Public Policy
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Public and private schools are partners in educating all Australian children
John Frew’ s recent essay asserts that public schools are increasingly burdened with students facing complex challenges while private schools lure more desirable students with questionable claims of better academic outcomes and stricter discipline. Continue reading »
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A battle between our governments and the ‘Mandarins’ who serve them
Former prime minister Tony Abbott claims “unelected and unaccountable” public servants stymied his government. History records a long running battle between our governments and the so-called ‘mandarins’ who are supposedly there to serve them Continue reading »
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Australian social cohesion under threat
The most comprehensive study of Australian social cohesion — The Scanlon Foundation Research Institute Social Cohesion Mapping 2024 Report — has highlighted strains in Australia society which are not yet dire, but are disturbing. Continue reading »
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The silent crisis killing public education
The exodus from Australia’s public schools is not a quiet migration – it’s an outright stampede. This dramatic shift, particularly in secondary education, reveals a deep crisis that policymakers, academics, and unions acknowledge superficially but lack the courage to confront head-on. At the heart of this issue lies the unspoken truth: public schools are increasingly Continue reading »
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Selective outrage won’t kill the death penalty
The world, thankfully, has come a long way from the time when animals as well as humans were put to death for unacceptable behaviour. Regrettably, Australia, a self-proclaimed abolitionist, is only really serious about capital punishment when the lives of its citizens are at stake. Continue reading »
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Another wrongful conviction? UK nurse Lucy Letby may be a scapegoat for an under-funded NHS
In August 2023, nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of six babies in the neonatal unit of a UK National Health Service (NHS) hospital. The Australian media has reported on the current instalment of the saga (viz. a judicial inquiry into conditions at the hospital where Letby Continue reading »
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Australia’s faltering research and development funding and efforts
Michael Lester in conversation with Professor Ian Chubb AC—policy adviser at the Australian Academy of Science (AAS), former Chief Scientist of Australia, and former Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of several universities—now appointed to lead a once-in-a-generation review of Australia’s faltering research and development funding and efforts. Continue reading »
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‘No appeal from the grave’ Phillip Hughes, workplace deaths and getting the balance right
The death of cricketer Phillip Hughes ten years ago to-day (November 27) was one of several hundred workplace fatalities in 2014. Continue reading »
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Australia’s public policy settings need to change to reflect our new reality
Many of Australia’s public policy settings were designed decades ago. Since that time, society and the economy have changed radically. Australia’s outdated policy settings now extend to matters as important and diverse as taxation, competition policy, drug laws, reproductive healthcare, the carbon transition, media regulation and the organisation of our parliaments. Change is urgent. This is Continue reading »
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Monday mornings in Court Seven
Monday mornings in Court Seven, Southport Magistrate’s Court on Queensland’s Gold Coast, is where the rubber hits the road for the local traffic-offence recalcitrant. Continue reading »
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Sunlight needed to eradicate prison horrors
Reports of malfeasance involving staff at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, the ACT’s supposedly human-rights-compliant prison, are now too numerous and too frequent to lack substantial veracity. Continue reading »
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Both personal and political: Productivity and Childcare
The federal government recently released a Productivity Commission’s Report on children’s services. It found too many changes were needed for the government to say more than that they were “looking at it”. The report is significant and was passed to the Government to guide possible reforms to its role in funding of services to deliver Continue reading »
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Universities under attack
What are we to make of Peter Dutton’s outrageous demand that Mark Scott, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, should resign? Continue reading »
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Axing negative gearing won’t have any effect on rentals
Negative gearing costs Australian taxpayers billions each year. Its defenders say abolishing it will cause a rental crisis. That’s not true. Continue reading »
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The APSC’s Robodebt code of conduct inquiry: too little, too late and not convincing
Those thousands of Australians so terribly damaged by Robodebt are unlikely to be satisfied by the Robodebt Centralised Code of Conduct Inquiry Report or the associated statement last Friday by the APS Commissioner, Gordon de Brouwer. Nor should the public service or the general public. Nor even those who were investigated. Continue reading »
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Legal responses to gendered violence in Australia
How do we address community concern about increasingly high rates of male violence towards women in Australia? Continue reading »
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Lock ’em up, or maybe not
Incarceration is widely seen as the ultimate penalty (short of execution), and so, serious, and not-so-serious, offences are measured by the extent of the jail term. The question is, does that achieve the aims of the criminal justice system? Is incarceration a deterrent, and does it reduce the risk of re-offending? The answer provided by Continue reading »
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It’s not a “cost-of-living crisis”; it’s a failure to tax the rich – Weekly Roundup
If the well-off paid their fair share of tax no one would be talking about a cost of living crisis; Dutton weeps as his beloved Home Affairs Department, modelled on the Soviet KGB, is dismantled; how the gambling lobby has become Australia’s equivalent to America’s National Rifle Association. Read on for the weekly roundup of Continue reading »
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Coalition to fast-track nuclear power, North Korean style – Weekly Roundup
Coalition plans to join hands with North Korea and fast-track nuclear power, how Melbourne is stretching to the South Australian border, a bipartisan board of censors to purge dirty books from public libraries. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and political issues. Continue reading »
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CFMEU just one part of a dysfunctional, high-cost industry – Weekly Roundup
Is the CFMEU just one small part of a dysfunctional and high-cost industry, is Australia immune from populist demagogues, can the Reserve Bank read the market signals, can ABC journalists stop talking about “a cost-of-living crisis”? Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and Continue reading »
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“Journalism is not a crime”: Gaza reporter slams international press as journalist death toll rises
As negotiators from Israel and Hamas continue discussions in Qatar about a possible Gaza ceasefire, we speak with Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed, who spoke at a press conference of Gaza media workers last week urging the international press to speak up for their Palestinian colleagues. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate says nearly 200 journalists have been Continue reading »
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Outmoded concepts of disadvantage must be rethought
It’s time to rid ourselves of the concepts of disadvantage and equity and immerse ourselves in the practices of learning and knowledge like never before. Continue reading »
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All at (sixes and) sevens and eights: Taiwan policy
The fate of the world may well rest on Taiwan but our policy is at sixes and sevens, or rather, according to recent statements in the Australian press, at sevens and eights. Continue reading »
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The great mental health experiment … and why it went so wrong
Half a century ago, governments around the world ditched their old psychiatric hospitals for something they said would work better. It didn’t. Continue reading »
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Facts, alternative facts and Edward Said: Narrating a genocide
As Donald Trump is inaugurated as a second-term president, readers may recall the infamous expression “alternative facts” used by Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s senior counsellor, to defend the false statements of Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary. At the time, the media mocked Conway for describing Spicer’s falsehoods about attendance numbers at Trump’s 2017 inauguration Continue reading »
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How Murdoch got a foothold in Foxtel (An updated post from 1 February 2014)
Rupert Murdoch relies on political threats for commercial benefit Continue reading »
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Is there much life after age 80?
More people live longer as life expectancies grow over the decades. For example, in 1900, the worldwide average life expectancy (defined as the average number of years remaining) was 32 years. By 2024, it is now 73.3 years. A commonly-asked question is how much life is left for those of us aged 80 and above? Continue reading »
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Australian broadcaster targeted by pro-Israel group, charged with ‘hate speech’
Yet another journalist — this one the prominent Australian broadcaster @MaryKostakidis — is formally charged with “hate speech” crimes. She was targeted by a pro-Israel group, led by a dual citizen of Israel and Australia, for the crime of reporting on Nasrallah’s speeches, writes Glenn Greenwald. Continue reading »
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Best of 2024: ‘Disingenuous theatre dressed up as major news’: Why the ABC is losing credibility
ABC supporters across the country are dismayed and angry with the national broadcaster. The biggest threat to the ABC today is its craven and distorted performance in television current affairs reporting. Continue reading »
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Open access. Break the paywall. Reclaim knowledge now
In my academic career, I’ve always advocated for not-for-profit academic journals. These platforms support academic freedom and align with the principle that research should benefit society, not merely serve the interests of profit-driven corporations. Unfortunately, the academic publishing landscape, dominated by five major commercial players—Elsevier, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, Springer Nature, and SAGE—has become a Continue reading »
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Best of 2024: What makes Chinese students so successful by international standards?
There is a belief widely held across the Western world: Chinese students are schooled through rote, passive learning – and an educational system like this can only produce docile workers who lack innovation or creativity. We argue this is far from true. Continue reading »
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When will the Trump Musk bromance end?
How long will Elon Musk last in the Trump orbit? Currently he seems to be ubiquitous but that presents a problem for Donald Trump and his massive ego. Continue reading »
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Overreach and technocratic control in Australian University reform
Announced by the incoming Labor government, the University Accord process and review is being touted as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the role and funding of Australia’s 40-plus universities. With 1.5 million students enrolled, including 500,000 international students, and generating $35 billion in revenue, universities have been struggling in the wake of COVID-19. Continue reading »
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The Hannibal Directive and mainstream media’s organised forgetting
Aeschylus (525-456BC) was, as current circumstances in the Middle East and in Ukraine amply demonstrate, entirely accurate when he observed that “In war, truth is the first casualty.” Continue reading »
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Best of 2024: Australian Prime Minister referred to ICC for complicity in genocide
“The Australian government and its most senior officials have both failed to prevent or respond to the genocide committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and been complicit in the carrying out of this genocide in a manner which falls squarely within Article 25 (3)(c) and/or (d) of the Rome Statute of the ICC,” state Continue reading »
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A rogue reporter vs. the American Empire
The American material life is taken for granted. Things just appear. There is no consideration for what country the Empire destroyed to fuel their cars, which people are earning pennies inside sweatshops for their clothes or how many children’s hands touched the lithium in their phone batteries fresh out of the mine. The U.S. Empire Continue reading »
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White Man’s Media: The Washington consensus and legacy media frames and conditions our thinking and actions
In Gaza we have witnessed a litany of lies by Israel and America peddled by our media day after day.The lives of white Jews and Christians are clearly more valuable than the lives of brown Muslims. Continue reading »
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John Menadue on Rupert Murdoch, the Last Mogul
We have a major problem with the damage that Rupert Murdoch has done to newspapers in Australia, and any self-respecting government should take steps to correct that as soon as possible. Continue reading »
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Environment: Warming, thawing Arctic presents problems for everyone
The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the globe and the effects are global. Bacteria responsible for escalating methane emissions. The false binary of system change or individual behaviour change. Continue reading »
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Maria Montessori: Feminist and educator
Born in 1870, the year of Italy’s nationhood, Maria Montessori was a social reformer. The general militarisation of life, the first great slaughter, the rise of Mussolini and the second slaughter, are only some of what she reacted and organised against. She believed her method – now universally known as the Montessori Method – would Continue reading »
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No longer possible to defend the slaughter of over 40,000 civilians as ‘Israel’s right to self-defence’
I know what antisemitism looks like and it is to desecrate the memory of my parents and the victims of real antisemitism when it is weaponised to silence justified criticism of Israel’s crimes. Continue reading »
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Anti-Semitism, a pandemic of concocted claims
In response to arson on a Melbourne synagogue, ill informed politicians, ignorant media commentators and a bully Israeli Prime Minister have rushed to declare this crime is not only anti-Semitic but an act of terrorism. A year of pandemic like claims about a rise in anti-Semitism has reached a climax in interpretations of the meaning Continue reading »
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Barack Obama wants us to care about the oceans
What are the five most precious things in my life? Continue reading »
