Politics
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GREG LATEMORE. Morrison’s Leadership – Some inconvenient truths about authenticity.
Morrison’s Leadership – Inconvenient Truths Scott Morrison has recently confronted important truths about leadership – your credibility as a leader has to be earned and it is very easy to lose it. Just being confirmed in the position as a leader does not necessarily make that person a leader. Continue reading »
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J.A. DICK. War wisdom
Is it just and moral to assassinate an Iranian General? Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI: Dutton and Pezzullo’s Asylum Seeker Bungle – November Update
David Crowe in the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Dutton’s Department received an average of 77 asylum applications per day in November 2019. That brings the total number of asylum applications in the last five and a half years to well over 100,000. But what is happening to those 100,000 people? Continue reading »
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JACK WATERFORD.-Pot shots prove poor policy
Must we follow Trump down his Iranian rabbit burrow? Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM.-The Veil of the Temple is Rent in Twain
If there is nothing you really believe in, consistency is an optional extra. Continue reading »
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DAILAN PUGH. The Demise of a Koala Population
Last year the North East Forest Alliance found an unusually dense Koala colony, part of a regionally significant population in a forest proposed for logging. As we geared up for a blockade, the Busbys Flat fire changed direction on the night of the 8 October last year and burnt out most of our proposed 7,000 Continue reading »
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DUNCAN GRAHAM.-Indonesian Free Trade – not there yet
For much of 2019’s last quarter Australian rural journals and politicians were forecasting a bonanza.But some reality is overdue Continue reading »
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DANIELLE CELERMAJER.-Opinion Omnicide:Who is responsible for the gravest of all crimes?(ABC Religion and Ethics 7.1.2020)
As the full extent of the devastation of the Holocaust became apparent, a Polish Jew whose entire family had been killed, Raphael Lemkin, came to realise that there was no word for the distinctive crime that had been committed: the murder of a people. Continue reading »
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MELISSA PARKE.-“Support for Palestinian rights is not anti-Semitic” (The West Australian 8.1.2020)
I had but dipped my toes back into federal politics via a bid for Julie Bishop’s former seat of Curtin when the campaign was over. Continue reading »
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JOHN TAN. About Hegemony, Leadership ….. and Assange?
There has been one global hegemon since WWII, a commander with enough soft and hard power to make all the rules that matter, and to enforce them. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEANE A Digital Civilization: China Reimagined
In the Chinese political lexicon being civilized means ‘fitting in’ with the national plan, accepting the party-state’s directives and guidance, and obeying laws. This ‘harmonious society’ model, represents a collective response to uneven social development. Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 12 January 2020
The dismal failure of the Madrid COP meeting in December starts the round up for 2020, and no one should be surprised by Australia’s disgraceful performance in Madrid when they see the government’s latest greenhouse gas emission projections to 2030. In better news, the highest court in the Netherlands has required the government to reduce Continue reading »
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SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
We’re back, with links to writings, broadcasts and happenings over the last three weeks. Continue reading »
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Second rate leadership. Part 1 of 4
Australia is now a confident, wealthy nation that has the right to expect its leaders to rise above the second rate. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL WEST.-Who Pays: should ordinary taxpayers foot the bill for bushfires or the fossil fuel giants who pay no tax?
Five of Australia’s top coal companies – Peabody, Yancoal Sumitomo, Citic and Whitehaven – racked up $54 billion in total income over the past five years and paid zero income tax in Australia, according to Tax Office corporate tax data. Fossil fuel companies should foot the bill for the fires, not ordinary taxpayers. Continue reading »
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TONY SMITH. Gladys for Prime Minister? Winning friends in a crisis
It has been interesting to watch the various leadership styles on display during the bushfire crisis. In contrast to the Prime Minister’s pathetic attempts to dominate, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has displayed integrity, administrative ability and empathy. Indeed it seems a pity that she is not Prime Minister. Continue reading »
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NICHOLAS KEARNS.- Bushfires. If this is the future we have no future.
Dr Strangelove warned us of a “Doomsday Machine” that would destroy the entire planet. Continue reading »
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NOEL TURNBULL. It’s not the marketing – it’s the marketer
Scott Morrison has failed a fundamental marketing test-communicating authenticity. Continue reading »
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AMANDA MEADE.-The Australian newspaper downplays bushfires in favour of picnic races.( The Guardian 4.1.2020)
And the Herald Sun relegates bushfires to page 4 while the Courier Mail brings good news via’Onion Oricle’ Read how the Murdoch papers deny climate change and largely ignore the fires. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jan/04/the-australian-murdoch-owned-newspaper-accused-of-downplaying-bushfires-in-favour-of-picnic-races?CMP=share_btn_link Continue reading »
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MIKE SCRAFTON. Crisis and the Transformation of Government Administration
Today, there are four simultaneous and momentous crises before which modern democracies seem impotent; global warming, population growth, wealth inequality, and a dangerous geostrategic shift. This brings me to the Thodey Review. Continue reading »
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JOCELYN PIXLEY. Are the Liberals “born to rule”?
Australia’s tragedy has brought a scandal about hard issues: Morrison separated politics from government too publicly. Continue reading »
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CHAS SAVAGE.-Global warming and action in good faith.
Meaningful action to prevent global warming requires joint action through time. In this sense, we require a focus on outcomes—the goal of limiting warming to two degrees Celsius—and what must be done to realise this. Justice, of course, requires a sharing of the burden, because only a sharing of the burden will prompt and sustain Continue reading »
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BOB DEBUS: OUR LAND AND OUR WAY OF LIFE
Between late 2001 and early 2003, during the so-called Millennium Drought, eastern Australia experienced unprecedented periods of bushfire. Continue reading »
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GEOFF MILLER: Trump, North Korea, Iran.
Trump’s decision to order the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani is understandably dominating coverage and analysis of world affairs, completely overshadowing consideration of Kim Jong Un’s end of year statement, even though it had been somewhat anxiously awaited. Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. Catch 22.0 – We wouldn’t need inquiries if public administration wasn’t so broken – UPDATED
Predictably, we are seeing calls for a Royal Commission into the bushfires that have Australia in crisis mode right now – either in the genuine hope of finding answers or finding someone to blame. Continue reading »
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ROD MITCHELL.-Carbon pricing to the rescue – for climate and government.
Tragically, we now have a disaster serious enough to wake up almost all of us to the catastrophe that is unfolding in large parts of Australia and advertising itself to the rest of the world. Continue reading »
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ANDREW FARRAN.- Weaponising Hostage Taking in International Diplomacy
Hostage diplomacy is about as low as it gets in a system of sovereign states that supposedly adheres to the inherent principles of comity, good faith and state responsibility. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM.- A Tin Eared Prime Minister
For the last three months the headlines have been dominated by bushfires, and the grim prospect is that this will continue for at least another three months to come. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL EBURN AND STEPHEN DOVERS: What sort of inquiry should come after these fires?
Disasters are always followed by inquiries. Since 2009, there have been over 140 such inquiries across Australia, of varied types and processes of operating. Continue reading »
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JACK WATERFORD.- Coalition burning up its electoral credit.
PM can’t find the fitting gesture or demonstrate our solidarity with bushfire victims. Continue reading »