Top 5
-
What went wrong with Aged Care?
The definite turning point in the quality and the humanity of Australia’s care of the elderly was the Aged Care Bill 1997 (Cth), introduced as part of the Howard Government’s 1996 Budget measures. It was a huge failure. Continue reading »
-
John Menadue talks with Friendlyjordies
Jordan chats with Pearls and Irritations publisher and editor John Menadue about his time working for Rupert Murdoch and Gough Whitlam. The topics of China and the Palace Papers also gets a run. Continue reading »
-
Words matter – poets can change the World!
Responses to the mayhem caused by the destruction of Beirut will have much in common with the aftermath of Covid 19: long term recovery from devastation coupled to an opportunity to build societies so different from those which preceded the explosion and the virus. Continue reading »
-
University Failures and Canberra parsimony.
Cynical, short-sighted and gutless – everything a proper university should eschew. But perhaps the teachers have been taking lessons from their political masters. If so, both deserve a fail. Continue reading »
-
Aged care homes: the weakest COVID-19 link
A pandemic throws a perfect mirror onto a society and shines a light on every crack. There is no better illustration of this than the light that COVID-19 is throwing on aged care homes in Australia and internationally. Continue reading »
-
The Reagan and Thatcher legacies: sorting truth from fantasy.
Neo-Conservatives want to believe that Reagan and Thatcher achieved smaller government, lower taxes, and a booming economy. The reality, however, is very different. Continue reading »
-
Do we share the same values as the US?
No, we most certainly do not Continue reading »
-
True crime confessions – being rude to Centrelink
Last year, a Senate inquiry into RoboDebt was told that more than 2000 people died after receiving their initial RoboDebt letter, many apparently by suicide. I act for numerous RoboDebt clients. Continue reading »
-
The politics of the coming generation.
ANU’s 2019 Australian Electoral Survey showed that among young people in Australia today there is “evidence of a growing divide between the voting behaviour of younger and older generations”. Continue reading »
-
When the war on terror turns inward
We now have evidence of a campaign conducted in Australia to attack the credibility and the reputation of individuals and organisations seen as being too close to China. Continue reading »
-
Caring for older Australians
Covid has blown the cover on much of what we need to maintain credibility as a humane nation. Care of older Australians is of priority concern. Continue reading »
-
Emperor Trumpus Maximus and his most loyal vassal, Terra Australis
Let us never forget that Emperor Trumpus Maximus is divine and so demands obedience from all of you as well as from our vassal states. Continue reading »
-
Do We Need Reaganomics Now?
The Treasurer has suggested that we should look to the supply side of the economy as we climb out of the COVID recession. He has raised increasing workplace flexibility, reducing green tape and bringing forward tax cuts as fruitful strategies. He has suggested we look back to the Reagan and Thatcher legacies for inspiration. Continue reading »
-
Three identical and inaccurate reports on the South China Sea.
Several leading Australian journalists have made identical but inaccurate statements on the recent letter sent by the Australian government to the UN on China’s South China Sea claims. Were they briefed by a political staffer pushing a false interpretation? Continue reading »
-
The question avoided by Kerr and the Palace ‘What does your Prime Minister say?’
In the rush to judgement on the Palace letters one image stands out – the early call, made before the letters had even been released – ‘the Queen was NOT informed!’. As if the entire cache of Palace letters could be read from just one letter, written by the key protagonist Sir John Kerr, after Continue reading »
-
Scott Morrison’s 21st century book burning
Prime Minister Morrison’s Coalition Government has committed $270 billion to militarisation, while universities, public broadcasters and the arts face devastation. The implications for Australian society are grim. Continue reading »
-
Could ‘corporate clean conversion’ save the economy and the planet?
The recent second wave outbreak of Covid-19 at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula, NSW creates an apt metaphor for the climate crossroads at which nations globally now find themselves. Continue reading »
-
Economic recovery is their only target, but do they have a plan?
The consensus is in: the economy rules, okay? Finally, what remains of the national cabinet is essentially united. Continue reading »
-
Sinophobia in Australian media
The sinophobia in Australian media is rife. Publisher and broadcaster love stories about Chinese protesters rallying in Australia, China, Hong Kong, etc. Continue reading »
-
The extraordinary ambush of China Matters.
We have been caught in the slipstream of Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic struggle against overwhelming adversity . Continue reading »
-
The last chance to stabilise Earth’s climate
The aspirational Paris target of 1.5ºC maximum warming will be beyond our reach if the economy returns to pre-Covid ‘normal’. Technological solutions, although necessary, are not sufficient. Continue reading »
-
The Palace Letters have blown apart the claim the Queen had no part in the Whitlam dismissal.
The letters show that the Queen’s responses, and at times even advice, particularly in relation to Kerr’s concern for his own position and the possible use of the reserve powers, played a critical role in his planning and in his eventual decision to dismiss the government. Continue reading »
-
The Palace knew for months before November 11 that John Kerr was considering dismissing Gough Whitlam (A repost from 11.11.2015)
Based on an examination of John Kerr’s ‘treasure trove of previously unpublished papers’, Professor Jenny Hocking has provided overwhelming evidence that before the dismissal John Kerr had extensive conversations and correspondence with the Queen, Prince Charles and Sir Martin Charteris, the Queen’s private secretary. To support his actions John Kerr clearly wanted these papers released Continue reading »
-
Australia’s national security laws leave us on a similar path to Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s new national security laws are attracting well-deserved condemnation. It’s a pity that there hasn’t been greater recognition that Australia’s own national security laws share some common features with those in Hong Kong. Continue reading »
-
Australia’s pro-Israel media fights facts and ends careers
The day after Scott Morrison set the date for the mid-May 2019 federal election, Labor lost one of its star women performers. International lawyer Melissa Parke, the Member for Fremantle, a shrewd “get” by Kevin Rudd back in 2007, announced her resignation from politics. Continue reading »
-
Lies and distortions about western policies in Asia: The Sino-Indian frontier dispute. Part 1 of 2
Most governments lie and distort, sometimes blatantly. For me, one of the worst examples has been over the hostilities along the Sino-Indian frontier. I give details since I was once personally involved. Continue reading »
-
The Coalition is just following orders
To understand how and why Australia has ended up where it has, with a series of governments which seem to become more and more damaging to our way of life, year on year, we need only to look back to 2013. If you think they are waging a relentless war on the nation’s most vulnerable, Continue reading »
-
Why Australia’s strategic situation is far worse than we think (AFR 6.7.20)
For all the dire warnings in last week’s defence review, its chief fault lies in being far too optimistic. Continue reading »
-
A win’s a win in Eden-Monaro
A messy and unedifying campaign – gaffes, sabotage and dirty tricks. And a pretty ordinary result in the Eden-Monaro by-election. Continue reading »
-
MUNGO MACCALLUM. The patience of our first nation, while remarkable, is not inexhaustible.
Whether we like it or not, it doesn’t take much for racism to come out of the underbelly of this country. We only have to think back to Cronulla in 2005. And of course the Adam Goodes story just last year. Continue reading »
