Politics
-
Australia’s secretive defence establishment: the real enemies of truth and freedom
Australia, with fewer secrets to hide, is more compulsively secretive than the US, China or NATO. Continue reading »
-
Navigating policy and power – Indonesia and Australia’s energy transition
Indonesia and Australia have more to gain from energy transition – and more to lose from inaction – than any two countries in the world. But the Indonesian government must navigate significant policy challenges to attract the capital it needs for a swift, just and orderly transition. Continue reading »
-
Avoid the damage of NO: A plea to all women
This is a PLEA to all sensible women (and men) to vote Yes in the referendum because the damages of a No win will move us backward, not forward. We will still need ways of remedying the serious mess of inequities initiated in 1788. The failure of Yes will show the lack of sufficient trust Continue reading »
-
Asleep at the wheel of public service reform
The rehabilitation of the federal public service is a slow waltz – one step forward, one sideways and a couple backwards. To stretch the metaphors and with apologies to Don Gibson’s fine 1961 hit song, while the administrative ship of state is adrift in a sea of heartbreak, its principal stewards seem half asleep at Continue reading »
-
Weighing the significance of Labor’s social housing investment fund
After more than six months of Parliamentary wrangling, the ALP’s flagship housing future fund bill finally cleared the Senate last week. For Australia’s neglected social housing sector, this presages a welcome revival of federally-supported capital investment, absent for most of the past quarter century. But, in a longer-term perspective, the resulting program will be significant Continue reading »
-
Understanding the rules of the China debate
China wants to expand its sphere of influence; the West, thankfully, is devoid of such base instincts. Continue reading »
-
Climate collapse – The grim silence of our leaders
None of us has previously witnessed a barrage of extreme weather events of the kind that has been devastating lives across the globe this summer. Continue reading »
-
The ‘China Threat’: Can we escape the historical legacy of Anti-Chinese Racism?
How ironic that mainstream newspapers and conservative commentators should lambast former prime minister Paul Keating for living in the past when he denounced the AUKUS agreement and the Labor government’s fulsome support of it. It was, of course, the AUKUS agreement itself, entered into by Scott Morrison, Boris Johnson and Joe Biden in 2022, that Continue reading »
-
Illiberalism rising: Will a post-liberal America threaten the international order?
The intellectual space for revolutionary new thoughts accompanies social change and inevitably the revolution is a surprise and incomprehensible to elites when it comes. Social, economic, and political disruption is accelerating because of climate change, new advanced technologies, economic stress, and geopolitics. The space for revolutionary thought is growing. Continue reading »
-
Earth Systems Treaty: The emerging cross-cultural commitment
“The evidence is compelling that human exceptionalism is a deeply-flawed construct – a grand cultural illusion – that has led modern techno-industrial societies into a potentially fatal ecological trap.” William Rees, Author, The Human Ecology of Overshoot. Continue reading »
-
Smothered indigenous voices
This is a story of what a voice can achieve and how easily it is undone by external forces. Continue reading »
-
The Greatest: Vale Ron Barassi
Of the proposition that he was the greatest there can be no doubt. Continue reading »
-
Refugee goes on long walk to take Australia on a journey
On 10 September 2023, at the end of refugee Neil Para’s marathon 1014 kilometre walk from Ballarat to Sydney, it was made public that Neil, his wife, Sugaa, and two daughters, Nivash and Kartie, had been granted permanent visas (his youngest, Nive, was born in Australia, and she was made a citizen when she turned Continue reading »
-
Growing the anti-war movement
Is war inevitable? The short answer, for any peace activist or anyone wanting to inhabit a world that can sustain life must be no! Is war an imminent possibility, then the short answer is, regardless of the hopes, wishes and desires of the people, an unfortunate yes. Continue reading »
-
Australia: Made for free trade and a tax on rent
There is no more important issue in Australian taxation reform than replacing current arrangements by efficient mineral rent taxation. That requires large analytic effort and effective political leadership. Success would bring high rewards to the Australian polity, and I expect electoral rewards to the Government that is seen as being responsible for a good outcome. Continue reading »
-
From Biotech to AI
Can regulation of Biotechnology provide clues for the regulatory measures now required to limit risks in the use of AI? Continue reading »
-
About The Voice!
If you don’t know about the voice, dont just say No! Continue reading »
-
Tenure and its troubles
Discussion of the tenure of senior officials in the Australian public service continues in P&I, with some former officials recently pointing to the difficulty of giving the fabled “frank and fearless” advice when contracts may not be renewed. Continue reading »
-
The mirage of China’s offensive nuclear strategy
In previous articles, I’ve articulated why I adopted a skeptical and analytical mindset from a young age, particularly in the realm of geopolitical claims made by nation-states in the nuclear age. Now, let’s shift our focus to China’s nuclear strategy. Continue reading »
-
Korean Catholics continue fight against coal power
South Korea is among the nations with the highest coal power generation. Continue reading »
-
From America’s IRA to China’s eco-civilisation, a new global consensus is emerging. Globalisation and growth are out, redesigning society is in
This summer saw the hottest average global temperatures in the last 125,000 years. Europe is embroiled in war, with other conflicts raging around the world. The global economy is still reeling from the impacts of the first global pandemic since 1919. Experts are warning against the threat posed by our most advanced technological creation–artificial intelligence (AI). Continue reading »
-
Group think: Paralysis and the missing ONI climate security report
On assuming office, one of Prime Minister Albanese’s first actions was to task the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) to review the security threats posed by climate change. The report was finalised in late 2022 but not made public. Accordingly, a “release the ONI report” campaign has dominated climate-security discourse over much of 2023. Foreign Continue reading »
-
“Yes” will say “No” to Trumpism and US-like social disintegration
I’m voting “Yes” as a proud Australian of Aboriginal, European and Middle-eastern ancestry. Australia’s Constitution needs to catch up with the nation we are today. We’re a multicultural superpower and Asia-Pacific democracy, founded on 65,000 years of heritage and culture. Our Constitution needs to reflect that. Continue reading »
-
Playing a losing hand
This week sees the 30th anniversary of the shameful, ill-advised Oslo Accord between Israel and Palestine. Continue reading »
-
With Universities in crisis, democracy is under threat
Gratifying it may be to see three of our top performing universities outranking Columbia and Johns Hopkins (with Melbourne even outranking Caltech and Yale (QS World University Rankings)), but as a sector our universities are in crisis. And such a crisis has dangerous implications for our democracy. Continue reading »
-
Chinese voters’ disillusionment over Labor and AUKUS
When Labor and the Liberals share similar strategies regarding China and national defence, why should Chinese-Australian voters stay loyal? Continue reading »
-
Authoritarianism rampant
The primary site of the authoritarian cancer is the embrace of abusive power as the way to govern. Continue reading »
-
China, innovation, and competition with the US
The real American terror is not that the Chinese economy will grow bigger than the American economy – if it is not already – but that the Chinese mixed economy model will prove superior to the rampant free-market, greed model US billionaires and their peddlers promote. Continue reading »
-
Imagine a day when the whole planet was at peace
The UN International Day of Peace is next week, September 21st. It is a day for rekindling our noblest aspirations. Imagine even a day when the whole planet was at peace. A day when our most attractive power, our capacity to love, was all one could see. A day when not one person was killed Continue reading »
-
Filling the ricebowl: The mainstream media’s anti-China obsession
I chanced upon an article written by Peter Hartcher in The Age today (12/09/2023) and was astounded by how puerile the present mainstream media can be. Continue reading »
