Government
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Living in fear: Can Australia protect its citizens from our dangerous American ally?
The Extradition hearing of Dan Duggan, an Australian citizen and father of six who has been held in solitary confinement for 19 months in breach of U.N. conventions at the request of the United States, will be held this Friday in a Magistrate’s Court in Sydney. Continue reading »
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Don’t mention the “G” word
“It’s not the word I would use”… As Western Australian Senator Fatima Payman breaks party ranks to condemn the Gazan genocide, Defence Minister Richard Marles, in defiance of the International Court of Justice and United Nations, is attempting to shield Israel and deter MPs from using the term ‘genocide’ . Continue reading »
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Are Albanese and Rowland afraid of Murdoch or are they in his pocket?
Knowing with any degree of certainty what motivates the behaviour and decision making of political leaders whose skill set is focused on creating public perceptions, is problematic. Accordingly, it’s prudent to look less at what they say and more at what they do or don’t do. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland Continue reading »
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The symbiotic relationship between organised crime and money laundering in Australian real estate
Tranche 2 Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terror Financing Laws Protect Us All. Continue reading »
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Exposed: Private Schools caught in commonwealth funding rort
The increasing number of Grandparents paying private school fees has enabled elite schools to evade Commonwealth parent income tests determining the rate of taxpayer funding that goes to society’s most wealthy and least in need students. Continue reading »
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The budget that forgot health
Every element of Australia’s health system is in trouble. But you’d never know it from looking at this year’s budget. Continue reading »
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When it comes to Ukraine, Australia’s media is one-eyed
It is curious that though the Russia-Ukraine conflict is now in its third year, Australian audiences have been only given one side of the picture: that of Ukraine and its Western backers. Continue reading »
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Jim Chalmers’ 2024 budget ignores that humans are social beings
This is not the budget that is likely to reassure voters that the Australian Labor Party is there to create better societies and be trustworthy in difficult times. Continue reading »
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Labor’s 2024-25 Budget: competent but not outstanding
After considering Opposition criticisms, this article concludes that this Budget reflects Labor’s competent economic management. However, a more ambitious tax reform agenda is needed to adequately provide all the services that Australians expect. Continue reading »
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Some day the Gaza war will end
In the movie Apocalypse Now, Robert Duval’s character, Colonel Bill Kilgore, reflectively observes that, despite the smell of victory, ‘Someday this war’s gonna end’. So too, the war in Gaza is going to end. The only questions are how and when. Continue reading »
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The immigration debate: smoke, mirrors and a dash of xenophobia
This past Budget week had the most intense focus on immigration levels that I can remember (and I’ve been watching immigration policy in Budget week for over 35 years). It confirms that immigration levels will be a dominant issue at the next Election. Continue reading »
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Pro-human rights Jewish students facing intimidation from vigilantes linked to repressive Israeli state
Jewish students in Western countries are increasingly facing forms of transnational repression from vigilante groups linked to the repressive Israeli state. These groups are allegedly using violence and intimidation on university campuses in coordinated strategies to curtail freedom of speech. Continue reading »
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Want to save public hospitals? First, stop being stupid
Under-funding is not the main reason for the crisis in Australia’s public hospitals. A far bigger problem is systemic stupidity. Continue reading »
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This budget will make us better off now, worse off later
It’s said you can tell a government’s true priorities from what it does in its budget. If so, the top priority of Anthony Albanese’s government is not to have any priorities. Continue reading »
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Another road for “Made in Australia”
In spruiking their coming “Future Made in Australia” policies PM Albanese and Treasurer Chalmers have singled out for a possible government “helping hand” projects designed to promote our role in their hoped-for future renewable, green economy. But if government “helping hands” are thinkable they could be applied in other areas as well. One area crying Continue reading »
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Future Gas Strategy is a betrayal of promised Climate and Environmental Policies
Climate scientists reveal data that earth’s heating is accelerating, heat extremes are increasing and 1.5C has been breached faster than forecast. We are failing to treat climate change as the single greatest threat to humanity. Continue reading »
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Australia’s crucial knowledge gaps in China expertise: Strategies for the future
Australia’s most severe China knowledge gap is the virtual collapse of University-level advanced Chinese language study, together with the study of Chinese society, politics and culture. This is the major finding of a report, Australia’s China Knowledge Capability, published in 2023 by the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Continue reading »
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Labor’s Future Gas Strategy: The greatest capitulation of any Australian government to the fossil fuel industry
Australians should be clear that the “Future Gas Strategy” released last week is not in the national interest. It represents the greatest capitulation of any Australian government to the demands of the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading »
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To his adversaries, Albo is a pushover
The way that the government has permitted the opposition and the Murdoch media (and even the ABC and Fairfax media) to push it around on issues such as climate and immigration policy raises the question: Does modern Labor have any moral bottom at all? Continue reading »
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Labor’s spending cloaked behind a veil of ‘security’
12½ years ago I wrote, in a column published in the Fairfax (now Nine) mastheads, that “the surest way to gain acceptance for policy proposals that former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry might have called ‘frankly, bad’ is to wrap them in a ‘security’ blanket”. Continue reading »
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Corporatocracy
It’s time we reckoned with what it means to become a corporatocracy. Our governments exist to enact the desires of their corporate masters. Some of these politicians, like Madeleine King, appear to do so with alacrity, while others appear lost in the perceived demands of party and pressure groups. The end result will be an Continue reading »
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Accepting reality: the future will not be made in Australia
With a couple of minutes Googling, your favourite Martian could be well informed on the role of government in the Australian economy from the moment of the arrival of the British colonialists. It’s been big. Continue reading »
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Australia’s love affair with imprisonment
The latest statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics paint a grim picture of a nation becoming more and more entangled in the web of incarceration. During 2022-23, the total number of people behind bars surged by three percent, accompanied by a one percent rise in the imprisonment rate. These figures not only reflect a Continue reading »
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Who will win the US Presidential Election? Professor Lichtman may hold the key
The Guardian newspaper reports that history professor Allan Lichtman is known as the Nostradamus of US presidential elections since he has correctly predicted the results of nine of the past ten ballots. Continue reading »
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The West believes antisemitism is a more egregious problem than genocide
The loss of Western authority as a result of Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza has merely sped up changes already underway for a generation. Continue reading »
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Australia must vote yes to Palestine at UN
The Jewish Council of Australia is horrified by what we are witnessing Israel do in Rafah. Israel’s ongoing violence in Gaza and the West Bank is the greatest impediment to peace for Palestinians and Israelis. Continue reading »
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No, Minister. It’s you who should be in court
Even good minds can get criminal justice wrong, but usually for only so long. Continue reading »
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Meta versus Australia
The ABC now faces an awful dilemma. If, as now seems certain, it loses the media bargaining code revenue it has been receiving from Facebook, now Meta, it will have to sack many of the 60 journalists and support staff it has recruited since entering into commercial contracts in 2021. Continue reading »
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Labor deploys ‘security’ to protect bad policy from proper scrutiny
Politicians are increasingly using the word to justify bad policy initiatives and fend off criticism of their decisions. Continue reading »
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Dutton rising: the power of constant attack
There are some things in our ‘shrinking nation’ that are not shrinking. Continue reading »