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Recent comments
- Peter Best on JOHN MENADUE. Asylum seekers are pouring into Australia in record numbers by air, but the media and politicians are not interested in the facts.
- Don Macrae on HUGH WHITE. The US shouldn’t go to war with China over Taiwan—and nor should Australia (ASPI: THE STRATEGIST, 13 Feb 2019)
- Jim KABLE on ALISON BROINOWSKI. Australian values in free fall.
- Michael Flynn on MIKE SCRAFTON. The casual talk of war
- Peter Best on MUNGO MacCALLUM. Peter Dutton says doctors can’t e trusted.
Category Archives: Politics
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 17 February 2019
It may be too slow but the policy environment around climate change is moving. Recently in NSW we have seen a mine proposal refused because of its impact on climate change and the release of a report calling for the … Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate, Politics
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MARIE McINERNEY. Labor would set up Aust Health Reform Commission if it wins 2019 poll (Croakey).
Labor’s announcement on Wednesday that it would establish a permanent Australian Health Reform Commission has been welcomed though all eyes will of course be on the detail and the funding commitments to emerge in the leadup to the next federal … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Politics
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JOHN MENADUE. Scott Morrison did not stop the boats.
The myth is repeated time and time again that Scott Morrison ,the Coalition and Operation Sovereign Borders stopped the boats. They did not. But if you tell a lie time and time again people will believe it. It is a … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Refugees, Immigration
3 Comments
RUTH ADLER. Brexit uncertainties fuel speculation on Irish unification referendum
With weeks remaining until the 29 March deadline for a deal on Brexit, there is speculation that failure to reach agreement will result in increased momentum for a referendum on Irish unification under the Good Friday Agreement. Several Cabinet Ministers … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
2 Comments
DIANNE HERIOT. New Zealand and Federation. (Parliamentary Library Flag Post 25.1.2019)
While New Zealand participated in the Australasian Federation Conference convened in Melbourne in 1890, it had little real enthusiasm for the prospect of federating with the Australian colonies. As Sir John Hall, then Premier of New Zealand and one of two New Zealand delegates … Continue reading
Posted in International Affairs, Politics
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HUGH WHITE. The US shouldn’t go to war with China over Taiwan—and nor should Australia (ASPI: THE STRATEGIST, 13 Feb 2019)
Paul Dibb, in his recent Strategist post, writes that America’s strategic position in Asia would be fatally undermined if it didn’t go to war with China if China attacked Taiwan, and that Australia’s alliance with America would be fatally undermined if we didn’t … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Defence/Security, International Affairs, Politics
4 Comments
MICHAEL SAINSBURY. Scott John Morrison: Where the bloody hell did he come from? (Michael West)
It’s not every Prime Minister who loses a vote on his government’s own legislation. The man who ended an 80 year run not only definitely deserves a special mention in Australia’s political history but a closer look at just where the … Continue reading
MARGARET REYNOLDS. I love the ABC and I Vote!!
Several public policy issues will be vigorously debated when Australians vote in this year’s Federal Election. But the one policy area where a vast majority of Australians can agree is that our national public broadcaster- the A B C- must … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
5 Comments
ALISON BROINOWSKI. Australian values in free fall.
What Australians value and what they fear are not, apparently, clear to the latest Prime Minister. Scott Morrison’s election campaign, which began at the National Press Club on 11 February, failed to assure voters that his government understands either what … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
3 Comments
JON STANFORD. Comment on Mike Scrapton’s article ‘The casual talk of war’.
Isn’t it interesting that in the Prime Minister’s attempt yesterday to make us all very frightened indeed about the national security threats that a Labor government would expose us to — ranging from hordes of asylum seekers at the gates, … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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JOHN MENADUE. Getting behind the lies, fake news and spin on refugees and asylum seekers. (Michael West’s blog 13.2.2019)
It is remarkable that mainstream media, without exception, continues to ignore the facts on asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat and air. Michael West has written on the subject today in his blog. See Michael’s article reprinted below.
Posted in Politics, Refugees, Immigration
3 Comments
KIM WINGEREI Political Bastardy and Silly Politics
The franking credits scare campaign by the LNP is working. Once again, sensible tax reforms is sacrificed on the altar of short-term politics and the absence of a holistic approach. Once again politics gets in the way of policy making. … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
2 Comments
ANDREW GLIKSON. Imagining the real: Two minutes to mid-night on the Clock of the Atomic Scientists
On January 24, 2019, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stated: “Humanity now faces two simultaneous existential threats, either of which would be cause for extreme concern and immediate attention. These major threats—nuclear weapons and climate change—were exacerbated this past … Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate, Politics
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PAUL BONGIORNO. Scott Morrison has formally hit the panic button. (The New Daily 12.2.2019)
Scott Morrison is desperately in need of a circuit breaker. Something dramatic to save his government and pull off an unlikely election win. The opinion polls are stubbornly stuck in wipeout territory, the latest Newspoll just confirming the trend not … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Who could have predicted that Kenneth Hayne would turn out to be such an old softie?
For months the stern, uncompromising judicial figure has presided over his royal commission with imperial authority, a veritable Judge Dredd inspiring fear and trepidation among scores of witnesses ever wary that at any moment he could reach for the black … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
6 Comments
GREG BAILEY. The Liberal National Party, the Baby-boomers and the quest for victory in the May Election.
If, as seems likely from the polls, the ALP wins the next federal election it will not be through the failure of the LNP to throw up a massive scare campaign. Conservative parties ranging from the medium to the far … Continue reading
ROSS GITTINS. Never fear, Hayne is a new start – and not just for the banks. (SMH 5.2.2019)
If you think the banking royal commission’s damning report means you’ll never again be overcharged or otherwise mistreated by a bank, you’re being a bit naive. If you’re hoping to witness leading bankers being dragged off to chokey, you’ll be … Continue reading
ANTHONY PUN. A relapse of China panic.
Three media reports in the Sydney Morning Herald could be seen as a “Relapse of the China Panic” since it went into remission last December. It came in a period where Chinese Australians celebrate the Lunar New Year and indeed … Continue reading
MUNGO MacCALLUM. Peter Dutton says doctors can’t e trusted.
Kerryn Phelps is not just a doctor: according to Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton and their Murdoch mouthpieces, she is a shaker of worlds. Her bill – or rather her amendments to the government’s own bill — to allow doctors rather … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Refugees, Immigration
4 Comments
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday’s environmental round up, 10 February 2019
Articles from around the world this week: electrical power sources in Australia, oil and gas drilling expansion in the USA, effects of shrinking glaciers on communities in Central Asia, and the Presidency of the next COP meeting in Chile.
Posted in Politics
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SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
Posted in Politics, Uncategorized
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EVAN JONES. The gaping hole in the Royal Commission’s final report.
The Banking Royal Commission’s Final Report has generated much froth and bubble in the media. Hayne has chosen to emphasise the sins of the finance sector in the ‘wealth management’ arena (financial advice, insurance, super – the last superficially). Media … Continue reading
TED EGAN. Matthew Flinders: Conditor Australis.
Two items are prominent in the news at the moment: Matthew Flinders’ remains have been unearthed at Euston Station, London; and there is heated debate in Australia about the most appropriate day to recognise as ‘Australia Day’.
Posted in Indigenous affairs, Politics
6 Comments
JOHN MENADUE. How and why corporate regulators have failed us. And not just bank regulators.
The surge yesterday in bank shares was no surprise. Investors at least concluded that Kenneth Hayne ‘s slap on the wrist would not really disturb the bank’s business model. His report did not go to the heart of the abuse, … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
11 Comments
HUGH MACKAY. A Culture of Compassion (Edited extract of Australia Day Address)
We humans are, by nature, social beings who need each other. We need the sense of belonging to communities that sustain, nurture, support and protect us and even give us our sense of personal identity – you can’t make sense … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Politics
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RICHARD FLANAGAN. Tasmania is burning. The climate disaster future has arrived while those in power laugh at us. (The Guardian 4.2.2019)
Scott Morrison is trying to scare people about economic policy but seems blithely unaware people are already scared – about climate change.
Posted in Environment and climate, Politics
7 Comments
MICHAEL PASCOE. And the winner is … the big banks (New Daily)
Who would have guessed? The banks have emerged as relative winners from the royal commission’s final report.
Posted in Politics
2 Comments
ADELE FERGUSON. The regulators failed bank customers but they are now being trusted to fix this mess. (SMH 5.2.2019)
After a year of shame and grovelling apologies, the day of reckoning finally arrived. For those Australians hoping for structural separation of the banks, an overhaul of the regulators or heads on sticks, royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s verdict would have been … Continue reading
KAREN COX. Now Hayne has reported, the lobbyists will get to work (SMH 5.2.2019)
After a year of front pages filled with the evidence of scandalous wrong doing, rip-offs and greed in our banking and financial services institutions, we finally have a roadmap from Commissioner Kenneth Hayne on how to solve the finance sector’s … Continue reading
ANDREW LINDEN, WARREN STAPLES. Hayne’s failure to tackle bank structure. (The Conversation 5.2.2019)
Hayne’s failure to tackle bank structure means that in a decade or so another treasurer will have to call another royal commission. Every 10 to 15 years it’s the same. Ever since financial deregulation in the 1980s we’ve had a finance industry scandal … Continue reading