Public Policy
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Australia’s prison system: desperately in need of reform
We should be concerned about conditions for prisoners. Why? The obvious answer is that if the recidivism rate is high then the system is not working. Continue reading »
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Diplomacy, morality and media have failed the people of Gaza
Imagine this headline: “Brits bomb Belfast to obliterate IRA – 24,000 dead, 50,000 injured, all hospitals flattened – children limbless and starving”. Continue reading »
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COVID unmasked an unfair health system. Now we can change it
People in the poorest areas of Australia are dying 2.5 times more often from the disease than those in the richest areas. Continue reading »
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Unpacking the Jevons Paradox: how effectiveness gains in the NDIS lead to increased demand
Australia has just completed major reviews of two of its largest public expenditures – the NDIS and Employment Services. Each program manifests problems predicted by two lesser-known economic theories: the Jevons Paradox in the case of the NDIS and Goodhart’s Law in the case of employment services. Neither were mentioned in either review. Continue reading »
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John Pilger, maverick journalist (1939-2023)
In a speech he made in Sydney in 2011, defending Julian Assange, John Pilger recalled how it was always impressed upon him when he was young that Australia was a brave country: that we stood up to authority, and we stood up for justice. Such national myths were at best half-truths, Pilger said, but in Continue reading »
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Professionalism and compassion in healthcare
We don’t have to take off our compassion, or our ability to show it, when we drape a stethoscope around our neck. The need for doctors to be professional is not synonymous with being emotionless. Continue reading »
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The social contract and The Voice
Now that the dust has begun to settle, we can look at the referendum result with a little more clarity. Those of us who supported the Voice saw with some dismay how the initial widespread support in favour of a yes vote began to wither away. yet we should not be fooled by the headlines Continue reading »
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No country for old men: Why ignore our elder statesmen?
I am currently reading a book by Jeffrey Sachs whose articles often grace these pages. I am struck by the wealth of his experience having advised governments over many years, and his ability to take a long view of world events, in particular the deterioration in the United States position in the world since the Continue reading »
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What needs to change in vocational education
TAFE’s “Competency Based Training” sounds logical but dig a little and its roots are exposed. CBT has its origins in the post WW2 era of the “Scientific Management” of workers and production lines. In this world, products, processes and people are all standardised, the better for a hierarchy of management control. Continue reading »
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John Menadue on Rupert Murdoch, the Last Mogul
We have a major problem with the damage that Rupert Murdoch has done to newspapers in Australia, and any self-respecting government should take steps to correct that as soon as possible. Continue reading »
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The facts behind RNZ’s ‘Russian edits scandal’
The broadcaster’s response to my editing of international news stories amounted to a show trial, reflecting a malaise within mainstream media. Continue reading »
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Corporate media leaves out the very insights that made John Pilger a man not afraid to speak truth to power
John Pilger, the investigative anti-war journalist who spoke up for China and humiliated the western corporate media, has died—and every single report on this in the western media I have seen has carefully omitted this fact. Continue reading »
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Under the facade of journalism
How News Corp used fear, manipulation and division to campaign against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Continue reading »
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Decolonisation is our safeguard against genocide
To ensure Aboriginal Peoples’ freedom from genocide and ecocide, we need decolonisation. Continue reading »
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Three extraordinary Australian journalists: Burchett, Pilger and Assange -An update
They span three generations and give their country reason to be enormously proud, writes Rick Sterling. All have depended on freedom of the press, which is now at stake. Continue reading »
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China: Perspectives beyond the mainstream media
China looms large in the Australian psyche. On a practical level, what happens in China largely determines the success of global action to deal with climate change, the profitability of our rural economy and the financing of our universities. Our national leaders are concerned about rising tensions in our region and the interplay of US-China Continue reading »
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Big media outlets ‘lack balance’ in Gaza reporting
Five out of six major Australian media outlets have substantially imbalanced reporting when it comes to covering the Gaza conflict, new research claims. Continue reading »
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Environment: 2023 – increased GHG emissions, increased atmospheric GHG levels and record high temperatures
Despite what we have we seen and learnt during 2023, the COP meeting failed again to take strong action on fossil fuels. Is nature for nature or only for humans? Continue reading »
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Abject failure: COP28 is sealing the globe into climate armageddon
Chris Bowen would have us believe that actually mentioning the words ‘fossil fuels’ and a transition away from them was a “turning point” in the history of COP negotiations. What is he smoking? Continue reading »
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Environment: Not much environmental cheer in the season of goodwill
Exmouth Gulf threatened with industrial development. Africa being forgotten as global economies develop. Australia’s emissions reductions likely to stall long before we get to net zero. Read on for the weekly environment update. Continue reading »
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Australia developing an impoverished, disconnected immigrant underclass – Weekly Roundup
Slow progress in cleaning up the mess after decades of Coalition neglect and economic mismanagement in immigration, labour relations, school education and economic structure, opinion polls reveal a restive electorate. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and political issues. Continue reading »
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Beyond good and evil: The mainstream media and stable relations with China
By going beyond the good and evil binary, the Australian media could play a more constructive role in fostering enduring stability between Australia and China, delineating a path that maintains Australia’s safety and integrity. Continue reading »
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Environment: Health, budgets and the environment, all damaged by food and plastic waste
Food loss and waste harm the environment, human health and wallets. Chemical recycling of plastic not living up to its promise. Concerns about dead solar modules are unfounded. Continue reading »
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What does climate denialist Abbott think of the monarchy now?
Now what on earth will those staunch monarchists and climate denialists – John Howard and Tony Abbott – say about their new king, Charles III, and his very strongly held environmental views? Continue reading »
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Amendment of the Climate Change Act will offer a future for young people
Since the industrial revolution, the health damage done to young people by fossil fuels, from the boy chimney sweeps to the household gas cooker amounts to negligence. Do we care? Continue reading »
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From Vietnam to Australia, a refugee doctor’s journey
On 23 November, a boatload of asylum seekers was dispatched to Nauru for offshore detention. They were found wandering the coast of Western Australia by Aboriginal people, three days earlier. This has been Australian policy for unauthorised boat arrivals since 2013; 10 arrivals in the past year. But there was a time when asylum seekers Continue reading »
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ABC gives selected politicians licence to spread fear – Weekly Roundup
Why the RBA Board should enjoy the break on a houseboat ride, the ABC gives selected politicians licence to spread fear, bullshit, lies and division just because they are called “the opposition”, sex and the cost of living, immigrants’ kids do better at school than Australian-born kids, cleaning up the mess of another failed privatisation. Continue reading »
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Breakthrough deal on Loss and Damage: What next for COP28?
The Global Stocktake, the report card on climate action for parties (countries), is shaping up to be the fight of COP28. Continue reading »
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National Cabinet should fire the starting gun on national health reform
In April, National Cabinet agreed to hold a dedicated meeting on health reform by the end of the year. Based on media coverage this week, it might be a battle about NDIS and GST funding instead. Who pays for what is important, but it will be a missed opportunity if a funding fight displaces discussion Continue reading »