Top 5
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The US in Australia—and in China!
The coming week will see an enormous festival of US alliances with and in Australia, with the biggest “Talisman Sabre” exercise ever, and a visit to Australia by the US Secretaries of State and Defence for the annual “AUSMIN” talks. All of this has been made more glamorous by the arrival of a new US Continue reading »
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How do Chinese Australians view Australia’s foreign policy?
Since the Lowy Institute’s first Being Chinese in Australia: Public Opinion in Chinese Communities survey was published in 2021, Australia’s relations with China have undergone significant upheaval. The COVID-19 pandemic, the rupture in Australia–China relations, the election of a Labor government and the turbulence in both countries accompanying their re-openings after their COVID-19 lockdowns has placed Chinese Continue reading »
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We need an Earth System Treaty to save civilisation. And we need it now
The world stands in urgent need of a universal accord to ensure it remains a Planet that our children and grandchildren can inhabit and enjoy, far into the future. Continue reading »
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Australia may ban WeChat – but for many Chinese Australians, it’s their ‘lifeline’
One morning in February 2021, I was woken by a WeChat call from my brother in China. Mum had died the previous night, he told me. I wasn’t shocked to hear about Mum’s death – she had been very ill for a couple of years. Continue reading »
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Lithuania and Taiwan: “Don’t Fight, Don’t Win, Don’t Surrender”
Uzupis, a historic district of Vilnius, Lithuania and a vibrant artistic community, had unilaterally declared its independence from the rest of the country. It adopted three mottoes: “Don’t Fight,” “Don’t Win” and “Don’t Surrender.” These seem particularly apt for the ambiguous status of Taiwan with its anomalous international status and phantasmic national identity. Continue reading »
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Robo Debt shows we need an Independent Inquiry into AUKUS
The Royal Commission into Robo-debt has provided significant insights into how a cavalier government can ignore fundamental processes of good governance by ignoring accepted standards of decision making to pursue its ideological agenda. Continue reading »
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Ukraine: Putin’s war or proxy war?
The claim that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a proxy war is not borne out by recent history, nor supported by Russian democrats, Ukrainians of all stripes nor most Western Russia specialists. They mostly see its roots in an authoritarian Russian state and the revanchist views of Putin and his acolytes. Continue reading »
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The real history of the war in Ukraine: A chronology of events and case for diplomacy
The American people urgently need to know the true history of the war in Ukraine and its current prospects. Unfortunately, the mainstream media ––The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, MSNBC, and CNN –– have become mere mouthpieces of the government, repeating US President Joe Biden’s lies and hiding history from the public. Continue reading »
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50 years of Civil Celebrants in Australia
On July 19, 2023, Australia celebrated the 50th anniversary of civil celebrancy. In her captivating book on Lionel Murphy’s life, Dr. Jennifer Hocking recounts how Murphy, almost single-handedly, persisted for several years to achieve the groundbreaking reform of no-fault divorce. It was an arduous and contentious struggle. As a corollary to no-fault divorce Murphy was Continue reading »
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Lies, damned lies and school statistics
The recent exchange in Pearls and Irritations between John Frew and Ross Fox about teaching severely disruptive students comes at a time of frenetic interest in school reform, sparked by two current high stakes reviews. Continue reading »
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Goodbye to consulting?
’You cannot serve God and mammon’. Make your choice. Continue reading »
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Fact-checking claims on how best to expand access to dental services
The Federal Government has been urged to ignore advice from Private Healthcare Australia (PHA) suggesting that private health insurance funds have an important role in increasing access to dental services. Continue reading »
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NATO enlargement enthusiasts look to the Indo-Pacific
Lord Ismay, NATO’s first secretary-general (SG), famously said the purpose of NATO was to ‘keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down’. Continue reading »
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The Albanese Government’s craven desire to bolster the alliance with Washington
When will Australians realise, as Paul Keating has been unerringly consistent in arguing, that they are part of the cosmopolitanism and complexity of Asia, and not a Western imagined community presided over by a fast declining America? Continue reading »
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Reporting and surviving in an age of geopolitical paranoia
Journalism is tough at a time when many topics could be seen through a political lens. Hong Kong provides an interesting case, although it is not the only place where journalism is having to navigate shifting geopolitics and social developments that divide countries and communities. Continue reading »
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Robodebt and the APS
The Robodebt scandal reflects badly on the Australian Public Service generally, and not just on those immediately responsible. Continue reading »
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The Voice and the problem of race
Defeat for the Voice referendum will reverberate internationally. Surviving suspicions about our racist past will be refreshed. It will come at the same time as our renewed embrace of our ‘forever friends’ in Britain and the United States and our growing enthusiasm for closer ties with NATO. Continue reading »
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Good news on nukes: US can’t sell Australia nuclear subs
The good news is the US can’t sell Australia the three to five used Virginia class nuclear subs that the Albanese government has announced it will buy. Nor will it sell us any new ones. Continue reading »
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Hong Kong and the rose garden promise: Thoughts on the “Fugitive Eight”
Eight Hong Kong dissidents now living abroad are subject to arrest warrants, including Kevin Yam, a Melbourne-based lawyer, and Ted Hui, a former politician who now lives in Adelaide. Continue reading »
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Cities in mortal danger foreshadow the human fate
Often seen as marvels of the human ascendancy, the world’s great cities are in mortal danger as the resources that keep them alive stagger, dwindle and give out. Continue reading »
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The AWM, children, and war crimes
What do we make of our own national war memorial inviting children to have a go at planning attacks on civilian infrastructure which amount to war crimes? Continue reading »
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NATO’s provocative lurch eastward and the ‘supreme fool’ Jens Stoltenberg
President Macron of France is right to warn NATO away from any expansion into Asia, reminding all and sundry of NATO’s Atlantic design and focus. Continue reading »
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An Asia-Pacific NATO: fanning the flames of war
“My country, the U.S., is unrecognisable. I’m not sure who runs the country. I do not believe it is the president.”, says Jeffrey Sachs in a speech at a Saving Humanity and Planet Earth (SHAPE) seminar, Melbourne, Australia. “U.S. actions are putting us on a path to war with China in the same way that Continue reading »
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De-risking Australia: separating our vital interests from America’s
Does it really matter that Australia’s defence policy has no moorings, and is created unaware of past pain, lessons and policy responses? By agents with unknown interests. And that American influence has been ushered into this void, most recently by Minister Marles? Continue reading »
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Peace in Ukraine? Faltering counter-offensive, failed coup
The aftermath of Ukraine’s ailing counter-offensive may be the country’s last chance to avert the utter destruction of a senseless forever war. Continue reading »
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Careful what you wish for: Why a double dissolution over housing could spell trouble for the Greens
They can’t say they weren’t warned. Shortly before coming to office Anthony Albanese said, ‘I’ve been underestimated my whole life’. Continue reading »
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Miscarriages of justice: Kathleen Folbigg is one of an unknown number of people wrongly convicted
Most Australians have little idea how frequently miscarriages of justice in the form of wrongful convictions occur in Australia. This lack of knowledge should be no surprise; not even our criminal justice system tracks such data let alone researches the possibility of wrongful convictions. In the absence of data, most people, including many in the Continue reading »
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Expensive dental care worsens inequality. Is it time for a Medicare-style ‘Denticare’ scheme?
There’s growing awareness public dental programs are unable to meet the demand for services. Private dental care is increasingly unaffordable, and millions of Australians go without the treatment they need. Continue reading »
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Silence and the horror of Jenin
Why hasn’t the devastation of almost an entire people been called out for what it is? Continue reading »
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A disappearing nation
At its core, climate change is a form of genocide. If Bangladesh sinks – when Bangladesh sinks – it won’t be an abstract environmental loss, but the last breath of a people that started dying the minute the British landed on Indian soil. Developed countries created this climate disaster. Now they need to fix it. Continue reading »