Government
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The troubled States of America
The two biggest television events of the year so far in the United States have been the all-cable-all-streaming-live-chopper-coverage of Donald Trump’s motorcade from Mar-a-Lago to the courtroom in Manhattan where he became the first former president to be indicted. And, in Succession, the death of media mogul Logan Roy on his plane en route to Continue reading »
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The derangement of the American mind
The world, we have a problem. It is Houston. Continue reading »
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How to go about achieving better immigration policy and decision-making
It helps to apply all the lessons of the past correctly when considering learnings from a recent High Court decision about the use of personal Ministerial intervention powers under the Migration Act Continue reading »
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A tainted Defence Strategic Review
P&I Editorial: Conflicts of interest at the heart of AUKUS and the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) – including the principal author of the DSR benefitting from US State Department funding designed to build support for AUKUS and the US alliance – demand independent investigation. Continue reading »
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The crisis of academic values and governance in Australian universities
In Australia, public universities face a crisis that threatens the future of this country. Continue reading »
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China has put the US in the “too hard” basket
“Keep Calm and Carry On” posters should be put up in all Canberra government departments. The British Ministry of Information produced the original of this meme in 1939 to prevent public panic about widely predicted German air attacks. A new version is needed in Australia in 2023 to counter fears of imminent invasion and subversion Continue reading »
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Restricting Medicare access to GPs that bulk bill all patients
In a recent article in The Conversation, Professors Stephen Duckett and Fiona McDonald and Ms Emma Campbell suggest “restrict[ing] Medicare access to GPs who agree to bulk bill all patients, while allowing those who don’t bulk bill to rely solely on out-of-pocket payments”. While there is much to commend this proposal, it is not without Continue reading »
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AUKUS as cultural cringe
There are many cogent arguments against AUKUS, and Pearls and Irritations has featured most of them. For me the most galling is the re-emergence of the images of the Anglosphere, and the photos of Australian Prime Ministers beaming between the US President and the UK Prime Minister, as if nothing had changed since Sir Robert Continue reading »
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Super tax concessions don’t cost $45 billion a year and won’t cost more than the pension
You may have read this week that Australia’s super tax breaks are excessively generous (“well beyond any plausible purpose”) and that their costs unsustainable. Continue reading »
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Back in black? A menu of measures to repair the budget
The federal government needs to cut spending and raise taxes to rein in Australia’s structural budget deficit, according to a new Grattan Institute report. Continue reading »
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The dark dark secret
Fascism is in the news again, with the nazi salute being banned. Fascism is much more insidious than a few extremist adherents. With careful rebadging it has begun to pervade some of our institutions. Continue reading »
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In thy God I don’t trust
I don’t indulge in religion, but in this instance and at this particular time of the year, I feel I must. Let us agree from the start that we are all accidents of birth. None of us had a choice as to our parents, in what country we were born or into what religion. This, Continue reading »
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Matching markets
‘The market’ and ‘life-changing interventions’: two phrases that aren’t normally seen in the same sentence. Continue reading »
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Australian Frontier Wars: credibility gap at the War Memorial
There is a gap between Kim Beazley’s assurances about how the Australian War Memorial will properly recognise and commemorate the Australian Frontier Wars and what is actually being planned at the Memorial as it continues its $548m redevelopment. Action is needed now to get the Memorial on track. Continue reading »
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Australia will be left stranded as a lonely Western outpost in Asia
It is understandable that Australian leaders may feel insecure, even paranoid, about Australia’s future in the Asian twenty-first century. As Western power recedes from the world – especially from East Asia – Australia and New Zealand will be left stranded as lonely Western outposts in Asia. Continue reading »
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Strength, will and knowledge: critical components for aged care nursing
Staffing and skill mix is at a crisis point in private aged care, and it must be fixed. We must show solidarity for the needs of our ageing population, because how we treat our elderly says everything about our values as a nation. Continue reading »
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Chinese voters in Australian democracy
The last Federal election in 2022 saw a massive swing of voters of Chinese heritage away from the Coalition to Labor and Independents. The pattern was the same in the recent NSW state election and the Aston by-election in Victoria. All these indicate is that a long suffering marginalised victim of Australia’s geopolitics has finally Continue reading »
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We are being groomed for war with China
Orchestrated components are coming together to enable the US to recruit Australia in future wars of choice. Our media must begin to ask questions about the crude but successful ways the Australian people are being groomed to provide passive or enthusiastic consent. Continue reading »
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Australia has over 800 secrecy and non-disclosure laws
Federal governments have been winding back administrative law reforms for 30 years, largely ignoring serious commitments (as signatory to Open Government Partnership (OGP) since 2015), to more open government. Continue reading »
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Unemployed workers are tired of being the RBA’s blunt instrument
The term ‘jobseeker’ needs to be dropped – it is Orwellian in nature and has no place in a civil society. Continue reading »
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An Indigenous Voice to Parliament: A moment whose time has come
‘I believe the time for the Voice has come’. With those words from the Liberal MP Julian Leeser announcing his resignation as shadow minister for Indigenous Affairs, the path to a successful referendum on an Indigenous Voice to parliament just got a lot clearer, as did Peter Dutton’s dire miscalculation in opposing it. Continue reading »
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High stakes debate on Albanese Government’s social and affordable housing plans
The Albanese Government’s flagship housing legislation has stalled in the Senate, with the PM alarmingly flagging a risk that the package might be abandoned until the next election. Continue reading »
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Albo is in denial. He seeks protection and reassurance
Instead of thinking through and independently acting in Australia’s best interests, Prime Minister Albanese has followed in the footsteps of his discredited predecessors and outsourced defence and foreign policy to the US. Continue reading »
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Nihilism in Israel, what possible response?
April 5, in Jerusalem, Israeli police using stun grenades and firing rubber coated steel bullets invade the Al Aqsa Mosque. Hundreds of worshippers are arrested. Fourteen Palestinians are wounded by bullets, beatings and tear gas inhalation. Continue reading »
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Is Australia currently at war?
Historically, it used to be clear when one country was at war with another. Not so today. Indeed, that is one of the Department of Defence’s objections to war powers reform, where it stated in its submission to the Armed Overseas Conflict Inquiry that “the growth of grey-zone activities and offensive operations in the space Continue reading »
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Let parliament make Australia’s war decisions
Australia is an advanced parliamentary democracy, but the Prime Minister and cabinet members decide whether Australia is to go to war. Parliament is like the ghost of Cinderella with no formal voice in it. This is a historical hangover, a part of the “royal prerogative,” passed on from the monarch to the government of the Continue reading »
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AUKUS and Aotearoa New Zealand: the costs of attraction and repulsion
When the ALP Government led by Anthony Albanese came to power in 2022 it was confronted by the AUKUS minefield laid by its predecessor, the LNC Government led by Scott Morrison. Continue reading »
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Quiet diplomacy’s failure: The Albanese government and Julian Assange
Prior to him becoming Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese made a number of declarations to the effect that the Julian Assange affair be brought to a close. The US effort to prosecute, nay persecute the WikiLeaks publisher, would finally be resolved. Continue reading »
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Will China bring peace to Ukraine?
China will bring peace to Ukraine when it decides that a war that carries the danger of international escalation goes against its commercial interests. Continue reading »
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An education strategy to combat Australia’s “China threat”
In recent years a contemporary China Threat narrative has emerged in Australia and elsewhere related to defence capabilities. An equally important China Threat though, is ignorance. Our knowledge of China and our Chinese communities has declined dramatically over the last thirteen years. How can we combat this threat? Continue reading »
