Politics
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Ending the policy paralysis on refugees. John Menadue
In my blog of July 6, ‘Asylum seekers … good news at last’, I expressed concern that it had taken so long for the government to take action and really put effort into the development of a regional framework. It has been obvious for years that this was the path we had to take. We Continue reading »
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Kevin Rudd – the anti-politician. John Menadue
We often ponder why Kevin Rudd has remained so popular even through his three years in the wilderness. A blog ‘The Piping Strike’ explains to me the phenomenon better than others. It says ‘The uncomfortable answer is that Rudd is popular because he encapsulates the electorate’s distrust and even dislike of the political system’. The Continue reading »
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Asylum seekers – good news at last. John Menadue
The joint communique issued yesterday by President Yudhoyono and PM Rudd is the best news that I have read on asylum seekers for many years. A regional framework is the only viable policy for the future. Individual countries cannot do it alone. The communique said ‘As co-chairs of the Bali Process, the two Leaders reaffirmed Continue reading »
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The ‘C’ Team vs. the Shadow Cabinet. John Menadue
Tony Abbott has described the new Rudd Ministry as the ‘C’ team. He is very strong on one-liners, but is there much content behind them? Laura Tingle in the Australian Financial Review suggests that the new Rudd team could be a serious election contender because it focuses its strength on the likely key areas in Continue reading »
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Japanese Pacifist Constitution in Danger. Guest blogger: John Woodward
The Japanese pacifist constitution prohibits Japan from waging war. This restriction will be removed if the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has his way. And he is likely to succeed come the 21 July national election for the Upper House of the Japanese Diet (parliament). Abe’s government is riding high in polls since his Continue reading »
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Back from the brink of disaster. John Menadue
Many people and particularly women will be disappointed that our first female Prime Minister has been forced out. She has been most unfairly treated by the media. Things have been said about her by Tony Abbott and others that would not be said about a male Prime Minister. But my view is that a Continue reading »
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Taiwan shows the way in health insurance. John Menadue
I have spoken and written many times about the inefficiency and inequity of the taxpayer subsidy of $3.5 billion annually to the private health insurance funds in Australia. These funds favour the wealthy; enable some people to jump to the top of the hospital queue; they have administrative costs three times those of Medicare; they Continue reading »
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Julia Gillard’s greatest failure. John Menadue
The Prime Minister’s greatest failure is her refusal to lead the reform of the structure of the ALP. That structure is controlled by a handful of faction and union bosses like Paul Howes. In return for protecting their positions, they are now repaying their debt to her by shoring up her precarious position. The last Continue reading »
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Beware the debt and deficit trap and the European mistake. John Menadue
The Europeans may at last be breaking free of the debt and deficit trap that has caused so much social and economic damage across Europe. Even the IMF is at last challenging the austerity mindset that took hold in Europe. There is a lesson for Australia in this. The Australian Government has allowed itself Continue reading »
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The Vatican appeals in vain for decency towards refugees. John Menadue
On June 6, the Vatican emphasized that governments protect refugees. It said that the world’s governments must give ‘absolute priority’ to the fundamental rights of refugees. Cardinal Veglio who heads the Pontifical Council for Migrants said: ‘Protection must be guaranteed to all who live under conditions of forced migration, taking into account their specific Continue reading »
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Our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, deserves respect. Guest blogger: Chris Geraghty
The leader of the opposition addressing a protest crowd in Canberra and a team of colleagues all standing in front of a large sign – “DITCH THE WITCH” Anthony Abbott continuing to grace the commercial radio station and be softly questioned by the commentator who refers to our prime minister as “JU-LIAR”, or who opined Continue reading »
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Doctors scared Maggie Thatcher. John Menadue
Excuse me for dropping names but at a round table discussion with Maggie Thatcher in the late 1980s that I attended in Sydney she was asked “Now that you have fixed the work practices of the miners and the printers in the United Kingdom what are you going to do about the restrictive work practices Continue reading »
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How about it Gina and Twiggy? John Menadue
Since 1904 the brightest and best of young Australians have been winning Rhodes Scholarships to study at Oxford. Winners have included prime ministers, political leaders, a governor general, a Nobel Prize winner and high court judges. How about funding a substantial foundation to provide for the brightest and best of young Australians to study at Continue reading »
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Walter Hamilton. Australia – still a colonial relic in Japan.
The two greatest calamities to befall the people of Tokyo in modern times were the September 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and the March 1945 firebombing by American B-29s. In each case, many tens of thousands perished within a matter of hours. In Sumida ward, a working class area in the east of the city Continue reading »
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The Miners’ Lament. John Menadue
It is only a matter of time before the miners start lamenting that they did not seriously negotiate with Kevin Rudd over his Resources Super Profits Tax (RSPT). The mining industry has always favoured rent/profit taxes instead of royalties. What the mining industry really disagreed with was the rate of the Resources Super Profits Tax. Continue reading »
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Was the ‘hung parliament’ all that bad? John Menadue
We have been told many times since the 2010 election that the hung parliament was an abomination, it wouldn’t work and that it wouldn’t last. Denied government after the last election, the Coalition tried to make the government as well as the parliament as unworkable as possible. Paul Keating put it more colourfully “If Tony Continue reading »
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Catholic Health still leaves the impression that it wants to destroy Medicare. Joint Blog: John Menadue and Ian McAuley
On Mar 14 John Menadue wrote, on this blog site “Does Catholic really want to destroy Medicare”. Martin Laverty responded on 29 May. This is a further response by Ian McAuley and John Menadue. Together we have written many joint articles on health policy. See johnmenadue.com. Catholic Health’s response through Martin Laverty identifies two problems Continue reading »
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Fear and Trust. Guest blogger: Michael Kelly SJ
It was Arthur Augustus Calwell, Federal Leader of the Australian Labor Party before Gough Whitlam, who believed that fear was the most potent political weapon. He ought to know: he lost three elections because of it. The political correlative to fear is another emotion – the appeal to “trust me”. Creating or eroding trust is Continue reading »
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Asylum seekers and refugees – political slogans or humanitarian policies? John Menadue
Australia has a proud record in accepting 750,000 refugees since WWII. But the mood has now turned sour. It is so easy for unscrupulous politicians to exploit fear of the foreigner. It is paying off politically. We no longer ‘welcome the stranger’. The continually repeated slogan ‘stop the boats’ is with us almost every day. Continue reading »
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Myth-busting. John Menadue
One after another, the opinion polls tell us that the Liberal and National parties are much better economic managers than the ALP. This is despite Australia having one of the best performing economies in the world by almost any measure; debt, economic growth, employment and inflation. Unfortunately for the Liberal and National parties and John Continue reading »
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What Rupert Murdoch told the US Ambassador about the pending Whitlam dismissal – 12 months beforehand in November 1974? Yes 1974. John Menadue
More pieces are falling into place. Last year we learned from Jenny Hockey’s second biographic volume of Gough Whitlam that a serving High Court Judge Anthony Mason from August 1975 improperly briefed Sir John Kerr about the dismissal of the Whitlam Government. He even drafted a dismissal letter, although it was never used. The legal, Continue reading »
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We are a more generous people than the politicians think we are. John Menadue
It is easy to be disappointed and depressed with the whole toxic debate about asylum seekers. The government is doing some things well, such as releasing more people from detention, but it is failing to provide political and moral leadership in this sensitive area. Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison do their best to demonise asylum Continue reading »
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Malaysian Elections Hangover.-How 51% of votes secured only 40 % of the seats. Guest blogger El Tee Kay
As a guest blogger on May 2 I described the intense interest in the General Election to be held on May 5. This was shown on election day with a voter turnout of more than 84%, the highest in Malaysian history. The Opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) won the popular vote but lost the elections. It Continue reading »
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National Party fails farmers. John Menadue
Warren Truss and Barnaby Joyce have allowed the National Party to be dragged along at the heels of the Liberal Party on climate change and other issues. What was it that Tony Abbott said about climate change being ‘bullshit’? Australian farmers particularly in Western Australia are now paying the price of failed leadership by the Continue reading »
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Malaysian General Elections – Change or Chaos? Guest blogger: El Tee Kay in Kuala Lumpur
The run up to the 13th General Election on Sunday May 5 has been described as the dirtiest in Malaysian history. For the first time in 54 years the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government led by Prime Minister Najib Razak fears it may lose its grip on power. For the first time the Malaysian Continue reading »
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Is the ALP a political party or a suicide cult? John Menadue
Friends overseas are amazed that with a world class economy such as ours, the Australian Government faces a rout. I try and explain that the government’s difficulties are self-inflicted; that it is tone-deaf on many political issues; that the Prime Minister is not being listened to and the public will not accept what she did Continue reading »
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The post-September struggle. Guest blogger: Red Pimpernel
As the Labor Party lurches to a blistering defeat in September there is a lot of work going on to reframe it as a democratic and progressive organisation. Those that seriously believe in the ALP as a 21st century social democracy have begun quietly. The reframers know they will run into internal conservative opposition. It Continue reading »
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The Medicine Lobby. Vested interests win again. John Menadue
Professor Stephen Duckett of the Grattan Institute has just reported that ‘Australians are paying too much for prescription drugs. The cost of this overpayment is at least $1.3 p.a.’ This is another example of the power of vested interests in the health sector and their ability to extract economic rents from the community. The other Continue reading »
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The Power of the Gambling and Liquor Complexes. John Menadue
I remember speaking many years ago to an old friend, Justice Xavier Connor, after he had completed an enquiry for the Victorian Government on a possible casino in Melbourne. He recommended against it. He said ‘John, gambling and casinos everywhere in the world attract criminals and organised crime. It is like bees around a honeypot. Continue reading »
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The Neverending Story. Guest blogger: Greg from Cottesloe
Side show alleys have become smaller these days. They used to be the centre of attraction at the annual Royal Show with the boxing troupes, the bearded ladies and so on but even the shrunken lane of today still has a conjuror performing the old pea and thimble trick. The conjuror puts a pea under one Continue reading »
