Public Policy
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John Tulloh. Erdogan leads Turkey back to the Ottoman era.
It is the time of the year when we have our annual bout of sentimental reflection on the heroics of the Anzac forces at Gallipoli a century ago. One of the Turkish military commanders whose resistance wore down the Anzacs and other allies was Kemal Ataturk, who went on to be the founder of Continue reading »
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John Dwyer. Structural reforms to healthcare – two major reforms.
Does the government understand the structural reforms to health care needed by modern Australia? Political pre-election posturing at the moment has involved many debating the question that asks ’Do we have a spending or a revenue problem in Australia?” Certainly when it comes to our health system we should first be asking what structural reforms Continue reading »
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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 »
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John Menadue. The fake discussion about state taxes.
Malcolm Turnbull’s ruse is obvious. He wants us to forget all about deficits and debt and the need for budget repair. To avoid these issues, he now tells us that if we want improved health and education services, we cannot have them because the states have refused his offer on state taxes and he will Continue reading »
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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 »
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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 »
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Mike Steketee. COAG and hospitals: look beyond the funding to fix our health system.
Before Malcolm Turnbull and the states start haggling over hospital funding, it’s worth looking at why the system costs so much to run. Maybe it’s not just cash, but waste and inefficiencies that need addressing, writes Mike Steketee. Why do our hospitals cost so much to run? Like$55 billion a year and rising rapidly? It Continue reading »
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Chris Bonnor. Malcolm abandons the middle in schooling
Two plus years of conservative government has given oxygen to a number of strange solutions to ill-defined problems. Malcolm Turnbull’s proposal to have the States alone fund government schools, leaving the Commonwealth to look after private schools, is the latest. As a serious suggestion it has been widely condemned, but it would be premature to Continue reading »
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Michael Keating. The Turnbull Proposal for State Income Taxes
Prime Minister Turnbull says his proposal for the States to levy their own income tax ‘is the most fundamental reform to the Federation in generations’. Well maybe. It certainly would be a significant change, but reform? Furthermore, even if this proposal were ever implemented, it is hardly new. For example, the Fraser Government actually legislated Continue reading »
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Ian McAuley. Labor’s policies.
Amid all the political chatter about tensions between Turnbull and Morrison, a possible early election, and the laundering of donations to the Liberal Party, Labor has released a substantial policy document –Growing together: Labor’s agenda for tackling inequality. With a gathering of Labor luminaries – Jenny Macklin (who has main carriage of the policy), Bill Continue reading »
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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 »
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John Menadue. State income taxes – another political diversion?
Malcolm Turnbull’s suggestion of states entering the income tax field may please ‘state rightists’ in the Liberal party, but it will damage our national aspirations and our national society and economy. In the repost below, Michael Keating, almost two years ago emphasised the importance of the commonwealth government’s domination of income taxes since 1942. This Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Budget repair and private health insurance.
Readers of this blog will be aware that I have been expressing concern about the serious consequences of the government subsidy costing $11 b. p.a. for the private health insurance industry. This subsidy has serious budget consequences: it is skewed in favour of high income earners; it has not taken pressure off public hospitals; it Continue reading »
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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 »
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Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd (researchers). School Myths Busted.
What My School really says about our schools. (Text of press release of 28 March 2016) In the wake of the latest version of My School two researchers have published a startling account of what the numbers behind the website actually show. Former school principals Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd have revealed new findings which challenge Continue reading »
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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 »
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John Menadue and CPD. Building a regional framework on refugees and forced-migration.
For several years a group of us at the Centre for Policy Development (CPD) have been endeavouring to develop a regional framework for the management of refugee issues in our region. We strongly feel that no country in the region, including Australia, can handle refugee flows on their own. A regional framework based on cooperation Continue reading »
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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 »
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Travers McLeod, Peter Hughes, Sriprapha Petcharamesree, Steven Wong, Tri Nuke Pudjiastuti. The Bali Process can do a lot more to respond to forced migration in our region.
The Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime will hold a full ministerial meeting in Bali this Wednesday. The meeting will bring together ministers from 45 member countries for the first time in three years. The global context for the meeting is the current levels of displacement. Sixty million people Continue reading »
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Jonathan Karnon. No-one should get dud hospital care.
In 2013-14, Australian governments spent A$105 billion on health; A$44 billion of that was on public hospitals. The Commonwealth government is increasingly concerned with the size of the health budget and has acted to reduce the inappropriate use of Medicare benefits. But the Commonwealth government has less influence on public hospitals because the state and Continue reading »
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John Menadue. A dismal humanitarian response to the Syrian tragedy: political inertia, bureaucratic failure and security obsession.
In earlier blogs I have highlighted the contrast between Canada and Australia’s programs to settle Syrian refugees. Australia continues to be a laggard. In Parliament last week, the Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, said that a total of 29 refugees had been settled as part of a 12,000 intake that Tony Abbott had announced in September Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Asian refugees, the Rohingya and a regional refugee framework.
Despite hopes for a change of refugee policy in Australia, Malcolm Turnbull is faithfully following Tony Abbott’s path in almost every respect. As in so many issues Malcolm Turnbull is not there when we need him. The exaggeration of our refugee ‘problems’ by Malcolm Turnbull and others shows up in UNHCR figures. As I mentioned Continue reading »
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Peter Gibilisco. Disability support services – effectiveness and efficiency.
Let me be frank. There are many stringencies that have to be faced in the provision of disability support services. We all know this whether we are recipients of in-home one-on-one support, residents, workers or management of disability support services, or even as officials of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). We all Continue reading »
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Ian Webster. Drugs and the problem of pain
At the centre of the drug problem is the problem of psychic and physical pain People with mental illness turn to alcohol and drugs to lessen their distress. When adolescents and young adults use a substance to ameliorate their social anxieties a pattern of lifelong alcohol and drug misuse can be set in train. People Continue reading »
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Terry Laidler. To Michael Pezzullo, Secretary, Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
Dear Mr Pezzullo, Starting to get through to you, is it? Great! Forget your law of the land, let alone your direction of the government of the day drivel — neither of these is some sort of absolute that lets you suspend all moral judgment! For, make no mistake about it: the actions of you Continue reading »
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Carol Richards, Bree Devin. Supermarkets and food waste.
In this blog on 25 February, I noted that the French parliament has voted to ban large food stores from throwing food away. In the story below, Carol Richards and Bree Devin highlight the way powerful supermarkets in Australia push the cost of food waste onto suppliers and charities. John Menadue At a time when Continue reading »
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Rosemary Breen. Living Water Myanmar
Five years ago, when I started this project of building large water tanks to collect water during the rainy season in the Dry Zone of Central Myanmar I had no idea how many lives would be changed because of this simple concept. To date 114 water tanks have been built for villages and schools due Continue reading »
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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 »
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David Isaacs. As bad as Guantanamo
If I liken the immigration detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island to the US facility on Guantanamo Bay, even passionate advocates for those seeking asylum such as human rights lawyer Julian Burnside dismiss my concerns: “Oh we’re not as bad as that.” I will argue that we are indeed as bad as that, possibly Continue reading »
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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 »