Politics
-
SAUL NEWMAN. The Australian Government funds both pro- and anti-alcohol research efforts
Revelations in The Guardian on Good Friday, Former CSIRO researcher accuses science agency of pro-alcohol research, about the pro-alcohol bias of Australia’s premier scientific organisation the CSIRO have been made by a former employee in a letter recently published in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet (End government support for pro-alcohol research). Dr Saul Continue reading »
-
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 28 April 2019
The United Nations, The Lancet, Australia21 and Extinction Rebellion all, in their various ways, reckon that the environment and human health are going to hell in a handbasket while oil and gas companies invest big to ensure that we don’t run out of fossil fuel energy to get us there. Reassuringly, the majority of Australians Continue reading »
-
GRAEME STEWART. Major holes in Medicare.
For a very large and growing number of poorer Australians, the high out-of-pocket expenses for medical care in Australia to which Ross Gittins refers (SMH ‘Prevention is better than cure’, April 24), are tearing major holes in the safety net Medicare was designed to provide to us all, rich and poor. Continue reading »
-
JERRY ROBERTS. The dumbing-down of politics, religion and trade unions
Getup! is campaigning in Western Australia against Attorney General Christian Porter. In the parochial West, as in Peter Dutton’s Queensland seat, this foreign presence may favour the incumbents. By the same token the trade union campaign to change the rules by changing the government could help the Coalition. The present government is not responsible for Continue reading »
-
LINDA SIMON. More of the same in VET or a new vision?
Vocational education and training does not always feature strongly during Federal election campaigns. But given the critical state of the sector, both major parties have announced early on the directions they will pursue if elected. For the Government this is based on their recent expert review of VET ‘Strengthening Skills’, from which a number of Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Ten Neglected Issues that Australia21 Believes Should be Addressed During the Election Campaign.
The 2019 election campaign having begun, I wish, on behalf of Australia21, which I chair, to draw attention to a number of issues that require proper attention and debate in order to enable Australian voters to make an informed choice about the candidates and parties they wish to support. Continue reading »
-
JOHN WARHUST. Robert Fitzgerald provides a glimmer of hope for Australia’s Catholics.
Robert Fitzgerald has brought a ray of hope for those Catholics despondent about this dark time for the church in Australia. Fitzgerald is ideally-placed to offer advice on the temporal and spiritual future of the church in Australia. He has served Australia on two national commissions — as a long time member of the Productivity Commission, advising Continue reading »
-
Churches Support for the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) Movement
Bernie Sanders, US Democrat candidate for the Presidency has caused controversy by criticising what he calls the cruel, racist policies of the government of Israel towards Palestinians. But it’s time that such comments were seen as not unusual, even taken for granted. Continue reading »
-
EVA COX. The trust deficit – a seriously neglected election issue
At the forthcoming election the Coalition will be asking Who do you trust, Scott Morrison or Bill Shorten? Morrison repeated it yesterday many times. This seems odd for a leader who most reminds me of another salesman, Donald Trump. But that aside, the issue of trust in our politicians and our political institutions is a Continue reading »
-
JAMES O’NEILL: When Better than at an Election to Have a Serious and Overdue Debate About Defence and Foreign Policy Objectives?
The current election cycle presents a golden opportunity to have a serious discussion about Australia’s defence and foreign policies. These have been notably lacking from both major parties. Continue reading »
-
WILLIAM BRIGGS ANZAC Day: lest we forget the militarisation of the Australian economy
ANZAC Day is once more upon us. We are told that it is a time for reflection. And, so it is. The sad truth is that we engage in little actual or meaningful contemplation of the date or of its deeper meaning. There are, of course, exhortations, there are reminders (lest we forget), there are Continue reading »
-
MUNGO MacCALLUM. The essence of marketing is constant repetition.
A short week of campaigning and an even shorter one to come – which is perhaps why the temperature has ramped up to almost febrile levels. Continue reading »
-
MARRYANNE SLATTERY AND ROD CAMPBELL. Debugging the Watergate complex (The Australian Institute, April 2019)
Interpreting the responses to #Watergate by the Prime Minister and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources Continue reading »
-
FRANCESCA BEDDIE: Beyond Anzac: a multicultural Australia needs a multicultural history
I recently attended a history conference in Wellington, New Zealand, which posed the question After the War, What Next? My answer was that we need a transnational approach to telling history, which presents the complexity of global influences that have informed decisions about nation building and which resonates with Australia’s multicultural community. Continue reading »
-
DAVID STEPHENS -People against the War Memorial’s grandiose extensions project.
On 23 March, the Canberra Times carried a story about an open letter from 83 distinguished Australians opposing the plan to spend $498 million on extensions to the Australian War Memorial. Continue reading »
-
NOEL TURNBULL. Myths, myths and more myths
As Anzac Day approaches are you getting ready to remember afresh how Anzac defines Australian culture and history and why we fought; how the French will never forget Australia and its role in WWI; and, how our Vietnam veterans were spat upon, reviled and denied welcome home marches? Continue reading »
-
DOUGLAS NEWTON. Reflections for Anzac Day. Why? How? To what end?
On this day, respect for our war dead, and for survivors, eclipses all. The rows of headstones afflict the mind. But real respect demands we reflect on the truly big questions: Why? How? To what end? Continue reading »
-
DAVID SHEARMAN. Parliamentary reform is vital to address the complex problems of environmental change.
The poor standing of politicians and the lack of expertise in their ranks and Ministries increasingly results in inadequate policy in complex problems such as climate change. It is essential that the next government commences reform of Parliamentary processes and harness necessary expertise. Continue reading »
-
FIONA ARMSTRONG. Who will address the health emergency of climate change?
Climate change causes many health problems and will have enormous impacts on Australia’s health system. Yet most Australian governments have been slow to prepare the health services for the inevitable challenges. Fifty health, social welfare and conservation groups, representing over one million Australians, have issued an open letter to all political parties and candidates in Continue reading »
-
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 21 April 2019
Although carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, new modelling demonstrates that it is still technically and economically feasible to keep global warming below 1.5oC, with many advantages for the world’s economy, jobs and public health, but the influence of fossil fuel companies makes it politically unlikely. And yet with just 1oC of warming, life in Continue reading »
-
SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media Continue reading »
-
GREG JERICHO. The Coalition boasts about economic management. Where’s the evidence? (The Guardian 16.4.2019)
This is the only government since Fraser’s that hasn’t presided over an improved standard of living. Continue reading »
-
EMILE NAKHLEH. Washington hawks clamouring to attack Iran
Those pushing for regime change in Iran are overestimating the Iranian people’s dislike of their theocratic regime and are mistaking that dislike for a willingness to embrace a foreign invader. Like the Bush Administration with Iraq, the Trump Administration appears to have given little or no strategic thought to the future of Iran beyond any Continue reading »
-
DUNCAN GRAHAM Last post for the old guard?
Have Indonesia’s oligarchs performed their final farewell tour? More than two decades after the fall of second president Soeharto’s authoritarian New Order government a commoner has retained the presidency. Continue reading »
-
STUART REES, Julian Assange, Establishment Interests and the US Culture of Revenge
Julian Assange faces extradition to the United States to face a grand jury’s secretly concocted charge of ‘computer intrusion’ to obtain and reveal classified information. Reaction to Assange’ arrest shows powerful people protecting establishment interests, which, over centuries, have involved lying, deceit, corruption, wars and other forms of violence. Continue reading »
-
IAN McAULEY. Surely Morrison isn’t seriously asking us to trust him
Morrison’s words are a plea to trust his government, but his tactics seem to be aimed at spreading mistrust, not only of Labor but also of democratic institutions more generally. Continue reading »
-
SAM BYFORD. Huawei chairman accuses American critics of hypocrisy over NSA hacks (The Verge 27.2.2019)
Huawei’s rotating chairman Guo Ping has gone on the offensive this week at Mobile World Congress, following continued pressure on US allies to drop the Chinese telecoms giant over national security fears. Continue reading »
-
ALISON BROINOWSKI. Who are the terrorists, Iran or the US?
In April 2014 John Howard surprised an audience in Sydney by saying that war with Iran would be next. He didn’t know then about Syria but his alarming prediction about Iran looks like coming true. Continue reading »
-
HAL PAWSON and BILL RANDOLPH. On housing, there’s clear blue water between the main parties (The Conversation, 12 April 2019)
Labor’s bold stance on housing tax reform and investment makes this one of the likely policy flashpoints in the coming election campaign. How does the Coalition government’s housing record stand up to scrutiny? What would be in prospect in a third Liberal-National term? And exactly what is Labor’s alternative pitch? Continue reading »
-
DAVID MACILWAIN. Two Australians in trouble abroad.
The law to censor violent content rushed through Parliament last week connected dots between two Australians abroad, when Julian Assange was “extradited” from Ecuadorian territory, in London. I examine the linkages. Continue reading »