John Menadue

John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.

John's recent articles

Turning the federation clock back to 1901.

The Commission of Audit has made many unhelpful suggestions about budgetary and economic issues. It seems to have been driven more by ideology than fact. See my blog of May 1 2014 The Commission of Audit and facing the wrong way. One of its most unhelpful suggestions is that Australia returns to the 1901 intentions of the federation fathers and with clear lines of responsibility drawn between the commonwealth and the states as set out in Section 51 of the Constitution. The Abbott Governments terms of reference for its White Paper on Federalism also suggest that his government would...

Rod Tiffen. 'The Australian' and tobacco consumption.

As the Australian approaches its 50th anniversary amid much self-congratulation, an insight into its editorial standards and how it conducts itself in controversies is provided by its recent reporting of competing claims over tobacco consumption. Tobacco is still the largest preventable source of premature death in the world. Despite the scale of its damage the Australians owner Rupert Murdoch has always had a curious attachment to the tobacco industry. He was on the Philip Morris Board for a decade, and members of that company have often been on the News Corp Board. Internal Philip Morris documents in the...

Elenie Poulos. Morrison's Vision of the 'National Interest' Does Us No Good.

The parable of the Good Samaritan from the Bible (Luke, chapter 10) has become common place and almost clichd in Christian conversations about the current Australian Governments increasingly cold-hearted and abusive responses to asylum seekers. Christian conversations in the public space about this issue matter because the Minister for Immigration has made much of his Christian faith over the years (his first speech to the Parliament is worth a read). The Samaritan, of course, stopped to help a Jewish man (a traditional enemy) who was robbed, beaten and left by the side of the road to die. Two Jewish priests...

Warwick Elsche. I hope you know what you're doing, Tony!

Rum has never been my drink; two wipe-outs in youth. One nip - very nice, two too many, any more dangerous - positively confusing. I suppose it was surprising then that I chose it as my companion as, with another million Australians, I settled in to hear the policy speech which would oust a dysfunctional Labor Government and make a Prime Minister of robust, forthright, Tony Abbott. Perhaps I should admit to a strong pro-Liberal partisanship; a particular admiration for Tony and the direct brand of politics he represents. It was this quality which had bought...

Woolworths and Pharmacies.

The response of the Australian Pharmacy Guild (APG) to Woolworths proposal for free health checks was entirely predictable. It was about protecting the territory of pharmacists. But the APG did have a point. Are the leviathan department stores who sell large amounts of alcohol and tobacco really serious about our health? I dont think so? But if the challenge of Woolworths would help curb the anti-social behaviour of the APG that would be a real public service. Pharmacists are the most over-qualified and under-utilised of health professionals. In the national interest and in their professional interest, pharmacists...

Joanne Yates. The G20 and the C20.

The G20 has become regarded as the premier forum for the promotion of economic cooperation. It is comprised of 19 nations and the EU and together account for 85% of global GDP, 75% of global trade and two thirds of the global population. As a consequence, its policy decisions have a significant impact on the well-being and life prospects of all citizens, but particularly on the poorest communities in the world, including those contained within G20 nations themselves. The Australian C20 one of five engagement groups of the G20 and representing a broad cross section of Australian civil...

Walter Hamilton. Abe Over Australia.

In the six years since Kevin Rudds speech, in Mandarin, to students at Beijing University appeared to signal a sudden shift in Australias foreign policy focus towards China, and away from Japan, much has happened. Some even believe that the replacement of Rudd by Julia Gillard (not linguistically so equipped and keen to distinguish her policies from his) followed by the election of Tony Abbott as prime minister (bringing an ideological as well as a political agenda to the issue) has caused Rudds pro-China course to be reversed. But this is a misreading of the larger picture. When Japanese Prime...

Garry Everett. Where angels fear to tread in the Catholic Church.

One of the significant and pressing pastoral theological issues currently dividing opinion among the hierarchy and among the laity of the Church, is the issue of divorced and remarried Catholics, and their access to eucharist, writes Garry Everett. Pastoral theology is a tricky undertaking. It is easier, and certainly safer, to discuss theological matters in abstract or academic terms, or as principles to guide action. However, once theology is applied to people, their lives and actions, the task becomes infinitely more difficult. One of the significant and pressing pastoral theological issues currently dividing opinion among the hierarchy and...

John Menadue. Free Trade Agreement with Japan - 'turbo charging' our trade or mainly hype?

Next Tuesday Prime Minister Abe will visit Australia. I expect the Free Trade Agreement with Japan or its new name the Economic Partnership Agreement with Japan will feature prominently. I repost below what I said on March 29 about the limited value of these bilateral agreements. Only last week, the Productivity Commission expressed similar reservations. It said 'Australia recently agreed to bilateral trade agreements with Korea and Japan. Trade agreements can distort comparative advantage between nations and consequently reduce efficient resource allocation. The rules of origin in Australia's nine bilateral agreements vary widely and are likely to impede...

Kerry Murphy. The four questions quiz for refugees.

When Malaysian Flight MH370 disappeared, the Australian Government made a major contribution towards the international search operation. Almost daily there were announcements by Prime Minister Abbott and other Ministers about new information they were checking and hopes of finding the plane. Media accompanied the air force on the search and the Australian contribution was a genuine effort as part of an international search mission. What a contrast when a boat or two of Sri Lankan Tamils arrives seeking our protection. Minister Morrison refuses to even acknowledge there is a boat or two. The refuses to comment on on water...

Financial Planning explained by an Irishman.

Paddy bought a donkey from a farmer for 100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. In the morning he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news. The donkey's died.' Paddy replied, 'Well just give me my money back then.' The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I've already spent it.' Paddy said, 'OK then, just bring me the dead donkey.' The farmer asked, 'What are you going to do with him?' Paddy said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.' The farmer said, 'You can't raffle a dead donkey!' Paddy said, 'Sure I...

Kerry Murphy. More punishment for asylum seekers and refugees.

As a young boat people refugee, I arrived here 36 years ago with nothing but an invisible suitcase filled with dreams, [with] a dream to live in a peaceful, safe and free country and to live a meaningful and fulfilling life. said the new Governor of South Australia Hue Van Le OAM. He arrived on a boat in Darwin back in 1978, a boat person from Vietnam, or an llegal as Scott Morrison would prefer. Mr Le and his family were accepted as refugees and granted permanent residence. The announcement was made public, appropriately just after refugee week. On...

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses of Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church.

Yesterday, in Eureka Street, Fr Frank Brennan SJ commented on the first interim report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses of Child Sexual Abuse. He said: 'Before Prime Minister Gillard announced the commission, I said that the Catholic Church needed help, in part because there seemed to be a vast discrepancy in the statistics when it came to the number of abuse claims in the Catholic Church when compared with other Churches and institutions which care for vulnerable children. The Commission has not yet come up with any answers or theories about the discrepancy. But its own statistics...

Japan and comfort women.

In 1993 the Japanese government issued an apology to comfort women who had suffered sexual abuse by the Japanese military during WWII. This apology was called the 'Kono Declaration'. Kono was the chief cabinet secretary. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to undo the words of the Kono Declaration without officially withdrawing the declaration. In an article published in the Canberra Times on June 29 2014, see link below,Tessa Morris-Suzuki describes how Japan is going about 'the art of un-apologising'. Tessa Morris-Suzuki is an Australian National University College of Asia and the Pacific Japanese history professor...

Pearls and Irritations over 2,100 daily readers

This blog was launched in January 2013. Daily figures for June 2014 were: 2,108 views/reads 5,896 pages read 12,652 daily hits Monthly figures for June were: 63,266 views/reads 176,894 pages read 379,587 hits for the month. There are 2,952 subscribers. Thank you for your support. Please spread the word. John Menadue

Xenophobia and strange behaviour over boats.

UN High Commissioner Antonio Guterres criticises Australias strange obsession with boats Excerpts from his address and answers to questions at UNHCR NGO consultations, Geneva, 17 June, 2014. I think it is .. important to underline that, especially from the perspective now of refugee protection, we are facing also the development in several parts of the world of manifestations of xenophobia and similar other problems Islamophobia, racism that are particularly worrying. If you analyse the result of the last European elections, you have seen that xenophobic parties made remarkable increases in the number of votes. And...

Thailand - toppling a democratically elected government.

The best article I have seen recently about the confused state of politics in Thailand was in the London Review of Books. It was written Richard Lloyd Parry. See link below. John Menadue http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n12/richard-lloydparry/the-story-of-thaksin-shinawatra

Walter Hamilton. A Death in Tokyo

A bespectacled, middle-aged man wearing a suit and tie climbed onto the steel rafters above a footbridge in Tokyos busy Shinjuku district and, using a megaphone, began to address passers-by below. According to witnesses, he spoke out against the Japanese Governments impending decision to embrace the right of collective defense, which until now has been considered outside the bounds of the nations pacifist constitution. After squatting on the steel girder speaking undisturbed for almost an hour, the man poured accelerant over his body and set himself alight. In the aftermath of this horrific incident, Japanese police refused to...

The rich are inheriting the earth ... our earth

The last budget kept our Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) unchanged at a nominal amount of $5.03 billion. In real terms that was a cut of 2.25% or over $100 million. Julie Bishop told us that it was a contribution that ODA would have to make to repair our budget deficit. At the same time the government is abolishing the mining tax. We are obviously expected to believe that we cannot continue helping the worlds poor. It is more important to give money back to the miners. The mining lobby keeps telling us about the great contribution it makes...

The disastrous outcome on climate change and the Greens culpability

As a result of the Clive Palmer intervention, we are now unlikely to have any carbon reduction policy in place. In a few weeks time it is likely the Senate will vote down the Carbon Tax, its successor an Emissions Trading Scheme and Direct Action. The party that is chiefly responsible for this fiasco is the Greens. The same is true of its holier-than-thou approach on asylum seekers, but I will leave that for another day. I set out my views on the enormous damage that the Greens have done in my post of September 2 last year...

Repost. Holier than thou ... but with disastrous results. John Menadue

The posturing of the Greens on the two big issues of this election, asylum seekers and climate change has given us two appalling policy outcomes. They sided with Tony Abbott in the Senate on both critical issues to defeat improved policy. The country is now paying a very heavy price. The perfect became the enemy of the good. The Malaysian Agreement was not ideal and needed improvement but it was an important building block towards a regional arrangement. In opposing the processing of asylum claims in Malaysia the Greens were unremitting in their bashing of Malaysia. The collapse of...

Tony Abbotts negotiating skills.

With the unpredictable and confusing state of the new Senate, Tony Abbott will have his negotiating skills tested. So far negotiating skills have not been part of his political success. Thanks to the Palmer United Party and five other cross-benchers in the Senate from July 1, the situation could become even more chaotic than the House of Representatives was after the 2010 election- a situation that Tony Abbott did his best to make even more chaotic. If Tony Abbott had revealed good negotiating skills, he may have been the prime minister after the line-ball election result in 2010....

Patty Fawkner SGS. Permissible victims.

Permissible victims are defined as those whose life and dignity is violated with very little notice, outrage or public protest. Only once have I been bumped off a plane. It was in the USA on a 6am domestic flight. I recall the sequence of emotions: surprise, dismay then anger as I became acquainted first-hand with the airline practice of over-booking planes to guarantee full flights. The airline officials were regretful professionally so for any inconvenience that I might subsequently experience. A minor incident with no long-lasting consequence. However, it was a sobering experience to be...

All at sea again.

Lt Gen Angus Campbell, the Commander of Operation Sovereign Borders is at it again highlighting the policy and political achievements of the Coalition government on asylum seekers rather than sticking to his last, and ensuring that Australian naval vessels dont stray into Indonesian waters. Gen. Campbell says that as a government employee, he doesnt comment on government policy. But apparently he has no constraint about commenting when it suits him. He declines to comment when there are embarrassing political questions. He then says they are on water matters. On Tuesday this week at a speech to the Royal...

Those Feisty Iranians

Amongst our asylum seeker population Iranians feature very prominently. And it is not just because of Reza Barati, an Iranian asylum-seeker who was murdered at Manus Island on our watch. A feature of the Iranian asylum seekers, apart from their number, is that they have a reputation of being quite pushy. As past and current Immigration officers tell me they are always in our face. I am afraid that this view of Iranians does not help in the way they are treated. But the same qualities make them good settlers determined and highly motivated. I wish more of...

Bill Van Esveld. Dispatches: What's in a Name? A lot, in the West Bank.

Is it occupied, disputed, or contested? Some are finding it hard to find the right words to describe the West Bank. In a move widely seen as an effort to demonstrate its pro-Israel bona fides, Australias attorney general said on June 5 that the Australian government would stop referring to East Jerusalem which is part of the West Bank as occupied territory. Attorney General George Brandis explained the change was being made because the term is freighted with pejorative implications, relates to historical events, and is neither appropriate nor useful to describe areas of negotiations in the...

The widening wealth gap

Oxfam Australia has just released a report Still the Lucky Country? which highlights the widening gap in wealth and incomes in Australia. It found that the nine richest people in Australia have wealth that equates to the poorest 20% of the community. That 20% represents about 4.5 million people. The nine richest people have a combined net worth of $67.7 billion. They are: Gina Rinehart, $17.7 billion; Anthony Pratt, $7 billion; James Packer, $6.6 billion; Ivan Glasenberg, $6.3 billion; Andrew Forrest, $5 billion; Frank Lowy, $4.6 billion; Harry Triguboff, $4.3 billion; John Gandel, $3.2 billion and Paul Ramsay...

Cristian Martini Grimaldi. St Francis of the East

Cardinal John Henry Newman said 'There is nothing on this earth as ugly as the Catholic Church and nothing so beautiful'. We have seen a lot of the ugliness recently. The following story tells us something about the beauty. John Menadue. The prestigious Ho-Am Prize 2014, known as the Nobel Prize of South Korea, has been awarded to Father Vincenzo Bordo. This is the first time an Italian has received this accolade. A missionary with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Fr Bordo was honored for his services to the homeless, to elderly people living alone and young people on...

Is Tony Abbott still a climate change denier?

Tony Abbott claimed on his recent overseas trip that he takes human induced climate change very seriously Or was it just a diversion before his meeting with President Obama who does take the issue seriously. I hope he is no longer a climate change denier but I have my doubts. I suspect it is mainly window dressing with no serious new understanding of the urgency of the issue and what further action must be taken. There are several reasons for my doubt. He has not outlined in any serious way why he now takes the issue very...

Joe Hockey on welfare dependence

Surely Joe Hockey must soon become more careful about preaching to us about ending the age of entitlement and the need for Australians to be less reliant on welfare. Facts are getting in his way. The latest reality check has been the release of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Researchs Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) which surveys 17,000 people each year in Australia. The HILDA report found that Australians are becoming less dependent on welfare. In 2001, 23% of Australians aged 18 to 64 received weekly welfare payments. It has now fallen...

Catholic Church - catch-up and cover-up

The sad saga of the Catholic Church in its response to sexual abuse goes on and on and on. Pope Francis is yet to grasp the nettle. Invariably it is people outside the hierarchy and clergy who are responding and calling for action. The latest has been former NSW Premier, Barry OFarrell, who spoke in the NSW Parliament on this issue on 17 June 2014. He called on Fr Brian Lucas, the General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference to be stood down in light of the report of the Cunneen Commission into alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse...

Joe Hockeys lifters

At a speech on June 11, a few days ago, Joe Hockey said that Australia should be rewarding lifters and not leaners. Presumably Glencore/Xstrata, Australias largest coal company, would be an ideal example of a heavy lifter, not like those welfare leaners, and particularly the young unemployed. But not so. Michael West in the SMH on June 14, a few days ago, reported Lo and behold Glencore had booked cash of almost $15 billion from coal mining in Australia in the last three years and had effectively paid zero tax. Yes that is right! Zero tax. Presumably...

Out-of-Pocket Costs in Australian Healthcare and the $7 Co-payment.

In my blog of May 12 on health co-payments I set out my objections to the proposal including that we already have a very high level of co-payments, that they are a dogs breakfast and that the proposal on its own would be unfair. The debate has moved on since then which raises further concerns about a proposal which covers not only GP consultations but pathology and radiology tests and pharmaceutical prescriptions as well. My first concern relates to process and where this co-payment issue might be headed. Minister Dutton has repeatedly said that he wants to start a...

Debt and negative gearing

Many have grown tired of the exaggerations by the Coalition about debt and deficits. The fact is that, as least as far as public debt is concerned, we dont have a problem. The public debt emergency is confected. Our public debt is about $300 billion which in world terms is a very low figure. But the real debt we have is household debt which is approaching $2 trillion, one of the highest in the developed world. Our household debt is 1.8 times household disposable income. This compares with 1.1 times in the US. A contributor to this enormous...

Emily Howie. Australia's dangerously close relationship with Sri Lanka..

In March 2014 the United Nations Human Rights Council established an historic and long-awaited international investigation into war crimes and human rights abuses committed during the final phases of Sri Lankas civil war. The resolution is widely regarded as an important step towards reconciliation and peace. In addition to establishing a mechanism for examining past violations, including the deaths of 40,000 to 70,000 civilians, the resolution establish critical monitoring of the serious ongoing human rights situation in Sri Lanka. Whilst the UK Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the resolution as a victory for the people of Sri Lanka, the...

Jane Tolman. Dementia: how did we get it so wrong?

In the past few weeks I have had the privilege of participating in the second running of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Understanding Dementia run by the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre at the University of Tasmania. This has provided a forum for learning and discussion about dementia for 15,000 carers, health professionals and interested persons from all around the world. More than that, the participants are able to seek answers to their questions, and to tell us their concerns about their journey and about their expectations. I think there is much room for improvement in...

Irene Sutherland. A day on our Camino

In April this year, my husband and I walked the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. For months leading up to the event, we both imagined how a typical day would unfold. For my part, I intended taking a sketchbook and had fantasised that we would pass through many a village and I could wander into the churches and draw the religious objects. Chris enthused how we would set forth at day-break, arrive at our destination around 2pm, locate our accommodation for the night, clean up and attend mass. But as we found out, a number of factors came into play...

Bishop Bill Morris' book.

On 17 June in Toowoomba, Bishop Bill Morris' book 'Benedict, Me and the Cardinals three' will be launched. Launches will follow in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne. Bishop Morris was formerly the Bishop of Toowoomba. In November 2006 he wrote an open letter to his diocese about priest shortages. He discussed the possibility of the ordination of women and married or widowed men. In response, the Vatican set in train a process of meetings and apostolic visits that forced him to resign. Details about the launch and the book can be found below: http://atfpress.com/media//book_launches.jpg http://atfpress.com/media//order_form_2.jpg ...

Walter Hamilton. Fractured News from Fukushima.

Its raining in Fukushima. Since radioactive contamination from the crippled nuclear power plant is spread mainly by introduced water, even a routine weather bulletin has more-than-usual significance. The annual tsuyu, or rainy season, is in full swing in Japan. Fukushima prefecture normally receives 250 millimetres of rain in June-July, and every drop adds to the burden of the disaster. More than three years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, it is difficult to form a reliable overview of how the nuclear accident is unfolding, its long-term effects on public health, and progress in making the site...

John Menadue. Joe Hockey and class warfare.

In his speech to the Sydney Institute last night, Joe Hockey said that the criticism of the budget was unfair and reminiscent of class warfare of the 1970s. Joe Hockey was right on one thing. There is class warfare and he is waging it particularly against the young and the aged in Australia. Warren Buffet a multi billionaire put it pungently in the US recently There is certainly class warfare going on and my class is winning it. There has been wide-spread commentary about the unfairness of the budget. Ross Gittins for example has said: This is the...

Nicholas Carney. Advancing the Australia-India relationship under Prime Minister Modi

Narendra Modi's ascension to the prime ministership of India has sparked interest around the globe, including here in Australia. The world is right to pay attention to Mr Modis rise. In the recent Lok Sahba (House of the People) election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that he leads took 282 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sahba. The result gives the BJP a majority for the first time in its history, and India its first majority government since the 1984 election. The new governments majority rises to a commanding 336 seats if those won by the BJPs coalition...

Persecution of Tamils.

Last weekend Tamil asylum seeker Leo Seemanpillai committed suicide in Geelong. His colleagues are bereft as a result. They believe that he feared deportation back to Sri Lanka and would suffer persecution. Tamil refugee advocate Aran Mylvaganam said 'the particular area where Leo is from you are automatically branded as a Tamil Tiger sympathasiser if you get deported back to Sri Lanka and Leo had genuine fears of being tortured by the Sri Lankan army and possibly even getting killed ... if he was sent back to Sri Lanka'. The Human Rights Law Centre released a report last month...

Mark Isaacs. The Salvos on Nauru.

Judging the Salvation Army's role in Nauru is difficult. Their job was to provide humanitarian support to asylum seekers in a detention centre that was established to deter desperate people from seeking protection by subjecting them to cruel conditions. The contradictory nature of the Salvation Army's position meant they were damned by the government if they assisted the asylum seekers, and damned by their staff if they didn't. Despite this the employees of the Salvation Army, my colleagues, showed utmost care for the asylum seekers we worked with and implemented a wide range of programs that alleviated some of the...

Mary Chiarella. Nurses - debt and job satisfaction.

In the AFR Laura Tingle rightly points out that nurses do not tend to fit the mould as one of those groups of fortunate students who may reap significant income returns for the cost of their university education. She goes on to point out that modelling released by Universities Australia this week suggest nurses uni debts will rise from $19,398 to as much as $37,390 under the budget proposals. This is for a job paying a starting income of $48,729. She calculates that a nursing graduate who works 6 years full time on graduation, followed by six years part-time before...

John Menadue. Taxes and the free riders.

Our tax system is in a mess. It is easily exploited by the wealthy who can afford expert financial and taxation advice. We hear from Alan Jones and the Daily Telegraph about dole-bludgers. The Minister for Social Services Kevin Andrews says that disabled pensioners should get off the couch. Tax avoidance and tax bludging however are much greater problems. The Henry Review of Taxation addressed many problems but by and large the Rudd and Gillard Governments did not grasp the tax nettle. The scandal continues. Let us look at a few recent examples. Peter Martin in...

What to do about growing inequality in Australia.

On Wednesday 11 June at Parliament House Canberra, former Liberal Leader, Dr John Hewson will launch a report on 'What do do about growing inequality in Australia'. The report has been prepared by Australia21, ANU and the Australia Institute. The report can be found by clicking on below. It is embargoed until Wednesday at 11am. Final InequalityinAustraliaRepor (1) If you would like more information please contact CEO Australia21, c/- Lyn.stephens@australia21.org.   John Menadue

Walter Hamilton. Postcard from Poland and Auschwitz

Poland this month is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its rebirth as a democratic state. It is also marking 10 years since it became a member of the European Union. The country thus provides an interesting vantage point from which to observe Europes schizophrenic politics. To the westnotably in the UK, France and Germanyso-called Eurosceptic parties took the spoils in recent elections for the Strasbourg Parliament (with every intention, too, of being spoilers); to the east, meanwhile, Ukraine is struggling to attach as much of itself as Vladimir Putin will allow to the EU locomotive. It is the Disenchanted...

John Menadue. Have we too many doctors?

There are no international comparisons that I can find that show that we have a shortage of doctors in Australia. In fact, we may be moving into a situation of having a surplus of doctors. In its Health at a glance the OECD found that we are above the average in our supply of doctors. The OECD provided details of practising doctors per 1000 of population in 2011 for over 40 major countries. The OECD average was 3.2 practising doctors per1000 of population. Australia was slightly above the average with3.3 practising doctors per1000 of population. For the Netherlands it was...

John Menadue. The Blame Game in health

Attempts to resolve the Commonwealth/State blame game have been unsuccessful and expensive. Time and time again federal governments try and buy off state criticism by spending more taxpayers money without any real improvements in the delivery of health services. This futile blame game is not surprising in a federation where there are nine departments of health for a population of 23 million. Over many years there has been confusion about the role of the Commonwealth in hospitals. In 2007 John Howard offered to underwrite community organisations prepared to take over State hospitals. (The issue at the time was...

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