Writer
Mark Buckley
Mark Buckley is a writer based in regional Victoria. He has a particular interest in politics, history and ethics in public life. He blogs at www.askbucko.com
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What Rupert wants, Scotty gives
My public posts are now unavailable on Facebook because the dopey Morrison Government chose to charge Facebook for linking to media websites…. Continue reading »
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Forgive them for they know not what they do: stop putting kids in jail
There are more than 600 children aged 10 to 13 in prison in Australia, 65% of whom are of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage. A private members’ bill has been introduced to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, yet it is opposed by Attorney-General Christian Porter. Surely Australia is ready to stop… Continue reading »
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Government still comes up short
Governments were once terrified when budget night came around. Any increase in the price of cigarettes or a pot of beer, a wave of popular disgust would likely follow. Australians are coming around to the fact that governments are different now…. Continue reading »
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Some want voter suppression in Australia
While many of us in Australia are impressed with the state of our nation, especially when we compare it with our rich and powerful ally, the USA, we should not get too smug, with plenty of warning signs of some really bad American ideas about to be imported…. Continue reading »
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Australia’s political talent pool more like a puddle
Once upon a time in Australia, the best and the brightest presented themselves for election. Now, it seems, Cabinet ministers are chosen on the basis of loyalty to whoever is sitting in the prime ministerial chair. And talent is in short supply…. Continue reading »
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Poor Fellow, my country, indeed: Trump’s Australian fans.
Most of the democratic world agrees that the scenes in the Capitol were terrifying. But what of Australia’s democracy? A government obsessed with secrecy, faux threats to security, MPs in the grip of the neoliberal sickness, and some who appear in thrall to the failed US President…. Continue reading »
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The Twerp Factory (IPA) wants to destroy the ABC
During the neoliberal boom of the 1970s and 1980s, it became fashionable to sell many valuable state-owned enterprises, often for a song, and usually to friends of the regime. Later on this would become something of a blueprint for the Russians, who created a whole class of thieving kleptocrats, who then went on to pillage… Continue reading »
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This rabble of a government
“Jesus I am sick of this rabble of a government of ours – if it is not making an ass of itself in its handling of relations with our biggest trading partner it is attacking the little bloke’s Super – all of this is inspired by the twisted ideology of the IPA and the ASPI… Continue reading »
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How to rate key players in Team Australia?
2020 has been a tough year. Let us take a look at the list, where they are at, what they have produced in 2020, and what we can expect in season 2021…. Continue reading »
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Journalists need medals for reporting on such dull politicians
The late, great comedian John Clarke always said that the best actors he had ever heard were sports commentators. The reason, he explained, was that they were able to convey the impression, with the utmost conviction, that the outcome of a football match was crucial, almost a matter of life or death. And then, suddenly,… Continue reading »
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Morrison, China and Aged Care
It has always been difficult to read Scott Morrison’s motives. Many attribute his hard line policies and actions, and his intolerance of dissent, or criticism, to his religion, but that seems too simplistic…. Continue reading »
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Abbott – a national disgrace
Just when you thought it was safe to open a newspaper again, Tony Abbott is back in the news. This time he is in the UK, where the Brits have appointed him a ‘trade envoy’…. Continue reading »
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Privatisation – who’s it good for?
Privatisation is one of those terms which politicians avoid using. That is because the public does not like the idea, or its outcomes. It can be used in a number of ways, but most of us regard it as meaning “selling off a publicly owned asset, usually to the detriment of good government”…. Continue reading »
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What went wrong with Aged Care?
The definite turning point in the quality and the humanity of Australia’s care of the elderly was the Aged Care Bill 1997 (Cth), introduced as part of the Howard Government’s 1996 Budget measures. It was a huge failure…. Continue reading »
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Welfare state – do we even need one?
Welfare state, a concept of government in which the state … plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of citizens…. Continue reading »
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Please, not an austerity government again!
If there was ever a time for a government to take the bit between its teeth and achieve great things, this is the time. The coronavirus has essentially picked up the chessboard, and thrown all the pieces up in the air…. Continue reading »
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Big disasters need big government
The continuing argument between the left and right in politics seems to be one which boils down to whether or not we believe in the power of big government to cushion the blows of nature, and to maintain our social fabric, in the face of steep odds…. Continue reading »
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Second outbreak of Covid-19 in Victoria
It is clear that, after our initial success in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, Australians are disappointed and even angry that we have been thrown back into lockdown. Rates of infection have, relatively speaking, shot up…. Continue reading »
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Is our alliance with America worth it?
Almost eighty years ago Prime Minister John Curtin prepared a New Year’s Eve message for the Australian people. It was written three weeks after the war with Japan had begun…. Continue reading »
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The Coalition is just following orders
To understand how and why Australia has ended up where it has, with a series of governments which seem to become more and more damaging to our way of life, year on year, we need only to look back to 2013. If you think they are waging a relentless war on the nation’s most vulnerable,… Continue reading »
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Comparing land use in Australia
If we attempt to compare Aboriginal land use with those of the early settlers, we should broaden the meaning of ‘land use’. We must move away from the narrow European notion of agriculture and horticulture, to one which includes religious and cultural associations with the land, and one which allows the skills and the bounty… Continue reading »
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Morrison throws the switch to vaudeville
Fresh from his redemption after The Great Bush-fire Debacle, Scott Morrison is reverting to type. In a farcical press conference he stated that Australia’s institutions and businesses were being targeted by a sophisticated state-based cyber actor…. Continue reading »
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2020 Honours list a sick joke
There are some moments in a country’s history when the bullshit becomes too much to bear. This year’s Queen’s Birthday (2020) Honours List is one such moment, where the entire apparatus of government and its lack of shame tip us over the edge…. Continue reading »
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MARK BUCKLEY. Arise, Sir Tony…
At the risk of beating the same old drum, this current Government seems to be heading steadily down the ethical and moral drain, ever since the unexpected election win…. Continue reading »
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MARK BUCKLEY. Scomo wrote us a letter of apology
I dreamed that Scott Morrison woke up one day, very recently, and was filled with regret. He was so overcome with regret that he wrote a letter of apology to the people of Australia. The gist of his imaginary letter went something like this:… Continue reading »
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MARK BUCKLEY. IPA is wrecking our democracy
The history of the IPA is curious. Many of the key players in its early years are either still around, or their children are…. Continue reading »
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MARK BUCKLEY. Morrison needs to finish the job
Scott Morrison has, in many ways, been ‘saved’ by the coronavirus. At the end of February and heading into March, his public standing was at rock-bottom. Scotty from Marketing was jeered at every time he went out in public, and journalists were daily questioning his honesty, and his competence…. Continue reading »
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MARK BUCKLEY. The ABC is their new target
In 2018 two researchers from the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) wrote a book, entitled Why We Should Privatise the ABC and How to Do It…. Continue reading »
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MARK BUCKLEY. Scott Morrison’s crisis management
Scott Morrison is proving to be adept at crisis management and Australia is benefiting. There have been missteps, and mixed messages, and the occasional catastrophic blunder (the Ruby Princess springs to mind), but in a global pandemic we have, along with our cousins across the Tasman, apparently slowed the progress of the virus…. Continue reading »
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MARK BUCKLEY. Meet John Roskam the real PM
I confess that I feel like a complete fool. I had heard bits and pieces about the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) for years, but I had always associated them with tired old culture warriors, like Gerard Henderson, maybe Bob Santamaria…. Continue reading »
