World Affairs
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Are we serious about Asia? Guest blogger: Steve FitzGerald
In my blog ‘On smoko’ of 2 April 2013 I again raised the issue of Australia’s continuing failure to equip itself for our future in Asia. I asked whether we would go on smoko again, as we had following the Garnaut Report of 1989. Professor Steve FitzGerald responded to this blog with some comments. I Continue reading »
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How about it Gina and Twiggy? John Menadue
Since 1904 the brightest and best of young Australians have been winning Rhodes Scholarships to study at Oxford. Winners have included prime ministers, political leaders, a governor general, a Nobel Prize winner and high court judges. How about funding a substantial foundation to provide for the brightest and best of young Australians to study at Continue reading »
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Walter Hamilton. Australia – still a colonial relic in Japan.
The two greatest calamities to befall the people of Tokyo in modern times were the September 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and the March 1945 firebombing by American B-29s. In each case, many tens of thousands perished within a matter of hours. In Sumida ward, a working class area in the east of the city Continue reading »
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Japan: Renaissance? Guest blogger: Walter Hamilton
After two decades mired in largely self-made problems (post-bubble depreciation; political instability; aging population; nuclear meltdown), Japan is suddenly feeling much better about itself. Anyone observing events could not fail to register the shift in the national mood. Are we witnessing a Japanese renaissance, a return to economic expansion? Will economic recovery ease the way Continue reading »
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Malaysian Elections Hangover.-How 51% of votes secured only 40 % of the seats. Guest blogger El Tee Kay
As a guest blogger on May 2 I described the intense interest in the General Election to be held on May 5. This was shown on election day with a voter turnout of more than 84%, the highest in Malaysian history. The Opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) won the popular vote but lost the elections. It Continue reading »
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Euthanasia – A denial of human dignity. Guest blogger Dr Joanne Wright
It is concerning that The Greens and organisations such as GetUp have seen fit to re-ignite the debate about the legalisation of euthanasia. I am a doctor. I worked in palliative care and now work with the elderly. I have seen first hand the complexity of the issues at the end of life. In reality, Continue reading »
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Malaysian General Elections – Change or Chaos? Guest blogger: El Tee Kay in Kuala Lumpur
The run up to the 13th General Election on Sunday May 5 has been described as the dirtiest in Malaysian history. For the first time in 54 years the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government led by Prime Minister Najib Razak fears it may lose its grip on power. For the first time the Malaysian Continue reading »
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Where has the Business Council of Australia been? John Menadue
The BCA President, Tony Shepherd, was at it again on Wednesday 17 April at the National Press Club attacking the Government for many failures – a lack of focus, the need for politicians to sacrifice their jobs for the national interest and that old perennial of his, reform of the labour market. His comments were Continue reading »
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Post card from Kyoto
Kyoto is both an historic and beautiful city. Fortunately it was spared allied bombing during the last war. When our family first visited Kyoto and other parts of Japan in the 1960’s the exchange rate was about 400yen to the Australian dollar. It made for not only wonderful holidays, but cheap holidays as well. We Continue reading »
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Reviving Malaysia. John Menadue
As I pointed out in an earlier blog (27 March 2013), the Nauru/Manus ‘solution’ is not working to deter asylum seekers. The government foolishly adopted Tony Abbott’s proposal. With the failure of Nauru/Manus, the Minister for Immigration, Brendan O’Connor has spoken about the need to revive the earlier proposal on Malaysia. Last weekend the SMH Continue reading »
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Fear of Asia. John Menadue
This fear has been with us since European settlement – a small, relatively wealthy white community living on the rim of the large populations of Asia. This fear stunts our own human growth and is an obstacle to trusting relations with our own region. Although we have broken the back of ‘white Australia’, fear of Continue reading »
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Child sexual abuse: who are the abusers? Guest blogger, Professor Kim Oates
The awareness of the existence of child sex abuse, particularly its frequency, has only occurred in relatively recent times. Now, we read or view daily stories about it. Whether this widespread public awareness of the problem has done much to prevent it and to help the victims is questionable, but it is better than our Continue reading »
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Tokyo postcard. John Menadue
It is great to be back in Japan for cherry blossom. I first came to Japan almost 45 years ago and have been visiting regularly ever since. On our visits and residence in Japan, we stayed at scores of minshuku – Japanese B & B – across the country. It was a wonderful experience. Cherry Continue reading »
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The Asian Century – another smoko? John Menadue
Chaired by Ken Henry, the White Paper, ‘Australia in the Asian Century’ was released five months ago, in October 2012. We have heard precious little about it since. Prime Minister Gillard appointed Craig Emerson, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Asian Century Policy. I have not seen or heard anything from him that gives Continue reading »
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Does Australia care about what happens on its doorstep in Sabah? Guest blogger: El Tee Kay
Almost a month ago two hundred of the self styled Royal Sulu Army, some heavily armed, landed in a small coastal village in Sabah, Malaysia. They came from the nearby Tawi Tawi islands in the southern Philippines. Their objective was to “persuade” the Malaysian Government to recognize their “hereditary” claim to Sabah for the Sulu Continue reading »
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Productivity and Skills. John Menadue
For months, the Business Council of Australia and senior business executives have been banging on about the need to increase labour productivity. To achieve this, they have emphasised the need to amend the industrial relations legislation, ‘Fair Work Australia’ as essential to lift productivity. Many have seen it as an attempt by employers to rebalance Continue reading »
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The Malaysian General Election. Will the fix be in again? Guest blogger El Tee Kay, Kuala Lumpur
Australian Senator Nick Xenophon flew into Kuala Lumpur in mid-February. He was detained and deported back to Australia as he posed a “security threat” to the country. He was roundly condemned by the Malaysian Home Minister, the Election Commission and the media for his interference but received favourable support overseas and from the opposition parties, Continue reading »
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The Darkening Shadow of Hate Speech in Japan. Guest blogger,Tessa Morris-Suzuki
Japan’s new Prime Minister, Abe Shinzō, has proclaimed Japan a regional model of “democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights”. Indeed, Japan has proud traditions of free debate and grassroots human rights movements. But ironically – and largely ignored by the outside world – the rights of minorities and the work of Continue reading »
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Work rights for asylum seekers. Guest blogger: Bruce Kaye
Having had direct experience of asylum seeker hosting it has become obvious at the ground level that the ‘no work’ policy introduced in August last year by the Federal Government is creating confusion and misery for the asylum seekers and frustration and despair for those involved in hosting. As citizens, my wife and I are Continue reading »
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Minister! Let them work.
There is a growing number of asylum seekers living in the community who are not allowed to work. The new Minister, Brendan O’Connor, could put his stamp on the portfolio by immediately making a decision to allow almost all asylum seekers to work. The present policy of denial of work is cruel, denies the dignity Continue reading »
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Teaching ‘medical English’ in Vietnam. Guest blogger Kerry Goulston
Vietnamese medical students realise that English is the international language of Medicine. They can read it well—all have Laptops or i-pads and have easy access to radio and TV- but they know that they have problems in understanding spoken English and in speaking it. It is a language very different from their own but in Continue reading »
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Japanese Amnesia. Guest blogger: Susan Menadue Chun
In the Washington Post articles http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/japan-must-face-the-past/2013/01/25/7a9b9244-6713-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html Jennifer Lind describes how Japanese conservative politicians have been playing a potentially dangerous game in disputes with neighbouring countries. The dispute arises mainly because of Japan’s inability to acknowledge its past aggression. The current Japanese hostility to neighbours is in part designed to distract national attention away from the country’s Continue reading »
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Rio Tinto – Corporate Governance and Asia
Since 2007 Rio Tinto has written off $US 35 billion in failed investments. It must be a world record. There are probably more write-downs to come with its investments in Mozambique coal and in aluminium in North America. Tom Albanese has been sacrificed but the remainder of the Rio Tinto board are apparently unscathed. They have been too lax with shareholders Continue reading »
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Australian media and President Park Geun-Hye of ROK
If we want to be serious about our future in the ‘Asian Century’ we will need to start with our media. The election of President Park Geun-Hye in ROK in December last year was a very significant event, but it passed in the Australian media with only the briefest of mentions. (The same could be Continue reading »
