Politics
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America’s silo society has to face its racial demons
In past upheavals, Americans at least all shared the same news. Now there is an apartheid of the national spirit that is creating deeper divisions than ever…If people were given the choice between democracy and whiteness, how many would choose whiteness? Continue reading »
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Stop tinkering at the edges: Australia needs a bold move to proportional representation
The pandemic crisis forced Australia to seek national solutions for a specific health threat. This could be a prelude to seeking other national solutions and ending the oppositionist cultures that have damaged democracy. Continue reading »
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The Irrepressibles tame the Invincibles in their impregnable fortress
A transformative cricket series will do more to strengthen Australia–India bonds than any amount of public diplomacy. Continue reading »
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Australia’s political talent pool more like a puddle
Once upon a time in Australia, the best and the brightest presented themselves for election. Now, it seems, Cabinet ministers are chosen on the basis of loyalty to whoever is sitting in the prime ministerial chair. And talent is in short supply. Continue reading »
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America is the new centre of global instability
Following the storming of the US Capitol, President Donald Trump is desperate for an exit ramp that will preserve both his fragile ego and his future political influence. Unfortunately, that conundrum leaves him with few options other than to foment even more chaos both at home and abroad. Continue reading »
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Australia’s Covid-19 quarantining – an abrogation of federal responsibilities! There is no national plan
Perhaps the most contentious issue of our Covid year is who is in charge of quarantining? With continuing outbreaks of Covid-19 linked to incoming travellers, Australians have reacted with astonishment that quarantining issues were not foreseen and planned for years ago. How did we end up where we are and what should be done about Continue reading »
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What should Australia want from a Biden National Security Strategy? Avoiding war in Asia
Australia should hope for a major shift away from President Trump’s strategy but not an uncritical return to President Obama’s 2015 version. For a start a new NSS should reposition the US as a less crusading nation, one more accepting of difference Continue reading »
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Poor Fellow, my country, indeed: Trump’s Australian fans.
Most of the democratic world agrees that the scenes in the Capitol were terrifying. But what of Australia’s democracy? A government obsessed with secrecy, faux threats to security, MPs in the grip of the neoliberal sickness, and some who appear in thrall to the failed US President. Continue reading »
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How Murdoch, Abeles twisted the arm of the Hawke Government to help Ansett at the expense of Qantas. (Edited and reposted from 1.1.2019))
Rupert Murdoch repeatedly says that he has never asked a prime minister for anything. That is quite brazen. I know, from personal experience, that this claim is just not true. Continue reading »
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Latest hits from His Master’s Voice – Little Johnny and the Trumpettes
While our parliament houses will not be stormed any time soon, Sky News is still around, as is Rupert Murdoch, Trump’s great backer, and The Australian. So, too, are George, Pauline and Craig. Continue reading »
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‘I don’t hold a hose, mate’: for overseas students Morrison’s ‘hands-off’ approach was writ large
From June last year, the Morrison Government increased the number of offshore student visas even though it knew these people had little to no chance of entering Australia while the pandemic rages around the world. Why would it do this? Continue reading »
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Seditious assault on Congress. Why is Christianity so grafted to corrupt politics?
The link between the Christian right and Trump has nothing to do with Christian discipleship. Trump provides the evangelical right with the closest thing they have found to a theocratic state and in return Trump gets a strong voting bloc. Continue reading »
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Frydenberg knows nothing of Voltaire
Fydenberg’s misuse of Voltaire is a complete travesty, a total misrepresentation of Voltaire’s beliefs and values. Voltaire fought against the kind of political power enabling the incarceration of people deemed to have no rights under the law, as in the imprisonment on Christmas Island of children by Frydenberg’s government. Continue reading »
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Nicola Sturgeon’s ally in her push for Scottish independence – Boris Johnson (The Irish Times, Jan 17, 2021)
Brexit has rubbed the noses of the Scots in their status as junior partners in the union. They have been told repeatedly that their vote against it means nothing, and that their duty is just to suck it up. Continue reading »
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Conspiracy Theorists, Free Speech and Australian Politicians
No need to be a wowser to insist that respect for truth cements civil society and that personal relationships, conduct in organizations and the implementation of governments’ policies depend on claims based on proven facts. Continue reading »
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Ongoing Trumpism Australian influence predictions probably overblown
Kishor Napier-Raman posed a question about the Australian political future when he wrote (crikey 15 January 2021) that: “The question is no longer whether Trumpian politics are on the rise in Australia, it’s now a question of how severe the damage will be.” Continue reading »
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Diplomacy’s pointy end. Chinese vaccines in Indonesia.
The choreography was about reassurance. A well-masked Indonesian President Joko Widodo sitting before a large red sign saying AMAN dan HALAL – meaning safe and approved for Muslims. Alongside stood Palace doctor Professor Abdul Muthalib ready to show 270 million citizens that the Chinese Covid-19 vaccine Sinovac was OK. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 17 January 2021
Some good and some bad news about climate change from 2020, with a focus on the rapidly warming Arctic. Different starting points and scopes for two plans to keep warming under 1.5oC but their strategies share many commonalities. Three-quarters of Australia’s threatened species are plants and their numbers are declining. Some heart-warming and some heart Continue reading »
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Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy Continue reading »
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Media in the Asian Century. An Australian anti-China hawk helped draft US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific
“In many ways (Australians) were ahead of the curve in understanding influence operations and interference in domestic systems,” one senior US official told me. “They were pioneers and we have to give a lot of credit to Australia.” The official singled out former Australian senior intelligence advisor John Garnaut for praise…’ Continue reading »
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Why Australia and the West suffer from Sinophrenia. China, the bubble that never pops.
On the economic front, China has consistently confounded the pessimists. As China grows and grows, critics can’t decide whether the Asian giant is about to collapse or is set to take us over. Continue reading »
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Most viewed articles 2020: Robodebt is far from dead, buried and cremated (Nov 23, 2020)
Those who closely follow the news will believe that the dreaded Robodebt has been slain, “dead, buried and cremated”, with the Federal Government agreeing at the door of the court on 16 November to settle the Robodebt class action. But it’s not as simple as that. Continue reading »
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With regulations gutted and tax breaks banked, corporate funders and enablers desert Donald Trump
Corporate America is frantically distancing itself from Donald Trump in the dying days of his presidency after spending four years financing him, enjoying his tax giveaways, his attacks on workers and gutting of regulations to fatten corporate profits. The rank hypocrisy even extended to Scott Morrison’s top adviser on Covid-19 economic recovery. Continue reading »
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A referendum on Irish unity is coming, whether we like it or not (Irish Times Jan 11, 2021)
Whoever favours keeping Northern Ireland in union with Great Britain, or prefers a united Ireland, needs to prepare for a referendum in the North on that exact choice, followed by a matching referendum in the South – if there is an affirmative vote for unity in the North. Continue reading »
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“We are one and free” – sarcasm, lie or delusion?
Perhaps Morrison got muddled, fuddled and confused about what he was saying, and got the anthem mixed up in a marketing message about something else, like being “one and the same” with Donald, two sides of the Legion of Merit. Continue reading »
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The Government championing free speech is a red herring
The refusal of some social media to allow Donald Trump a platform to spread lies and incite violence is too little too late. Expressions of unease by senior Coalition figures about some dubious threat to free speech are no more than attempts to distract from the Government’s chaotic policies. Continue reading »
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Shock horror: Racist white mob rampages through Capitol
The commentariat are reacting to the upheaval of January 6th as a shocking, one-off event. It was neither. Get ready, there’ll be more. Continue reading »
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Ashli Babbitt, a lost soul who died backing Donald Trump (BIG Jan 11, 2020)
Trump can channel the anger of large numbers of alienated people, but the anger and paranoia exists independently of him, even though he uses this rage for his own purposes. And even when Trump is gone, these angry people will remain in our society. Continue reading »
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The love affair that made America grate
Between rides and walks on the Trump Golf Course and embracing at the White House, Murdoch and Trump have debauched democracy. Continue reading »
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Supporting a coup is not ‘free speech’
There is a lesson for Australia in the sad demise of the Trump Presidency, and that is the speed with which falsehoods can quickly escalate to undermine faith in the political process. The capture by Trump of much of the Republican Party is a warning for all liberal democratic societies about the fragility of our Continue reading »