Politics
-
LAURIE PATTON. It’s now or never for the NBN
Last week submissions closed for a parliamentary inquiry into the National Broadband Network. TelSoc, of which I recently became vice-president, lodged a submission prepared by a working group of highly qualified industry experts. Continue reading »
-
TONY COADY Bouncer barrages, Bodyline and the Laws of Cricket Revisited
In Pearls and Irritations ( September 2, 2019) I wrote about the way that the long-standing intimidatory bowling of bouncers in international Test cricket is both clearly in conflict with the Laws of cricket in spite of being widely practiced, relished by most commentators, and ignored by umpires. Continue reading »
-
MILES LITTLE. The decency of the commons
Bushfires have devastated this country, yet have allowed us to see the best of human motives and actions. They have also exposed us to disappointments, further loss of trust in governance and a sense of insecurity. Continue reading »
-
ROB PURDON. Insuring against future bushfires
This summer’s bushfires are a tragedy. There has been massive habitat loss, and we all want to help those who have lost their properties and businesses. But climate change means that we are facing a “new normal”. Continue reading »
-
NOEL TURNBULL. Morisson has rent seekers salivating.
Australia’s pre-eminent rent seekers must be salivating at the thought that the PM might ‘evolve’ its policy on climate change and will be counting up the billions they may reap from his likely emissions ‘reductions’ schemes. Continue reading »
-
JACK WATERFORD. How rorting sporting grants became a bipartisan game.
The winner-takes-all approach to grants involves corrupt ideas of government, even if no crime occurred. It is an abuse of power Continue reading »
-
GREG LATEMORE. Can Scott Morrison Learn to Lead?
Scott Morrison is facing a significant leadership challenge: how to learn to deal with ‘wicked’ problems. The PM’s situation is complicated by a manifest loss of confidence in his capacity to do so. The question is – “can Scott Morrison (or any leader) learn to lead?” Continue reading »
-
GEORGE BROWNING.CONSERVATISM, BEAUTY AND SIR ROGER SCRUTON
The philosopher, Sir Roger Scruton, the darling of contemporary conservative politics died on 12 January 2020 aged 75. Tony Abbott is reported to have said that if John Locke is the father of western political conservatism, Roger Scruton is its contemporary intellectual son. However, from their words and actions, it appears Tony Abbott and presumably Continue reading »
-
ABUL RIZVI: Is Dutton Undermining Birmingham’s Tourism Campaign?
Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham has announced an additional $25 million to market Australia to international tourists in response to the impact of the bushfire crisis. He says this is necessary to ‘save Aussie jobs’. But his counterpart Peter Dutton has been dramatically reducing approval rates for visitor visa applications for Asian tourists. Are they not Continue reading »
-
JOHN KEANE. Australia.out of luck
Is the Lucky Country running out of luck? Natural disaster or political disaster? Continue reading »
-
LYNDSAY CONNORS. Words, words, words.
It is one thing for politicians to duck politically sensitive or embarrassing questions, but it is quite another when they opt for providing answers that are devoid of meaning. Continue reading »
-
PAUL WALDMAN. There are no heroes in the Trump Administration.(Washington Post 18.1.2020)
There will be hundreds of books written about this dreadful period in our history, and one of the questions we’ll have to grapple with is this: How should we judge those around President Trump? The ones who helped him, who enabled him, or even just failed to stand up to him? Continue reading »
-
MARK BUCKLEY. Waiting for the Replay
Scott Morrison is now having to deal with the two very distinct wings of his party, as they gird themselves for the culture war which will probably erupt at any moment. This culture war will not be about indigenous history, or the date of Australia Day, or even immigration. It is about climate change. Continue reading »
-
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 19 January 2020
Excess heat will be responsible for 8.5 million deaths per year by 2100. Russia possibly developing plans for adaptation to climate change but Australian politicians continue to rage against the dying of the coal-generated light while investors flee coal companies. Meanwhile an Australian hero works for a just transition. Continue reading »
-
SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
What people in other forums are saying about public policy Continue reading »
-
Morrison’s scary words on deployment of troops
Although you can no longer believe everything Scott Morrison says, its necessary to take everything he says seriously and examine his utterances carefully – just in case in a particular instance he will follow through on what he has said. Continue reading »
-
JOHN TAN. Zuckerberg is right, isn’t he?
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly under intense pressure in the US to curb political advertisements on its pages. Who might be running such a campaign and for what reasons? Perhaps the answer lies in the gap between rhetoric and reality. Continue reading »
-
KEVIN TOLHURST.- We have already had countless bushfire inquiries (The Conversation 16.1.2020)
As our country battles the most extensive fires of our lifetime, there are increasing calls for a royal commission into the states and territories’ preparedness and the federal government’s response to the disaster. Continue reading »
-
NOEL TURNBULL. – This is how you do it to appear genuine.
While Scott Morrison was saying it was fortunate no-one had died on Kangaroo Island and forcing people to shake his hand another PM quietly, and without seeking publicity, showed him how he should be behaving. Continue reading »
-
JON STANFORD: Second rate leadership Part 2 of 4: Defence
“Australia is now a confident, wealthy nation that has the right to expect its leaders to rise above the second rate.” Continue reading »
-
ANDREW FARRAN. Iran: The military track Military from Hybrid war to Denouement
What we are likely to witness, this year or later, is the 4th Iraq War – a process of reorienting the Levant around ideologically and sectarian driven forces and the undoing of the British-French (Sykes-Picot) colonial compact of 1916 (already well and truly undermined). Continue reading »
-
TERRY LAIDLER. Stop the Fires
The old paradigm we used for “fighting” fires has failed. The new paradigm has to be that we decide to “Stop the Fires” and the new question is not how do we contain or manage them or wait them out. It is: “How do we put these fires out?” Continue reading »
-
MIKE SCRAFTON. How good are Royal Commissions?
Morrison’s call for a Royal Commission on matters related to the bushfires is puzzling. It is difficult to avoid the suspicion that it was a thought bubble exuding from the advisors of a Prime Minster under great pressure. For the government there would seem to be little upside. Continue reading »
-
RODNEY TIFFEN. The Murdoch Press and the Bushfires
The disastrous summer of bushfires has not been easy for Scott Morrison, but the News Corp newspapers have also had trouble rising to the challenge. Continue reading »
-
JOHN KERIN: Reform and the ALP
Australia’s oldest political Party, the ALP, is becoming ossified in its structure and totally resistant to reform. It also has many other challenges in representing today’s Australia as a progressive party. Continue reading »
-
CAVAN HOGUE. More blessed to give than to receive? Repost from 18.12 2017
Provoking China to score cheap political points domestically does not advance Australian interests. While most Australians would prefer the US domestic political model to the Chinese, we are not going to change the Chinese system and so must learn to live with it. Complaints about Chinese attempts to influence Australian attitudes are naive. Continue reading »
-
NOEL TURNBULL. The Morrison Government tries to get empathetic
The Morrison Government’s is trying a new ploy – one which is beyond even the wildest satirical imagination. It has hired an empathy consultant. Continue reading »
-
JAMES LAURENCESON.- China Trade Questions confound Australia’s Indo-Pacific shift.(EAF 5.1.2020)
The ‘Indo-Pacific’, stretching from the eastern Indian Ocean to the Pacific, is the Australian government’s framing of the international environment for its foreign policy. Continue reading »
-
MINXIN PEI. Bush’s disastrous Iraq war paved the way for China’s rise. Is Trump about to make the same mistake?(SCMP and Project Syndicate 10.1.2020)
China joined the WTO and grew into an economic giant in the time the US was fixated on fighting al-Qaeda. It’s a lesson Trump appears not to have learned Continue reading »