Media
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John Menadue. Repost: NBN; the rot set in with John Howard.
The current NBN mess started with the decision of the Howard Government to privatise the whole of Telstra and not just its retail arm. If the wholesale arm of Telstra had remained in public hands we would have been well on our way to a successful NBN. Unfortunately, at Tony Abbott’s urging, Malcolm Turnbull also Continue reading »
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John Menadue. ‘The Big Short’
Paul Krugman reviews ‘The Big Short’, a film that the enemies of financial regulation hope you won’t see or believe. See link below. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/opinion/the-big-short-housing-bubbles-and-retold-lies.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share Continue reading »
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John Menadue. The Dismissal – Forty years on. A smoking gun
Repost from 27/10/2015 The evidence continues to mount against those who collaborated in the dismissal of the Whitlam government. To obfuscate and cover their tracks, those who collaborated in the dismissal and their establishment friends spare no effort to criticize the performance of the Whitlam government. Those attacks are becoming quite threadbare. It is amazing Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Cricket and the sound of summer.
For me, the most memorable comment of the cricket season so far has been by Steve Smith, the Australian captain, explaining that the VB logo on their jackets wasn’t really advertising alcohol. It was only ‘branding’. I notice that he is now promoting Kentucky Fried Chicken. I am waiting for his explanation of how that Continue reading »
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Jack Waterford. It’s time: The Dismissal gave us knockout punch politics, now we should get rid of it.
One has to be of a certain (old) age to remember intimately, as I do, the tumultuous events of November 11, 1975. I knew then that I was being a witness to history and, sometimes, metaphorically pinched myself to be sure I remembered. Nearly 40 years on, it remains the most sensational event of Australian Continue reading »
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ISIL is really a revolt by young Muslims against their parents’ generation.
In Quartz on 7 December 2015, Australian journalist, Emma-Kate Symons, shines a particular light on young Muslim terrorists. She argues that ISIL is really a revolt by young Muslims against their parents’ generation. We have seen that many times on numerous issues – younger people who reject the values and materialism of earlier generations. See Continue reading »
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Magical thinking about ISIS.
Adam Shatz is the contributing editor at the London Review of Books. He lives in New York. In this article he says ‘The attacks in Paris don’t reflect a clash of civilisations, but rather the fact that we really do live in a single, if unequal world, where the torments in one region inevitably spill Continue reading »
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Laurie Patton. Data Retention: How not to introduce complex legislation.
One of my first tasks shortly after joining Internet Australia (nee ISOC-AU) was to front the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS). Our appearance at the hearing into the (Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015) came at the end of a long day of mostly opposing submissions. With our president Continue reading »
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Laurie Patton. Malcolm Turnbull: NBN killer?
The ABC Online News headline on the 14th of September 2010 was pretty blunt: “Abbott orders Turnbull to demolish NBN”. In the article itself then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is quoted as saying: “The Government is going to invest $43 billion worth of hard-earned money in what I believe is going to turn out to Continue reading »
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Ranald Macdonald. Meet Mark Scott’s heir apparent, a businesswoman with close ties to the Murdochs.
“The announcement of Michelle Guthrie as the new ABC supremo by ABC Board Chairman Jim Spigelman is shrewd and just maybe a winner. Of course, one cannot judge the performance of a driver until she is actually behind the wheel and showing her stuff. An “A” for innovation, though, for the Board on its decision Continue reading »
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How a photographer of refugees finds the stories that get left behind.
‘I feel an obligation to give something back to the people I photograph.’ See link to stories and photos from the Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alessandro-penso-interview_5672f66fe4b0648fe3028939?ir=World%253Fncid%253Dnewsltushpmg00000003 Continue reading »
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Rod Tiffen. Chris Mitchell at The Australian.
Chris Mitchell’s place in Australian journalism history is secure. The newspaper he edited lost more money during his tenure than any other paper ever has or will be allowed to again. Mitchell was editor in chief of The Australian for 13 years, and while News Corp is studiously coy about how much profit or loss the Continue reading »
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Gabrielle Appleby. What say do our elected representatives have in going to war?
The authorisation of military force is one of the most serious and consequential powers that governments possess. This power should be exercised with appropriate caution and, where circumstances allow, considered deliberation. Governments should be publicly accountable for its exercise. Across the world, debates have emerged around the extent to which the legislative branch should be Continue reading »
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The end of the NBN – missed opportunity for the innovation agenda?
In BuddeBlog, Paul Budde again outlines the major problems that the NBN faces. In this article he draws attention to reports that the government may be considering selling the NBN. He points out that it was remarkable that the NBN did not feature in Malcolm Turnbull’s Innovation Statement. See link to BuddeBlog below. http://www.buddeblog.com.au/frompaulsdesk/the-end-of-the-nbn-missed-opportunity-for-the-innovation-agenda/ Continue reading »
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Walkley Award for refugee advocate, Safdar Ahmed.
All the 2015 Walkley Award Winners announced on Thursday evening came from mainstream media organisations except one, Safdar Ahmed. Safdar, who won in the ‘Artwork’ category for his documentary web-comic Villawood: Notes From An Immigration Detention Centre, is a Sydney-based artist and academic in the field of Islamic studies. The work depicts the stories of Continue reading »
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Tony Smith. There is a hole in my heart where NITV News used to be
There are times when the rhetoric about ‘closing the gap’ between Indigenous Australians and the rest of the population sticks in the throat. This week I turned on my preferred television news source – the 5.30 bulletin on National Indigenous TeleVision (SBS4) – and found that it had disappeared. The ‘gap’ refers to the statistics Continue reading »
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Bullying and bugging in East Timor.
The bugging by Australian Security Intelligence Service (ASIS) of an East Timorese cabinet meeting in 2004 will not go away. The event was so outrageous it is not surprising that it continues to resurface. Only a Royal Commission or a Judicial Review can redress some of the damage that has been done to Australia’s reputation, Continue reading »
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Rob Nicholls. Ziggy’s stardust: The NBN, net neutrality and competitive neutrality
The sound of an incumbent lobbying has the grating element of petulant mewling. When the incumbent is a state owned enterprise that is evoking arguments about net neutrality, then it’s time to ask the “cui bono?” or “to whose profit?” question. After all, the term “network neutrality” can be best summed up as a line Continue reading »
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Richard Butler. After Paris
The attacks in Paris were textbook in terms of the philosophy of terrorism: hit publicly, indiscriminately, affecting as large a group of innocent people as possible, attract maximum publicity, generate widespread fear. They also represented a continuation of terrorist actions within metropolitan Europe: Madrid 2004, 191 dead; London 2005, 56 dead; Paris January 2015, Continue reading »
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Malcolm Turnbull’s NBN is off the rails.
Paul Budde comments in his BuddeBlog on 6 November 2015 ‘If you abandon national FttH (fibre to the home) you also undermine the infrastructure required by the new economy. … The MTM [multi technology mix] leads to the Balkanisation of infrastructure in Australia and will favour companies such as Telstra and TPG. … The NBN Co Continue reading »
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Ross Gittins. Launch of book by Menadue and Keating.
Sydney, Thursday, November 5, 2015 Paul Samuelson, the famous American economist, is said to have remarked that the stockmarket has predicted nine of the past five recessions. I thought of that this week and decided the Canberra press gallery could top it: the gallery has predicted nine of the past two early elections. They Continue reading »
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Climate, Economy, Health, Human Rights, Immigration, refugees, Infrastructure, Media, SERIES: Freedom, opportunity and security, World Affairs
Michael Keating. The role of government in policy renewal.
In thanking Ross Gittins for launching ‘Freedom, Opportunity and Security’, Mike Keating explains the reasons why he and I decided to launch this series, first online and now in a book. Mike Keating’s book launch notes follow. I will also be posting Ross Gittins’ comments. John Menadue. Thank you Ross Gittins and thanks to you all Continue reading »
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Quigley, former CEO of NBN, attributes $15 b. cost blow out to Turnbull’s Multi Technology Mix.
For comment by Renai LeMay, see link to his blog delimiter.com.au below: https://delimiter.com.au/2015/11/05/quigley-releases-detailed-evidence-showing-mtm-nbn-cost-blowout/ John Menadue. Continue reading »
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Quentin Dempster. Countering Rupert Murdoch’s plan to destroy public broadcasting in Australia.
I regret to report there are forces at work in this country out to destroy public broadcasting… the ABC and SBS. But the fight to protect and enhance a more dynamic public broadcasting sector has just begun. Tomorrow in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, you will see a half page ad paid for Continue reading »
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Ranald Macdonald. In journalism we trust – or do we?
Journalists from the safe fortress of their own news outlets attacking the professional integrity of their competitors is a no-win situation. The consequences are far-reaching. Doyen of Australian journalism, Laurie Oakes got it right recently at the Melbourne Press Club when he quoted Tom Stoppard (the noted British playwright) who said “A free press needs Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Abbott lectures London on how to ‘stop the boats’.
Tony Abbott has been at it again, this time in London, claiming that he stopped the boats and that Europeans should follow suit. It is an oft repeated untruth that he stopped the boats. His one-liners are not supported by the facts. But the lie is deeply imbedded. Last month, Peter Hughes and I posted Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Malcolm Turnbull and rebuilding the ABC
Our new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull has a chance to repair the damage that was done to the ABC when he was the minister in charge. Malcolm Turnbull was unable to stop Tony Abbott’s cultural war on the ABC which was aided and abetted by Rupert Murdoch. Today, Friends of the ABC published an advertisement Continue reading »
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Ranald Macdonald. The ABC and SBS are under attack.
Now is the time to support the ABC and SBS and the reasons are clear for all to see. Our new Prime Minister has the chance of reversing decisions made during the Abbott leadership – but with him as the Communications Minister. Public broadcasting is under attack in many countries. The BBC has been particularly Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Is Malcolm Turnbull sacrificing his principles?
The polls show most Australian voters have welcomed Malcolm Turnbull’s election as Prime Minister. I did. It is very early days, but I am concerned by signs that he is bowing very much to the right wing of his own party and former Abbott supporters rather than spelling out clearly his own policies that we Continue reading »
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Nauru and the Philippines
Three days ago, on 6 October, I posted a story ‘Nauru and the Philippines‘. That story carried an unconfirmed report that the Australian government was negotiating with the Philippines government for the transfer of 600 asylum seekers in Nauru to the Philippines. Since then there have been several reports confirming the thrust of this story, Continue reading »
