Politics
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JOHN MENADUE The myth that the Liberals are better economic managers?
Scott Morrison in today’s announcement of the election date said once again that ‘Labor cannot manage money’ In an earlier post I argued that the economy is a means to an end. It is not an end in itself. The economy must ensure and hopefully advance the health of our planet and our society. Unfortunately Continue reading »
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The economy is a means to an end. It is not an end in itself.
Bill Clinton said ‘it’s the economy, stupid’. He was wrong, although in later years he spoke more wisely about ‘putting people first’. Continue reading »
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Indonesia and Australia
On 17 April Indonesia goes to the polls. Shortly thereafter Australia will do the same. We will again need to think about Indonesia. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Sick of Morrison’s shilly-shallying
A somewhat exasperated Bill Shorten accuses Scott Morrison of playing games over the election date – and so he is. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison reverses gratuitous cruelty.
There was at least one moment of relief after the election spiel masquerading as a budget; the decision exclude the energy supplement hand out from the New Start allowance was reversed in less than twelve hours. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. The Budget: Part 1
The Budget provides the opportunity for the Government and the Opposition to outline their respective economic strategies and their relative priorities. Interestingly, while there are significant differences between the two major political parties, there are also important similarities; probably reflecting the economic constraints which both parties have had to work within. Continue reading »
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RICHARD BROINOWSKI Trump’s wall- bordering on chaos
Trump threat to cut off aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, will be counter-productive. The refugee ‘caravans’ will not stop, but increase. He will also further alienate the Mexicans, who refuse to pay for the wall along their border with the United States, but who also want to discourage Central American asylum seekers. Can Continue reading »
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JOHN DWYER – Will the health initiatives announced last week significantly and sustainably improve health care for Australians?
Given that polls constantly have Australians saying that healthcare is a top issue in every election, expectations are high that our politicians will describe a commitment to those structural reforms so badly needed to improve equity of access to excellent health care that is cost effective. While Labor had made a number of important Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 7 April 2019
The diverse responses of Australian businesses to climate change and the legal responsibilities of their boards to respond appropriately to climate change are highlighted and lead into a discussion about whether capitalism, as an economic system, has the capacity to deliver a carbon free society. More parochially, the Great Barrier Reef is not doing well Continue reading »
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SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media Continue reading »
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DAVID SOLOMON. A strange election with some unknowns in Queensland
This is the weirdest starting point for a federal election that I can recall. Here in Queensland there are nine seats held by the LNP with a two-party preferred margin of 6 per cent or less. Depending on which betting market you prefer, in eight or nine of them the punters reckon that the Labor Continue reading »
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The New York Times ‘How Rupert Murdoch’s empire of influence remade the world’.
On Wednesday 3 April 2019, The New York Times published a 20,000 word article about the influence o the Murdoch family, (Rupert, James and Lachlan) and the developing divisions within it. See link below to the New York Times article. Continue reading »
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JOHN DWYER Chiropractic manipulation of infant’s spine
Recently social media and then the mainstream media exploded with outrage following the publication of a photo showing a Melbourne chiropractor “treating” a newborn baby by suspending the child in midair, holding its foot high as it thrashed around in protest. Continue reading »
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ANTHONY PUN. The battle for the Chinese Australian vote.
Important lessons learned in the last state elections in Victoria and NSW point to the ubiquitous use of social media “WeChat” in influencing voters in the Chinese Australian community and the realisation that their votes could be pivotal in changing governments. The current battle for the Chinese Australian vote is on! Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. A budget to entrench economic vulnerability
Even from a “what’s in it for me” viewpoint, the budget is a failure, because tax cuts would soon be wiped out by higher charges for education, health care and transport. More importantly it does not address structural weaknesses in the Australian economy. Continue reading »
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BEN SAUL. Stop talking tough Prime Minister and start caring for Aussie children (SMH 3.4.2019)
With the defeat of the Islamic State’s last stronghold in Syria, governments worldwide are grappling with how to deal with the innocent family members of foreign terrorist fighters. The Prime Minister has proclaimed that he will not “put one Australian life at risk” to extract the children of Australians who were involved. Continue reading »
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TIM COSTELLO. The Foreign Aid Program continues to be treated like an ‘ATM’
Despite delivering a budget surplus, the Coalition has chosen to keep aid at its least generous level. This is not surprising from a government who have lost sight of our nation’s role as a global neighbour and treated our aid program like an ATM. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL PASCOE. Frydenberg makes emergency direct deposits. (New Daily 3.4.2019)
The headlines might look pretty, but there’s little substance behind the government’s core budget spends. Continue reading »
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NOEL TURNBULL. Wages, jobs and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
“This is the West sir, and when the legend becomes fact, print the legend” says the reporter to the Governor who is returning to a town for the funeral of a friend,Tom Doniphon, in the final scenes of the 1965 film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The quote came to mind when reading an Continue reading »
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H.K. COLEBATCH. Telling stories about elections.
The reports of the NSW elections have been very interesting, but more for what they show about the way we tell stories about elections than for how well they explain the process and its outcome. There seems to be a struggle between two stories – a dominant one about a public drama culminating in an Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Drunken braggarts get stung.
Let’s be clear about the Al Jazeera sting against One Nation: the drunken braggarts who fell for it deserved all they got and more. Continue reading »
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TONY SMITH. Christchurch: a challenge to the sincerity of Australian politicians
Two weeks after the massacres of worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealanders held a moving multilingual commemorative service emphasising unity. Among the speakers was Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel who said that it was important that each of us looks into our hearts to acknowledge and eradicate any prejudice. Successive speakers emphasised the importance of beginning the Continue reading »
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STUART REES Visa for Remi Kanazi, Poetry for Australia
In denying the American/Palestinian poet Remi Kanazi a visa to enter Australia, what on earth was the Australian government thinking? What stereotype assumptions about the word ‘Palestinian’ influenced that decision? Continue reading »
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DAVID SMITH. Warrants for genocide
The killing of 50 Muslims in two Christchurch mosques is the largest massacre of a minority group in the west since at least 1961. On October 17 of that year, Paris police opened fire on thousands of Algerians demonstrating against the French war in their homeland and the curfews imposed on “Muslim Algerian workers”. Police Continue reading »
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DUNCAN GRAHAM: Vote patriotism – who wouldn’t?
Impossible to imagine: Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten start a pre-election national TV debate with handshakes and a hug. Two and a half hours later after gently tapping a few verbal shuttlecocks to-and-fro they pledge to remain friends forever. That was the scene in Jakarta last weekend when President Joko Widodo and challenger Prabowo Subianto Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. The True State of the Economy
As usual the state of the economy and its management are likely to play a central role in the forthcoming election. With the election now only six weeks away and the Budget tomorrow, it is timely to consider the true state of the economy and its management. Continue reading »
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JACK WATERFORD. Can Thodey, or Shorten, stop bleeding in the public service? (Canberra Times online 30.3.2019)
It was hard to avoid the feeling this week that Terry Moran has a much better take on the problems of modern government and public administration than the review of the public service commissioned by Malcolm Turnbull last year. And Pearls and Irritations is “ Australia’s best website focused on policy issues’ ! Continue reading »
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MARGARET REYNOLDS. New opportunity for Code of Race Ethics supported by 54% of the Australian Parliament in 1998.
Senator Penny Wong considers today’s politicians have failed to isolate the extremism of One Nation as effectively as in the 1990s. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. A last minute swing, delivering an improbable victory.
On the eve of the crucial budget, the trailing coalition government finally had a shred of hope: New South Wales. The fairly comfortable re-election of Gladys Berejiklian following nail-biting opinion polls gave them the hope that perhaps their own leader – a fellow Cornstalker, no less – could pull off the same trick. A last minute Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 31 March 2019
Gas producers slow down climate action in WA, miners meet ministers in NSW almost weekly, cement producers (allegedly) resist the use of fly ash in concrete production in Australia, and big banks, particularly in the USA, continue to invest trillions in fossil fuel companies. But Bill McKibben and Tim Flannery offer some hope for the Continue reading »