Government
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Robodebt: can you recall a greater failure of public administration?
Federal Court Justice Bernard Murphy described Robodebt as “a massive failure of public administration”. So far the Royal Commission has made little progress is establishing how it happened, given contrary legal advice and warnings from mid-level public servants of the policy dangers. Continue reading »
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Australia’s fake coal emissions certificates rort major trading partners
Companies responsible for testing the quality of Australian coal altered “40-50 per cent of the certificates” to make dirty coal look cleaner than it was and sell substandard products for higher profits to Australia’s export partners and underplay carbon emissions. Continue reading »
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Badly injured developing nations promised palliative care at COP27
At COP27, oil and gas lobbyists triumphed, while badly injured developing nations were condemned to die with the promise of palliative care. Continue reading »
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What caused the Anthony Albanese China change? Better advisors?
To say that the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has been poorly advised would be an understatement. For reasons best known to himself he picked up and ran with a posse of advisers from the corrupt and inept Morrison regime. A big mistake. Continue reading »
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Victorian Elections: Liberals under siege from extremist religious groups
The Victorian election is a mess. This is the product of the destruction of our conservative forces by international right wing radicalism; for people in that sphere discrediting democracy is the desirable first step in dismantling the status quo. For the rest of us, it is a threat. Continue reading »
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Shaoquett Moselmane- A Principled Parliamentarian removed by NSW Labor
Many ask me why I am leaving the NSW Parliament. To be frank, certain political forces wanted me out. The decision was then taken to remove me. It was falsely put in the media that I wanted to retire. It was not true. Continue reading »
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How to fix the broken system of public policy making
Last week the NSW Legislative Council introduced a standing order requiring that all government bills include a Statement of Public Interest (SPI). This is the first time in Australia that a public policy framework for interrogating bills has been given legal force. It’s a big breakthrough that other governments and parliaments should emulate. Continue reading »
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Proper perspective can mend relations between China and Australia
The meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, should serve as a harbinger for the mending of the damaged bilateral relations between the two countries. Continue reading »
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Australia’s China threat industry led by Sydney Morning Herald takes a hit
Above a picture of a tired looking Xi Jinping – taken at the G20 – the Sydney Morning Herald ran the headline: The Face of Capitulation. It was as banal as it was predictable. It was for a Peter Hartcher story that crowed at having slayed the dragon (sub-text: this was Hartcher’s personal victory). Continue reading »
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Hung Parliament on the cards in Malaysian election?
Malaysia goes to the polls on Saturday 19 November after two years of political turmoil that has seen two governments and three Prime Ministers fall. Continue reading »
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Employers cry wolf once again
Low wage growth has held the Australian economy back. Contrary to the employer’s scare campaign, the Government’s proposal to facilitate multi-employer bargaining offers the prospect of some improvement, especially for those employees whose bargaining position is weakest. Continue reading »
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Pivotal Moment: Albanese and Xi in 2022 mirror Whitlam and Zhou in 1971
The meeting between Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping put me in mind of the public reaction in Australia when Whitlam met Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1971. Continue reading »
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Reinventing the NDIS
What was in the minds of the originators of the NDIS, of the nature of disability? How did they see the role of the NDIS within existing social, health, and economic, environments? Continue reading »
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The truth about Hong Kong is too difficult for the western media to grasp
Early November saw Hong Kong host a gathering of world financial/banking leaders, lay on a successful Fintech conference, and then host the first Hong Kong Rugby 7’s tournament since 2019, which Australia won! Continue reading »
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Depicting the Frontier Wars at the Australian War Memorial: why it is a bad idea
The issue of recognition, exhibition, explanation and duly respectful commemoration of the conflict between invading colonial ‘forces’ and this country’s First Nations peoples at the Australian War Memorial has had growing exposure of late. Continue reading »
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Israel is not suddenly a more racist state. It is simply growing more confident about admitting its racism to the world
The most disturbing outcome of Israel’s general election this week was not the fact that an openly fascist party won the third-biggest tally of seats, or that it is about to become the lynchpin of the next government. It is how little will change, in Israel or abroad, as a result. Continue reading »
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Medicare compliance review unlikely to succeed
Minister for Health Mark Butler has given in to pressure from some media outlets and on 5 November announced an independent review into Medicare compliance to report in four months – a requirement which means it will struggle to deliver on its main terms of reference. Continue reading »
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Why is Albo so set on clipping Teal wings?
As Anthony Albanese might see it, almost all of his political good fortune has come from preferring his own judgment and instinct ahead of the advice and experience of others. He has a very long background in politics. Continue reading »
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Nine Network perpetuates tired, politicised, militaristic discourse on refugees
As Principal Solicitor at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, my team and I meet people seeking asylum every day. We see their suffering as they struggle to access basic rights in an intimidating and often hostile system, and we see the effect on them of vilification and exclusion in public discourse. Continue reading »
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School education: designed to fail?
Education, more properly learning, has been subject to numerous inquiries and reforms. In Australia and elsewhere the policy debate is framed in the context of school and preparation for employment, a job. Intervention by governments over the last 50 years has been substantial and mostly unproductive. Continue reading »
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Australia must make its own decision on Nuclear Weapons Treaty
US Embassy officials in Canberra have warned Australia against signing and ratifying the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, saying it would be inconsistent with Australia’s policy of nuclear deterrence. Continue reading »
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How did Dag Hammarskjöld die? The CIA and Indonesian connection
More than six decades after his plane crashed it remains the great Cold War mystery: Was UN secretary-general (1953-61) Dag Hammarskjöld killed by sabotage, a technical fault, pilot error or air attack? If he was assassinated who was the mastermind? Continue reading »
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A migration system for Australia’s future
A three-member panel to review Australia’s migration system – former PM&C Secretary Martin Parkinson, academic Joanna Howe and businessman John Azarias – has been set the task of producing “a holistic strategy that articulates the purpose, structure and objectives of Australia’s migration system to ensure it meets the national interest in the coming decades”. Continue reading »
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Taiwan endgames
The term endgame was originally applied to the final stages of a multifaceted matching of minds in the likes of chess or bridge. The term has also been widely used in politics to introduce and debate outcome investigations, as in, the Cold War endgame, the globalisation endgame and the Ukraine War endgame. This article considers Continue reading »
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Ethiopian Civil War and its manufactured humanitarian crisis
The brutal internal conflict between Ethiopian national forces under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has inflicted untold suffering on millions of innocent people. Continue reading »
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Pointless, petty regulations are a handbrake on Australia’s truck fleet
We all rely on trucks: they carry our fuel, tools, construction materials – and of course, food and parcels. While trains specialise in carrying bulk goods such as coal and grain, trucks carry nearly 80 per cent of the non-bulk items we use at work and home. But unfortunately, trucks also create carbon emissions, and Continue reading »
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Labor brings Israel-Palestine policy back to the middle: will it matter?
The announcement of the Albanese Government’s decision to reverse Australia’s recognition of “West” Jerusalem was sloppily handled. That was the only surprise in it. Continue reading »
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NSW police ‘Strike Force Guard III’ formed to silence threats to fossil fuel driven political order
In NSW a special task force, Strike Force Guard III, has been established to target environmental groups in a concerted state attempt to silence anyone they view as a threat to the prevailing fossil-fuel driven political order. Conditions imposed on activists are now more severe than those meted out to some perpetrators of domestic violence Continue reading »
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The ACT legislated to decriminalise possession of personal quantities of illicit drugs
By the time the ACT Legislative Assembly passed legislation on 20 October 2022 to commence the decriminalisation of personal quantities of all illicit drugs in October 2023, drug law reform was already well on its way around the world. Continue reading »
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An opportunity to clarify parliamentary roles and responsibilities
The Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards has been charged with developing a code or codes of conduct for people working in the Parliament. While the context is to address the bullying and harassment behaviour revealed by the Jenkins Report, the Committee also has the opportunity to articulate through values statements and codes of conduct Continue reading »
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