Public Policy
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A five-minute scroll
Trump seeks a currency commitment from BRICS or 100 percent tariffs will apply. The man feeding up to 3,000 Gazans daily has been targeted and killed, while Al Jazeera investigates IDF use of quadcopters with sounds of babies crying luring Gazans from their homes. A soldier tells Hareetz that what he has seen in Gaza Continue reading »
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‘Dark day for humanity’ as Australia chooses cruelty in Migration Bill changes
Refugee and refugee support groups Australia-wide are deeply concerned about the extremely damaging implications of Australia’s new migration laws which are founded on principles of punishment rather than human rights protection. Continue reading »
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The prescience of Corporal Hijack
A year ago, Mussa Hijazi, a stone-throwing young teenager of the first Intifada who became a long-serving Canberra lawyer, laid out three options on how the conflict in Gaza would end. Continue reading »
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South Korea pays the price for Ukraine’s fake news on North Korean troops
Some stand to benefit from the deluge of fake news from the war, while others could pay dearly. Continue reading »
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Updates from Jerusalem, then and now
From the Committee to Protect Journalists: “The Israel-Gaza war has taken an unprecedented toll on Gazan journalists since Israel declared war on Hamas following its attack against Israel on October 7, 2023. As of November 26, 2024, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 137 journalists and media workers were among the more than tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Continue reading »
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Will Joe Biden pardon Julian Assange?
Julian Assange may no longer be behind bars, but his conviction casts a shadow over press freedom and the safety of journalists everywhere—a wrong Assange and his supporters world-wide are determined to set right by overturning his wrongful conviction via a presidential pardon from Joe Biden. Continue reading »
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Australia’s school system: winners and losers?
In a school system so deeply segregated along class and cultural lines it is not hard to identify the losers. But the question is whether there are any real winners? Continue reading »
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Anti-Palestinian discrimination in NSW public schools
Over 4000 people have signed a petition in three days, calling for an apology for a student who was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald to have been banned from attending his Year 12 formal for wearing a keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf) at his graduation. The student is from a Palestinian background, and the scarf is Continue reading »
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ABC News’ death rattle
I’d like to think that ABC News’ revamped online iteration is like an ancient Aunty’s death rattle. Surely, its demise must follow. Continue reading »
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‘No appeal from the grave’ Phillip Hughes, workplace deaths and getting the balance right
The death of cricketer Phillip Hughes ten years ago to-day (November 27) was one of several hundred workplace fatalities in 2014. Continue reading »
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COVID 19 Response Inquiry Report: A comprehensive review despite its limited terms of reference
My recent review of the book, Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism, by Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden (H&H) highlighted its ‘convincing, frank and honest account’ in just over 200 pages, and encouraged the Health Department in particular to listen to its lessons. The official COVID-19 Response Inquiry Report by Robyn Kruk, Catherine Bennett and Angela Jackson ( Continue reading »
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Why oppose the latest deportation and surveillance Bill proposal
The imminent bill must not be passed. Continue reading »
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The North Atlantic allies are killing democracy
Historically, many of its members have waged and/or supported wars in the name of democracy. Continue reading »
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Health Department: Listen to these lessons from our COVID 19 experience
A review of Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden, Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race, UNSW Press Continue reading »
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In defence of public education
Over the last 10,000 years or so societies have evolved from relatively simple and loosely structured groups of people to the complex entities of the present nation-states (and even a nascent world society), but in this time period the human being, as an organism, has not changed significantly. So, what has changed? Continue reading »
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Within the context of no context… Here comes Donny
Forty four years ago today as I am writing this (17/11/80) the harbinger of Donald Trump appeared in The New Yorker magazine. TV critic George W.S. Trow wrote a long essay (which later became a book) titled ‘Within the context of no context,’ giving notice to the world of what we now see unfolding across Continue reading »
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Environment: The future of humanity hangs in the balance
‘We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster’, scientists conclude. Donkeys: feral pests or nature’s saviours? Climate change threatens global food security and farmers’ incomes. Continue reading »
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Xi warns Trump: Don’t test our red lines – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: ‘Seven pillars of wisdom’ on US-China links. Plus: India’s selfishness-is-good ideology; Marles locking in US-Japan defence ties; Non-aligned Indonesia’s balancing act; ‘Tsunami of change’ in Sri Lanka election; Lonely hearts kindle companionship economy. Continue reading »
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Is “knowing what’s going on” too much to bear?
The courage it takes to “know”, to “realise”, to “comprehend” when “trusted” global powers act against humanity is a profoundly personal effort. Your success will only ever be relative. Yet your choices will and do affect the collective (society). They also affect your identity: where and how you feel alliances, where and how you draw Continue reading »
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Are ‘dead’ Palestinian children less important than ‘murdered’ Israeli hostages?
I audibly gasped when Andrew Podger referred to Israel’s response in Gaza as a “lack of care” in a recent P&I article. Hardly a balanced use of words. Continue reading »
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Should the Commonwealth get out of schooling?
Lyndsay Connors (Pearls and Irritations, 14 November 2024) takes issue with my argument that the Commonwealth should get out or be pushed out of schooling. Continue reading »
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Social media ban targets the wrong age group and the wrong type of media
To reduce social harm, instead of a ban on teens accessing social media, should we consider a ban on over 60 year olds reading and listening to News Corporation outlets? Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
Up to 50,000 Māori mobilised and walked to the New Zealand Parliament in Wellington to to protest the treaty principles bill, which Amnesty International states should never have been introduced. Bob Carr states what he told us last week about AUKUS is now confirmed. A member of Knesset is forcibly removed for speaking out against Continue reading »
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Australia’s public policy settings need to change to reflect our new reality
Many of Australia’s public policy settings were designed decades ago. Since that time, society and the economy have changed radically. Australia’s outdated policy settings now extend to matters as important and diverse as taxation, competition policy, drug laws, reproductive healthcare, the carbon transition, media regulation and the organisation of our parliaments. Change is urgent. This is Continue reading »
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“Disingenuous theatre dressed up as major news”: Why the ABC is losing credibility
ABC supporters across the country are dismayed and angry with the national broadcaster. The biggest threat to the ABC today is its craven and distorted performance in television current affairs reporting. Continue reading »
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They spit in our faces
The fossil fuel corporations and their enablers treat us with complete contempt. This is not very polite to say, I know, but they spit in our faces and laugh. Continue reading »
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A fighter for Palestinians’ freedom: Ali Kazak
Exceptional courage and commitment is needed to spend decades pursuing freedom for your people and to do so with few resources against considerable odds. Continue reading »
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Health and Human Security: a sense of control over one’s life
It is time to think more broadly about security than the narrow military concept about which there is endless debate. Continue reading »
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Environment: Carbon capture and storage – what’s the real goal?
Carbon capture and storage fails to deliver carbon but succeeds for governments and industry. The pros and cons of reducing your personal carbon footprint. How best to tackle Australia’s land clearing loopholes. Continue reading »
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We are sending the wrong message by focusing on annual carbon emissions based on 100-year global warming potential
The climate crisis is much more severe than most people and politicians realise. Continue reading »
