Politics
-
Jon Stanford and Michael Keating – Submarines; cost, capability and timelines.
This article is a response to the article posted yesterday by Paul Barratt and Chris Barrie. ‘The case for building the future submarines in Australia.’ Both Paul Barratt and Chris Barrie have served at the highest levels in Defence and their views are clearly worthy of very serious consideration. Indeed, their contention that a military-off-the-shelf Continue reading »
-
Ian Marsh. Disaffected electorates? Dysfunctional political systems? Part 2 of 3.
Malcolm Turnbull’s has created the grounds for a July election. This crafty electoral ploy offers short term gains. If the cross bench resist, the election is legitimate. If the cross bench cave in, he will have demonstrated bold leadership. Moreover, he will have attained legislation that is highly prized by his Liberal heartland. Then he Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. The fake discussion about state taxes.
Malcolm Turnbull’s ruse is obvious. He wants us to forget all about deficits and debt and the need for budget repair. To avoid these issues, he now tells us that if we want improved health and education services, we cannot have them because the states have refused his offer on state taxes and he will Continue reading »
-
Cavan Hogue. Malcolm Turnbull, COAG and media confusion.
Turnbull knew what he was doing. The media has turned on Malcolm Turnbull who is accused of ignorance. Media views seem to change even more often than political promises. However,surely the PM knew why he called the meeting with the states. He knew they would reject it which is what he wanted them to do. Continue reading »
-
Ian Marsh. What wrong with Australia’s political system? Part 1 of 3.
Most people are familiar with the power of incentives in economic markets. They know that efficient price signals can channel investment into productive assets and these same signals can drain funds from unconstructive pursuits. The same process more or less works at other levels. Both good and bad performance is demonstrated by similar calculations. In Continue reading »
-
Paul Barratt and Chris Barrie. The case for building the future submarine in Australia
When charting a trajectory to a desired end point it is as important to have an accurate fix on the starting point as it is to know where one wants to end up. So it is with SEA 1000, the Future Submarine (FSM) project. Much of the commentary is based on a politically inspired perception Continue reading »
-
Mike Steketee. COAG and hospitals: look beyond the funding to fix our health system.
Before Malcolm Turnbull and the states start haggling over hospital funding, it’s worth looking at why the system costs so much to run. Maybe it’s not just cash, but waste and inefficiencies that need addressing, writes Mike Steketee. Why do our hospitals cost so much to run? Like$55 billion a year and rising rapidly? It Continue reading »
-
Chris Bonnor. Malcolm abandons the middle in schooling
Two plus years of conservative government has given oxygen to a number of strange solutions to ill-defined problems. Malcolm Turnbull’s proposal to have the States alone fund government schools, leaving the Commonwealth to look after private schools, is the latest. As a serious suggestion it has been widely condemned, but it would be premature to Continue reading »
-
Michael Keating. The Turnbull Proposal for State Income Taxes
Prime Minister Turnbull says his proposal for the States to levy their own income tax ‘is the most fundamental reform to the Federation in generations’. Well maybe. It certainly would be a significant change, but reform? Furthermore, even if this proposal were ever implemented, it is hardly new. For example, the Fraser Government actually legislated Continue reading »
-
Cameron Douglas. Thailand and the military junta – an update.
Thailand’s military government got almost all it wanted in the country’s draft constitution, which will now be put to the people in a referendum on August 7. The next four months, however, will be a rough time for Thailand: the release of the draft was accompanied by a warning from Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha that Continue reading »
-
Greg Bailey. The Liberal Party and the Institute of Public Affairs. Who is Whose?
Arguably the most influential think tank in Australia over the last decade, the Melbourne based Institute of Public Affairs, serves good beer at its functions, so I have been told. Whilst it has always been significant in pushing right wing, neo-liberal agendas, it is only in the last decade, and really during the last period Continue reading »
-
Ian McAuley. Labor’s policies.
Amid all the political chatter about tensions between Turnbull and Morrison, a possible early election, and the laundering of donations to the Liberal Party, Labor has released a substantial policy document –Growing together: Labor’s agenda for tackling inequality. With a gathering of Labor luminaries – Jenny Macklin (who has main carriage of the policy), Bill Continue reading »
-
If we strike a deal with Japan, we’re buying more than submarines.
In this article in the Melbourne Age, Hugh White comments ‘So before we decide whether to select the Japanese (submarine) bid, we have to ask if an alliance with Japan is good for Australia.’ See link to full article below: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/if-we-strike-a-deal-with-japan-were-buying-more-than-submarines-20160314-gni3hl.html Continue reading »
-
Geoff Miller. Japan, ’embedding’ and a world not of pure reason.
“The Australian” of 29 March reported Murray McLean, former Ambassador to Japan, as defending the Japanese submarine bid against criticism that it would amount to a “virtual alliance” that would ultimately thrust us into conflict with China. He reportedly said that “Australia should choose a submarine based on the best technology and the best price”, Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. State income taxes – another political diversion?
Malcolm Turnbull’s suggestion of states entering the income tax field may please ‘state rightists’ in the Liberal party, but it will damage our national aspirations and our national society and economy. In the repost below, Michael Keating, almost two years ago emphasised the importance of the commonwealth government’s domination of income taxes since 1942. This Continue reading »
-
Michael Keating. Federalism (repost)
The Government’s Commission of Audit, which preceded this Budget, recommended that policy and service delivery should as far as practicable be the responsibility of the level of government closest to the people receiving those services, and that each level of government should be sovereign in its own sphere, with minimal duplication between the Commonwealth and Continue reading »
-
Geoff Miller. Managing or containing China.
Australia, China, the South China Sea – and the uses of language. Recent reports published in both Australia and the US—including most notably in our case the Defence White Paper—and a series of visitors to Australia from China, the US and Japan, have increased the already high degree of interest and concern over future strategic Continue reading »
-
Ian Verrender. Turnbull will have a tough sell on economic policy
Malcolm Turnbull is hardly going to win votes by spruiking the economic record of his predecessor. And yet he hasn’t exactly made any headway on his own tax reform or budget repair agenda, writes Ian Verrender. History, they say, is written by the victor. Try telling that to vanquished former prime minister Tony Abbott, who Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Budget repair and private health insurance.
Readers of this blog will be aware that I have been expressing concern about the serious consequences of the government subsidy costing $11 b. p.a. for the private health insurance industry. This subsidy has serious budget consequences: it is skewed in favour of high income earners; it has not taken pressure off public hospitals; it Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. White man’s media.
On 26 March I provided a link to an article by Simon Jenkins in The Guardian, who commented ‘The atrocities in Brussels happen almost daily in the streets of Baghdad, Aleppo and Damascus. .. A dead Muslim is an unlucky mutt in the wrong place at the wrong time. A dead European is front page Continue reading »
-
Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd (researchers). School Myths Busted.
What My School really says about our schools. (Text of press release of 28 March 2016) In the wake of the latest version of My School two researchers have published a startling account of what the numbers behind the website actually show. Former school principals Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd have revealed new findings which challenge Continue reading »
-
Mike Steketee. Election 2016: Beware the (very) long road to ruin
The risk with such a long election campaign is that unanticipated events can scuttle a party’s chances. And in the 2016 campaign it’s the Coalition that has everything to lose, writes Mike Steketee. Elections can throw up many imponderables and the longer the campaign runs the more likely they are to do so. After Bob Continue reading »
-
Richard Broinowski. Australia and the South China Sea
A tangled web of territorial claims threatens stability in the South China Sea. The figures appear rubbery, but a consensus is that Philippines occupies seven islands and reefs, Malaysia five, China eight and Taiwan one. Vietnam occupies twenty seven. There is also conflict over fishing grounds. Meanwhile, there seems little or no room for compromise, Continue reading »
-
Garry Woodard. Should Australia do more on the South China Sea?
No. The Prime Minister’s statement in regards to the Middle East that this is not the time for gestures or machismo applies in spades to what we do in the South China Sea. Australia should act prudently and, though some will see this as a contradiction, transparently and after full parliamentary and public debate. Australia’s Continue reading »
-
What a godsend politicians and journalists are to ISIS.
In The Guardian, Simon Jenkins writes about the way that the ISIS recruiting officers will be thrilled at how things have gone since their atrocity in Belgium. He points particularly to the ‘paranoid politicians and sensational journalists’ who have perhaps unwittingly provided great support for ISIS. Jenkins comments ‘The atrocities in Brussels happen almost daily Continue reading »
-
John Menadue and CPD. Building a regional framework on refugees and forced-migration.
For several years a group of us at the Centre for Policy Development (CPD) have been endeavouring to develop a regional framework for the management of refugee issues in our region. We strongly feel that no country in the region, including Australia, can handle refugee flows on their own. A regional framework based on cooperation Continue reading »
-
Yang Razali Kassim. Will Mahathir and Anwar’s uneasy alliance unseat Najib?
The unthinkable is happening in Malaysian politics. Former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad and his jailed former deputy Anwar Ibrahim have joined hands in a seemingly impossible alliance to unseat Prime Minister Najib Razak. Never before in Malaysian history have such sworn enemies buried their hatchets for a common cause. By launching his rainbow ‘core group’ Continue reading »
-
Ian McAuley. The government says that tax cuts are good for workers!
Arthur Sinodinos’ suggestion of a cut to the corporate tax rate doesn’t seem to be the smartest way to start an election campaign. For a start, it’s not clear how such generosity would be funded. Earlier this month there was a flurry of excitement when iron ore prices rose. For a few days the idea Continue reading »
-
Jonathan Karnon. No-one should get dud hospital care.
In 2013-14, Australian governments spent A$105 billion on health; A$44 billion of that was on public hospitals. The Commonwealth government is increasingly concerned with the size of the health budget and has acted to reduce the inappropriate use of Medicare benefits. But the Commonwealth government has less influence on public hospitals because the state and Continue reading »
-
Frank Brennan. Deja vu for Timor as Turnbull neglects boundary talks
When Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister six months ago, our Timorese neighbours thought there might be an opportunity to draw a line on the past and to kick start the negotiation of a permanent maritime boundary between Australia and Timor-Leste. For the moment, they find themselves sadly mistaken. Rui Maria de Araujo, the fairly new Continue reading »
Top 5 most read
- Goodbye to Ukraine? US prepares public for defeat
The New York Times report of 8th March that ‘Intelligence… - China’s big foreign policy plays leave Australia in the cold
The Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress in October last… - The greatest propaganda campaign in human history
China is the victim of the largest and greatest propaganda… - Turning Damocles’ Sword against the people
In an unprecedented way, Australia’s government has now risked both… - Out of touch, out of date, or out of their minds?
Our foremost practitioner of the quick and deadly put-down, Paul…
