World Affairs
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Graham Freudenberg. Gough Whitlam Commemorative Oration.
You will see below what I think is a remarkable speech by Graham Freudenberg about Gough Whitlam’s contemporary relevance. This oration is much longer than I normally post on this blog, but it is an outstanding oration which I am sure you will enjoy. The Whitlam Institute will also be publicising this oration. John Menadue Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Here we go again – more mission creep in Iraq.
We seem unable to learn from the history of past centuries and decades as we plan to send another 300 Australian troops to Iraq to train forces fighting IS. To show his patriotic fervour Tony Abbott needed eight Australian flags as a backdrop for his announcement yesterday. I don’t recall seeing a Prime Minister wrapped Continue reading »
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Walter Hamilton. The Nationalist Siren of Destruction
Virulent, fanatical nationalism is not the answer. It’s not the answer in Russia, where an opponent of Putin’s war on Ukraine was murdered on the streets of Moscow in broad daylight. It’s not the answer in China where the ruling Communist Party needs a new raison d’etre after embracing capitalism without liberalism. It is not Continue reading »
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Michael Breen. Home Sour Home
Fourteen women have died this year as a result of domestic violence. Australians killed by terrorists in the same period, zero. The ABC Q&A programme February 23rd on Domestic Violence had an enormous response from the viewer and studio audiences. Many thanked the ABC for broaching the matter. Many tragic first hand experiences were aired. Continue reading »
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We should expect more.
In this article in The Guardian, Richard Flanagan, the Booker Prize winner, refers to the increasing ugliness in Australian public life. He says ‘Writing my novel “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” I came to conclude that great crimes like the Death Railway did not begin with the first beating or murder on that Continue reading »
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Stuart Harris. China is not seeking to break the rules of global order.
Australia’s foreign policy, and notably its relations with the US and China, has been a mix of positives and negatives under the Coalition government, as was true of the previous Labor government. This reflects the lack of a broad strategic vision of Australia’s geographic realities and the evolving relationships involved. Former prime ministers, Gough Whitlam Continue reading »
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Ukraine: Watch This Space
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has announced his decision to send a contingent of 75 trainers to Ukraine as a demonstration of support for Kiev in its fight against Russian supported rebels in South Eastern Ukraine. The deployment will provide instruction in command procedures, tactical intelligence, battlefield first aid and logistics. Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Mother Merkel and 800,000 refugees
In September last year I posted an article about the Heroism of Angela Merkel in her generous response to asylum seekers arriving in Germany. She is holding to her course but the difficulties are increasing. The attacks on women in Cologne by men who were reported to be of Arab or North African decent on Continue reading »
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Tessa Morris-Suzuki. Tony Abbott, What have you done for peace?
On 23 February, Prime Minister Tony Abbott in a major national security speech, chided Muslim leaders for showing insufficiently sincere commitment to peace. “I’ve often heard western leaders describe Islam as a ‘religion of peace’. I wish more Muslim leaders would say that more often, and mean it”, he said. Abbott also called on immigrants Continue reading »
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The frontier wars – best we forget.
I have posted many blogs about our refusal to acknowledge the frontier wars, when we suffered the largest death toll in war in our history in relation to our population at the time. In the SMH on February 12, see link below, Tim Flannery draws our attention to the valour of 52 indigenous people Continue reading »
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Brian Johnstone. The forgotten children. The ethical dimension.
Professor Gillian Triggs, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, has found that by reason of its policy of the continued retention of children of asylum seekers, Australia has been and remains in breach of its international obligations. This applies to both major political parties. The legal argument is clear and has not been refuted. Continue reading »
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Quentin Dempster. Attacks on the ABC’s international broadcasting service.
Australian insularity and the strident xenophobia it generates is, I reckon, a significant drawback to our development as a responsive and engaged country in the Asia Pacific region. In this context it was immensely distressing to see the recent vandalising of this country’s international broadcasting services through Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s unilateral decision to terminate Continue reading »
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Peter Day. Life is sacred, but ….
The “other” is no longer a brother or sister to be loved, but simply someone who disturbs my life and my comfort … In this globalized world, we have fallen into globalized indifference. We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn’t affect me; it doesn’t concern me; it’s none of my business! Continue reading »
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Kim Oates. The Forgotten Children
I have just read the report of the Australian Human Rights Commission on Children in Detention “The Forgotten Children”. It is clear, factual and unemotional. It is supported by evidence and is non-partisan. It is not on the side of any political party. It is on the side of children. It made me ashamed about Continue reading »
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Marie Coleman. Human Rights Commission and the forgotten children.
In February 2015 the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse found that Cardinal George Pell, the former Archbishop of Sydney, had placed the church’s financial interests above his obligation to a victim of childhood sexual abuse. In February 2015 the Prime Minister of Australia, supported by his Ministers, has launched a blistering attack on a Continue reading »
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Don’t arm Ukraine.
In July last year, Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop were eager to commit Australian police and Australian troops to Ukraine in the aftermath of the shooting down of MH17 by Russian separatists. Their plan didn’t work out as they hoped. I have carried blogs by Richard Butler and Cavan Hogue about the geopolitical risks of Continue reading »
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Climate, Defence and Security, Economy, Education, Health, Human Rights, Immigration, refugees, NBN, Politics, World Affairs
John Menadue. Fairness, Opportunity and Security – Filling the policy vacuum
I sense that there is great public concern that both the government and opposition keep playing the political and personal game at the expense of informed public discussion of important policy issues. We have become concerned about the trustworthiness of our political, business and media elite. Insiders and vested interests are undermining the public interest. Continue reading »
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Melanie Noden. The Forgotten Children.
Earlier this week, a damning report by the Australian Human Rights Commission into children in detention was tabled, alleging extensive human rights violations. The Report clearly spells out the negative physical and psychological impact that policies of indefinite detention have on children and brings to light the concerns that many people already have about the Continue reading »
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Walter Hamilton. Ships and Boats and Please Explains
If the main aim of building ships in Australia for the Royal Australian Navy were to keep locals in work, then the South Australian-based Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC) would be a pretty good model. It spent around $400 million on salaries last year, about half its budget. If the aim, however, is to build on Continue reading »
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John Menadue. The nonsense about Free Trade Agreements
In his tormented defence of his government’s performance, Tony Abbott highlighted some of his so-called achievements. They included the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Japan, ROK and China. Most of the work in preparation for these agreements had been done by the Rudd and Gillard Governments, but the Abbott Government was so politically driven to Continue reading »
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Michael Sainsbury. FIRB credibility shot with execution of Chinese gangster.
Liu Han, the Chinese criminal whose billion dollar bid for Australian mining company Sundance Resources sailed through the Foreign Investment Review Board with barely the bat of an eyelid has been executed along with his brother, Liu Wei once one of China’s ten most wanted murderers. So endeth one of the most embarrassing episodes in recent Continue reading »
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Greece didn’t fail, but the EU’s debt moralising did.
It is often said that if you owe the bank $1 million you have a problem. But if you owe the bank $1 billion, the bank has a problem! The EU has that sort of problem with Greece. Joseph Stiglitz, in a recent article (see link below) sets out the problems which the EU now Continue reading »
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Rosemary Breen- Living water in Myanmar
I listened to Rosemary Breen from Inverell speak at my local church about the work she is doing in Myanmar to help poor villagers get access to clean water. She was inspiring and challenging. We all know that polluted water is a cause of dysentery, diarrhoea, infant mortality and early deaths across all age groups. Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Stopping the boats and turn-backs at sea
In the Saturday Paper of January 24 this year, in an article by Mike Seccombe, two refugee advocates were quoted as saying: ‘Things like offshore processing and TPVs, mandatory detention – these sorts of measures don’t stop the boats. It’s turnbacks that stop the boats. It’s when you start dragging people back to Indonesia. That’s Continue reading »
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Brian Johnstone. The Right to Freedom of Speech
During his flights to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, Pope Francis spoke of the massacre of the staff of a French magazine Charlie Hebdo and others at a kosher supermarket, which killed 17 persons. The attack was in reprisal for satirical depictions of the prophet Muhammad. “One cannot make war [or] kill in the name Continue reading »
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War on terror leads to unusual friendships.
Paul McGeough in the SMH of January 31 draws attention to our dubious links to Middle East countries that have appalling human rights records. Our Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, having given advice to Prime Minister Abbott on a knighthood on Prince Philip decided that he need not be in Australia for Australia Day, but Continue reading »
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Clive Kessler. A rage against history.
The Ottawa parliament, Café Lindt, Charlie Hebdo and so many others too: these are all separate incidents. But they are all part of the same global phenomenon. They are all expressions of a rage against history that lurks within modern Islam and animates Muslim militants worldwide today. It is a rage that has its source Continue reading »
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High Court decision on Tamil asylum seekers
The majority decided that the detention from 1 to 27 July 2014 was lawful at all times and thus there was no claim to damages for the detention. Continue reading »
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Brian Johnstone. The right to freedom of speech.
The recent murders perpetrated in France have been rightly condemned by all people who take seriously morality and human rights. However, the accompanying discussion of the right to freedom of speech has reflected different points of view. For some the right to freedom of speech means the claim to be free to say whatever Continue reading »
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