Public Policy
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In God we trust
The following words are from Canadian Dr. Yasser Khan (Eye-Facial Plastic Trauma Surgeon) who returned from a humanitarian surgical mission at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza. Continue reading »
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Misrepresenting the ICJ and muzzling our press – the Empire strikes back
On 26 January, the World spoke to Israel and its supporters – on the issue of Gaza. The World spoke through the International Court of Justice (ICJ). There can be no doubt about that. A number of provisional orders were made. Israel, and its primary accomplice, the United States – hereinafter “the Empire” – did Continue reading »
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Usual cruelties: Imbeciles who fear the borders
The imaginative faculties of standard Australian politicians retreat to some strange, deathly place on certain issues. In that wasteland, they are often unrecoverable. Like juveniles demanding instant reward, they find complexity hideous. Focus on the now, the punch, the bruising, the hurt. That, in sum, is Canberra’s policy towards refugees. Continue reading »
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A remarkable Hong Kong media story
In Hong Kong, a vibrant Chinese media-oasis is forming within the vast territory long staked-out by the exceptionally dominant Mainstream Western Media. Continue reading »
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Indigenous incarceration
More than a quarter of Canberra’s daily average prison population is Indigenous but only 2 per cent of people in the ACT identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. Continue reading »
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Labor’s complete capitulation to elite private schools….again!
A few hours of testimony before the Education Committee of Senate Estimates exposed the canker at the heart of school funding in Australia. The canker is the double standard applied to the funding of public and private schools. The Assistant Minister for Education, Anthony Chisholm, announced that a tax rort worth hundreds of millions of Continue reading »
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Taylor Swift exposed as an agent of the Deep State – Weekly Roundup
Prospects for real tax reform – if only the Coalition would behave like grownups, early signs of real wage growth, no more visas for rich spivs, the case for nationalising the insurance industry, and Taylor Swift exposed as an agent of the Deep State. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, Continue reading »
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Assange’s draconian prosecution criminalises journalism and grants the US extraterritorial reach
In an extraordinary barely reported turn of events close to the conclusion of Julian Assange’s two day UK High Court Appeal against his extradition, a gaping hole appeared in plans to shunt him onto a plane to the US. Continue reading »
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Two boats and hysteria is unleashed
According to the evening news, Australia stands on the precipice of one of the greatest security threats to Australia since World War II, with the Imperial Japanese Army in the Owen Stanley’s overlooking the lights of Port Moresby. A few dozen impoverished, bedraggled refugees right up there with the Imperial Japanese Army as threat! It Continue reading »
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Dutton oversaw largest rise in asylum applications in history. They came by air
The arrival last week of a boat carrying 24 potential asylum seekers, and possibly another one carrying 13, sent Peter Dutton into his standard boat arrivals scare mode. The usual suspects at the Murdoch press went into a frenzy of panic with Chris Kenny calling it a ‘national dilemma’. Continue reading »
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It’s the OCCUPATION, stupid: What have Australian journalists got against Palestinians?
In 2007 I visited Palestine with my late husband Hal Wootten AC, QC, the founding Dean of the Law School at the University of New South Wales and well-known for his pursuit of justice. Hal was determined to understand the conflict from both Palestinian and Israeli perspectives, and he collected a substantial library on middle-east Continue reading »
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Julian Assange and the ugly reality of war crimes
Free Palestine. Free Assange. Free the world. Continue reading »
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Government’s response to Long Covid inquiry an exercise in sophistry
Preparing government responses to reports from Parliamentary inquiries often involves finding a plausible excuse to reject a perfectly sensible suggestion. The Department of Health and Aged Care failed this task in its response to the House of Representatives Long COVID inquiry. Continue reading »
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Permanent and long-term movements continue at high levels
While it is highly likely net migration is now past its peak and declining, the data to this stage suggests it may only be falling gradually. Continue reading »
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Israel’s propaganda has ceased to convince or persuade even its friends
Israel’s citizens seem either blithely unaware of the world’s horror at the terror raining down on Gaza, or do not care. Whichever, the barbarity has stripped it of the significant moral advantage given by the Hamas atrocities of October 7, and have caused fundamental reappraisal of Israel’s standing among people once disposed to be sympathetic Continue reading »
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The craft of journalism is dying: Can independent consortiums save it?
Back in the 1960s and 70s, the media was referred to as ‘The Fourth Estate’. The media played a role as a check and balance against government abuse of power, corruption, and overreach. The media was an integral part of any healthy democracy. Continue reading »
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Lies, damned lies and Israeli propaganda
The smoke and dust had only just settled from the armed incursion by Hamas in the Gaza envelope of neighbouring Israel on October 7 when the IDF began releasing “eyewitness” stories of Hamas’ beheading of babies and the rape and mutilation of women. These alleged horrific acts were immediately picked up by Israel’s enablers in Continue reading »
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The world is fighting back against a real genocide
Now we know how racial mass murders are committed by watching one live on our computer and TV screens. Continue reading »
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Leading oil and gas producers plan to keep pumping
USA plans to maintain high levels of oil and gas production until at least 2050 – so it can export freedom. Healthy ecosystems require integrity, not just biodiversity. Endangered slug runs circles around arty rivals. Continue reading »
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Why human beings prostitute themselves to corporations, billionaires and foundations
The power of money to distort humanity’s view of our situation only works because human beings prostitute themselves to corporations, billionaires and foundations. If you know anyone who works for the biggest companies of the world in media, finance, and technology, then ask them why aren’t they rebelling inside those companies, to make it less Continue reading »
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‘Hand of God’ makes votes disappear – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Imran Khan the ‘winner’ in Pakistan elections. Plus: Prabowo to adopt ‘Indonesia First’ foreign policy; China’s BYD overtaking Tesla; West really thinks it’s a jungle out there; Thai activists arrested for disrupting royal convoy; PLA not able to invade Taiwan; the land where pet strollers outnumber baby buggies. Continue reading »
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Negative Gearing: bad policy, fastened by a wedge – Weekly Roundup
Fuel standards weaponised, to imagine a Dutton government look at the way he ran Home Affairs, if you’re struggling financially and have private health insurance drop it, re-imagining Australia, and the case for withdrawing negative gearing. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and political Continue reading »
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Weathering the storm: support for multiculturalism resists politicians’ frenzied divisiveness
Reading the latest Scanlon Foundation social cohesion report makes you aware that there are two quite distinct images of Australia. One – totally dark and doom laden – is depicted in the mass and social media and the other – clear-eyed about both serious problems and opportunities – is depicted in the 2023 Scanlon Foundation Continue reading »
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Teacher bashing: Grattan joins the chorus
The release of the latest PISA results provided another opportunity to bash schools and teachers. Amy Haywood and Jordana Hunter, from the Grattan Institute joined the chorus of denigrators. Continue reading »
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Closing the Gap: Governments must modernise their approach to Indigenous corporations
How governments approach Indigenous governance is crucial to addressing the reform task set by the Productivity Commission’s recent report. Continue reading »
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Germany and critique of Israel: My sacking from the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
It is apparently antisemitic to engage in a comparison between Israel and Nazis. This is, in a nutshell, what has put me at odds with Max Planck Society’s lawyers. What to me is a fair, intellectual critique of Israel, for them is ‘antisemitism according to the law in Germany’. Continue reading »
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The power of play
A while ago I was – reluctantly – watching some television footage about the catastrophe in Gaza. To my amazement, a fleeting image appeared of two little girls, about 7 or 8, playing a hand-clapping game. I don’t know what nationality the girls were, or the location of their play. They could have been Israeli Continue reading »
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The Australian Parliament fails to uphold international law preventing genocide in Gaza
The Australian Parliament failed to recognise its responsibilities last week when Greens Leader Adam Bandt, responding to the International Court of Justice interim ruling to prevent genocide, initiated a vote for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Continue reading »
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Deflect, distort, deny
In what world does a dominant state claim they have a right to defend themselves against those they have unethically, immorally and illegally imprisoned for decades, killed and persecuted without trial? Continue reading »
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Charging for aged care at home – splitting hairs and shifting loads
A number of commentators have proposed that the Aged Care Funding Taskforce would, and indeed should, recommend increasing user charges. With particular reference to services delivered through Commonwealth Home Care Program (CHSP), this step would be achieved by splitting care services and ordinary daily living supports; the former would be subsidised and clients would pay Continue reading »