Media
-
Ray Cassin. No moral mystery to 60 Minutes child snatch disaster.
The mystery of the 60 Minutes child snatch that went so disastrously wrong is that there is no mystery, although some people want to contrive one. Ethically there are no shades of grey here. We know what happened, and we know that what 60 Minutes and TCN Nine agreed to do by helping Sally Faulkner Continue reading »
-
Richard Eckersley. The mismeasure of progress: Is the West really the best?
Western liberal democracies dominate the top rankings of progress indices. But are they the best models of development when their quality of life is, arguably, declining and unsustainable. The measures of human progress and development that we employ matter. Good measures are a prerequisite for good governance because they are how we judge its success. Continue reading »
-
David Stephens. How did Canberra get its memorial to Kemal Atatürk?
The Atatürk Memorial in Anzac Parade, Canberra, was unveiled on Anzac Day 1985. Over the signature ‘Kemal Atatürk’, the memorial bears an inscription which commences like this: Those heroes that shed their blood And lost their lives … You are now lying in the soil of a friendly Country. Therefore rest in peace. There is Continue reading »
-
Mark Gregory. What the government doesn’t want you to know about the NBN
The Coalition’s National Broadband Network (NBN) plan is in trouble and the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should heed the mounting calls for Coalition NBN plan to be dropped before the nation’s digital future is harmed irreparably. In June it will be three years since Turnbull, as Minister for Communications, launched the Coalition’s NBN plan, extolled Continue reading »
-
Jon Stanford and Michael Keating. A more efficient submarine solution.
This week the Melbourne Age, SMH and the Canberra Times carried the following article written by Jon Stanford and Michael Keating on the $50 b. submarine project. This article is based on a three part article written by Jon Stanford and posted in Pearls and irritations. See link to three articles below. John Menadue Continue reading »
-
Lara Moroko & Sarah Duffy. Thrashing the brand: ANZ and CBA could pay a high price for choosing profit over people.
The recent CBA and ANZ scandals show that the big banks fail to understand the long-term pay off from investing in their relationships with people over short-term profit. ANZ stands accused of unconscionable conduct and manipulating the bank bill swap rate(known as the BBSW) in its favour, short changing its customers and generating illicit profits. Continue reading »
-
David James. CommInsure expose proves spin doesn’t always win.
One of the challenges facing business journalists in Australia is the wall of spin they face whenever they are trying to uncover an uncomfortable truth. The spin ranges from outright lying to being highly selective with the facts. Most journalists either struggle to get beyond the wall, decide it is to their benefit not to Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Bad apples, corporate culture and leadership.
The recent scandals at CBA,ANZ and now Wespac have focused us on business culture. But the CEOs keep telling us that there is no business culture problem but only a few bad apples. If only that were true. The issues are more systemic than they would suggest and the problem covers a wide range of Continue reading »
-
Bryce Barker. Of course Australia was invaded – massacres happened here less than 90 years ago.
Much has been made in the last few days of the University of New South Wales’ “diversity toolkit” offering teachers guidelines on Indigenous terminology. The most controversial directive was a line about using the term “invasion” to describe Captain Cook’s arrival here: Australia was not settled peacefully, it was invaded, occupied and colonised. Describing the Continue reading »
-
David Stephens. Invading our smugness: thoughts on a diversity toolkit
Wednesday, 30 March, must have been a slow news day at the Daily Telegraph. It is difficult to find any other reasonable explanation for the fuss the Telegraph made about the ‘diversity toolkit’ it discovered on the website of the University of New South Wales. What followed, however, spoke volumes about how careless some in Continue reading »
-
Paul Budde. NBN company needs support to pursue FTTdp
In his blog of 5 April, Paul Budde suggests that the NBN company needs support to help it overcome the stumbling block of Malcolm Turnbull who seems unwilling to reconsider the mistake he made on the NBN as Communications Minister in the Abbott government. See Paul Budde’s article below. See also link to article http://www.buddeblog.com.au/frompaulsdesk/nbn-company-needs-support-to-pursue-fttdp/ Continue reading »
-
Ian Marsh. Disaffected electorates? Dysfunctional political systems? Part 2 of 3.
Malcolm Turnbull’s has created the grounds for a July election. This crafty electoral ploy offers short term gains. If the cross bench resist, the election is legitimate. If the cross bench cave in, he will have demonstrated bold leadership. Moreover, he will have attained legislation that is highly prized by his Liberal heartland. Then he Continue reading »
-
Cavan Hogue. Malcolm Turnbull, COAG and media confusion.
Turnbull knew what he was doing. The media has turned on Malcolm Turnbull who is accused of ignorance. Media views seem to change even more often than political promises. However,surely the PM knew why he called the meeting with the states. He knew they would reject it which is what he wanted them to do. Continue reading »
-
Ian Marsh. What wrong with Australia’s political system? Part 1 of 3.
Most people are familiar with the power of incentives in economic markets. They know that efficient price signals can channel investment into productive assets and these same signals can drain funds from unconstructive pursuits. The same process more or less works at other levels. Both good and bad performance is demonstrated by similar calculations. In Continue reading »
-
Michael Mullins. Threatened Al Jazeera more trustworthy than ‘white man’s media’
John Menadue’s blog post ‘White man’s media’ points to our media’s disproportionate coverage of terrorism in the west, where only 2.6 per cent of terrorism related deaths occur. Our easily accessible media outlets could be on the way to becoming even whiter, with this week’s announcement that Al Jazeera is to lay off 500 staff because falling Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. White man’s media.
On 26 March I provided a link to an article by Simon Jenkins in The Guardian, who commented ‘The atrocities in Brussels happen almost daily in the streets of Baghdad, Aleppo and Damascus. .. A dead Muslim is an unlucky mutt in the wrong place at the wrong time. A dead European is front page Continue reading »
-
What a godsend politicians and journalists are to ISIS.
In The Guardian, Simon Jenkins writes about the way that the ISIS recruiting officers will be thrilled at how things have gone since their atrocity in Belgium. He points particularly to the ‘paranoid politicians and sensational journalists’ who have perhaps unwittingly provided great support for ISIS. Jenkins comments ‘The atrocities in Brussels happen almost daily Continue reading »
-
Ian McAuley. The government says that tax cuts are good for workers!
Arthur Sinodinos’ suggestion of a cut to the corporate tax rate doesn’t seem to be the smartest way to start an election campaign. For a start, it’s not clear how such generosity would be funded. Earlier this month there was a flurry of excitement when iron ore prices rose. For a few days the idea Continue reading »
-
Paul Collins. With “leaders” like these … !
For a committed Catholic George Pell’s evidence to the Royal Commission was excruciating to watch. It wasn’t just Pell himself with his turgid, wooden responses and lack of interest in appalling crimes against those whom Jesus called “the little ones.” It was also the kind of church his evidence laid bare where all responsibility was Continue reading »
-
What has gone wrong with Malcolm Turnbull’s NBN?
In a column in The Drum on the ABC, Paddy Manning comments that ‘Malcolm Turnbull’s version of the NBN is proving to be much more expensive to deliver than was originally hoped. Remember that the only merit of Turnbull’s “multi-technology mix” (MTM) was that it would be cheaper to build …’ See link to article Continue reading »
-
Building Australia’s white elephant – cheap buy for white knight Telstra
Tony Abbott gave Malcolm Turnbull instructions to undermine the NBN. As Minister for Communications it is apparent that that is what Turnbull did. As Prime Minister he could have reversed the damage to NBN. But he chose not to. In the following blog published by Paul Budde, he points out that both Infrastructure Australia and Continue reading »
-
David Armstrong. A journalistic career from Tharunka to Bangkok.
David Armstrong has had a remarkable career as a journalist. From Tharunka at the University of NSW . His career includes The Bulletin, The Australian, South China Morning Post, and now business and semi-retirement in Bangkok. In an interview with American writer, Kevin Cummings, David Armstrong speaks of his travels and career. See following link: Continue reading »
-
Laurie Patton. Pirates of Perchance: How “site-blocking” could force up Internet fees but do little else
Last week both Village Roadshow and Foxtel finally launched court actions under the eight months old Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act designed to deal with Internet “piracy”. The first thing that needs pointing out is that downloading video and audio content over the Internet is a not a crime as such. It is, however, in breach Continue reading »
-
Frank Brennan SJ. An Unholy Mess: Cardinal Pell, the Royal Commission are Owed Justice, not Vigilantism
Cardinal George Pell still has a lot of questions to answer before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. On medical advice he has decided not to risk the long plane flight home from Rome. This makes things much harder for victims seeking closure. It makes things harder for others, including members Continue reading »
-
Murdoch takes Abbott as his guest to President’s banquet in US.
According to a report on Media Watch on 8 February, Rupert Murdoch brought Tony Abbott as his guest at a banquet in Washington which President Obama attended. Several of the Murdoch papers in Australia suggested that this was a personal meeting between Tony Abbott and President Obama. It was nothing of the sort. It was Continue reading »
-
Robert Manne. Why we have failed to address climate change.
In this article, published in the December The Monthly Essays, Robert Manne describes the major obstacles to addressing climate change. He refers to the unique nature of climate change and the difficulties that it has presented for scientists to persuade the world community about the problem and the need to take action. Robert Manne also Continue reading »
-
Laurie Patton. Utopia: the professor, the public service, and the need for change.
In an article in The Mandarin former Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Department, Professor Peter Shergold, is quoted urging public servants to adapt and to show courage. http://www.themandarin.com.au/60090-adapt-die-peter-shergold-manifesto-public-service-transformation Shergold is spot on. But before things can change we need to be willing to accept that mistakes are made, even by the best of people. Last week Continue reading »
-
Kieran Tapsell. Pope Francis Continues the Policy of Cover Up
In May 2014, my book, Potiphar’s Wife: The Vatican Secret and Child Sexual Abuse was published. It accused six popes from 1922 onwards (Pius XI – Benedict XVI) of establishing, confirming and expanding a system of cover up of child sexual abuse by clergy through the strictest secrecy imposed by canon law over allegations and Continue reading »
-
Bruce Duncan. Australia’s moral crisis: shipping babies and families off to Nauru
How has it come to this, that the Australian government is poised to send back 37 babies, 54 children and their families – 267 in all – into the traumatic conditions of Nauru? Only a few years ago many Australians would have considered it inconceivable that our governments should have imposed such shocking treatment on Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. ‘Balance’ and the ABC
The ABC has a mistaken notion of media balance. It has become clear that Nick Ross, a Senior Technology Editor at the ABC, could not publish a story critical of Malcolm Turnbull’s NBN unless he also published an article critical of Labor’s NBN. To add to this bias by ABC management he was told that Continue reading »
