Politics
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ALAN BOYD. Morrison misconnects across the South Pacific. (Asia Times 19.1.2019)
“I urged your predecessor [Malcolm Turnbull] repeatedly to honor his commitment to clean energy. From where we are sitting, we cannot imagine how the interests of any single industry can be placed above the welfare of Pacific peoples and vulnerable people in the world over. “Consensus from the scientific community is clear and the existential Continue reading »
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TONY SMITH. Refusal of custodianship and environmental crises.
Whitefella criticisms of Australia Day have argued that 26 January is a significant date mainly for New South Wales and especially Sydney. Recently, fish kills in western waterways and the wind erosion of topsoil have shown that the state faces environmental catastrophe. The same mindset which refuses to acknowledge Indigenous concerns over the celebrations on Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Private Health Insurance is a con job. Is Labor being conned again?
The ALP does not seem to understand its own creation- Medicare- and that the $11 b taxpayer subsidy to PHI is like a Damocles sword that hangs over Medicare. Ian McAuley in Medicare under threat from Labor points out that Labor in its”consultation document’ on a proposed reference of PHI to the Productivity Commission suggests Continue reading »
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STUART REES Saudi Teenager and Australian Due Process
The human rights of Saudi Arabian teenager Rahaf Aqunun received fast recognition by Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and subsequent welcome refuge in Canada. By contrast, Australian Ministers insisted that in assessing claims for asylum in Australia, the government would follow its usual adherence to due process. Continue reading »
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ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Running out of time or anticipating a delay?
What explains an unprecedented, disastrous political defeat ever of a government on the floor of the British Parliament (432/202, a loss by 230 votes), followed within a day by its reaffirmation in government – prevailing over a no-confidence motion by a healthy margin of 19 votes? Essentially the Tories still cannot agree on an outcome Continue reading »
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MICHELLE PINI. Something stinks in the Coalition and it’s not just dead fish (Independent Australia 17.01.2019)
The sight of close to a million dead fish in one of Australia’s most important waterways may herald the end for the Morrison Government. For this is hardly the first time this Coalition Government, under its various iterations, has spat in the face of Australia’s precious resources. For now, however, let’s look at the Murray-Darling disaster Continue reading »
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MICHAEL NIMAN. Five Forces Driving the Rise of Fascism in 2019 (Truthout).
Immigration has become a weapon in the arsenal of fascists who work to sow fear of the “other” in populations they wish to control.There are four other forces behind the rise of fascism Continue reading »
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ANTONY GREEN. Why independents won’t matter so much at the next election (ABC News).
Despite predictions that independents will be an important factor in the result of the coming federal election, two important factors suggest otherwise. Continue reading »
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GRACE BLAKELEY. The Latest Incarnation of Capitalism (Jacobin, September 2018)
Financialization isn’t a perversion of an otherwise well-functioning system. It’s just capitalism’s latest survival mechanism. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. The myth that Liberals are better economic managers. A repost from 25 July 2018
Malcolm Turnbull has made it clear that his mantra of ‘Jobs-and-Growth’ will be at the forefront of his campaign in the next election. This week he will be talking about the growth of a million jobs in 5 years, but there is nothing really remarkable in that on average over the last 15 years about Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. The pugnacious potato has done it again.
Having unleashed his innumerate megalomania to destroy Malcolm Turnbull, with the unintended consequence of almost certainly scuttling his government as collateral damage, Peter Dutton has now derailed Scott Morrison’s attempt to mend the fractured relationship with the Pacific. Continue reading »
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RICHARD McGREGOR. We need the Five Eyes spy network, but with oversight (SMH 12.1.2019)
After Canadian authorities seized a top Chinese executive from the telecommunications giant Huawei at Vancouver Airport last month on a US arrest warrant, Beijing immediately set about retaliating. A couple of Canadians who, until then, had been working openly in China, were detained. Top-level meetings for Canadian diplomats dried up. And Beijing made clear more Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. The scourge of lobbyists is likely to continue if there is a change of government. A repost from 20 July 2018
Lobbyists are back in the news but it looks as if the scourge of lobbyists will continue in Canberra if Bill Shorten wins the next election. There is no sign that the ALP, like the Coalition is prepared to curb the way lobbyists are corrupting public policy in Australia.. The media reports that lobby firms Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE. It’s time for a constitutional reform commission
Acting on references from attorneys-general, the independent Australian Law Reform Commission and its state government equivalents review and recommend reforms to existing laws, and/or identify where new laws are necessary. When it comes to the Australian Constitution, the highest level of law in the country, the case for an independent constitutional reform commission along similar Continue reading »
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We need a national political summit to promote democratic renewal
Bob Hawke’s Economic Summit following the 1983 election promoted cooperation and consensus which led to remarkable economic and social reform. With the loss of trust in our political institutions and politicians today, we need a political summit to build consensus on democratic reform. Such a proposal, if carefully implemented, could produce real political and policy Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Scott Morrison says the bible is not a policy handbook.
There was none of that namby-pamby nonsense about taking a cup of kindness for the sake of auld lang syne, or anyone else for that matter. Scott Morrison went straight on the attack to welcome 2019. “My job – our government’s job — is to prepare Australia for any opportunity and eventuality,” he bellowed. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. The Future of Democracy: Part 2
Yesterday in Part 1 of this article I discussed some of the possible explanations for the apparent loss of government capacity in most advanced democracies. Today in this second Part I will discuss some of the solutions that have been proposed to restore government capacity. This discussion has been influenced in part by Laura Tingle’s Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE. Knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing
When Scott Morrison announced that the Sydney Opera House was the “biggest bill board in the country” he displayed a crass mindset straight from the commercialized anti-culture of the neoliberal era. Plastering a racing industry advertisement across the sails of the Opera House meant nothing more to him other than a great marketing opportunity. It Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. The Future of Democracy: Part 1
At the start of a New Year, a year when Australia will have to elect a new government, it seems a good time to consider the future outlook for our system of democratic government. Overall there is a sense that citizens in many of the advanced democracies have lost confidence in the capacity of their Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI: Government Continues to Pretend We Have No Air Borders
In an echo of Donald Trump, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Immigration Minister David Coleman continued to pretend yesterday we only have sea borders and we can ignore our air borders. They announced closure of two detention centres (see here) without telling the Australian public that their mismanagement of the visa system will inevitably mean Continue reading »
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GEORGE MONBIOT. Advertising and Academia are controlling our thoughts. Didn’t you know?
By abetting the ad industry, universities are leading us into temptation, when they should be enlightening us. Continue reading »
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PETER SAINSBURY. Labor’s environmental policies: will the action match the rhetoric?
The ALP has released details of the environmental policies they will introduce if elected during 2019. Central to these are a new Australian Environment Act and a new Federal Environmental Protection Agency. Labor’s challenge will be to provide national leadership to tackle the wide range of environmental threats to human health and survival, while giving Continue reading »
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BOB CARR. The Best of 2018: How the Israeli Lobby operates.
The letter was in the bulging file marked ‘Premier’s Invites’. The invitation was to an annual dinner where a peace prize was presented to a person chosen by the Sydney Peace Foundation at Sydney University. This year they had decided to present the award to Hanan Ashrawi. I knew her from CNN and had been Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Kill Bill remains the default option for Scott Morrison.
Scott Morrison, his office informs us, is talking a short break – off to the country for a bit of biking, boating and fishing. But not shooting; the image of our easy going prime minister with a lethal weapon in his hands might send the wrong message. Continue reading »
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CHRIS HEDGES. Banishing Truth – The story of Seymour Hersh. (Truthdig 24.12.2018)
The investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, in his memoir “Reporter,” describes a moment when as a young reporter he overheard a Chicago cop admit to murdering an African-American man. The murdered man had been falsely described by police as a robbery suspect who had been shot while trying to avoid arrest. Hersh frantically called his editor to Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. The Best of 2018: Trickle down economics and the Emma Alberici article.
The ABC says that their decision to withdraw Emma Alberici’s article was because it represented an opinion for which there is allegedly no evidence. In fact there is plenty of evidence that increasing corporate profits will not lead to any increase in investment or employment and wages if aggregate demand continues to remain weak. Furthermore Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. How Murdoch and Abeles twisted the arm of the Hawke Government to help Ansett Airlines at the expense of Qantas. (Edited and reposted)
I have recalled several times that Rupert Murdoch has said that he has never asked a Prime Minister for anything. That is quite brazen. From my own personal experience I know that is just not true. I was the intermediary when Rupert Murdoch asked new Prim Minister Whitlam in late 1972 that he be appointed Continue reading »
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IAN DUNLOP. The Best of 2018: A Parliament Without Trust or Legitimacy Must Go
The insults hurled by David Leyonhjelm at Sarah Hanson-Young recently put parliamentary discourse in the gutter. Leyonhjelm was roundly condemned, but not by our leaders. A limp slap across the knuckles from Turnbull and Shorten, then on to more pressing matters, hoping it will all go away. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. The Best of 2018: Peter Dutton is an embarrassment for all of us.
Peter Dutton failed as Health Minister. His track record since then is even worse. Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE. Saving some of the Liberal furniture.
Time is running out for the Liberal Party and the Coalition as the 2019 federal election looms. The change of Prime Minister from Malcolm Turnbull to Scott Morrison was a classic example of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Opinion polls have consistently shown that the Coalition is running significantly behind Labor. Continue reading »