Public Policy
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DUNCAN GRAHAM New name, old menu, but hope looms
Fresh news for stay-at-homes: The ABC has abandoned spin to reveal its overseas TV service is not aired to showcase the nation, but amuse expats. Continue reading »
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JOHN TULLOH. Sorry, Rupert, the ABC is more trusted than you are.
As keen as the local Murdoch media are in reporting opinion polls, a recent survey* probably was not one of them. It declared that their avowed nemesis remained by far the most trusted media organisation in Australia. That is the ABC or, as Rupert Murdoch famously muttered in 2002, ‘Fucking ABC’. Continue reading »
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KATHARINE MURPHY. ‘We’ve turned a corner’: farmers shift on climate change and want a say on energy.
National Farmers’ Federation head Fiona Simson says people on the land can’t ignore what is right before their eyes. Continue reading »
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KERRY O’BRIEN. Speech to ABC Friends rally – Sydney 8 July 2018
Let me start with a quote: ‘…The ABC is a vital part of our nation’s polity. It is one of the great foundations of journalism and news gathering and broadcasting in the country. It has a very special place in Australia.’ That was Malcolm Turnbull in January 2014 when he announced a cut to the Continue reading »
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RANALD MACDONALD. A wonderfully ‘Sydney-style’ rally was held on Sunday to galvanise support for the ABC
It was emotional, noisy, sweaty, energetic and organised chaos, as 1000 public broadcasting enthusiasts scrambled and fought their way into the 400 seat NSW Teachers Federation auditorium in Surry Hills. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI: Business migration should focus on establishing businesses not passive investment
While Eryk Bagshaw’s article of 8 July 2018 screams Millionaires stream in, the Sun Herald’s editorial of the same day is a bit more sanguine about the benefits and risks of the Business Innovation and Investment Programme that facilitates entry of business migrants and investors. This Programme and its predecessors, while superficially attractive, have a Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. Abbott’s views on climate change
Since 2015 when the then Prime Minister stated Australia was making a “definite commitment” to a 26% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and possibly as high as 28% reduction”, now Abbott states he did not foresee as prime minister “how the aspirational targets we agreed to at Paris would, in different hands, become binding commitments”. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Domestic violence is a greater threat than terrorism .
Last week in Sydney we saw the tragic death of two teenagers as a result of domestic violence. We know that over 12 months on average one woman is killed every week in Australia by a current or former partner. Yet national effort and resources are directed overwhelmingly to counter terrorism where in the last Continue reading »
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GREG AUSTIN: Counter-terrorism lessons for family murders
It is time to police family violence perpetrators as rigorously as we police terrorists. We can learn from the country’s successes in counter-terrorism work and perhaps apply some lessons to the family violence challenges. Continue reading »
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IAN WEBSTER. Government and the medicalisation of disabilities
Each year two thirds of applications for a Disability Support Pension are rejected; a rejection rate which has doubled in 8 years (Christopher Knaus, Guardian, 8 June 2018). Continue reading »
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TIM WOODRUFF. Health, Class Warfare, and Social Justice
Class warfare has been with us forever. It could be called a fight for social justice. Indeed, it would seem to be integral to the stepwise progress we have made over centuries as we have moved to a society which outlaws overt slavery, has a moderately progressive tax system, provides a wide range of public Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER. “Western Civilization” in our universities: Killed off by its latter-day champions.
Who killed off the “Western Tradition” in our Universities? Its current neo-liberal champions and those who share their crocodile tears. Continue reading »
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ROSEMARY O’GRADY. Remembering Stars.
Some ninety-odd years ago this week was born in the bush in the rugged far north-west of Western Australia a child given the Christian name of David. Continue reading »
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BOB BIRRELL AND EARNEST HEALY. The Housing Affordability Crisis in Sydney and Melbourne
The housing affordability crisis in Sydney and Melbourne is close to the worst in the developed world. As of 2017, the ratio of median house prices to median household income in Sydney was 12.9 and in Melbourne 9.9. Only Vancouver and Hong Kong were as bad or worse on this metric. Continue reading »
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PATRICIA EDGAR. The ABC, Facebook and the Meaning of Trust
Trust is an interesting concept. It takes time to develop trust which results from a broad experience of something (or someone) which demonstrates consistent, reliable behavior with integrity, ability, and surety; it involves confident expectation. But trust can be lost irretrievably, quite quickly. Trust allows for mistakes if they are dealt with openly and honestly. Continue reading »
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CHARLES LIVINGSTONE. The Melbourne casino, and irresponsible gambling
Allegations by whistleblowers about the way poker machines are operated at the casino in Melbourne have underlined how Victoria’s Casino Control Act allows pokies to operate in ways that encourage harmful gambling. Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. The rise of fascism on the sinking Titanic.
In her new book “Fascism: A Warning” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I27X9L8rReo), Madeleine Albright’s states that the Fascism of a century ago was not atypical: “In hindsight, it is tempting to dismiss every Fascist of this era as a thoroughly bad guy or a lunatic, but that is too easy, also dangerous,” she writes. “Fascism is not an exception Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. The dumbed- down tax ‘debate’ and the Canberra Press Gallery.
In the ‘debate’ over tax and the attacks on Bill Shorten, not one member of the Canberra Press Gallery could be bothered to explain to us that with dividend imputation the difference between a 25% and a 27% tax rate for a small company is infinitesimal. Continue reading »
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ROGER SCOTT. “Paying the piper but hating the tune”
The ANU has touched off a debate which has ramifications across the whole university system, or at least that section of it with prestige high enough to attract philanthropists with deep pockets. Continue reading »
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DOUG TAYLOR. Kicking goals in the fight against drugs
The heroics of Cristiano Ronaldo at the World Cup puts Portugal on the world stage. But behind the bright lights of the soccer World Cup, Portugal is leading the world in another arena: its efforts to curb drug abuse. Continue reading »
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BEPPE SEVERGNINI. In Italy, Immigrants Evoke Fear, Not Racism.
CREMA, Italy — As I was walking home, a man in his 70s, wearing a youthful shirt and sporting fiercely dark hair, stopped me in the main square, under the spire of the ancient Duomo. He introduced himself, then said he’d had a tough life, working as a cow milker on a farm since he Continue reading »
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GRAEME WORBOYS. Kosciuszko. The destruction of a national heritage icon?
NSW Deputy Premier and State National Party Leader John Barilaro’s 2018 Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Legislation is the single greatest political and ideological undermining of the conservation and protection status of Kosciuszko National Park in its 75 year history. It has elevated a pest animal to be more important than Australian native animals and has Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LEEDER. Reviewing the Book of Kells’ schedule of medical fees.
Government contributions to medical fees are set out in a large book of rules. It is under review. But are rules for individual fees for individual services the way to go? Fee-for-service may be running out of date. Continue reading »
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ABUL RIZVI: Pezzullo’s Dark World View is Paralyzing Australia’s Immigration System.
In a recent speech to heads of international border agencies, Mike Pezzullo, head of Australia’s new Home Affairs Department, again highlighted the dark world view that, together with the policies of Peter Dutton, is paralyzing our world class immigration system. Continue reading »
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HUGH MACKAY, FRANCES RUSH. Is the “Australian solution” catching on?
“The US president is indifferent to human rights.” That was the banner headline on the front page of France’s Le Monde newspaper last week, as if it were news. Donald Trump has amply demonstrated that indifference, and not only in the context of his fantasy wall along the Mexican border. But he is now being Continue reading »
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DUNCAN GRAHAM. Our failing media again-ignoring an election next door.
‘The World’ is a nightly news show on Australia Plus, our overseas TV showcase transmitted to 44 countries in Asia and the Pacific. The one-hour programme pulls together the day’s global issues, often adding lengthy interviews dissecting international developments. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL PASCOE. Electricity – driving towards the coal cliff
How bad, how dumb, how driven by internal political stupidities, how simply nonsensically odd are the electricity troglodytes pushing to keep the old Liddell coal-fired power station open for a few more years? Their case is destroyed by a single graph. Continue reading »
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JOSHUA GILBERT. All the farms a stage …
As the ever closing climate change frontier looms upon Australian Shores, with signs already evident in most parts of the country, the question remains- when will our politicians act? After the failure and promises of Governments of the past, impending reforms that never come and budgets that get built and then pulled out under the Continue reading »
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PATRICIA EDGAR. The Circus that has been Government Policy on the ABC for Forty Years
The ABC has been an extraordinarily resilient organisation. It has withstood management and Board upheavals, survived remorseless budget cuts and harassment. But the current attacks on staff and on its role are as overt and vicious as they have ever been. Many of those who were imbued with ABC values have died or moved on. Continue reading »
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DENNIS ALTMAN. Australia’s dangerous obsession with the Anglosphere
Australia’s cultural obsession with the US and the UK has real impacts on our politics. Continue reading »