Public Policy
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LESLEY RUSSELL. Who cares for the carers?
Governments have yet to create a coherent strategy to help the almost three million Australians providing informal care. Continue reading »
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JULIAN CRIBB. Highway to an endless energy future.
Australia is spoiled for choice among the array of energies we have to power our future, for centuries to come. Concentrated sunlight, huge reserves of coal, gas, hot rocks, wind, wave and tidal energy, not to mention uranium, thorium, biomass, hydro and other possibilities – thousands of years’ worth of energy in sundry forms. Continue reading »
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JOHN DWYER. The devastating effects of Trumpism on science and medicine.
While the “Fire and the Fury” surrounding the chaos at the White House dominates media reporting on the Trump presidency, the power of the office is being utilised to implement a myriad of bad decisions that will have very long-lasting effects. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the plans Trump has to slash funding Continue reading »
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MARK HARRIS. Sugar tax to tackle obesity: an update.
In 2016 I wrote about the call for a sugar tax, especially on sugar sweetened drinks, to address Australia’s obesity problem. What has happened since then? Continue reading »
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ANNE HURLEY. Bad advice: why Mr Turnbull’s NBN is such a failure
These days you can’t buy a new car without airbags and ABS brakes. The Internet of Things is transforming the way we live our lives, run our businesses and grow the crops that feed the world. We’re developing autonomous vehicles and there’s talk about travelling to Mars. Yet millions of Australians are being sold broadband Continue reading »
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DAVID BLOWERS. A high price for policy failure: the ten-year story of spiralling electricity bills.
Politicians are told never to waste a good crisis. Australia’s electricity sector is in crisis, or something close to it. The nation’s first-ever state-wide blackout, in South Australia in September 2016, was followed by electricity shortages in several states last summer. More shortages are anticipated over coming summers. But for most Australians, the most visible impact of this crisis Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LEEDER. Alcohol and sport. A REPOST
Queensland’s victory over NSW in the 1 June game lin 2016 was reported as the highest rating State of Origin match ever and ‘the top TV event of 2016.’ Both teams carried alcohol advertising on their clothing into the match. The association of alcohol with sport is deep, complex and profitable. Sport provides a lucrative Continue reading »
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ROGER SCOTT. 1987 and the “Dawkins Revolution”.
This is part 2 of my response to an invitation to share my memories linked to the release of Cabinet papers from 1987. Here I will focus on the tertiary education reforms instituted by federal Education Minister John Dawkins. Continue reading »
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BRUCE LINDSAY. “Anti-corruption”, water and the Basin plan. A repost from October 8, 2017
Water management and decision-making is vulnerable to lobbying by powerful commercial interests, as was illustrated recently by the ABC Four Corners investigation into NSW water management. Even where such conduct cannot be categorised as corrupt in the criminal sense, it can compromise the integrity of public governance of natural resources. Excessive private interest in the Continue reading »
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GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND …
A journey through a land of extreme poverty: welcome to America – the Guardian. Australia’s least competitive industries are earning super-profits Ross Gittins – Canberra Times. Michael Lewis writes on Trump’s campaign against Department of Agriculture scientists in Vanity Fair. Americans can spot election meddling because they’ve been doing it for years – the Guardian Continue reading »
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JOHN QUIGGIN. Why 2017 was a good year for climate
On the face of it, there was plenty of bad news for the climate in 2017. Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the 2105 Paris agreement and promised to reverse the decline of the coal industry. The Turnbull government rejected proposals for an efficient transition to a low-carbon energy sector, instead Continue reading »
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MICHAEL LAMBERT. Overweight and Obesity Part 2: The indigenous Australians Impact
Part 1 of this two-part post provided a global and broad Australian perspective on the pandemic of overweight and obesity. This part sets out the position for indigenous Australians and argues that this pandemic is a significant part of the health gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians and that the way forward must involve interventions Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LEEDER: A little bit of sugar may (or may not) make the weight go down.
The statistics do not support the view that there are big differences in sugar consumption between the fat and the thin. We need to define our enemy clearly in the battle against obesity. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL LAMBERT. Overweight and Obesity Part 1: A Global and Australian Perspective
In part 1 of this two-part post Michael Lambert sets out the broad position on overweight and obesity as both a global development and the Australian situation, the costs involved and the case for national action . The second part of this post will focus on the position with indigenous Australians, its contribution to the Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LEEDER. Social causes of illness are not immutable: they are amenable to change.
Modifying our own behaviour in health-promoting directions is sensible but for sustainable, nation-wide change we need to take action of a different kind. Continue reading »
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HELEN CLARK. The health of future generations is at risk.
The health of future generations is being mortgaged as a result of environmental degradation that threatens to reverse the health gains achieved over the past century, according to Dr Helen Clark, a global health advocate. Clark, formerly Administrator of the UN Development Programme and Prime Minister of New Zealand, told the recent launch of the Continue reading »
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JOHN CARMODY. Who is Joan Sullivan?
Does the Fairfax slogan, “Independent. Always”, really mean independent of truth, reliability and knowledge? Or should my humble response to the extraordinary headline and story in the Sun-Herald of 31 December have been an admission that, even after an operatic obsession of more than 50 years, there might have been a great Australian singer whom Continue reading »
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ALAN PEARS. Turnbull has politicked himself into irrelevance on energy and climate in 2018
As we approach the end of the year, it’s useful to look back and forward. Now is an auspicious time, as two major energy-related reports have been released this week: the federal government’s review of their climate change policies, and a discussion paper from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on future energy paths. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL THORN. Countering vested interests A REPOST
That corporations wield enormous power is not news. That this power is wielded to benefit the corporation and its agents is not news either. Neither is seeking to counter the power of these corporations by public interest organisations, like the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE). Continue reading »
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ANDREW GLIKSON. The criminal dimension of climate change-a new book.
“We’re simply talking about the very life support system of this planet.” (Professor Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impacts) The extreme rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) since the onset of the industrial age, reaching approximately 403 parts per million in 2017, and the corresponding rise in mean global temperature to Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE – Our derivative white man’s media A REPOST
Politicians are continually blamed for their failures but our media is also responsible for the state of public discussion on important issues. This downward media spiral has been led by the Murdoch media’s abuse of power in the three major English-speaking markets – Australia, UK and the US. But other media, including the ABC is Continue reading »
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MICK PALMER. Australia’s Illicit Drugs Policy – There Really is a better Way A REPOST
It happens time and time again. We are told breathlessly by the media with photos of bags of seized drugs flanked by Border Protection officials and police officers about how successful we are in containing the drug problem.. But is it ‘success’ when despite the new records in drug seizures the drug problem in the Continue reading »
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AMANDA BIGGS. Whither the private health insurance rebate?
The private health insurance rebate is an important element in maintaining the attractiveness of private health insurance membership. The government rebate subsidises the cost of private health insurance premiums (hospital, general, and ambulance policies). It is usually applied in the form of an upfront discount to the consumer on the price of the premium, although Continue reading »
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LINDSAY MURDOCH and KATE GERAGHTY. A REPOST-The little girl in the pretty dress.
In Pearls and Irritations we have posted reports of ghastly experiences of the Rohingya people fleeing genocide, rape, starvation and displacement. Lindsay Murdoch and Kate Geraghty of the Fairfax Press, who have visited the camps in Bangladesh, have prepared a vivid recount of refugees’ experiences. This is one small extract, “The little girl in the Continue reading »
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Pope Francis, on Christmas Eve, says faith demands respect of immigrants.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis strongly defended immigrants at his Christmas Eve Mass on Sunday, comparing them to Mary and Joseph finding no place to stay in Bethlehem and saying faith demands that foreigners be welcomed. Continue reading »
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Govt. Failure to Ensure Private School Systems Distribute Funding According to Need Will Continue Under Gonski 2.0
A recent report by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has slammed the Commonwealth Government for failing to ensure its funding of private school systems is distributed according to need and for not knowing how private school systems distribute their funding. The report is a scathing indictment of a massive failure of ministerial responsibility and Continue reading »
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Hunger and disease haunt Rohingya refugees
‘Sometimes we borrow from neighbors or we starve’ Continue reading »
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HUGH MACKAY. Another kind of deficit
Here’s a quick Christmas quiz. (Warning: it’s not a very merry quiz.) Continue reading »
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Schools: will we ever join the dots?
I have this little website, Edmediawatch, which monitors media reports about schools. It is a long-running repository of policies, decisions, research and commentary. I even have an ‘Edu-fact check’ section which uses a variety of f-words to pass judgment on claims about school education. It’s worth doing, but the site is quite a depressing catalogue Continue reading »
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GILES PARKINSON. Turnbull blows trumpet for right wing idiocy on energy
Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has chosen to close the year in much the same way as he started it on climate and energy policy: awaiting yet another review, and parroting the ever more absurd claims of the fossil fuel lobby and the right wing of his Coalition government on energy. Continue reading »