Michael Pascoe

Michael is the contributing editor for The New Daily. Journalist, commentator, speaker, rugby follower, would prefer to be skiing. His book, The Summertime of Our Dreams, is published by Ultimo Press.

Michael's recent articles

Damned if you do: Jim Chalmers cops the blame for no recession

Damned if you do: Jim Chalmers cops the blame for no recession

Government spending is keeping Australia out of recession, just as last week’s feeble GDP numbers tallied 7 consecutive quarters of negative growth. Michael Pascoe reports on the moaning business lobby.

Trumping Australia

Trumping Australia

John Menadue asked me what I thought Trump 2.0 could mean for Australia, but there are two similar, easier questions: what should and what will Trump mean for Australia?

Hardman Netanyahu a century out of date, feeding Dutton’s colonial narrative

Hardman Netanyahu a century out of date, feeding Dutton’s colonial narrative

There was a time when Netanyahu’s tactics would go unquestioned. That time helps explain those who continue to give Israel unqualified and unquestioning support and ties in with the “hard man” image Peter Dutton wants to own, writes Michael Pascoe.

For-profit health insurance not adding up

For-profit health insurance not adding up

An unprecedented standoff between health insurer NIB and the St Vincent’s Health Australia has captured headlines for the potential high out-of-pocket costs for thousands of hospital patients.

Half hearted housing policies ignore key role of public housing: Michael Pascoe

Half hearted housing policies ignore key role of public housing: Michael Pascoe

The housing crisis will not be solved for those who are suffering the most by the mish mash of half hearted, small steps, and policy responses currently favoured by governments. They lack the courage to commit to direct government intervention on a sufficient scale in the failed housing market in the form of publicly funded, developed and owned housing for the most vulnerable.

Dutton goes the full Trump

Dutton goes the full Trump

As was made obvious on the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday (23 June), Peter Dutton has gone full Trump – say anything to own the headlines, positive or negative doesn’t matter, truth and facts don’t matter.

Our biggest China lie

Our biggest China lie

Three things: China is winning from Gaza; China growing at 5 per cent now is better than China growing at 7 per cent a decade ago; and Australia’s biggest China lie is that we’re spending half a trillion dollars on boats to protect our sea lanes.

Michael Pascoe: Negative gearing to change – it’s ‘the vibe’

Michael Pascoe: Negative gearing to change – it’s ‘the vibe’

“There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune”

We can’t rely on developers to fix the housing crisis

We can’t rely on developers to fix the housing crisis

If you were running the state suffering the very worst of Australia’s housing disaster, a state where the number of public and community housing dwellings actually went backwards last financial year, you might want to grab any and every opportunity to ease the crisis – but you’re not running New South Wales.

For all the talk, public and social housing just got worse

For all the talk, public and social housing just got worse

The Productivity Commission has released a damning report on Australia’s worsening public and community housing disaster.

Michael Pascoe: ‘Dingo Warriors’ bait Albanese’s China visit

Michael Pascoe: ‘Dingo Warriors’ bait Albanese’s China visit

Former Australian ambassador to China, Geoff Raby, last week wrote a piece praising the rise of diplomacy in our dealings with Beijing, claiming that since changing prime minister, we don’t have a defence minister and senior public servants beating the drums of war, running roughshod over the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

What is Albanese hiding? Maybe it’s the experts’ vision of the climate hell ahead

What is Albanese hiding? Maybe it’s the experts’ vision of the climate hell ahead

A good way to scare people is to suggest your chief security body has written something so frightening that you can’t possibly let anyone read anything about it.

Marles coughs up the sad truth about AUKUS

Marles coughs up the sad truth about AUKUS

Richard Marles said the quiet bit out loud ahead of the ALP conference AUKUS debate while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seems to have been, er, “economical with the truth”.

The United States has put Australia back in its place … again

The United States has put Australia back in its place … again

After a rather extraordinary month of steadily escalating defence PR and conspiracy opportunities, Australia was sat on its backside over the weekend and reminded to know its subservient place.

Please support Pearls and Irritations: It operates on the faint memory of the smell of an oily rag

Please support Pearls and Irritations: It operates on the faint memory of the smell of an oily rag

On the faint memory of the smell of an oily rag, John Menadue’s Pearls and Irritations public policy journal daily publishes a range of opinion and insights that shames the lack of diversity in our much bigger and better resourced media.

America the great? How the decline of the US will affect Australian policy

America the great? How the decline of the US will affect Australian policy

Courtesy of the Financial Times early last year, we ran what I regarded as the graph of the first two decades of this century.

The Summertime of Our Dreams

P&I 220807 :The interviewer interviewed: what really counts.

Michael Pascoe: Forget the ‘Daz and Glad Show’, this is the real political scandal (The New Daily Oct 15, 2020)

It’s the secret sexual relationship that sells the ‘Daz and Glad Show’ and elevates it from being merely yet another corrupt NSW politician before the ICAC, but it also distracts punters from the much bigger scandal.

A China spy story? Abandon perspective all ye who enter here (The New Daily Sep 15, 2020)

’Twas pure coincidence that as I was writing Monday’s story on the local spook/defence/media industries having little faith in Australia but lots of self-interest in promoting Sinophobia, journalists at the ABC and Australian Financial Review were belting their keyboards over another alleged Chinese spying outrage.

MICHAEL PASCOE. The CEOs, MBAs and private equiteers undermining our resilience (THE NEW DAILY 08.04.20)

Corporate Australia is in serious trouble thanks to COVID-19, but it’s trouble that has been made worse by a generation of CEOs, directors, MBA-badged management consultants and private equiteers undermining our resilience – grabbing short-term profits and ramping up share prices at the cost of sustainability.

MICHAEL PASCOE.- How Murdoch's Myrmidons Murdered Climate Policy(TND2.1.2020)

“The Murdoch media, determined to remove the Labor government at any cost, mounted a savage war on the science of climate change and the structural reforms that needed to be undertaken,” wrote former Labor Treasurer Wayne Swan in a 2017 article and reprised this week on Twitter.

MICHAEL PASCOE -Angus Taylor spotted fiddling more figures

The Minister for the Environment and Energy, Angus Taylor, seems to have a problem with numbers, whether it’s the Sydney City Council’s travel budget or what year Naomi Wolf was at Oxford.

While Canberra ignores the RBA, the world pays attention (The New Daily 27-8-19)

The federal government is increasingly giving Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe the cold shoulder while the world’s central banks are paying him serious attention.

All the way with Trump’s USA … this time into the Strait of Hormuz (New Daily, 21 August 2019)

Here we go again – joining an American military adventure created by Donald Trump, an adventure that has no end in sight.Nobody with a sense of history and Liberal Party politics can be surprised that Prime Minister Scott Morrison is donating Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force personnel and assets to a flashpoint created by President Trump and his cabal of warmongers.

MICHAEL PASCOE. War with Iran could break the American alliance and force Australia to become independent (The New Daily, 23 June 2019)

I’m writing this at 10,000 metres, a dangerous place to write. There’s something about thin air on a plane and a couple of glasses of wine that moves the bladder closer to the eye.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Bridging visas soar by 147 per cent under Coalition (New Daily, 31.05.19)

Other than claims that people smugglers wanted Labor to win, immigration and population issues flew under the radar during the election campaign – which may have been fortunate for the government.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Government integrity test: A genuine retirement system inquiry or a political stunt? (New Daily, 30.05.19)

If Treasurer Josh Frydenberg wants a genuine “review of the retirement income system”, the little matter of franking credit refunds will have to be back on the table – and that would be only one of the political challenges.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Hey PM, you're either lying or ignorant about the RBA's forecasts. (New Daily, 12.5.2019)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is either desperately lying or ignorant about the Reserve Bank seriously downgrading Australia’s economic outlook – a downgrade that could easily wipe out the government’s “back in black” surplus claim.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Frydenberg makes emergency direct deposits. (New Daily 3.4.2019)

The headlines might look pretty, but there's little substance behind the government's core budget spends.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Australia’s ‘pussycat’ superannuation regulators aren’t doing their jobs.( A repost from August 25 2018)

The list of failures continues to grow, the list of official bodies too weak, too chummy, too lacking fire-in-the-belly to help the millions of Australians unknowingly stuck in under-performing superannuation funds.

MICHAEL PASCOE. And the winner is … the big banks (New Daily)

Who would have guessed? The banks have emerged as relative winners from the royal commission’s final report.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Irony: Record number of asylum seekers arrive on Dutton’s watch (The New Daily, 09.12.18)

For all the government’s tough-on-asylum-seekers rhetoric, protection visa applications have blown out to record numbers on Peter Dutton’s watch.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Victorian election: Tell me, Mr Drug Warrior, how many votes is a human life worth? (New Daily)

Would you be willing to kill people to win a state election, to be Premier of Victoria? Such a large price to pay for such a small prize.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Leaderless Australian government outsources all responsibility (New Daily, 20.11.18)

It has come to this for the Australian government: With no leadership, no mettle and no political capital to spend, difficult decisions are outsourced, and responsibility for decisions that might offend is spread far and wide.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Fairfax joins the Murdoch sectarian beat-up brigade (The New Daily).

The first law of journalism is that bad news is good news – bad news sells. On Monday, Fairfax’s Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers had a choice between a “good news” story and twisting the facts to make a “bad news” story. No prize for guessing which way the decision went.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Scott Morrison’s Australia resembles the 51st American state (the New Daily, 17.10.18)

“We’re a sovereign nation,” said Scott Morrison. And then proceeded to act as if we were not, as if Australia was not merely an American vassal, but a Donald Trump toy.

MICHAEL PASCOE. ‘Not pretty, but riveting’: Royal commission interim report due (the New Daily, 27.09.18)

Here comes the first of Kenneth Hayne’s large hobnailed boots up the backside of Australian banking, superannuation, financial advice, wealth management, insurance and regulation. It’s not going to be pretty, but it’s certainly going to be riveting. Most obviously the Big End of Town's CEOs and chairmen were mostly spared embarrassing questioning about what they knew.what they should have known and their general competence

MICHAEL PASCOE. Why now is definitely not the time to scrap negative gearing (The New Daily, 21.09.18)

Conventional and entirely reasonable wisdom holds that the middle of a drought is not the time to develop drought policy – but that is what we appear to be headed for with Scott Morrison’s “drought summit”.

MICHAEL PASCOE. For-profit funds take a hit off back of royal commission (11.09.18)

Never mind the fines and compensation building up, what about retail fund managers losing more than $20 billion of assets in the June quarter?

MICHAEL PASCOE. Billions wasted on drought aid that’s not helping those who need it most.

Wealthy people are stuffing their kitchen cupboards with donated goods and their sheds with free hay while animal welfare is being ignored and low-paid rural workers go without favours.

MICHAEL PASCOE. PM Dutton would abandon what has made Australia great (The New Daily, 22.08.18)

There’s a big hint in the job title – “leader”. It means the job is to lead, not to follow, not to merely manage a disparate group by appeasement, compromise and bribery.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Why Australia’s latest wages figures are worse than they look (the New Daily 16.08.18)

The June quarter wages index headlined a slight lift of 0.6 per cent for the quarter, making 2.1 per cent for the year. Don’t be fooled – the numbers are worse than they look.

MICHAEL PASCOE. The key question for governments giving farmers money: is it climate change or weather? (New Daily)

Before again giving billions of dollars to agricultural businesses, our governments should have their feet held to the fire to get a straight answer about that spending in the name of transparency and honesty.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Don’t believe in climate change? Then come over to Europe.

Just how hot does it have to get before the global frog understands he’s cooking?

MICHAEL PASCOE. Electricity – driving towards the coal cliff

How bad, how dumb, how driven by internal political stupidities, how simply nonsensically odd are the electricity troglodytes pushing to keep the old Liddell coal-fired power station open for a few more years? Their case is destroyed by a single graph.

MICHAEL PASCOE. Wealth and power inevitably having their way with the tax system

The strange thing at the core of the Turnbull personal and company tax cuts is that the most important and controversial elements are so far away. And as John Kenneth Galbraith put it so succinctly 'The modern Conservative is engaged in one of mans oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness'

MICHAEL PASCOE. Liberals’ lurch to the right is straight out of Trump playbook

“What federal council meeting? Oh, that federal council meeting – privatising the ABC, following Trump on moving our embassy to Jerusalem? No, nothing to see here. Move along.”

MICHAEL PASCOE. RBA awakes – Australia is not getting the wage rise it needs

The laws of supply and demand for labour are broken. The Australian economy is not getting the wage rises it needs and there’s no sign of that changing.

MICHAEL PASCOE. The Australian government’s hypocritical stance on PNG corruption.

It’s illegal for Australian entities to bribe foreign entities, but apparently we’re perfectly happy to take dirty money from bribed foreigners and consort with corrupt leaders. Malaysia’s prime-minister-in-waiting, Anwar Ibrahim, called us out on Friday, expressing a view that Australia has been “completely dishonest” about ousted leader Najib Razak, and “complicit” in Malaysian corruption.

MICHAEL PASCOE.  Fear and loathing in superannuation – Liberal and industry fund conspiracy theories

The Productivity Commission’s recommendation that all superannuation funds have an independent chairman and board seems reasonable, yet industry funds are vehemently opposed to it. Meanwhile the industry funds, on average, clearly outperform their retail opposition, but the Liberal Party has been explicit in its desire to undermine them and lift the retail funds’ market share.

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