Writer
Mike Scrafton
Mike Scrafton was a Deputy Secretary in the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment, senior Defence executive, CEO of a state statutory body, and chief of staff and ministerial adviser to the minister for defence.
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The most powerful weapon the West gave Ukraine: notes from the edge of the narrative matrix
It’s pretty wild how the US is sending armoured vehicles to Haiti to help quash the exact sort of uprising it’s been actively trying to create in places like Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and Hong Kong. Continue reading »
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Beijing ‘won’t be threatened’ into changing Taiwan plans, analysts say
China’s foreign ministry lodged ‘stern representations’ with the US after President Joe Biden again said American troops would defend the island if the PLA attacks. Continue reading »
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President Abbas at UNGA: Why is Israel not punished for violating international law?
Who is protecting Israel from being held accountable? Why these double standards when it comes to Israel? Continue reading »
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West’s ‘divide and rule’ culture a great threat to development
The latest 2021/22 Human Development Report was recently released. Titled “Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World,” it “paints a picture of a global society lurching from crisis to crisis, and which risks heading towards increasing deprivation and injustice.” This is a big shock to those of us who aspire for Continue reading »
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Neil Hauxwell: Toward a great TAFE revival
The most important outcome from the Jobs and Skills Summit must be some federal government leadership. Our Vocational Education and Training system, including TAFE, is in urgent need of a major reset. Continue reading »
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Everett Bledsoe: The US military empire. How many US military bases are there in the world?
The Pentagon does not know how many bases it has around the world so it relies on academics to tell it. The US bases are gated communities which replicate US suburbs, shops and amenities to the exclusion of local people. Continue reading »
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Bill Armstrong: National security through community engagement. Fail to honour people and they will fail to honour you. (Lao Tsu 2000 years ago)
We are living through a change of era on planet earth. Huge changes are ongoing. There is no doubt that the recent federal election gave a mandate to the incoming Government to RESET the way we do business at many levels. Continue reading »
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Eva Bartlett: The West is silent as Ukraine targets civilians in Donetsk using banned ‘butterfly’ mines
The use of PFM-1 explosives against civilians is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions—but this evidently isn’t stopping Ukraine. Continue reading »
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Alan Pears: Climate action will drive disruptive change, but we can build on past experience…
Election May 2022 – a new beginning for climate and energy policy? Continue reading »
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Andrew Bacevich: American Imperium – Untangling truth and fiction in an age of perpetual US wars (Repost from 1/1/2018)
‘Republicans and Democrats disagree today on many issues, but they are united in their resolve that the United States must remain the world’s greatest military power. In its most benign form, the consensus finds expression in extravagant and unremitting displays of affection for those who wear the uniform. Considerably less benign is a pronounced enthusiasm Continue reading »
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Katrina Watson: How to save General Practice
I’m a recently retired specialist doctor and I keep an eye on medical affairs. They affect all of us, especially as we get older, and people still ask what I think. Continue reading »
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Manlio Graziano – United States: the end of an illusion of omnipotence
“I do not accept second place for the United States of America.” That simple statement, delivered to rousing effect by Barack Obama in his first State of the Union, in January 2010, managed to summarize the current American strategic horizon in a single sentence. Continue reading »
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CRAIG MURRAY. Biden works to prolong Ukraine war
Why we live in a world where the goal of nations is to damage the lives of inhabitants of other nations is a question which continues to puzzle me. Continue reading »
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Peter Tait: Vote Independent? If that doesn’t work, then what?
Voting independent needs careful preferencing. If your independent doesn’t get up (or you don’t have that option), you can try Active Democracy Continue reading »
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David Van Deusen: No love for Putin: No guns for Nazis in Ukraine
Ukraine in fact has a serious Nazi problem. Continue reading »
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Kathy Kelly: The people of Yemen suffer at the hands of the US, UAE and Saudi Arabia…377,000 dead
The United Nations estimated last fall that the Yemen death toll would top 377,000 people by the end of 2021. Compare that to the deaths in Ukraine! Our media shows no interest or concern. Continue reading »
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Tobias Debiel and Herbert Wulf: Escalation and de-escalation in the Ukraine War-A German perspective
Demonization and humiliation do not pave the way to the negotiating table. Continue reading »
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The shabby treatment of nurses by medical doctors.
A collection of recent articles about the dismissal of the key role of nurses by the Medical Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce. The doctor dominated Taskforce is determined not to understand that nurses hold the health system together Continue reading »
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GARRY EVERETT. Sex Only??
The recent Hollywood movie, On the basis of sex, tells the story of the first successful court case argued by Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 9th Circuit Court. The subject matter was discrimination by the Federal Tax Laws, against a man who was denied a tax concession as his mother’s carer, on the grounds that Continue reading »
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CHAS W. FREEMAN JR. After the trade war, a real war with China
[T]he greatest danger of a [real] Sino-American war is Taiwan. Taiwan is a former Chinese province that was recovered from its Japanese occupiers by Nationalist China at the end of World War II. In 1949, having been defeated everywhere else in China, Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist forces retreated to it. Continue reading »
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STEPHEN de WEGER. Clerical sexual abuse of adults. Another blind spot.
In 2013, after working as a research assistant project into clergy sexual abuse of children, I decided to undertake an exploratory study into clergy sexual misconduct against adults. During this study I came across what I believe should be a strategic document regarding the understanding of the clergy sexual abuse crisis we are witnessing right Continue reading »
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FRANCIS SULLIVAN. Pell conviction blows apart bishops’ mantra
Yesterday’s announcement of the conviction of Cardinal George Pell has been shattering for many and a relief for others. The fact that the most senior cleric in Australia has been found guilty is devastating on many levels. Not the least because he was such a high-profile proponent for the safeguarding children in the church and Continue reading »
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BARNEY ZWARTZ. George Pell has fallen, but the cardinal’s legacy casts a long shadow
So Cardinal George Pell – by far Australia’s best-known church leader of the past 25 years, the highest-ranked Australian ever at the Vatican, a confidant of prime ministers – faces a jail sentence for child sexual abuse. The dispenser of God’s grace (through the sacrament) has surely reached the nadir of human disgrace. Continue reading »
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GEORGE MONBIOT. Dark money is pushing for a no-deal Brexit. Who is behind it?
Modern governments respond to only two varieties of emergency: those whose solution is bombs and bullets, and those whose solution is bailouts for the banks. But what if they decided to take other threats as seriously? Continue reading »
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DEMETRI SEVASTOPULO AND DAVID BOND . UK National Cyber Security Centre says Huawei is manageable risk to 5G( Financial Times London 18.2.2019
British intelligence has concluded that it is possible to mitigate the risk from using Huawei equipment in 5G networks, in a serious blow to US efforts to persuade allies to ban the Chinese supplier from high-speed telecommunications systems. Continue reading »
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MARILYN HATTON. Pray and light a candle for our church in crisis.
For years a small but expanding number of Catholics in Australia have beenappealing for church reform and have struggled to gain attention from our bishops. Our prayers and entreaties for change in the clerical, male-dominated cloisters have fallen on unattentive ears. Continue reading »
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RUTH ADLER. Brexit uncertainties fuel speculation on Irish unification referendum
With weeks remaining until the 29 March deadline for a deal on Brexit, there is speculation that failure to reach agreement will result in increased momentum for a referendum on Irish unification under the Good Friday Agreement. Several Cabinet Ministers in Theresa May’s government are reportedly seriously concerned about the prospect, with one describing it Continue reading »
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LIZ HANNA. A warming Australia spells serious trouble for human health
Climate change. Global warming. A hotter planet. A hotter Australia. Yet few are asking the difficult question of ‘how hot is too hot?’. We have so many elephants in the room at present that ‘the room’ is getting pretty crowded, but as we are barrelling towards 1.5oC of planetary warming since pre-industrial times, the ‘how Continue reading »
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GERARD O’CONNELL. Before arriving in U.A.E., pope challenges his hosts to help end Yemen crisis
Pope Francis made a powerful appeal to “the interested parties” and “to the international community” to end the humanitarian crisis in Yemen in which some 10 million people risk starvation. Continue reading »
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CLAIRE GIANGRAVE. UN panel probes Italy’s role in Church’s child abuse scandals
A United Nations Committee for the protection of minors questioned the Italian government last week about clerical sexual abuse in the country, expressing concern over laws that protect predator priests from criminal charges. Continue reading »
