John Menadue
Publisher and Editor
Callum Foote
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Category Archives: Politics
Covid-19 has exposed the reality of Britain: poverty, insecurity and inequality
Only a fairer society can lay the foundations for economic recovery, and build resilience to future crises.
Posted in Politics
2 Comments
It’s too late for Juukan Gorge but Warragamba dam is on the horizon
Shakepeare said: “Tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard.” And indeed, there is some satisfaction in seeing the petard that hoisted the Juukan Gorge also sending some of Rio Tinto’s top brass flying out of … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
2 Comments
Sino-Australian media ‘cold war’ on ice
The shock and indignation of the Australian media over the forced departure of two China correspondents has quickly dissipated following revelations that ASIO raided the homes of four Chinese journalists two months earlier
Posted in China, Politics
4 Comments
Infrastructure Stimulus: there are smart projects out there, if we care to look
Infrastructure spending is touted as the path to economic recovery, but our leaders can no longer afford to throw billions at programs with little economic merit or policy logic.
Brexit – a crash landing in prospect
Brexit is done but its end-shape is not. The final stages of the post-Brexit negotiations are shrouded in mistrust, misrepresentations, and most recently an intended breach of international law. The real intentions of the negotiators, both sides, remain clouded.
Posted in Politics, World Affairs
1 Comment
Juukan Gorge – the thick plotens
Under cross-examination, Federal Environment Minister, Sussan Ley made two major admissions on ABC Radio National last Friday over the destruction of the two ancient Aboriginal rock shelters at Juukan Gorge. The shelters had been inhabited for 46,000 years, and now … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
6 Comments
If that’s the worst that ever happens to you…
If we want our young people to grow up resilient it is surely unwise to give any encouragement to the idea that not having a school formal to mark the end of their schooldays is a major tragedy.
Posted in Education, Politics
2 Comments
Sunday environmental round up, 13 September 2020
Per head of population Australians produce a lot of greenhouse gases but with the right support household consumption and emissions can be reduced. Unfortunately, governments are currently more enthusiastic about subsidising fossil fuels. Shipping’s emissions continue to rise. The USA’s … Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate, Politics
2 Comments
A tit for tat with no end point (AFR Sep 10, 2020)
A get-tough policy on China with no apparent goal has left Austral as the only developed country with no media representation in the country.
Posted in China, Politics
4 Comments
When Canberra ponders Beijing, Beijing may wonder the same
When some elements within Canberra express their dislike for Beijing subtly and hazard a guess at Beijing’s next step, Beijing may see Canberra’s ‘China Policy’ as being bizarre.
Posted in China, Politics
4 Comments
JobKeeper recipients paying millions in bonuses to their executives, research reveals (ABC Sep 10, 2020)
At least 25 companies have paid bonuses worth a combined $24.3 million to their executives after claiming JobKeeper subsidies, an analysis of the financial reports of 290 entities on the ASX 300 has found.
Posted in Politics
3 Comments
We need a standing Royal Commission to supervise our intelligence agencies (REPOST Aug 31, 2020)
We need intelligence agencies that are accountable to the community.. We do not have that at the moment. They duchess ministers and their parliamentary ‘supervisors’ . We have witnessed the failure of bank regulators. Regulatory failure in the intelligence sector is … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
4 Comments
Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy
Media in the Asian Century. Tit for tat for journalists.
And did anyone in Canberra get the chance to tell Peter Dutton and Christian Porter that raiding some Chinese journalists, hardly deep-cover agents, might invite retaliation in kind? Was the lure of building an ALP-linked Chinese influence case, with Professor … Continue reading
Planning in the age of the virus
Are we getting to the point where the public simply tunes out when one of our political leaders outlines their latest plan, or road map, or framework for the way the nation or their state will deal with the virus? … Continue reading
Managing Perception: what’s real and what’s not
How much should we, as a nation, stress about how others perceive us – and what can we do about it?
Avoiding military conflict and restoring Australia-PRC relations: a pragmatic way forward (Australia-China Institute Sep 4, 2020)
Never have ties between Australia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) been so estranged in the nearly five decades since Canberra and Beijing established diplomatic relations. As Geoff Raby, a former Australian ambassador to the PRC, remarked at the … Continue reading
Posted in China, Politics
10 Comments
Our intelligence agencies are out of control -An edited repost from Jan 17, 2019
It seems likely that the prosecution by the Commonwealth Government of former spy (Witness K ) and his lawyer Bernard Collaery will be heard in closed court. What a travesty of justice this is.
Posted in Politics
5 Comments
ASIO and AFP have questions to answer
ASIO and the AFP have questions to answer in the wake of reported raids on the homes and offices of Chinese journalists and a Labor backbencher.
Spies are often the ‘second eleven’
When the full history of Australia’s slide into McCarthyite hysteria over China is written there should be special mention of the role of our spy organizations – ASIO and ASIS in particular. As someone who has worked over the years … Continue reading
Posted in Defence/Security, Politics
6 Comments
Research reveals shocking detail on how Australia’s environmental scientists are being silenced (The Conversation Sep 9, 2020)
Ecologists and conservation experts in government, industry and universities are routinely constrained in communicating scientific evidence on threatened species, mining, logging and other threats to the environment, our new research has found.
Posted in Environment and climate, Politics
2 Comments
Holy See response to Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission: another example of clericalist obstinance
It is almost three years since the Royal Commission inquiring into child sexual abuse recommended that the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) request from the Holy See responses on 14 matters. The Holy See responded in February 2020 with ‘observations’. … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Religion and Faith
10 Comments
Freedom and protests in 2020 Australia
Where is the national outcry at the erosion of our freedom to protest?
Government must stop militarising our biggest challenges
Proposed legislation to enable the PM to declare a national emergency and call in the troops appears to be yet another example of the government’s dangerous tendency to militarise our biggest challenges, including climate change.
Posted in Defence/Security, Politics
5 Comments
China-Australia Business Relations. Are we still Lao Pengyou?
Close business friendships, and our common humanity, must always transcend loose political rhetoric.
Posted in Economy, Politics
6 Comments
Ecological Conversion
Are there shy signs of a new era emerging as humanity faces this pandemic? Could we be moving towards a more ‘woke’ state, leaving behind something of our 2019 ‘zombie’ selves, heads cowed over smartphones?
Posted in Environment and climate, Politics
5 Comments
Promoting health equity: mixed scorecard for Australia’s policy response to Covid-19
Covid-19 has shone a spotlight on health inequities in society. Despite claims that ‘we are all in this together’, just like other historical pandemics, inequalities in Covid-19 mortality and morbidity reflect existing social and economic inequalities. Australia’s Federal and State/Territory … Continue reading
Federal and State blame game won’t shift the burden of economic revival
Initially, Scott Morrison was imaginative in trying to co-opt the premiers and chief ministers into a united response. However, as the premiers have gone their own way he has become more willing to criticise and more exasperated about their standing … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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Islam, Communism and the Belt and Road Initiative
Soon after the Bolshevik uprisings, Communism and Islam seemed destined to liberate the Muslim world from European Imperialism, but that was not to be due to their ideological differences.
Posted in Politics
5 Comments
China’s universities on the rise
China’s universities are rising in the world university rankings. The United States is still well ahead, but the balance is shifting in China’s favour. The effects of Covid-19 are likely to intensify this shift.