Public Policy
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Think tanks have put British democracy at risk. We have the same problem.
It’s arguable that Britain’s path to this point — where it is at risk of decaying into a ‘competitive authoritarian’ regime — can be traced back to the first of the ‘conservative’ think tanks. Continue reading »
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Economists’ proposals show responsible welfare reform is possible
The next election is likely to continue the grim outlook for welfare beneficiaries regardless of whether the Coalition or Labor wins. A healthy democracy should do a lot better than this. There is no shortage of good ideas. Continue reading »
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Democracy in decline: Australia’s slide into ‘competitive authoritarianism’
Australia is at a critical point. A Coalition government that would cling to power to impose broadly unpopular policy threatens the very nature of our democracy. Continue reading »
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Fix the means test for a consumer-friendly retirement income system
Australia’s retirement income system needs reform to make it more secure and user friendly. Continue reading »
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Agriculture industry condemned to becoming a growing centre for exploitation and abuse
The Senate report on temporary migration makes many excellent recommendations, but also misses opportunities. Continue reading »
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IPA’s pick for Human Rights Commissioner undermines independence
Lorraine Finlay’s appointment as Human Rights Commissioner is yet another attack from the Coalition on the commission’s independence. Continue reading »
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Climate change and politics as usual: A government missing in action
Successive governments’ failure to act on climate change means it is now the greatest threat to Australian and global human security. Continue reading »
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The shameful global vaccine apartheid in 10 images
The single biggest moral and scientific failure during this global crisis is vaccine inequity. Continue reading »
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Redress on Sexual Abuse
Is the Governments response to the Second Anniversary Review of the National Redress Scheme (NRS), a Royal Commission waiting to happen in 10 years? ..The Government’s response has been slow, demonstrating little leadership, accountability or empathy for survivors and their families. Continue reading »
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A burger by any other name: The livestock industry’s beef with plant-protein labelling
The increasing popularity of plant-based products has fuelled ongoing debate around how these products should be labelled. In Australia, it attracts visceral reactions from representatives across the meat and dairy industries, as well as from our political leaders. Continue reading »
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Is Australia’s grand experiment in multiculturalism failing us all?
One of the greatest public policy innovations in Australia’s political history has been the large scale immigration programs commenced in 1947 under the Chifley government. The Menzies government grudgingly inherited the policy on the understanding that all immigrants would be assimilated into the community as “New Australians.” (Meanwhile, Prime Minister Menzies preferred to think of Continue reading »
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Why we shouldn’t race to mandate vaccination
When governments and health experts call for mandatory vaccination we should be wary. While it is potentially the optimal way to get society moving again and particularly to end the frequency and severity of harmful lockdowns, the requirement for every citizen to have their individual rights trumped by the community interest is a drastic measure Continue reading »
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Nothing dollarable is safe in the Kosciuszko National Park
“Nothing dollarable is safe, however guarded” wrote the great American conservationist and protected area crusader, John Muir in 1909. He was right then, and he’s still right today: maybe more than ever. Continue reading »
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Covid-fuelled violence threatens civility and democracy
In common with the thugs who invaded the US Capitol on January 6, the Australian protesters against lockdown measures on July 24 displayed extremism which threatens the civility of democracy and thereby others’ freedoms. Continue reading »
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We aren’t just laggards in Covid immunisation
I recently watched the superb film “Jimmy Carter, Rock & Roll President”. It is available on SBS. It’s not about politics. It’s about the man. Watch it, enjoy the fabulous music and interviews with the music legends he befriended. Then weep. Weep for a time when honesty, integrity, self-effacement, and sincere humility were the consistent Continue reading »
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Trust is the first casualty in time of plague
Who are the people who marched in Melbourne and Sydney at the weekend, chanting about freedom and demanding an end to lockdowns? One answer is obvious. They are people whose idea of freedom seems to mean being free to put the lives of others at risk by dismantling controls on the transmission of covid-19. Continue reading »
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Resisting repression: defending civil liberties in Australia
The most effective way to challenge Australia’s repressive laws and practices is not obvious. There are many possibilities. No doubt some initiatives will fall flat while others will be too risky for a few leaders. The challenge is to figure out and implement a campaign that enables a great many people to join a cause Continue reading »
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‘Freedom’ marches and far-right groups in the US and Australia.
Dissatisfaction with governments and authority has been widespread for months. The restriction of rights around Covid is seen by some, not as a community responsibility in the face of a pandemic, but a sinister plan for governments to further control citizens. Continue reading »
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Rights, law breakers, Scott Morrison, Sky News and the Covid lockdown
George Christensen and Craig Kelly, amongst others, have been spruiking false information about the pandemic, about vaccinations and about the lockdown, giving comfort to those who have proved more than a little capacity for anarchic behaviour. Given these exponents of controversy in service of self-promotion sit on government benches, one might have expected censure from Continue reading »
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John Barilaro is privatising Kosciuszko National Park
John Barilaro’s Snowy Mountains Special Activation Zone Precinct effectively wrests the control of developments in Kosciuszko National Park from the Minister for the Environment into the hands of the Minister for Regional NSW, John Barilaro. The plan is to heavily develop Jindabyne and surrounding areas for tourism, with little thought for the environment. Continue reading »
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How the Doherty model has been politically weaponised.
Political agendas have become more important than health policy in our current response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading »
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Distracted by the submarine bauble, Labor and the media miss the point
Australia is about to become home to American bases, and potentially a nuclear target, and this seems to have escaped the attention of the Opposition and the media. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up
The pressure rises before the Glasgow COP meeting. The end of coal may be on the distant horizon but 80 per cent of the world’s energy still comes from fossil fuels and corporate America is preparing to fight Biden’s climate action plans. Continue reading »
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The Clayton’s but secret Covid national plan
Those hoping for clarification on the national COVID-19 plan from last week’s national cabinet meeting will be disappointed. The main outcome from the meeting was a statement about the importance of its discussions and documents remaining “cabinet in confidence”. Continue reading »
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Dealing with community despair in the time of Covid
As the public health measures work to suppress the pandemic, community relations and connections are at risk. A sense of community, togetherness and mutual support is needed, now and in the long-term. Continue reading »
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How nurse practitioners have been shut out of the vaccine rollout
Privately practising nurse practitioners offer the best solution for vaccinated marginalised populations, but they have been excluded from access to Commonwealth emergency pandemic vaccines. Continue reading »
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Beware internet defamation: Australian law’s worrying turn
An Australian defamation court case has made it a whole lot more risky for publishers — or anyone, for that matter — to allow third-party comments on their social media pages. Continue reading »
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Covid on the inside: A Sydney doctor’s perspective. I can face tomorrow
Caring for COVID-19 patients in a Sydney hospital through the city’s latest outbreak, a doctor reflects on the impact the pandemic is having on our healthcare system and the people who work in it. Continue reading »
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Genocide by big pharma. Millions will die
Big pharma is fiercely opposing measures to scale up production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world. This corporate genocide must be named. Stop protecting crooks. Continue reading »
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Three unjustified problems with the Queensland euthanasia bill
The Queensland Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill goes too far in trampling on the rights of those who want nothing to do with it in the last stages of their own life or in their long term relationships with their patients and residents. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
China could close all its coal-fired power stations by 2045. North Atlantic right whales facing climate change threats quicker than humans are moving to protect them. More than 200 environmental activists murdered in 2020. Continue reading »
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Why journalists have a trust problem
If there was a time when journalists had great credibility with audiences, it’s less so today. In this speech delivered to a university media seminar, The Sydney Morning Herald‘s economics editor Ross Gittins explores why. Continue reading »
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The Norwegian election was fought and won on climate policy. Are there lessons for Australia?
Despite its lowest polling in 20 years, the Norwegian Labour Party will form a coalition government after a campaign largely focussed on the environment and renewable energy. Is this a sign of things to come for our federal election? Continue reading »
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‘Everybody did it’: wealthy doctors’ lobbies ride JobKeeper gravy train
JobKeeper for dentists? Fair enough. But more public subsidies for doctors’ lobby groups? Callum Foote reports on Australia’s medical colleges refusing to pay back millions in JobKeeper payments. Continue reading »
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A house divided against itself cannot tame the pandemic
St Matthew tells us that Jesus was at pains to teach his disciples that, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. The truism comes to mind as one looks in vain for the United States of Australia, an entity essential for our taming of the Covid pandemic. Continue reading »
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Go hard, go early. But the PM prefers a go slow on key issues
The Treasury advice to government at the time of the Global Financial Crisis was to “go hard, go early” with counter-measures, and that has since become an accepted model when confronted with an unexpected, major, crisis. Continue reading »
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When politics fail: The folly in under-funding the ABC’s international services
The ABC is under such constant pressure and threats from government (as well as relentless attacks from hostile media and other organisations such as the IPA), it’s not surprising that public attention is almost exclusively on the domestic service. Continue reading »
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Reaching 80% vaccination isn’t the same for all communities. The vulnerable will continue to suffer.
The NSW government has made much of the promise that something good will happen when localities achieve 80 per cent of second jabs of eligible people. But not all numbers are equal. Continue reading »
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Ziggy Switkowski: the corporatisation of Australian universities and Crown Casino
After a stellar career at the pinnacle of several large corporate entities, Ziggy Switkowski seems to have fallen to Earth after resigning as chancellor of RMIT university. Continue reading »
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Beyond the hype of hydrogen
In the last three years, hydrogen has become all the rage. For those following energy and climate, barely a day goes by without a new story about hydrogen. But is hydrogen essential to our efforts to decarbonise the global energy system? Continue reading »
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If the PM is serious about reducing gas prices, he needs to address price fixing
The government should explain to taxpayers just how its gas policy will make energy more affordable and how employment will be created. Continue reading »
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NSW’s reopening plan is risky, and signals an end to a national approach
By abandoning the national plan, NSW’s gamble to go it alone on easing restrictions for fully vaccinated people further fractures federalism… NSW initially locked down too little and too late. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Small farmers and local, sustainable food production more likely to feed the world than multinational corporations supported by government subsidies. Health professionals come out fighting on climate change and Biden hears the roar. 2020 and the planet is in its worst shape ever. Continue reading »
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In a liberal capitalist society, Charlie Teo exemplifies the freedom and the potential of the entrepreneur
Does the unease about well-known neurosurgeon Charlie Teo arise from jealousy? Or is there something wrong with the wider social system? Continue reading »
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John Menadue-At last,Australia backs Covid vaccine patent waiver. Better late than never
People’s vaccines may yet become a reality. Let’s hope so despite opposition by Big Pharma and rich countries. Continue reading »
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News Corp opts for a bet each way on climate change
News Corp’s climate change campaign allows the company to shift its public without being committed to much at all. Continue reading »
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Doherty has ditched the pledge to First Nations Australians
The Doherty Institute says it’s committed to Indigenous Australians, but it fails to protect marginalised communities. Continue reading »
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