Politics
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In Asia Media this week: New leaders and testing times in Seoul, Manilla and Hong Kong – and soon, perhaps, in troubled Colombo
In Asia Media this week: South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol took office, in Manilla Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos, son of the late ousted corrupt dictator, won the election in a landslide while in Hong Kong John Lee Ka-chiu, a former chief secretary and security minister, was the only candidate – and resignation of the leader in Continue reading »
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Morrison Government’s high risk visa switch for migrant meatworkers
We are on a very slippery slope with these visas towards the slavery-like conditions that have existed for migrant workers in North America and Europe for decades. Continue reading »
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The shadow of Barry Humphries and Morrison’s bid for the outer suburbs
For so long in the middle to latter half of the twentieth century the dwellers of the fringe suburbs of Australian cities were the forgotten people. These suburbs housed the people who clustered around outlying factories making the consumer goods that fed the long post-war boom. Continue reading »
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The not so great debate
There’s a scene in Fawlty Towers where Basil is so terrified of the anticipated reaction of his partner, Sybil, that he goes into a full-blown meltdown. “Mr Fawlty, don’t panic”, Polly the waitress intones. “What else is there to do?” Basil screams back. I know how he feels. Continue reading »
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Albanese and minimum wages. Should the government support a 5.1% increase ?
There has never been a better time to increase minimum wages than now. And there has never been a bigger need. Continue reading »
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Even if the Liberals win, Morrison won’t
Since television arrived (and probably a bit before) it has become commonplace to describe Australian federal elections as presidential. All the focus is on the party leader. We talk about the Morrison government, the Albanese opposition. And when people go to the polls they are urged to vote for one or other of the party Continue reading »
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If I were the Prime Minister – Taking the climate emergency seriously
The Black Summer bushfires, the Millennium Drought, the dying Great Barrier Reef, this year’s floods. Australia has experienced unprecedented environmental disasters in recent times. Each was amplified by global warming. Scientific reports indicate worse may still to come. Continue reading »
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If I were the Federal Minister for Health
I would introduce a new way of paying health providers, address the Commonwealth/State blame game and reform the health workforce. Continue reading »
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The destructive Rupert Murdoch
The grim news is that Rupert’s heir, Lachlan, is a less intelligent and harder right force in News Corp. The death of the old man can’t save us. Continue reading »
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The track record of Peter Dutton’s incompetence
Failing up is a common phenomenon in many organisations – not least those concerned with national defence and security. Continue reading »
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What I would do if I were the Minister for Health and Ageing in the next government
A new minister in any portfolio has two tasks: fix the past and fix the future. Continue reading »
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What Ministers in a new Government should do – climate change, China-US relations and our region
Foreign policy must be one of the areas where any government can find itself most constrained by the circumstances it has to deal with—“events, dear boy, events”, as former British Prime Minister Harold McMillan once said. But given that, even in the most pressing state of affairs a government can choose where it directs its Continue reading »
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Winning hearts and minds in the Pacific Islands
Suddenly the Pacific Islands have become a hot election issue. That is because the Solomon Islands agreed to China using its own security guards to safeguard Chinese businesses and projects from attack and looting in the wake of recognising China instead of Taiwan. Continue reading »
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Healthcare reform is not featuring in the current election
Australia’s public hospital system is having a hard time meeting the ever increasing demand for in-patient care. Continue reading »
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Small business post offices call for public Post Office Bank
The group representing the interests of Australia’s 2,850 small business licensed post offices (LPOs) has issued a federal election statement, “Protecting the future of your community post office” Continue reading »
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New voices for a new parliament
At first, the 2022 election looked like being another fake contest between two major parties which offered voters little new, and little choice, particularly on foreign affairs and defence. Continue reading »
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What a new Minister should do about trade policies and trade justice
As you go to the polling booth on May 21, your candidates will be asking for your vote to repair an economy hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, floods, and fire. But before you entrust them with your vote, you should also ask how their party’s trade policies will help or hinder the national recovery. Continue reading »
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If I were the Minister for Immigration policy in the next parliament
Under the Morrison Government we have seen the biggest wave of asylum seeker applications in Australia ever – at over 100,000. Coming by air it is almost twice as big as the fourth wave under the Rudd/Gillard Governments. Continue reading »
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Probability websites are picking Labor to win
I am much too scarred by the 2019 experience to make an election prediction in 2022. However, as I remain fascinated by the prospects and challenges in the remainder of the election campaign, I have studied the two websites I am aware of which are trying to assess the probabilities of various election outcomes based Continue reading »
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If I were Foreign Minister in the new government
Australia has always been a follower in foreign and defence policy. When the British Lion lost its teeth we turned to the American Eagle which is currently losing its feathers. Continue reading »
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The Western reactions to Ukraine and Solomon Islands events have something in common
It’s an ugly mistake called phenomenalism. Continue reading »
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Addressing democracy’s international decline
The theme of the American Society for Public Administration’s annual conference in March was ‘Democracy under Threat’. This was in response not only to troubles in the US but to falling appreciation of democratic principles in other Western countries and the rise of authoritarianism elsewhere. Continue reading »
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After Ukraine a fractured and unravelling global order will confront the next Australian government
Putin’s forces might not progress far beyond the Dnieper River, yet the invasion will reshape the world in which the next Australian government operates. Evidence indicates that pouring funds into Ukraine’s reconstruction could feed an already corrupt elite Continue reading »
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Morrison on a Federal Integrity Commission is not credible
The Prime Minister has broken his promise to adopt legislation establishing a Federal Integrity Commission. The decision is not all that surprising. It has been clear for a long time that the Government does not favour a federal anti-corruption body. What is interesting, however, is how impoverished the reasons that the Prime Minister has given Continue reading »
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Natural targets: the intergenerational politics of climate change
Humans are not built for long-term thinking. Our daily routines, our social lives––and especially our electoral cycles––are all geared towards the here and now. The immediate problem. The quick thrill. Continue reading »
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Can Morrison cash any pandemic, or economic recovery cheques?
Once Morrison was in an advantageous position to exploit Australia’s apparently successful management of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic shutdown it involved. He lost much of his advantage by his conflicts with the states over pandemic management, local responses and his determination to restart the economy before the pandemic was under control, as well Continue reading »
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Government Integrity and an ICAC
There is a legislated process prescribing how government grants should be administered, but it clearly is not being followed and we need an integrity commission to enforce it. Continue reading »
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Notes for the new minister: arts and culture on a knife edge
Australia is at a tipping point. Our democracy is at stake, and cultural policy (or lack thereof), is an integral part of the crisis. Forty years of hollowing out the public sector, degrading the public service, and a winner-takes-all attitude to the electoral process fuelled it. The result is Australia’s embrace of authoritarian ‘managed democracy’, Continue reading »
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Gender anxiety on The Right
The furore within the Liberal Party about Katherine Deves. Fox star Tucker Carlson’s accidentally homoerotic trailer for his new “documentary,” The End of Men. Even, partially, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. All share the hard right’s obsession with strong men and imposing order. Continue reading »
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Preferences confusion compounded!
On the very day my article, The preferences conundrum for Independents, was published, on 4th May I found this how to vote card in my letterbox, from Nicolette Boele, a well-resourced candidate who’s running an energetic and impressively visible campaign in the safe Liberal seat of Bradfield. Continue reading »
Top 5 most read
- Strategists admit West is goading China into war
US military experts say a war over Taiwan is desirable,… - The destructive Rupert Murdoch
The grim news is that Rupert's heir, Lachlan, is a… - Even if the Liberals win, Morrison won’t
Since television arrived (and probably a bit before) it has… - The track record of Peter Dutton’s incompetence
Failing up is a common phenomenon in many organisations -… - Morrison Government’s high risk visa switch for…
We are on a very slippery slope with these visas…
