Politics
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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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MICHAEL KEATING.. What should we do with the $60 bn left over from JobKeeper?
The discovery of an error of $60 bn in the costing of JobKeeper raises the issue of what should be done with this money? However, as JobKeeper was always incomplete these deficiencies should be the first call on this extra money. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI. Global Talent Independent Visa: Permanent residence in a week or two
The new Global Talent Independent (GTI) visa provides a direct permanent residence for ‘highly skilled professionals in high growth sectors’. According to the Department of Home Affairs, processing times range between two days and two months with many being decided within a week or two. Continue reading »
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ALEX MITCHELL. NRL power play in NSW
Who governs NSW – Premier Gladys Berejiklian or NRL boss Peter V’landys? One is elected, the other isn’t. One is a blue-stockinged Tory from Sydney’s North Shore, the other is a Labor supporter from working-class Wollongong. Who will prevail? Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Roadmaps on the two biggest threats ready to go
Our security lies in our capacity to work together for the common good, rather than in weapons that terrify other humans. Roadmaps to address our two biggest threats, nuclear weapons and climate change, are ready to go. We’re not waiting for a vaccine, but simply for governments, including our own, to learn that increasingly alarming Continue reading »
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GEORGE BROWNING. Australia’s two personalities-pandemic and climate change
In recent domestic policy and international engagement Australia is demonstrating two contrasting personalities. One is demonstrated through our response to COVID 19 and the other through our troubled inability to form responsible climate and energy policy. Why do we have two personalities? Continue reading »
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John Tan. Neoliberalism: IT’S TIME for progressive fiscal policies (Part 2/2).
The RBA is bound by its mandate from government. This mandate needs to be re-worked by a progressive government. Continue reading »
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SHEILA SMITH. US pandemic politics spells trouble for its Asian partners (EAF 24.5.20)
The Trump administration’s lack of interest in a global response to COVID-19, or even extending a helping hand to its allies and partners, is bringing home the possibility that US leadership may be gone for good. Beyond exposing a diminished American will to lead, the pandemic response is revealing a new reality — that of Continue reading »
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JOHN CARLIN. Discrimination and Inequality
The Covid-19 virus discriminates against the old. The young are hardly affected. The lockdowns around the world required everyone to live in a cage, young and old. Now that the restrictions are being relaxed, it is inevitable that governments are going to have to discriminate in the same way the virus does – against the Continue reading »
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BOB CARR. Hidden Reality of Australia-China Relations
The best reading on the state of Australia-China relations is in documents we can’t see. That is, in the cables sent from Canberra to their capitals by ambassadors of Asian nations. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. Why the coronavirus shouldn’t stand in the way of the next wage increase (The Conversation 26.5.20)
Wage increases are widely believed to pose a threat to employment. But this ignores their role in supporting demand growth. Instead, wage increases consistent with maintaining an equilibrium distribution of income are necessary to sustain economic growth and employment. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL WEST. The Virgin Brides: fate of airline on a knife-edge as bids lob and cash runs dry (MWM 19.5.20)
The government has tossed $130 billion at business, the corporate largesse is dripping all over the big end of town. Even highly profitable $8 billion property developers such as Mirvac are rolling in the free money, yet when it comes to Virgin Australia they are being all punctilious about “letting the market sort it out”. Michael West reports on Continue reading »
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JOHN TAN. Neoliberalism: IT’S TIME for progressive fiscal policies (Part1/2).
Central banks worldwide facegrowing criticism for putting money before people, for contributing to growing inequality and social disadvantage. But change is coming. Continue reading »
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HENRY REYNOLDS. Australia goes fishing in troubled waters.
A few weeks ago Foreign Minister Marise Payne condemned ‘ China’s actions in the South China Sea’, adding that in recent days the Australian frigate HMAS Parramatta had been conducting exercises with two American naval vessels as they ‘passed through the waters.’ Continue reading »
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JACK WATERFORD. Trump: the man who made America little again
Donald Trump, who campaigned on making America great again has presided over — indeed caused — an enormous fall in American prestige, moral authority and effective power in the world. It may still have, by far, the most military power, and enormous economic resources, but the practical management of the Covid-19 crisis invites only derision. Continue reading »
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DUNCAN GRAHAM If Bali lets you in – will Oz let you back?
When is a pandemic suppression order not a lockdown? When it’s in Indonesia. Continue reading »
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BRIAN TOOHEY. A star-spangled spanner in the works: how US secrecy controls Australian weapons (SMH 25.5.20)
The loss of Australian sovereignty within the American alliance is rarely raised amid the current alarm about whether the US is a reliable ally. Continue reading »
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MIKE SCRAFTON. Historical amnesia: Great power behaviour and criticism of China
Between 1890 and 1920 the democratic US became a great power. It’s trajectory from western hemisphere state to global power has some economic, military and foreign policy parallels with authoritarian China’s growth in the twenty-first century. Continue reading »
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JACK WATERFORD. Shooting ourselves in the boot again
The announcement of the international inquiry to be conducted into international management of the Covid-19 pandemic did not achieve any of the particular purposes initially said to justify Australia’s putting its head above the parapets and attracting China’s ire for doing so. Continue reading »
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NOEL TURNBULL. Nev Power’s fossil mates still pushing doubt – Part 2
In 2008 David Michaels’ published a book – Doubt is their Product. How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens your Health – which was instrumental in the subsequent exposure of the systematic efforts of various industries to raise doubt about the science relating to areas from tobacco to today’s climate change. Continue reading »
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RODNEY TIFFEN. Malcolm Turnbull on the Murdochs, his Liberal opponents and the 2019 election
There is an established tradition in Australian politics that those in power or seeking power say nice things about Rupert Murdoch, while those distant from power or whose time has passed are more critical. Continue reading »
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JIM COOMBS. Post-virus reconstruction – ‘snap back or snap out of it?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a government that housed the homeless, fed the poor and had a high employment demand driven, suitably regulated, economy. I can dream. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Angus Taylor’s thought bubbles: from the second rate to the already discredited
Our current government has become inordinately keen on producing road maps, and its most recent cartographer is our constantly embarrassed and embarrassing energy minister, Angus Taylor. Continue reading »
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HAMISH MCDONALD. Journalists on the ramparts (Inside Story 20.5.20)
Another triumph for Canberra and the Morrison government’s deft and resolute diplomacy, it would seem. Support for an inquiry into Covid-19 from more than half of the 194 countries at the World Health Assembly in Geneva was “a major strategic victory for Australia.” Continue reading »
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NOEL TURNBULL. Nev is never in doubt
Reflecting on when the Prime Minister rang to ask him head the Government’s COVID-19 Task Force Nev Power said he couldn’t refuse the PM – reacting as any responsible citizen would. Continue reading »
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ROY HARVEY. The Anzac spirit and the future of health policy
The policies adopted by the Australian governments to fight the Covid-19 crisis are the opposite of the policies that the Coalition Government has pursued for the past 70 years. Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 24 May 2020
A guide to the Australian government’s plans for the post-COVID recovery and bureaucrats and scientists talk with feeling about Australia’s Climate Wars. Cyclone Amphan hits India and Bangladesh, providing a current example of the increasing frequency of strong tropical storms. Worldwide, animals big and small are going extinct, and Australia is working hard to fuel 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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DAVID SOLOMON. They should have said: No Minister
One of the worst aspects of the sports rorts affair is the way elements of the public service turned a deliberate blind eye to what was known, or assumed, to be a failure by the Minister to be bound by the requirements of the law governing the way the grants could be approved. Continue reading »
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PAUL PERVERSI. Understanding anti-China Bias and other prejudices
Recent articles in Pearls and Irritations, such as those by Paul Malone, James Curran, Ramesh Thakur and Mike Scrafton, have highlighted the nonsensical nature of much analysis, reporting and opinion, particularly in relation to a trenchant and sustained bias against China. A fascinating question is to ask what is behind this trend. Continue reading »