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Recent posts
- PETER DAY. Beware the Push-Me-Pull-You Syndrome in our Universities. 25 June 2018
- JOHN MENADUE. The ongoing class warfare . 23 June 2018
- JAMES FERNYHOUGH. This is how the biggest tax cut in history will affect you. (New Daily 21/6/2018) 23 June 2018
- ROBERT KAGAN. Trump’s America does not care. 23 June 2018
- JAMES FERNYHOUGH. Telstra’s bombshell announcement is ‘huge’ news for consumers. 23 June 2018
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Archives
Category Archives: Politics
JOHN MENADUE. The ongoing class warfare .
Pauline Hanson usually votes for the wealthy end of town. She has done it again. Upper income earners will be the biggest beneficiaries over the next seven years with the recent tax cuts. Average total earnings for employees is about … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
5 Comments
JAMES FERNYHOUGH. This is how the biggest tax cut in history will affect you. (New Daily 21/6/2018)
Australia’s wealthiest 5 per cent of taxpayers are set to receive a $7000 tax cut, after the Turnbull government’s income tax bill passed through the Senate with the help of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
Posted in Economy, Politics
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JOHN MENADUE. The scourge of lobbyists is likely to continue if there is a change of government.
It looks if the scourge of lobbyists will continue in Canberra if Bill Shorten wins the next election. There is no sign that the ALP, like the Coalition is prepared to curb the way lobbyists are corrupting public policy in … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
6 Comments
RICHARD GLOVER. Move over, Emmanuel Macron. Australia has the true Trump whisperer. (Washington Post 19/6/2018)
Australia is the last U.S. ally standing. We’ve escaped America’s new tariffs, our leader has yet to be labeled weak or a liar, and the United States has even agreed to accept some of Australia’s unwanted refugees. President Trump called … Continue reading
Posted in International Affairs, Politics
1 Comment
2018 Lowy Institute Poll – Climate change, renewables and coal.
Despite the debate and political rhetoric, most Australians have not been persuaded to support coal over renewables for the nation’s energy security. Almost all Australians remain in favour of renewables, rather than coal, as an energy source. In 2018, 84% … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate, Politics
1 Comment
MICHAEL PASCOE. Liberals’ lurch to the right is straight out of Trump playbook
“What federal council meeting? Oh, that federal council meeting – privatising the ABC, following Trump on moving our embassy to Jerusalem? No, nothing to see here. Move along.”
Posted in Media, Politics
3 Comments
JOHN MENADUE. Coalition legacies.
There are six major issues that dominate public life today and require resolution. Those issues are –the dire consequences following the Iraq invasion, tax cuts during the mining boom that result in continuing budget deficits and debt increases, the threat … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Politics
6 Comments
MUNGO MACALLUM. An apology to the victims of sexual abuse
Malcolm Turnbull has always regarded John Howard as some sort of political mentor. But Howard refused to apologise to the stolen generation
RANALD MACDONALD. The threat to public broadcasting in this country becomes more menacing by the day.
Those who say that the ABC will be around for years to come have their heads truly in a world of denial. On top of the Government’s huge cuts to funding, with 1000 less employed today than four years ago, … Continue reading
Posted in Media, Politics
2 Comments
JOHN MOLONY. A review of Race Mathews, Of Labour and Liberty: Distributism in Victoria 1891–1966
Many years ago, I tried to review Ronald Knox’s lifelong study of the numerous minor sects or branches of post-Reformation Christianity. He named it Enthusiasm. Despite my own enthusiasm for the treasures amassed in the book, I was unable to … Continue reading
ALISSA J. RUBIN. An era of French strikes is ending (AFR 13/6/2018)
Nowadays, we have people who are too rich,” he said. “In the United States you do not care so much about equality, but we care about it,” says Bodiou, a retired civil engineer.“It does not mean we all have to … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
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JOAN STAPLES. Foreign interference bills threaten civil society freedoms.
The government’s urgent pursuit of foreign interference bills prior to the July by-elections aims to wedge Labor for short term electoral gain. However as Labor agrees to support the bills, yet more of our political freedoms are being destroyed at … Continue reading
Posted in Human Rights, Politics
2 Comments
JACK WATERFORD. Trust Labor on national security? Sure can’t. (Canberra Times, 9 June 2018)
The looming five by-elections are giving the government an opportunity to polish and rehearse one of the centrepieces of its re-election strategy for the next election – the argument that the alternative government – Labor – is fundamentally unsound on … Continue reading
Posted in Defence/Security, Politics
1 Comment
JAMES FERNYHOUGH. Revealed: This is how much ordinary Australians really earn. (The New Daily June 8, 2018)
A casual glance at the news in recent months may have left you thinking the average Australian earns almost $85,000 a year. If that sounded insanely high to you, then your instincts were bang on. An ordinary Australian earns way, way less than … Continue reading
GREG HAMILTON. Little or no talent for getting it right.
A great Australian recently said: ‘we’re a helpless audience watching an awesome spectacle, powerless to act because we haven’t produced leadership with the courage to match the precipitous nature of the hour.’ The Rev. Ted Noffs got most things right. … Continue reading
MUNGO MacCALLUM. Wishful thinking.
It may be sheer fantasy, wishful thinking. But in the last week the torpor of politics appeared to lift a little; there were signs that progress might not be stalled forever in the coalition party room in Canberra. Not that … Continue reading
Posted in Indigenous affairs, Politics
2 Comments
KIM WINGEREI. The longevity vacuum.
Short term thinking has taken hold of our society at all levels – our political leaders rarely see beyond the next poll or the next election, and in many ways they are responding to a populace that is equally sucked … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
7 Comments
MUNGO MacCALLUM. The end of Western Civilisation!
It was, declared The Australian’s resident theologian Greg Sheridan, a pivotal moment in modern Australian history. Well, modern Australian history begins with white settlement. So was Pope Greg referring to the arrival of the first fleet, perhaps? The end of … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
5 Comments
The missed opportunity, nine years ago, to curb foreign interference in Australian politics.
In 2009, Senator John Faulkner introduced legislation in the Senate which would have prohibited foreign political donations. The legislation was defeated by the Coalition in the Senate. A lot of ‘foreign interference’ in Australian political life could have been nipped … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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ROSS GITTINS. The threat of terrorism in Australia is a scam that costs us dearly (SMH 25/7/2017)
This article by Ross Gittins was published on 25 July 2017 in the SMH. Since then, the government has continued to ratchet up fear of terrorism. This is a particular stock in trade of conservatives – promoting fear- fear of … Continue reading
Posted in Defence/Security, Politics
1 Comment
ROSS GITTINS. How we could revive faith in democracy (SMH 6 June 2018)
How much is our disillusionment with politicians, governments and even democracy the result of our pollies’ 30-year love affair with that newly recognised mega-evil “neoliberalism”? To a considerable extent, according to Dr Richard Denniss, of the Australia Institute, in the … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
5 Comments
MICHAEL PASCOE. The Australian government’s hypocritical stance on PNG corruption.
It’s illegal for Australian entities to bribe foreign entities, but apparently we’re perfectly happy to take dirty money from bribed foreigners and consort with corrupt leaders. Malaysia’s prime-minister-in-waiting, Anwar Ibrahim, called us out on Friday, expressing a view that Australia … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, International Affairs, Politics
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LAURIE PATTON. Community tv – needed now more than ever.
Last week the Government announced a further two year extension on its deadline for community television stations to vacate their free-to-air spectrum. The death knell first rang back in September 2014 when then communications minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that all … Continue reading
MUNGO MacCALLUM. One Nation and the fabled Enterprise Tax Plan
Like the leaves of a diseased and dying tree, the One Nation senators continue to fall.
MUNGO MacCALLUM. The Barnaby Joyce slapstick soap opera.
We have had enough of Barnaby, and it is obvious that his own colleagues have too. The sooner he retires to his fractured love nest the better.
MICHAEL PASCOE. Fear and loathing in superannuation – Liberal and industry fund conspiracy theories
The Productivity Commission’s recommendation that all superannuation funds have an independent chairman and board seems reasonable, yet industry funds are vehemently opposed to it. Meanwhile the industry funds, on average, clearly outperform their retail opposition, but the Liberal Party has been … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
2 Comments
WAYNE SWAN. Foreign influence and foreign donations in Australia.
The debate over foreign influence in our domestic politics and policymaking is an important one for our country – too important for political point-scoring and manipulation by vested interests and political vendettas.
Posted in Defence/Security, Media, Politics
1 Comment
YANIS VAROUFAKIS. Merkel reaps with Quitaly what she sowed with Greek austerity
By crushing us Europeanist Greeks in 2015, Germany sowed the seeds of a bitter harvest: an Italy that might leave the EU. One of the most common mistakes European leaders make in interpreting US President Donald Trump’s hostility toward America’s traditional … Continue reading
Posted in International Affairs, Politics
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JOHN STAPLETON: Surveillance in Australia; Part Three.
The democratic contract is broken. The freedom of Australians to go about their daily lives without being watched by their government has vanished with barely a whisper of protest.
Posted in Politics
3 Comments
LAURA TINGLE. Here’s what Peter Dutton’s Home Affairs super-department looks like.
When Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the creation of the massive new Home Affairs portfolio in July last year, he called it “the most significant reform of Australia’s national intelligence and domestic security arrangements — and their oversight — in … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure, Politics
1 Comment