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One to 50,000

Thank you to Scott Burchill for a prescient analysis. While the deaths of 50,000 Gazans as well as the maltreatment of many of those captured by the Israeli army can’t rouse him to action, I note that Anthony Albanese (and Peter Dutton btw) have come out all guns blazing over the reported death of one Australian in Russia. Yet we couldn’t even find a translator of Hebrew for the voice recordings crucial to the Binskin inquiry into Australian Zomi Frankcom’s death at the hands of the Israeli army.

Tackle the root causes of climate policy blindness

David Spratt accuses the Government of ‘climate policy blindness’. This debilitating condition affects both Labor and the Coalition. They suffer because they each have too much to lose by opening their eyes to the stark climate future that we face. This blindness enables them to continue to give support to, and accept substantial donations from, the fossil fuel industry, and may ease concerns among some about their employability post-parliament. We must attack this blindness by addressing its roots: for example strictly limit political donations, and establish a fair ‘cooling-off’ period for retiring politicians before they take up lucrative private-sector...

Could the election results give some indication?

Recently I've been wondering if the forthcoming election might give an indicative answer to just how large or small the influential Jewish lobby (AIJAC and the like) is within the Jewish community itself. Reading her bio at the end of her excellent article (Ice Hockey Australia branded antisemitic....), I thought another one when I read that Cathy Peters is Jewish. There are a lot of Jewish people who oppose the genocide in Gaza, no doubt at great personal cost in some cases. In terms of influence, money talks ... right across the spectrum of groups, causes, industries, ethnicities. That's...

Our Dogs Do Not Deserve to be so badly Disparaged

Dear Editor, An Objection As a passionate Animal Activist who also greatly cares about Social & Environmental justice I found the title of this article offensive to our poor dogs who do not deserve to be so badly insulted by being associated with / and describing these so unethical immoral people who have no shame. Dogs are such beautiful Sentient Beings and should not be denigrated in this way - nor should any other animal species. There are better more apt negative descriptions to be used ( eg scum) without harming the image and reputations of...

Risk of Nuclear Power Generation

I was interested in the Medical drawbacks of Nuclear Energy. However, another issue is heat generation. With the uNclear (Nuclear) policy, one fact that has not been considered is the need for cooling. These proposed Nuclear plants will be larger than the Coal plants they replace. This requires a large amount of cooling water. The waste heat is released into this body of water which raises the lake water temperature. This raising temperature causes changes in the ecology of the lake to the detriment of the natural balance. Comparing Nuclear to other forms of energy generation such as...

ABC bias? Not so simple

I note Richard Bean’s analysis of interviews on ABC Radio National’s Breakfast program suggesting pro-Israel bias in the ABC. I wish to share a letter I wrote to the ABC in November 2023, seeking clarification about a two-part discussion on “Big Ideas” entitled “Newsroom ethics and the Israel-Gaza war” which,   I suggested,  could plausibly be interpreted as having a panel skewed against the Israeli perspective. This is obviously not intended to be a systematic rebuttal of Bean’s piece. It is simply one counter-example intended to complicate the picture presented in Bean's study, and to indicate that ABC...

Truth in democracy

We don’t live in a democracy we live in a capitalist society. The greatest threat to our so-called democracy is our political system. The rise of the right, the war on woke, divide in communities along religious, racial, economic grounds, the preparation for war, the power of the billionaires, the loss of truth are all signs of a failed system. These issues are not isolated to the US, but remember where you saw it first and the constant bombardment of US politics in all media is not news, it’s come join us. It will not be until we...

How come so much influence?

Refaat Ibrahim tries to describe in words the horror of the last 15 months in Gaza. A serious question which arises is how one section of a religious group, and a small one at that in world terms, is able to exercise so much control over the foreign policy of the governments of secular states such as the US, UK, Australia and Germany. Surely the Holocaust, terrible though it was, can’t explain that stranglehold.

Out with the aged

Well, the government certainly does not think so. My husband is a young 85-year-old. Two years ago he mislaid his Australian passport, he needed to travel to visit a family member so he asked for a replacement. To his astonishment, DOHA refused to give him one. He has retained eight Australian passports, all giving his nationality as Australian and confirming him to be a citizen of Australia. He was not born in Australia, he arrived aged two as an evacuee with his mother in 1942, both British subjects. He was educated in Geelong, called up for National service...

Which party is the more competent economic manager?

Thank you for the Michael Keating article adding more evidence to debunk the myth that Liberals are better economic managers than Labor. John Menadue addressed this myth in his 11 April 2019 article. That article highlighted the enormous damage that the Howard/Costello Government did by “locking in negative gearing concessions and generous treatment of capital gains which have been at great cost to the government in lost revenue. They also introduced tax-free superannuation benefits, family trust concessions, franking credit rebates and a whole series of decisions on spending and tax that have caused continuing budget difficulties. Menadue also...

Not only racists oppose high immigration

Thanks to Noel Turnbull for summarising the findings of The Scanlon Foundation Research Institute Social Cohesion Mapping 2024 Report. I don't agree, however, with the suggestion that we should be troubled that 49% of people (now) say the number of immigrants is too high (a significant increase from previous surveys). There are many non-racist reasons for opposing too high a level of immigration. These include concerns about how big a population Australia's natural resources can support; concerns about the impact of rapid population growth on our housing crisis; concerns about the exploitation involved in many of Australia's migration pathways;...

The Tour Down Under

I wrote to various government officials regarding the above tour, but did not receive a response. However I received a response from Santos, which I am not allowed to copy to you, but will paraphrase as follows: Thanks for the letter. Santos realise that this is a sensitive topic and sympathise with those who are affected by events in the Middle East. Because this race is under the umbrella of Union Cycliste Internationale, the Israeli team is required to receive an invitation to participate. Thanks for my letter. What a cop-out!

Social cohesion

A striking statement from Noel Turnbull: the worldwide phenomenon that people suffering from financial hardship are more likely to have negative attitudes to migrants, immigration and different religious faiths to themselves “explains much about the Dutton appeal”. Peter Dutton is a divider. He is an (albeit paler) imitation of Trump, master of division via hate and blame. Dutton might attempt to rehabilitate his reputation over the next few months, or double down. Either way, his record stands: walking out of Rudd’s apology to the stolen generations, the “African gangs” accusation, jokes about rising sea levels in the Pacific Island...

Commercial in-confidence? Not with taxpayers' money

A decreasing number of attendees at the Adelaide 500 complain about Victoria stealing our Grand Prix. That’s largely because there is a decreasing number of attendees and those numbers are including the attendees at the post-race concerts. I'm told that SA Treasury advised against renewing the contract. The last three times the previous Liberal Government listened the Labor Government reinstated it. When there was a protest for it, more people attended to save a stately home from road works than to reinstate the car race. Rumour has it as part of a Party Pete factional deal to get...

Things need to change around here

The Morrison and Albanese governments have effectively handed sovereignty, independent decision-making, as well as a blank cheque to the United States. In other words, Australian wealth will be transferred to the United States, for the benefit of the United States, whilst Australia and Australians wear the costs. Win or lose at the coming election, Albanese has to go. We need a new generation of politicians to rise up and say Enough is enough to slavish devotion to all things USAmerican. We need politicians who will ensure that our common wealth is not shipped off-shore by multi-nationals who pay little...

Weasel words on behalf of Penny Wong

When any and every attempt at a political solution is ignored by the Israeli Government, if no action is taken, nothing will change until the last Gazan is wiped from the face of the earth. Australia's response is an utter disgrace, as exemplified by the letter sent on behalf of Penny Wong and the plan for our attorney-general to go to Israel to repair Australia's friendship with that country. It was fine, and effective, to boycott South Africa on account of its apartheid regime. Surely nothing less than BDS should be our minimum action in regard to Israel...

Bishop Browning's values

I am not a religious person, but I really appreciated reading Bishop Browning's assessment of Christian values and the contrast with a Conservative's self-interest. The world would be a better place if we took more notice of people like Bishop Browning.

Gaza 'Moratorium'

I must have read dozens of excellent articles on these pages, including this one, on various aspects of the situation in Gaza and the Middle East, yet the slaughter of Palestinians continues with barely a murmur from the Australian Government. We need to take our opposition further. I suggest using the anti-Vietnam protests of the 1960s and early 70s as a model (yes, I was there!). A nationwide, co-ordinated, Moratorium would be a good first step. (As well as individual state-based committees, there was also a National Co-ordinating Committee). The immediate aims of this Moratorium would include, at...

Stand up, Australia!

Countries will find greater agreement with the late Henry Kissinger’s much quoted warning on international relations: 'It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy but to be America’s friend is fatal'.” We could tear up every agreement ever signed and not give them another cent, if Australia (or any country) is in strife, the US will help if it's in the interests of the US. And if it's not in the interests of the US, we'll be on our own, no matter what agreements have been signed, promises made, or how many squillions of dollars we've sent or...

LA and Gaza

Looking at aerial shots of fire-stricken parts of LA, what other place in the world does it remind you of? Yes, Gaza. Destroying food aid, including Australian, in Gaza is reprehensible, but the full scale of destruction there, as we know is, sadly, much much greater. Both Gaza and LA are very sad events, one brought about by Biden and the US’ over the top response to 7 October, and the other, LA, so far as we know, by natural events. We mourn the huge loss of life in Gaza, and are thankful that the loss of life in...

The ABC's reporting on Syria dumbs us down

My complaint letter to the ABC in response to one of Eric Tlozek’s news report from Damascus was critical of Tlozek’s reporting, certainly, as Gayle Davies suggests in her letter (6/1/25). As an ABC correspondent in the Middle East (and as one who appears to speak Arabic), Tlozek should be aware of the dangers confronting Syria now that HTS is in charge and thousands of armed ‘jihadists’, many of them foreigners, are roaming Syria. A genocide on the scale of Rwanda’s could be committed in coming months. We should not be blind to this possibility. As for the...

Helen McCue speaks for many

Dr Helen McCue, the views expressed in your article are most definitely not yours alone. They are the views of many Australians who, disgusted, sickened and angered by the duplicitous and mealy-mouthed words and actions of our government, long for our nation to make a stand for peace, for justice and for compassion. How can we live happily in Australia knowing that so many people in Gaza are being killed, bereaved, maimed, starved and left to suffer their pain?

Be more like Norway

The headline alone was enough for me to think about Norway. Not surprising, as I grew up there in the 50s and 60s. I went to the very best secondary school in the country, not because my parents had money, they didn't, but because I had good primary school results. I had the same German teacher as the present King Harald. When I migrated to WA in 1966, as an unworldly lad of 19, it took me three months to start wondering what was this nonsense (being polite here) of digging iron ore out of the ground, loading it...

Fly on the wall at the Dreyfus-Netanyahu meet-up

Greg Barns and fellow P&I contributors raise serious questions about this trip. I am trying to imagine what is being said. “Look Bibi, socially cohering to you is getting very difficult for us in Oz. As the point man for the IRBO in Oz, I’d have to arrest you if you visited. I did manage to get one of your men, who is also an Aussie, off a charge of being an alleged accessory to a war crimes case over killing 50000 people, which was privately brought in Oz, although I did allow another Aussie to go to jail...

Participating willingly in genocide

It is difficult, if not impossible, to morally defend the political cowardice displayed by Australian politicians and their inherent racism, when they fail utterly to condemn what the world recognises as the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing when committed by the criminal Zionist state of Israel. The Albanese Government remains so terrified of the Zionist lobby in Australia that it has been prepared to sacrifice any claim it might have had to moral rectitude, in pursuit of its continuation in a power without moral purpose!

ASPI is a think tank? Are you serious?

James Curran's article provides much to consider. However, I hasten to query why we continue to characterise this organisation as other than what it so evidently is – a lobbying entity for the armament manufacturers / AKA military-industrial complex. Uniquely (I hope), given the almost automatic post-political career step for ministers for defence into armament manufacturers' employ — either directly or as a lobbyist — we have the nauseating burden of being the taxpayer support base for the whole wretched affair of creating evermore opportunity for said armament manufacturers to increase profits. War per se is not...

As always, one law for the rich and one for the poor

We may have abolished the wonderful British tradition of transportation except for refugees or maybe we have run out of places to transport the poor. The legal system is very much biased towards those with the money to pay. How often do our politicians and their staffers end up in goal ? I am aware of cases where the poor for a similar charge have been convicted and completed their sentence before a politician has been convicted or sentenced (Then I think they are only fined a sum which they could afford). How many royal commissions into deaths...

US has infinite capacity to incite trouble

Irrespective of the nature of the Assad regime, if the stories I read are correct then this seems to be another al-Qaeda associated mob ushered in with the help of the CIA. It seems that the capacity of the US to incite trouble anywhere in the world has no limitations.

Think tanks and political parties

Thank you James – your statement ASPI was created by the Howard Government in 2001 to provide contestable advice on Australian defence policy” has me wondering about the advice related to the 2004 decision to join the illegal Iraq coalition. But other matters come to mind as well: your words had me thinking further about my sense of the persistent decline, if not absence, of political education that should be a political party’s mandate. Shouldn’t that be where the contest is joined? How and why have our major parties capitulated into seeing themselves as “social engineers”? Peter Varghese...

Excellent essay by Joe Lauria

Joe Laurie’s essay is a model of scrupulous accuracy . It is an epitaph to the cruelty and mendacity of US policies on Ukraine under three past presidents Obama, Trump and Biden that have led to over a million dead Ukrainian soldiers and many dead civilians , broken families, and a broken country. The only solution — Lauria prudently does not go here, though he accepts the facts that Russia has won the war — is for the incoming Trump administration to work sincerely with Putin without playing more Cold War games to bring about real and permanent peace...

The West's latest failed 'March on Moscow'

After three years, Ukraine has been shredded. Russia is winning the war with an enhanced military, a robust economy, an established and supported leader and a respected position in the world. In opposition, we have a Europe reeling from sanctions blowback, recessions looming and EU nation states' leaders falling by the wayside. And so they should, having abandoned Europe's source of reliable and cheap energy, the energy that fuelled Europe's economic well-being NATO is looking like a busted flush. Nuclear is an option, but given the proven success of Russia's countering every weapons system supplied to date...

The Hannibal Directive

Les MacDonald states that Virtually nothing has been reported by the media, with the exception of an Israeli newspaper Haaretz and Al Jazeera, about the Israeli military Hannibal Directive, which has been a closely guarded secret of the IDF military for decades. The ABC published a very good article on this very subject on 7 September 2024. The article can be accessed here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-07/israel-hannibal-directive-kidnap-hamas-gaza-hostages-idf/104224430 It received some acknowledgement on X at the time, but I haven't seen any reference or follow-up to it in the mainstream media.

There are other options for ending Ukraine War

Russia will not leave Ukraine a broken state under Western protection (Beebe’s third suggested option). Russia will go on fighting and steadily capturing more territory for as long as Kiev keeps fighting and attempting acts of sabotage, terrorism, or drone or missile attacks into Russia. Russia will negotiate while it fights, but only when Kiev accepts the realities of Russia’s firm negotiating position: neutral Ukraine pledged never to join NATO, no Western security guarantees, human rights protections for ethnic Russians, Russian speakers and for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Beebe wrongly suggests both sides must concede ground in a...

R&D challenges

The article by John H. Howard was of particular interest. He found that the nation needs a co-ordinated, cohesive and strategic approach to R&D. He cited findings of successive reports in support. His article omitted comment on Australian industry’s structure and ownership. Both remain significant factors. The 150% tax concession for IR&D was introduced in 1985 to induce industry to raise its performance. The decline in IR&D suggest that it was ineffective. Its detractors predicted this. Nevertheless, the government was persuaded of the need to raise IR&D and exploit the findings of publicly funded basic research, while limiting...

AUKUS: a trojan horse?

It's becoming clearer by the day that the much vaunted but sketchily detailed AUKUS submarines are never going to happen, and never were going to happen, that they simply can't be delivered as indicated. They're simply the sugar coating to justify the always real intent and that is to turn Australia into a fully fledged [however, how many, and whenever they like] US/UK military base, with us picking up the tab for all necessary infrastructure. It's already quietly happening and don't be surprised if [included in the sweetheart deal] we agree to begin taking all US/UK [and maybe...

ABC reporting on Syria – editorial bias

With respect, I think Susan Dirgham's complaint to the ABC, mainly targeting Eric Tlozek' s reporting, is a little unfair. It is a bit much to expect a reporter on the ground in Syria, reporting on the immediate situation, but limited to less than five-minute slots on the TV news, to provide as detailed a commentary as Ms Dirgham expects. Her own perspective is longer, derived from her years of living and teaching in Damascus, and she rightly thinks the subject deserves more background and analysis. It's a job for an hour long Foreign Correspondent or similar, on both...

Send in the clowns

While I have never been able to understand US democracy/politics and certainly don’t understand all things Trump, I fail to understand how he can take up so much space in Australian / world news. More recently I have come to understand that he is the great Western world diversion . Nothing to see here! Particularly in Australian politics. With the uS picking yet another unwinnable fight with China, funding genocide in Gaza and sacrificing the Ukraine etc Trump may just be the leader the US / world needs particularly with his love of all dictators (Putin, Musk...

Two articles I'd like to read and share widely

Following Donald Wilson's article, I would like two ideas further developed. 1. Regional tensions with China – What exactly are these? What are real, based on what China has said and done? What have arisen in response to (a) US verbal threats to and about China? (b) US military activity in the general area? and (c) US military activity in Australia specifically? What are baseless? 2. The desirability of Australia being a truly sovereign state, not tied to any other by unequal agreements of any kind – with reference to our military agreements certainly, but with particular reference...

Important article spoiled by rightwing commentator

I read with interest this article about the attack on USS Liberty by the Israeli Defence Force on 8 June 1967. Included with the article is an interview conducted by Candace Owen with a retired US sailor who was aboard the Liberty at the time of the attack. While the interview includes some revelatory details about the attack, its credibility is marred by Candace Owens’ clear anti-semitism expressed in the second half of the interview. There is a clear theme of miraculous intervention by a Christian God that pervades the interview. It would have served the veracity of the...

Cocos Islands

I would like the US to move their military base out of Darwin because it makes the capital a target. Darwin has already been built three times and its buildings need to be able to withstand a category 4 cyclone. Darwin was bombed during WW2 because the US had a military base in the country. Given the US is likely to use its military bases in Australia, during a regional conflict, without our knowledge or agreement, I would prefer they did not use somewhere that is expensive for us to rebuild.

Murdoch and much of the Western media

I never buy any media owned by News Limited, nor do I read any of their online news sites. Foxtel had to be sold because it was losing money. After the 6 January in the US, the Biden administration asked the UK government to put the boot into Murdoch, which they did by re-opening the News of the World inquiry, due to new information that came to light. The legal case between Murdoch and his children means that once he is dead, News Limited may actually change. It is time for Kim Williams to kick the...

American obsessions

Breakfast at 6am and flick on the radio. . .RN has the steady monotonous drone of a Boston bloke explaining about the snow/ice in his driveway; switch to ABC Radio News and yet another American accent droning. I gave up and wrote a short text of complaint and continued breakfast in silence. Kym Davey has explained this phenomena succinctly. We are a sovereign state and have an ABC chartered right to receive impartial news from our own domain instead of this slavish submersion in the brittle, crumbling culture of USA. America is not our friend We also...

Good retrospective

Thank you Andrew for your retrospective. It's helpful to be reminded of the serious failure that arose from our Government's willing compliance with the US claim that the invasion was a necessary unilateral action. As it happened, such a rationale, two years later, was taken by Fiji's coupster when the RFMF took power from Laisenia Qarase's democratically elected government. And then we saw the sad procession of some duly qualified jurists from Australia and New Zealand seeking employment in the illegal regime. And that to this day casts a pretty dark shadow over the jurisprudence that is taught in...

Time to support the ABC

If we are to keep a public broadcaster like the ABC in this country, it needs public support not constant carping criticism that because ABC TV1 has a number of shows with an obvious tabloid bias, the whole of the ABC is rubbish. This is not true and so wrong! ABC TV 1 does have a number of shows with a tabloid bias but that is not the whole of the ABC, a big diverse organisation that has to address the needs of our modern multicultural Australia. ABC 24 and ABC Radio have good news services and are fostering...

Biden’s Gaza vs New Orleans

Joe Biden recently claimed that he was sufficiently in command of his faculties to have contested the 2024 election after all. So it is not unfair to hold him principally responsible for backing, diplomatically militarily and financially, the murder of nearly 50,000 people in Gaza, 40 times those killed by Hamas on 7 October 2023. A large percentage, especially women and children, would not have been Hamas operatives. By all means the FBI should investigate the New Orleans mass murder, but in a fairer world they would also investigate Joe Biden and his key advisers for their role in...

Our immigration commentary is governed by White Man’s Media

In the case of Australia, the great multicultural nation, the views of WMM are reflected in the hierarchy of our immigration, refugee and foreign policy. Migrants from Commonwealth (cricket playing): most desirable by a street, Islanders ( rugby playing ) particularly in QLD and NSW followed by selected Europeans. The rest are cannon fodder for the present leader of the opposition any time he wants to stir up a vote winning racist headline. We won’t even bring home Australian journalists and citizens for fear of upsetting Murdoch.

Murdoch Royal Commission – when?

If only this great piece of journalism by John Menadue could make its way into the homes and eyes of all Australians, there may be enough interest generated to finally get our weak leaders to call for a Royal Commission into the Murdoch media influence in this country.

The ABC is already doing the Devil's Work

Paddy Gourley's contributions are always a source of joy and admiration to me; he brings such gravitas and subtle prodding of both the amusement and the need-to-know neurons. But I admit to amazement at his description of the (current) ABC as the most trusted source of news. I bet he can't say that without biting his tongue, it must be so far in his cheek. No longer, Amigo... Kim Williams' speech to the Press Club was — surely — an audition as a writer for the next Blackadder series? More bullshit than a Texas Rodeo paddock. And...

Plibersek could demonstrate political integrity

Binoy Kampmark characterises the Environment Minister role as being the fossil fuel industry’s closeted defender in government, talking environmental conservation while supporting its destruction. While her environmental reputation hung in shreds after her willingness to grant licences to new and expanding fossil fuel projects, Minister Plibersek seems to have worked in good faith with Sarah Hanson-Young and David Pocock to negotiate amendments to pass the Nature Positive Bill, before the PM intervened. The PM also pre-empted his minister in Tasmania when he gave his whole-hearted support to the salmon farming industry, which threatens the imminent extinction of the...

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