Politics
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John Menadue. Is the European Project finished?
Perhaps the Greek crisis will force a fundamental rethink and Europe will find the way to rekindle again the idealism and hope that gave rise to the European Project in the aftermath of WWII. By any means ‘Europe’ has been a remarkable success in social development, human rights, economic growth, the mobility of people and Continue reading »
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Greek Crisis
See below links to two interesting articles. The first is by Paul Krugman, ‘Ending Greece’s Bleeding’ in the New York Times. The second is by Thomas Picketty ‘Germany has never repaid’ from the German newspaper Die Zeit. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/opinion/paul-krugman-ending-greeces-bleeding.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fpaul-krugman https://medium.com/@gavinschalliol/thomas-piketty-germany-has-never-repaid-7b5e7add6fff Continue reading »
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Failure in Afghanistan. We don’t want to talk about it.
On the 24th June, I posted a link to a review from the London Review of Books. (See https://johnmenadue.com/blog/?p=3957) In referring to the UK involvement in Afghanistan, it was headed ‘Worse than a defeat: shamed in Afghanistan’. The review by James Meek said ‘The extent of the military and political catastrophe [in Afghanistan] it represents Continue reading »
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John Menadue. The Greek crisis and regime change.
Current Affairs A lot of the blame for the present crisis should be borne by many countries and institutions, but the one group that is least responsible is the present left-wing government of Greece, Syriza. The major blame must rest first with the previous Greek governments that mired the Greek people in corruption and cronyism. Continue reading »
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Bob Kinnaird. China FTA ‘labour mobility’ fight looms
Current Affairs The ALP National Conference at end-July will likely have before it an urgency motion demanding changes to the foreign worker provisions in the China FTA as a condition for supporting the agreement, according to The Australian (‘Change or block unjust trade deals, MPs told’, 26 June 2015). Driving the move is a cross-factional Continue reading »
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John Tulloh. Why Eritreans are crossing the Mediterranean.
Current Affairs. ERITREA: THE NORTH KOREA OF AFRICA It is the seventh youngest nation in the world. It was born in 1993 after a 30-year war. Its flag was raised for the first time as an independent nation with high hopes for democracy in a continent dominated by too many despots. In its first years Continue reading »
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Ian McAuley. The ABC and a second chance.
Current Affairs Most reasonable people would be fully behind Mark Scott’s spirited defence of the ABC “as a public broadcaster, not a state broadcaster”, reminding us that “at times, free speech principles mean giving platforms to those with whom we fundamentally disagree.” Tony Abbott’s reaction to Zaky Mallah’s remarks on Q&A is comparable to the Continue reading »
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Europe’s attack on Greek democracy.
See below link to article by Joseph Stiglitz in Project Syndicate. Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel Laureate in Economics and University Professor at Columbia University. He was also Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. John Menadue. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/greece-referendum-troika-eurozone-by-joseph-e–stiglitz-2015-06 Continue reading »
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Rod Tiffen. Murdoch’s declining influence.
Current Affairs Labor might not have noticed it yet, but Rupert Murdoch’s capacity to influence the outcome declines with each passing election. Over the past eight months, Victoria and Queensland have voted out first-term Liberal governments despite the best efforts of the Murdoch press in those states. Their slanted front pages, unfair coverage and combative Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Triple-dipping by Big Pharma.
Current Affairs The major pharmaceutical companies in Australia, almost all foreign owned, keep pushing their luck at the expense of Australian consumers and taxpayers. In my series on health reform, I pointed to a minimum of $2 b. p.a. that we could save in drug costs if we had a government purchasing system like the Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Facts on the $11b per annum private health insurance industry subsidy.
The Minister for Health and Ageing, Sussan Ley has said she wants to canvas community and expert views on PHI (private health insurance). If she does consult the community on this issue that will be a welcome change, for consideration of the PHI is usually a private discussion with the vested interests – the PHI Continue reading »
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Bob Kinnaird. China FTA ‘labour mobility’ fails the national interest test
Current Affairs. Prime Minister Abbott said nothing about the ‘labour mobility’ provisions in the China Australia FTA (ChAFTA) package when releasing the FTA text last week. There will be a strong community reaction once these provisions are understood. The Federal Labor Opposition set two benchmarks for the China FTA ‘labour mobility’ provisions to pass the Continue reading »
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Geoffrey Harcourt. Piketty, flawed, but not a light that failed.
Current Affairs A review of Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century.* Translated by Arthur Goldhammer, Cambridge, Mass and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2014. viii + 685 pp. ISBN 978-0-674-43000-6* *This is a smaller version of a review article to be published in the next issue of Economic and Labour Relations Continue reading »
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Max Bourke. Northern Australia – the fantasy continues
Current Affairs The White Paper on Northern Australia. ( www.northernaustralia.dpmc.gov.au accessed June 19, 2015) The cover of this Report features, a slightly sick (ironically seems to have a fungal disease), young seedling growing in rich black soil. The seedling well reflects the issue, the black soil does not. When white settlers landed in Australia at Continue reading »
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James Laurenceson and Hannah Bretherton. What Australians really think about a rising China.
Current Affairs What does China’s rise as a major power mean for Australia? The answer depends on who you ask. In March 2015 the Sydney Morning Herald’s International Editor, Peter Hartcher, described China as a fascist state that bullies its own citizens and neighbouring countries alike. That about sums up the ‘China threat’ view. Yet Continue reading »
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Bruce Duncan. Pope Francis on avoiding environmental catastrophe
Current Affairs Popes write social encyclicals in times of social crisis or at great turning points in history. Pope Francis’s Laudato Si is no exception. He sees the world facing unprecedented twin crises: from climate change; and unresolved issues of global hunger and poverty, resulting in growing conflict, violence and displacement of peoples. ‘Peace, justice Continue reading »
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Robert Manne. Papal Encyclical and Cardinal Pell
Current Affairs In The Monthly on 31 October 2011, Robert Manne recalled the efforts of Cardinal George Pell to discredit the case of those who were concerned about climate change. Cardinal Pell said that Robert Manne was following fashionable opinion on the subject. Extracts from Robert Manne’s article follow below. John Menadue. In the Sydney Morning Continue reading »
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John Menadue. A night with the Vice Chancellors – the export of education services.
Current Affairs Education services earn an export income for Australia of over $16 b. p.a. Those export services are expected to increase to $31 b. p.a. by 2020 from about 600,000overseas students. Education is now our fourth largest export behind iron ore, coal and natural gas. It is our major services export, ahead of tourism. Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Risk-averse business.
Current Affairs The Reserve Bank has pushed interest rates to record lows but business continues to be reluctant to invest. Capital investment will fall by a record 25% to $104 b. in 2015/16 compared with what companies expected to spend a year earlier. In the March quarter of this year spending by companies on new Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Is war in the American DNA?
Current Affairs In his book ‘Dangerous Allies’ Malcolm Fraser warned us how we can be drawn into US conflicts that are of no immediate concern to us. We have seen that in recent decades in following the US into wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. He spoke of ‘dangerous strategic dependence’ The US has a Continue reading »
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Ian McAuley and Miriam Lyons – Governomics.
Current Affairs Governomics Melbourne University Press have just published Governomics. The book is about the role of government and the importance of the public sector. The day after Governomics was launched Geraldine Doogue interviewed Miriam Lyons and Ian McAuley on the ABC Radio National program Saturday Extra. The case for government In a fightback against the “small government” obsession, Ian Continue reading »
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Robert Manne. Human Rights Commission and Gillian Triggs.
Current Affairs The Australian government and The Australian are at it again, attacking Gillian Triggs. I re-post below an article by Robert Manne from earlier this year. John Menadue Readers of John Menadue’s blog will be aware that a vile attack is at present being launched against both the Human Rights Commission and its President, Continue reading »
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Bruce Duncan. Pope Francis and the Abbott government
Current Affairs Pope Francis has repeatedly called for greater social and economic equity in the world, and reiterated the critique of neoliberal economics very strongly. Now he is about to issue an encyclical, the highest form of Church teaching, on the need to reduce carbon emissions and global warming. What will our pollies make of Continue reading »
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Infrastructure Audit 2015 and serious transport reform: how soon is now?
Infrastructure Australia’s Infrastructure Audit was released to the press in May this year. It circulated quickly across the nation’s media houses. They all parroted Hanrahan: ‘we’ll all be rooned’ if we don’t resign ourselves to a big, new wave of investments. Continue reading »
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Cavan Hogue. When elephants fight, kangaroos can be trampled.
Current Affairs The growing tension in the South China Sea poses a number of problems for Australia. We want to ensure that our access through these important waterway and air routes are not impeded but we want to do so without appearing to take sides in a confrontation between China and the USA. We also Continue reading »
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David M. Neuhaus SJ. The Holy See and the State of Palestine.
Current Affairs. Last week’s headlines about the Vatican’s recognition of ‘the State of Palestine’ don’t do justice to the rich and complex history of the Church’s commitment to the Holy Land, its people and places, says David Neuhaus SJ. He describes how the Holy See’s discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has developed over nearly 70 Continue reading »
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Budgets and Women at Work
Current Affairs. Since 1984 Federal Governments have produced a Women’s Budget Statement as one element of the official Budget Papers. The present government discontinued this practice last year. In response, the National Foundation for Australian Women together with others took up the task of analysing the implications of the budget that were of particular interest Continue reading »
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Peter Hughes. Citizenship Revocation: a very limited tool in the fight against Jihadists
This is a repost of an article by Peter Hughes which appeared on 20 February 2015. This repost is relevant in light of recent discussion on revocation of citizenship. Liberal Federal MP, Andrew Nikolic, has put back on the agenda the question of changing the law on Australian Citizenship revocation as part of the Continue reading »
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Greg Bailey. Lobbyists and Consultants.
Current Affairs. John Menadue has written an excellent summary of what might originally have been a problem of the sociology of knowledge, where particular groups in society appropriate the debates relating to public policy. They usually ignore the intellectual currents that lie more deeply behind these policies, even though they have been strongly influenced by Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Failed policies have made us a larger terrorism target.
Current Affairs. The major drivers of Islamic terrorism are a century of Western policies in the Middle East that have colonised, expropriated and attacked the people of the Middle East. Those suffering from these policies are overwhelmingly Muslim. Add to that the continued and current meddling of Western powers in the Middle East and it Continue reading »
