Government
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Traitors in our midst: Australia’s foreign interference laws are a political ruse
Leaving aside the issue of whether ASIO’s announcement that there is a ‘traitor in our midst’ is simply a ploy to get more funds in this year’s Federal Budget (something you can never rule out) why hasn’t ASIO and other security and law enforcement agencies in this country pursued the two greatest practitioners of so Continue reading »
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Asia, Government, Media, Politics, Top 5
The coming of the fear
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don’t want to hear. ― George Orwell (Eric Blair) Continue reading »
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The Home Affairs security “GURU”
With the scalp of poor Mr Mike Pezzullo dangling from his belt, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald journalist Michael Bachelard continues to take a terrier-like interest in the Department of Home Affairs. Continue reading »
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The Australian Parliament besmirches us all by refusing Gaza ceasefire
It must be regarded as one of the most despicable and morally repugnant actions ever taken by an Australian parliament since 1901 when, in the first week of February this year, it refused by a huge majority to demand a ceasefire in Gaza as Israel prepared for a military assault on Rafah, where they had Continue reading »
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A little support instead of billions on toxic cruelty
We must speak to people who require assistance and listen to their needs instead of speaking over them. In the case of Australia’s refugee policy, we wasted billions on toxic cruelty when we could have done much better by cooperating internationally and supporting people humanely. Continue reading »
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Jewish Council of Australia urges the Australian government to reject racism against Palestinian people fleeing persecution in Gaza
This week Sky News reported it had a list with the personal details of 500 Palestinian people who had obtained visas to flee overwhelming violence in Gaza, 81 of whom are in Australia. Continue reading »
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How the Australian government has betrayed the nation
The Australian people have been betrayed by their own Government, morally, legally, economically, financially, militarily and politically. Continue reading »
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What does Dutton stand for?
Dutton regularly proclaims what he opposes, but what he will do in terms of new policies mostly remains a mystery or alternatively will not work. Continue reading »
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West Australia and the art of state capture
The idea of state capture is usually associated with the global south, but Australia, and Western Australia in particular, demonstrates that established democracies are far from immune. As the Australian Democracy Network explains, ‘a key element of state capture is the management of political parties both in government and opposition…a range of techniques are brought Continue reading »
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Australia’s First Nations still looking over the 1788 chasm
More than four months after a crushing defeat in the Voice referendum, and soon after the Closing the Gap report confirmed that there was almost no progress in improving Aboriginal lives last year, Aboriginal players in the yes case are moving towards an inquest into how their case went so terribly wrong. Continue reading »
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Medicare is bleeding to death. Will Labor ever do anything about it?
GP visits are down 37% since the government took office. But all we get is spin. Continue reading »
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Australia’s India bet: Not a lay down misère yet
When do shared values become shared interests? Australia’s relations with India have accelerated exponentially. The nearly century-long pattern of discovery and rediscovery of India by the Australian polity is now history. Durable knots are being tied across the spectrum of political, economic, and social issues. Continue reading »
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Curing Australia’s dependent personality disorder
I arrived in Australia with my family at the time when Malcolm Fraser was the Prime Minister of Australia. He was preceded by Gough Whitlam and succeeded by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. They were all intellectual, individualistic and humane leaders. I had never felt more secure and proud to be Australian. Continue reading »
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The despoiling of public life: Scott Morrison and authoritarian paranoia
There are few surprises regarding the final episode of Nemesis, the three-part account on how the Liberal Party, in partnership with the Nationals, psychotically and convulsively disembowel itself from the time Tony Abbott won office in 2013. Over the gore and violence concluding the tenures of Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, one plotter rose, knife bloodied Continue reading »
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One last chance for the low paid to receive tax equity
21 days after the Federal Government did an about-face on its earlier promise to maintain the previously legislated income tax regime, it has secured passage through the House of Representatives of major changes to Australia’s income tax legislation. But speed and the evident equity in the major part of those changes, principally directed at “middle Continue reading »
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Labor’s complete capitulation to elite private schools….again!
A few hours of testimony before the Education Committee of Senate Estimates exposed the canker at the heart of school funding in Australia. The canker is the double standard applied to the funding of public and private schools. The Assistant Minister for Education, Anthony Chisholm, announced that a tax rort worth hundreds of millions of Continue reading »
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Stop Australian charitable donations to the Settler Movement in the Occupied Territories
Despite the strong words being used by Anthony Albanese in conjunction with the Canadian and NZ governments to indicate Australia’s deep concern against a “devastating” and “catastrophic” ground offensive in Rafah in Gaza, or the ongoing proceedings in the International Court of Justice, it is high time that Australia actually went beyond words, and start Continue reading »
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Dutton oversaw largest rise in asylum applications in history. They came by air
The arrival last week of a boat carrying 24 potential asylum seekers, and possibly another one carrying 13, sent Peter Dutton into his standard boat arrivals scare mode. The usual suspects at the Murdoch press went into a frenzy of panic with Chris Kenny calling it a ‘national dilemma’. Continue reading »
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A grim atlas guides NZ’s right-wing politics
The coalition that took power in New Zealand late in 2023, after a campaign centred on attacking the country’s founding Waitangi Treaty, has been exposed as hosting considerable Atlas Network infiltration. Continue reading »
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Julian Assange and the ugly reality of war crimes
Free Palestine. Free Assange. Free the world. Continue reading »
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The future of tax reform
There are recurrent calls for tax reform, but it is typically too difficult to achieve a consensus. However, the necessary action to reduce carbon emissions by introducing a tax on carbon emissions could result in most people being better off and thus achieve broad support. Continue reading »
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Bewilderingly unsophisticated: ASPI deputy director fires up China threat megaphone
Alex Bristow’s recent piece on China (“Don’t sidestep the China problem in public debate on defence”, Australian Financial Review, 14 February) demonstrates the extent to which the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has become a cheerleader for the US military-industrial complex. Continue reading »
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Permanent and long-term movements continue at high levels
While it is highly likely net migration is now past its peak and declining, the data to this stage suggests it may only be falling gradually. Continue reading »
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Israel’s propaganda has ceased to convince or persuade even its friends
Israel’s citizens seem either blithely unaware of the world’s horror at the terror raining down on Gaza, or do not care. Whichever, the barbarity has stripped it of the significant moral advantage given by the Hamas atrocities of October 7, and have caused fundamental reappraisal of Israel’s standing among people once disposed to be sympathetic Continue reading »
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How long does it take to skin a cat?
Well, if the cat is the referral of public servants by the Robodebt Royal Commission for code of conduct investigations now being dealt by the Public Service Commission, the answer is a long time. Continue reading »
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New Zealand’s new government distracted by minor coalition partner interests
The Labour Party in Opposition in New Zealand describes the new National Party government as the coalition of chaos. Others call it the three headed monster. It appears that at least one of the monster’s minor heads is doing more talking than its leader. Continue reading »
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Andrew Wilkie: Assange must be allowed to return to Australia
“The majority of the Australian parliament, including the Australian government and the Prime Minister are of the view that regardless of what you think about Julian Assange, the fact is he’s been incarcerated in one way or another for twelve years or so. The matter has gone on long enough that the extradition should be Continue reading »
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We need to talk about Gina and Andrew
Natural resources are owned by the people of Australia, but mining companies don’t like paying us for the resources they take out of the ground. And when they look like having to pay more, their response is swift and brutal. Continue reading »
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Closing the Gap: Governments must modernise their approach to Indigenous corporations
How governments approach Indigenous governance is crucial to addressing the reform task set by the Productivity Commission’s recent report. Continue reading »
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Farewell democracy
There’ll be a good indicator – if not a firm result – by the time most Australians go to bed tonight. Then we’ll know if the ferociously ambitious Prabowo Subianto – Indonesia’s political psychopath – will be running the nation next door and booting out democracy. Continue reading »