Politics
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How NSW lost control of the virus. Yet Scott Morrison said that NSW was the ‘gold standard’ in infection control.
When Covid was detected in Sydney’s northern beaches area, the peninsula was locked down strongly by the Berejiklian government. While that cluster seems to have been contained, outbreaks elsewhere around Sydney have thrown some curious decisions into the limelight. Continue reading »
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Polarisation decades in the making
Between 70% and 80% of Republican voters believe the recent Presidential election was rigged. While it’s astonishing funding it is not simply representative of the Trump years but more a reflection of steadily developing attitudes over some decades. Continue reading »
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Assessing democratic governments from first principles
Australia regularly gets rated as one of the best performing representative democracies in the world. But anyone who regularly reads the posts by wise and experienced writers on the Pearls and Irritations site must surely wonder how that can be. Continue reading »
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2020 and beyond. Comeback, but to what?
Scott Morrison’s government has been spruiking its life and economy saving program named Comeback on television and digital platforms. This means comeback from the unexpected changes imposed on individuals and the economy in 2020 by the COVID virus. But comeback to what? Continue reading »
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Twenty-Twenty
I will not wish my life away, But Twenty-Twenty I can say, Was the worst I can recall, Not just for me, but for us all. Continue reading »
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The Twerp Factory (IPA) wants to destroy the ABC
During the neoliberal boom of the 1970s and 1980s, it became fashionable to sell many valuable state-owned enterprises, often for a song, and usually to friends of the regime. Later on this would become something of a blueprint for the Russians, who created a whole class of thieving kleptocrats, who then went on to pillage Continue reading »
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Post Brexit? It is not pages of legal text that sustains communities. It is political commitment.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government may have got Brexit across the line, and avoided the embarrassment and discomfort the country would have suffered had they not, but clearly they have not delivered on what was promised at the 2016 referendum. Continue reading »
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The Murder of 2020
During the weeks and months of restrictions this year, I became addicted to the British TV crime series Vera. Vera is moody and temperamental, but she gets results, with no sex, no romance, no ghosts or extra-terrestrial influence, just terrific acting and good mystery. So let’s ask the question of Vera, “Who killed 2020?” Continue reading »
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US policies are pushing our friends in China towards anti-American nationalism (Washington Post 23 July, 2020)
The “Rabbit Chairman” is the author of a popular Chinese blog with 1.5 million readers. He is one of several influential Chinese bloggers I knew when they were students. In one of his recent posts, the Chairman quoted Sun Tzu, the famous war strategist — “If you know yourself and know your enemy, you need Continue reading »
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On Grace Karskens’ The People of the River. A remarkable story of settler and Indigenous co-existence
The Nepean-Hawkesbury – Dyarubbin – witnessed a remarkable story of settler and Indigenous co-existence. In her recent tome, Grace Karskens uncovers this story while shattering many myths and setting new standards for interpretation of historical records. Continue reading »
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Can we find common ground on China? (Canberra Times Dec 21, 2020)
In 2000, the Reserve Bank of Australia held a conference reviewing the 1990s. The US was mentioned 93 times. China wasn’t mentioned once. Continue reading »
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2020: The year of three-word slogans
If Scott Morrison is to be remembered for more than knifing Malcolm Turnbull, the 2019 election, bushfires, corruption and climate denial, it will be his propensity to relentlessly deploy two or three-word slogans. Continue reading »
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The US blatantly ignores international laws and rules in Diego Garcia (Repost 3 July 2020)
China is rightly criticised for building islands for military purposes in the South China Sea while ignoring an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) brought by the Philippines. But what of the US in Diego Garcia? Continue reading »
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This rabble of a government
“Jesus I am sick of this rabble of a government of ours – if it is not making an ass of itself in its handling of relations with our biggest trading partner it is attacking the little bloke’s Super – all of this is inspired by the twisted ideology of the IPA and the ASPI Continue reading »
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Is it time to put our PM and his Treasurer into quarantine?
At some stage many of us reach the point when we conclude that our leaders are not just useless and meddling, but downright dangerous. The Coalition’s monumental bungling of the quarantining of infected Covid-19 arrivals is a continuation of their previous years of ineptness. They have endangered our lives, our economy, our health and well-being Continue reading »
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We need the diplomatic skills of a ‘Chinese Morrison’
Tensions between China and Australia over trade and security hurt both countries. It is time that the great salesman Prime Minister Morrison went to Beijing to resolve misunderstandings. Continue reading »
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Can Biden lead the world with a hole in America’s middle class? (AFR Dec 20, 2020)
Since Joe Biden’s US election win a wave of relief has washed over the foreign policy commentariat. The storyline appears set: with adults back in the room, Washington will relight multilateralism’s torch while displaying a surer touch on alliance management and strategic competition with China. Continue reading »
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Morrison, the man with no abiding beliefs, also lacks agenda, map or destination
Assuming that the Morrison government goes more or less to full term — and some senate obstruction should not be enough to persuade a governor-general, even one in a witness support scheme — to grant an early dissolution — Morrison has probably about 15 months of economic recovery, ordinary economic management, and general steering of Continue reading »
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WikiLeaks as a resistance to the US or any empire
In all liberal democracies, Australia included, national self-regard resists identification with the harsh implications of reliance on, or celebration of, military force – unless it can be viably represented as defence of freedom, just war, or wars against unspeakable Others. Continue reading »
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Multicultural Australia?
Just what do we mean by “multicultural”? Who is part of multicultural Australia and who is not? Continue reading »
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The Christmas Story. It is not about tinsel.
Light is strongest when the night is darkest. Continue reading »
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The deceit of deterrence; a bankrupt strategic justification for defence expenditure
Although references to deterrence are regularly trotted out to justify defence acquisition decisions and alliance policy, the place of the idea of deterrence in Australia’s strategic policy is opaque and poorly understood. That the effectiveness of a deterrence strategy is highly dependent on contingent circumstances is regularly left unaddressed by advocates of ever greater defence Continue reading »
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The mechanics of elections to suit the major parties
The Commonwealth Parliament has a very long-standing practice of requiring its Joint Committee on Electoral Matters to conduct a post-mortem after every federal election – not about how it was won or lost (that has already been done in the media and elsewhere) but how the electoral mechanics worked and what changes might be made Continue reading »
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Labor could beat Morrison with a bit more mongrel
Some observers think that if the Morrison government were to fall apart over the next year, it would more likely be from bad luck, an own goal, or a resumption of internal Liberal bastardries than by a hostile act of the federal Labor Party. Continue reading »
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The China shock may provide a much-needed catalyst for change
In an opinion poll published in the Guardian online an astonishing 2/3 of voters either approved or strongly approved of the Prime Minister’s conduct of the nation’s affairs. Continue reading »
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Hotel quarantine report blasts government failures, but political fallout is likely to be minimal
The final report of the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry, issued by former judge Jennifer Coate, outlines monumental errors made by the Victorian government and its public servants. Continue reading »
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Scott Morrison said NSW was the ‘gold standard’ in infection control but begging is not working in encouraging mask wearing
Recent infections in NSW demonstrate how fragile is our control of community acquired Covid infections. As it will be many months before Australians are immunised and immune to Covid-19 we must focus on stronger containment strategies now. It’s time to mandate mask wearing and not just ask people to wear masks. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 20 December 2020
We finish the year with suggestions for getting the COP process back on track, delays to the federal government’s plans to get the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act off track, confirmation that Australian coal does produce less CO2, and graphs showing the healthiness and cheapness of solar power. Best wishes for Christmas. Back on Continue reading »
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Fever Pitch: Who’s an Enemy of the State?
“The character of our own government at present is imbecility,” said Samuel Johnson to James Boswell. Continue reading »
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Antisemitism claims mask a reign of political and cultural terror across Europe (Blog, Dec 11, 2020)
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has run a fascinating long report this week offering a disturbing snapshot of the political climate rapidly emerging across Europe on the issue of antisemitism. Continue reading »