Politics
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WANNING SUN.-China’s journey through Covid-19: A tale of one city and one family. (ABC Religion and Ethics 18.3.2020)
A difficult question is whether we can achieve similar results(as China) without the heavy-handed top-down control and significant incursions into individual liberty and freedom as we have seen in the City Y. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL.-Four Corners Program on Australian Alleged War Crimes in Afghanistan Raises Wider Questions
Australia is still waiting for an honest appraisal of its involvement in other countries wars of choice, almost invariably carried out for other than the officially professed reasons. Continue reading »
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JOHN DWYER. There is still a lot more that needs to be done to minimise harm in Australia from COVID-19.
Australian governments are taking a “measured approach” to minimising the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic adding new tactics/restrictions as the numbers grow. Far better to use all available measures now to minimise that growth. Continue reading »
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SEAN INNIS. Economic thinking has driven policy making in the past, but will it in the future? Part 1
This article – the first in a two-part series – discusses the changing dynamics of the Australian policy environment, and how that affects the role of economics in the determination of policies. The second part tomorrow, will discuss the nature of the future challenges to which economic thinking will need to adjust. Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR. Two very wicked problems in school funding
Australia certainly isn’t short of policy headaches, but one promises to be of migraine proportions: our school funding regime has reached new heights of absurdity and needs urgent review. Continue reading »
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PATRICK COCKBURN.-Covid-19 and the battle for the Saudi Royal Crown(CounterPunch 16.3.2020)
Trump is visibly self-isolating the US and undermining the hegemonic role it has played since the Second World War. Even if Biden is elected as the next president, the US will have lost its undisputed primacy in a post-pandemic world. Continue reading »
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NOEL TURNBULL. Compulsive leadership posturing
The PM seems not to understand, leaders don’t have to demonstrate they are leaders – they just are. True leadership doesn’t have a particular style or descriptor. It just is. Continue reading »
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JOHN CARMODY.- A ‘civil society’ or a ‘competitive society’?
I suspect that the Australian people have never really abandoned their ethical view that people’s lives supersede profits. Continue reading »
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JUDITH WHITE. Arts budgets in the age of catastrophe: the case of NSW
In the panic over the coronavirus, arts organisation are pleading for support as performances and festivals are cancelled, museums and galleries close and whole areas of the country are threatened with lockdown. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. We should be thankful that Morrison wasn’t our PM in 1939.
In his gauche handling of the coronavirus situation, Morrison has once again proven himself incapable of understanding the task of leadership in a democracy. Continue reading »
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Learning from a crisis
Sickness and deaths from the corona virus present challenges to save lives, but could also prompt discussion about different ways to live. Continue reading »
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JACK WATERFORD.- Covid-19. The risks to us as it spreads to our region and elsewhere.
The US already has a two-tier health system: when the disease takes hold in the general population, many of its facilities will be swamped, with only the wealthy able to be sure of proper treatment. Continue reading »
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RICHARD ECKERSLEY.-Bushfires, coronavirus and economic turmoil provoke existential fears for humanity’s future
Greta Thunberg said ‘Before I started school striking I had no energy, no friends and I didn’t speak to anyone. I just sat alone at home, with an eating disorder’ ..‘All of that is gone now, since I have found a meaning, in a world that sometimes seems shallow and meaningless to so many people’. Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE. The Leaderless Country
Australia has been leaderless since the federal election last May. Continue reading »
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PETER TAIT, BETH SLATYER, SUE INGRAM and BOB DOUGLAS. Awakening Democracy.
How can we elect political representatives who are committed to the interests of the whole community, and are not influenced by vested interests? Continue reading »
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HENRY BATEMAN. Trust in Wonderland
As the current pandemic takes hold, we would do well to remember that the Coronavirus is a mere stumble in comparison to the Climate Change crisis. Continue reading »
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PAUL COLLINS. COVID-19. A chance to rethink the deeper moral and human issues
We are part of nature and the most important lesson of COVID-19 is that it reminds us of our sheer vulnerability. Continue reading »
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MIKE SCRAFTON. Shades of herd immunity stalk COVID-19 government responses.
Seeping faintly through the pronouncements and policies of some government responses to the coronavirus pandemic are the vapours of older belief systems; a whiff of utilitarianism, the scent of social Darwinism, and the fetid reek of eugenics. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM.-Morrison’s announceathon.
The bulk of the cash splash goes to business, and is unlikely to trickle down into the pockets of consumers in the foreseeable future. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI. Possible population projections in the forthcoming 2020 Intergenerational Report
Treasurer Frydenberg will shortly publish the 2020 Intergenerational Report (IGR) –Australia’s fifth such document. It’s as close as we get to a long-term plan (usually 40 years) for the Australian population and economy. Continue reading »
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JACK WATERFORD.-Covid-19 and the economic hospital
We are not ‘fighting’ the virus but staging a skilful retreat. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM.- Peter Dutton is human after all
It would be harsh and uncaring to admit a modicum of satisfaction at the news that Peter Dutton has contracted coronavirus. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE.- Democratic Renewal
Many Australians are sick and tired of politics and politicians .The situation is worsening .The community is deserting the major political parties in droves. Continue reading »
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NOEL TURNBULL. Credulity, stupidity and two types of infection
As the coronavirus infection spreads it is hard not to think that it might be a good idea for one of the recently infected, Peter Dutton, to be isolated on either Christmas or Manus Islands rather than one of the various properties he owns. Continue reading »
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JOHN TAN. How the corporate media is helping Biden and normalising neoliberalism.
The corporate media is sneaking opinion into news reports, masquerading as fact. Not too subtle but a very effective form of propaganda now saturating our lives; changing what we believe to be normal; and playing on our insecurity and fears. Continue reading »
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IAN JOHNSON.-China bought the West time. The West squandered it.(NYT 14.3.2020)
Why did so many countries watch the epidemic unfold for weeks as though it was none of their concern? Continue reading »
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JERRY ROBERTS. Alan Jones charges into the cash fight
The Senate Economics Legislation Committee Report on the Government’s cash-ban bill is a dismal whitewash of our banking cartel that betrays the fine work performed during the inquiry by Senators Alex Gallacher and Rex Patrick. Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 15 March 2020
Teck Resources withdraws from an oil sands mining project in Alberta Canada and Equinor oil company pulls out of drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight, even though the project has already received Australian government approval. Coronavirus is just one of a string of dangerous new infections caused by the clearing of forests by Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. The Government’s Economic Response to the Coronavirus.
The Government’s economic stimulus package has generally been welcomed. But how good is it, and what are the implications for the longer-term economic outlook? 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 »