to prosecute. It also involves findings of the degree of culpability of officers at all levels above the non-commissioned soldiers accused, as well as the whole culture of the SAS, perhaps of the whole army…. Continue reading »
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Morrison’s minders at the heart of his doldrums
Perhaps a day will come when the champion rorters, liars, and conscious mis-managers of public resources are before a serious corruption commission and out on their ears…. Continue reading »
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Ministerial staff can’t be strangled but they can be leashed
It is probably too late to throw partisans out of ministerial offices, or even to strangle the triennial increase in the number of ministerial staff, whether or not they are to be subjected to ordinary rules of civility and respect for each other. But it is not too late to set some enforceable public standards… Continue reading »
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Morrison’s over-hyping of vaccine delivery
If the mass vaccination of Australians against the severe effects of Covid-19 proves to be a complete political debacle for the government, it seems likely at this moment that it will be more a consequence of its being over-hyped by the prime minister than of serious mismanagement of the program, or even the incompetence which… Continue reading »
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The usual suspects and mates, making a killing from vaccinations
Australia has the right to whinge about Europe’s withholding of solid vaccines orders. We have done that, even as we have accepted the decision with reasonably good grace. We have to, more or less, because there is no immediate hope of reversing the decision through law courts or military invasion, and because our moral, as… Continue reading »
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Sexual assault policies fit pattern of abuse of power
Three decades ago, Bob Hawke seized on Joh Bjeke-Petersen’s revolt against John Howard’s leadership of the Liberal Party with a campaign slogan which said of the coalition, “If you can’t govern yourselves, you can’t govern the country.” Obvious party disunity tends to have that effect…. Continue reading »
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Women’s passion and anger isn’t enough to force lasting change
It is said that early in the catalogue of Morrison’s mismanagement of recent issues that some of his advisers asserted the matters that had come to the fore – alleged rape, the safety of women in parliament and in the wider world – was a “doctor’s wife” sort of issue, of intense interest only to… Continue reading »
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The AFP clearing-house: more political than useful
Some of the AFP commissioners have entrenched the AFP’s reputation as the most politicised force in the country. When one considers the NSW and Victoria Police, that is really saying something…. Continue reading »
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Sexual violence makes a farce of the rule of law
One should always take great care in assuming the reliability of statistics or the factual basis of arguments and prejudices promoted by the NSW Police Commissioner, Mick Fuller. But he may have made the argument for fundamental reform of sexual violence and sexual harassment laws in suggesting, defensively this week, that only a small proportion… Continue reading »
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Canberra: the nation’s capital in progress
One gets used to people suggesting that the whole idea of Canberra was a terrible mistake. A waste of good grazing country. A folly, an expensive indulgence, which ultimately and inevitably produced self-reproducing bureaucrats and a governing class out of touch with the lot of ordinary Australians. Perhaps they are right…. Continue reading »
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Is Christian Porter fit to hold public office?
Any proper assessment of Christian Porter’s fitness for office would not only properly assess the sexual assault allegations but would his performance as a politician and as a minister. It would appear his personal failings mirror his abuse of political principle…. Continue reading »
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Does Morrison need Porter more than the votes of 50% of the population?
An inquest is not usually well placed to settle matters in contest. In the case of an alleged suicide, for example, the Coroner’s remit is to find the cause of death, not to conduct a wide-ranging inquiry. One the other hand, in cases before professional tribunals, lawyers, doctors, nurses and others have been struck off… Continue reading »
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The AFP is a political tool of government.
Parliamentarians and the public already know enough about the handling of the alleged sexual assault case in the office of the Minister for Defence to make judgments about how the political system treats victims…. Continue reading »
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The abuse culture comes from entitled boys from almost all the most expensive and privileged private schools – the germ of Australia’s ruling class.
Is anyone surprised that in this environment of contempt for the public, the disadvantaged, and for principles of public stewardship, that disrespect for women rages, and that abuse of women is seen more through the lens of political damage?… Continue reading »
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The Morrison method – if you don’t ask, you can’t tell
Some prime ministers are more practised liars than others. Some can confuse, distract and prevaricate in such a way as to strangle the truth. Morrison, however, is a special case. He does not seem to recognise any obligation to account. He resists any scrutiny and while using words such as “transparency” almost everything he does… Continue reading »
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I have never seen, over 50 years, a more slippery customer than Morrison
How Prime Minister Scott Morrison ‘feels’ the pain of others. For him, almost everything is a public relations problem. … Continue reading »
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A grubby and corrupting traffic in misery
Commissioner Bergin’s report did not devote a word to the sleazy and improper way James Packer was effectively given Barangaroo by a new Liberal Premier, Barry O’Farrell. And not a word about the slew of former Labor and Liberal Party apparatchiks who moved on to make their fortunes prostituting their inside knowledge and their access… Continue reading »
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Boyos banished when Barangaroo boomerangs back
But the fact is that a reformed Crown board will be sailing full steam ahead to take up the licence from an unresisting NSW government…. Continue reading »
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Unaccountable leaders set the tone for all in public service
The decline of good government has not been an accident. Those in public service are probably of much the same calibre, idealism and intellectual capacity as ever. What they are not getting is leadership – by words or by deeds…. Continue reading »
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The Morrison government: increasingly an ethical vacuum
Almost weekly, the person behind Anthony Albanese’s Twitter feed puts out a short statement, hanging off a recent event, calling for powerful corruption commission. A Labor Party seriously interested in winning government ought to be doing much more…. Continue reading »
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Polls will narrow, especially as Morrison is open to attack on issues of probity
However, the position of deputy Labor leader requires a heavyweight. Richard Marles may be treasured by his faction, but he is virtually unknown and lacks the clout to make things happen. In Defence he couldn’t make an impression on a soft silk cushion…. Continue reading »
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Labor’s dissembling and ducking won’t win climate votes
On climate change, voters want clarity, not obfuscation; honesty, not slogans. At the last election, voters saw through Labor’s mixed messaging and slapped the party down accordingly…. Continue reading »
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‘Australians all let us forget that we are not all free’
Until recently, Australia Day for most was just a long weekend to do nothing. I yearn for such a return. Who wants immigration ministers feeling they can decide what we should wear, and what we should be doing? That official bossiness is a precursor to a national security state and social exclusion…. Continue reading »
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Patriotic ins and outs at the Australian unity jamboree
It wouldn’t be late January if Australians were not being drawn into pointless “national conversations” about Australia Day, its occurrence on the anniversary of British settlement and the beginning of Aboriginal displacement, and what it means to be Australian…. Continue reading »
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Forget the insurrection as ‘a teaching opportunity’
Here’s to betting that impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump prove a political disaster for the US and the Democrats; that Trumpism emerges more popular than ever; and that the drift towards the disintegration of the republic continues…. Continue reading »
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Trump, and Trumpism, at no disadvantage in the senate trial
No one should stress about whether Donald Trump has received or will receive all of his legal rights, or whether the triumph of his opponents is unfairly depriving him of the bully pulpit that his office has given him. Nor should they be concerned about the freedom of his speech. But they should be concerned… Continue reading »
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After Georgia, Biden has no excuses but it’s a long road ahead
While on paper Joe Biden has the power to force his agenda through Congress, the reality is a little different. He will need to take action on many fronts, not just the pandemic. A critical first task will be the dismantling and discrediting of Trumpism. … Continue reading »
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With a booby-trapped White House, many Americans will want the nightmare to end
Biden’s task of restoring unity is not merely a matter of being statesmanlike or breaking down the hyper-partisanship of recent years. It is a matter of restoring faith in democratic institutions, the media, and in facts as a basis for debate…. Continue reading »
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Morrison, the man with no abiding beliefs, also lacks agenda, map or destination
Assuming that the Morrison government goes more or less to full term — and some senate obstruction should not be enough to persuade a governor-general, even one in a witness support scheme — to grant an early dissolution — Morrison has probably about 15 months of economic recovery, ordinary economic management, and general steering of… Continue reading »
