December 13, 2018

JACOB GREBER. Why Former Australian Leader Believes China is About to Outflank Trump on Trade (CAIXIN GLOBAL/AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW)

(AFR) — China could be preparing to spring a global compact to drive tariffs to zero, and approach Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) members including Australia for access to the grouping, positioning Beijing as a champion for free trade.

That’s the view of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who believes China’s President Xi Jinping may even use next month’s World Economic Forum summit in Switzerland to launch across-the-board liberalization that would “take the world by storm.”

“That indeed could represent a serious new challenge to American leadership,” Rudd warned in a speech in New York on Wednesday

December 10, 2018

CECILIA MERRIGAN.“Is That an Advent Wreath?”

An Advent tale about a small father-less family from South West Africa that has been granted asylum in Australia. This is their first Advent in a new country.

August 7, 2018

SALIM MAZOUZ, FRANK JOTZO, HUGH SADDLER. Could the NEG bring down power prices? It’s hard to be confident that it will.

The final design document for the National Energy Guarantee (NEG), released this week, contains a range of claims about the policy’s ability to drive down both greenhouse emissions and electricity prices. But still there is precious little detail on how exactly these assertions are backed up.

December 9, 2019

JOHN TAN. Rights v. Rights: Whose rights shall prevail?

Human rights are usually associated with those in the Universal Declaration, like free speech and freedom of assembly, but there are actually two opposing narratives of human rights, both having their origins at about the same time just after WWII. The second narrative, seemingly very powerful, is a right to be as wealthy as possible without government interference.

July 12, 2018

JOHN WARHURST. Major Catholic church consultation ambitious - but will it succeed? (Canberra Times 5/7/2018)

The huge Australian Catholic community, the largest, the most clerical and the most hierarchical of our Christian churches, has just embarked on a potentially defining internal consultation process, the Plenary Council 2020, to discuss the future of its church. While its leaders, like Cardinal George Pell and the recently sentenced Archbishop Philip Wilson, attract media attention for all the wrong reasons, this major consultation gives lay Catholics a rare opportunity to express their views with some hope of having an impact.

September 24, 2020

A white flag moment on the NBN was inevitable.

This week’s capitulation – that’s what it is – by communications minister Paul Fletcher sets us on a course that hopefully will see Australia start moving in the right direction again as we head further into a digitally-enabled future. It’s a welcomed move, but we’d be wise to take a close look at the detail in his National Press Club address before getting too excited.

December 17, 2019

GEORGE MONBIOT. Resist and Rebuild (Guardian Newspaper, 13 December 2019)

Yes, it’s dark. Darker, arguably, than at any point since the Second World War. We have a government not of conservatives, but of the radical right, who will now seek to smash the remaining restraints on capital and those who accumulate it. They will take their sledgehammers to our public services and our public protections. They cheated and lied to assist their victory; they will cheat and lie even more to implement their programme.

February 6, 2025

Trump's plan for Gaza heralds an age of naked fascism

I watched Trump’s joint press conference with Netanyahu, in utter disbelief. Not that the idea, or indeed the practice, of ethnic cleansing of Palestine is new. But at that press conference the mask has fallen. Recently, fascism has been on the march everywhere, but that press conference seemed to herald an age of naked fascism.

July 13, 2020

The absurdity of border protection

Closing borders never really works. The Great Wall of China eventually crumbled and in modern times there were always trickles through the Iron Curtain (incorporating the Berlin Wall) until the trickles became an outbreak.

May 2, 2018

DUNCAN GRAHAM. Finding ties that bind with Indonesia

In early April, NSW Governor David Hurley spoke about Indonesian-Australian relationships. Although largely ignored by the mainstream media his speech was not the usual white bread served by those elevated to positions supra-politics.

Hurley launched some awkward statistics:

* Thirteen percent of Australians see Indonesians as trustworthy. Switch that around and the figure is 53 percent .

* Nineteen per cent of Australians say they have a good knowledge of Indonesia. The reverse is 43 percent.

* Unfavourable perceptions of the people next door? Australians 47 percent, Indonesians just ten percent.

January 3, 2019

PETER BAUME. Labor shifts on pill testing.

The Labor leadership has announced, if it wins government, that a drug summit will be held at which pill testing will be discussed. This announcement was made in the run up to a March State election and so is a political action– it will appeal to a lot of younger voters in many electorates. It is a common sense announcement. It is hoped that a trial of pill testing will follow and that pill testing will then be introduced more generally.

February 12, 2018

Pope Francis, a brewing crisis and 'feminine genius'

The biggest error Catholic leaders have made regarding the church’s response to priests abusing children has been the exclusion of women leading the policy-making and reform process.

November 4, 2019

NOEL TURNBULL. The productiivity paradox solution - it's business wot dunnit

In the age of secular stagnation – although the age’s dawn has not yet dawned on the Australian government – one of the central economic questions is: what has caused productivity growth to decline? As far back as 1987, Robert Solow, a Nobel laureate in economics, said: “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.” This failure of massive investment in information technology to boost productivity growth became known as the productivity paradox.

July 17, 2018

KARL WILSON with Steve FitzGerald - Opening-up: The view from down under (China Daily 12/07/18)

Stephen FitzGerald (right) and former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam meet Chairman Mao Zedong on Nov 2, 1973, in Beijing.

Australia’s first ambassador to the People’s Republic of China reflects on decades of transformation

Editor’s note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of China’s reform and opening-up policy. China Daily talks to some people from overseas who have experienced or witnessed the important drive.

February 29, 2016

Stephen Duckett. Blood money: pathology cuts can reduce spending without compromising health

The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) set the cat among the pathology pigeons late last year. One of the government’s flagged changes, estimated to save around A$100 million a year, was to abolish the bulk-billing incentive Labor introduced in 2009.

The industry mobilised, threatening to charge consumers significant out-of-pocket co-payments for pathology tests for blood, tissue and other bodily fluids. The threatened increases were well in excess of the A$1.40 to A$3.40 cut to the bulk-billing incentive, which companies received for not charging patients out-of-pocket charges.

December 7, 2016

TRAVERS McLEOD. General Mattis, the new US Defence Secretary - the right choice for an ahistorical President

With General Petraeus, General Mattis changed the mindset of the US military. Let’s hope that if duty and ethics call, Mattis can change the President’s mind too.

October 13, 2019

PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 13 October 2019

This week’s articles all have visual cues. Climate change is already affecting people’s lives and it’s not always the environment itself that causes the harm. In various ways though people are resisting, as demonstrated in three short videos from around the world. And finally, rising water temperatures are devastating salmon breeding and stocks in the Pacific.

October 15, 2019

JOHN BRADLEY. The alliance between America and Saudi Arabia is over (The Spectator 28-9-19)

We are witnessing the beginning of a new geopolitics in the Middle East

June 25, 2018

TONY SMITH. Under siege - the ABC, the Coalition and News Ltd.

When the Liberal Party Council endorsed a motion that sought to make privatisation of the ABC party policy, it laid bare several realities about Australian politics and media. The most obvious is that the ABC is under siege by the Liberals and Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd.

October 23, 2018

MACK WILLIAMS. Korea: Still many challenges ahead

Despite President Trump’s exchange of “love letters” with the North Korean leader, from the public record it seems that Secretary of State Pompeo’s last discussions with Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang failed to achieve any significant breakthrough on denuclearisation. But there have been several important developments in the Korean scene over the past few months which impinge directly on Australian national interests.

November 21, 2017

IAN WEBSTER. The social harm of alcohol to communities and society

The social harm of alcohol, alcohol’s ‘harm to others’, is a re-vitalised framework for national and international policies to control the marketing of alcohol.

August 18, 2020

Morrison can't bluff his way out of the aged care crisis

I will turn 80 next year, which means that the issue of aged care is rapidly assuming more than academic significance.

December 7, 2018

JENNY HOCKING. Unmasking history: the Queen, the governor general and the Whitlam dismissal (The Guardian newspaper, 06.12.18)

The ghosts of the dismissal of the Whitlam government 43 years ago were on display at an appeal hearing before the full bench of the federal court last week: Gough Whitlam, the deposed prime minister; Sir John Kerr, the governor general who dismissed him; Malcolm Fraser, the leader of the opposition appointed by Kerr to replace Whitlam; and David Smith, the governor general’s official secretary.

December 10, 2018

ANDREW FARRAN. War and the national Interest.

Since the Korean War in the early 1950s, the US has committed a series of political and strategic misjudgements in its war decisions. Does this give us confidence about its future decisions and for a policy of going along with those decisions even when they do not directly involve our national interests? Nationalism and irrationality are on the rise, increasing the chances of conflict today more than for decades.

November 13, 2017

BRUCE DUNCAN. Pope Francis under attack

Despite his immense popularity among most Catholics and many others, not just Christians, Pope Francis is meeting increasing opposition and outspoken criticism, even from some cardinals and _bishops__, as well as from some prominent academics and writers._

April 27, 2020

MICHAEL KEATING. Covid-19 and inter-generational equity

The increase in public debt in response to Covid-19 will not result in an unacceptable debt burden on young people. Instead, anyone seriously concerned about inter-generational equity would support action to reduce climate change and to improve the availability of housing.

October 8, 2019

JERRY ROBERTS Income management by the Cashless Debit Card

The Cashless Debit Card when seen in the context of robots and drug testing at Centrelink, tax cuts for the comfortable, religious protection laws, the Witness K trial and open slather for financiers adds to the impression that our country now resembles more closely Margaret Atwood’s Gilead than Ben Chifley’s Australia.

July 26, 2019

MOHAMMED AYOOB. An ally, a partner and American unilateralism: on the U.S. response to Turkey's S-400 deal with Russia (The Hindu)

There are major differences but also similarities in the U.S.’ response to Russia’s S-400 deals with Turkey and India

October 25, 2019

JENNIFER DOGGETT, LESLEY RUSSELL. The Private Health Insurance dilemma: a product in search of a role (Croakey 22-10-19)

Medibank has announced that it will become Australia’s first private health insurer to make potential out-of-pocket (OOP) costs publicly available in a move to shore up public trust, after winning a ‘Shonky’ award from consumer group Choice for “junk” policies that “cost more and deliver less”.

February 1, 2019

WANNING SUN AND HAIQING YU. WeChat, the Federal Election, and the Danger of Insinuative Journalism

A story appeared recently in The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) with an eye-catching title: ‘Warning WeChat could spread Chinese propaganda during federal election’. By linking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda with a forthcoming Australian election, the story draws heavily on views from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute_,_ and represents a new and dangerous development in the China influence narrative. The story recites a now-familiar litany of concerns, including the lack of regulation of WeChat, Huawei, China’s desire for influence through the Chinese diaspora, China’s human rights record, and the issue of foreign donations—all of which are, to some extent, valid. Yet, despite its best efforts to breathe new life into these matters, the article still amounts to little more than a non-story at its best and fear-mongering at its worst.

April 2, 2018

PETER JOHNSTONE. Catholic Reform Groups Want Urgent Action from Bishops.

The Catholic Church in Australia faces continuing decay unless bishops listen to grassroots Catholics. Some 50 representatives, women and men, of nine Catholic groups throughout Australia advocating for systemic reform of the Church, gathered in Canberra a few days ago. The key focus of this Gathering of the Australian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform was to assert the importance of all Catholics not only being heard but also accepting their own responsibilities of leadership. Catholics are losing trust in their leaders.

February 11, 2019

MAX HAYTON. The New Zealand coalition says wellness makes economic sense.

The New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made a strong impact on the world stage with her vision of liberal progressive politics that promote wellness and kindness. Doubters and opponents say economic realities could defeat her.

February 4, 2019

WILLIAM BRIGGS-The US, walls, and the paradox of a globally integrated capitalist economy

Two significant events are being played out on the US-Mexican border. They appear at first to be unrelated and yet show the paradoxes and contradictions surrounding the economic structures that dominate our lives.

May 11, 2018

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: Crashing out a real possibility

The Brexiters deeply distrust the motives of the Remainers who are seeking ways and means of frustrating the process of withdrawal as exampled by the House of Lords_’_ actions recently requiring that the final draft agreement be submitted to Parliament for its approval and if not approved, that the government be directed to reopen negotiations. While Britain’s final destination is still unclear it might be said that this is no time for Britain and the EU to be still skirmishing over what are essentially domestic arrangements.

December 13, 2018

PATTY FAWKNER. Honouring the stranger-guest-host relationship (The Good Oil).

Something insidious is happening throughout our world that is threatening the intrinsic human nexus between stranger, guest and host, writes Sister Patty Fawkner.

March 26, 2019

ALISON BROINOWSKI Integrity ,initiative and imposed ignorance

The US and UK are still fighting the cold war in new ways about which Australians know little.

November 3, 2017

PETER MARTIN. It's Time (to take Labor seriously)

The shape of the next Labor government is becoming clearer.

This week we learnt that it will end the practice of signing Australia up to trade agreements that haven’t survived a benefit-cost analysis.

February 11, 2019

Public Schools are Defrauded by Billions Under New Funding Agreements

Public schools are being defrauded by billions under school funding agreements finalised at the end of last year between the Commonwealth and state/territory governments (“the states”). Public schools in all states except the ACT will be under-funded indefinitely while private schools in all states except the Northern Territory will be fully funded or more by 2023. Private schools also get more favourable phase-in arrangements than public schools.

May 4, 2020

Badly designed. Badly marketed. The virus that has infected the Australian government

_In the same week that Labor front-benchers Kristina Keneally and Tim Watts released a discussion paper examining Australia’s cyber resilience the Government was battling to convince us to download an app that IT experts and lawyers warn has basic design flaws.

July 26, 2018

ERIC HODGENS. Spare A Thought for the New Archbishop.

A bishop’ job is part shepherd, part leader, part ruler, part manager. Pope Francis insists that pastoral care is the primary role. The Melbourne Catholic Church is getting a new bishop. At 54 he can look forward to 21 years in that post. What is the scenario Archbishop Peter Comensoli is walking into?

December 29, 2017

JOHN MENADUE – Our derivative white man’s media A REPOST

Politicians are continually blamed for their failures but our media is also responsible for the state of public discussion on important issues. This downward media spiral has been led by the Murdoch media’s abuse of power in the three major English-speaking markets – Australia, UK and the US. But other media, including the ABC is performing badly.

In foreign and defence policies we are vassals of the US . Our media is an acolyte.

March 12, 2016

Alison Broinowski. Defence White paper - the China threat.

Strategically timid.

In his final book, which was too little noticed, Malcolm Fraser declared that we must reassess the strategic dependence which has determined our defence policy throughout settler Australian history. ‘We need the United States for defence’, he wrote in Dangerous Allies (2014), ‘but we only need defence because of the United States’. It is the ANZUS alliance, presented as guaranteeing our security, that poses the greatest threat to Australia, he concluded.

November 14, 2019

ALLAN PATIENCE. The ALP and the religious right in Australian politics

The religious right is casting a darkening cloud over Australia’s democracy.

June 17, 2019

NIALL McLAREN IT'S TIME.... TO QUESTION THE US ALLIANCE.

Before entering any alliance, it’s better to be certain you have worked out what you hope to gain from it.

April 23, 2019

DOUGLAS NEWTON. Reflections for Anzac Day. Why? How? To what end?

On this day, respect for our war dead, and for survivors, eclipses all. The rows of headstones afflict the mind. But real respect demands we reflect on the truly big questions: Why? How? To what end?

February 7, 2019

CAVAN HOGUE. Brazil - somebody down there loves Donald.

The newly elected Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, is a right wing, socially conservative former army officer who is a fan of Donald Trump and is following many of his foreign policy adventures like pulling out of the Paris Climate accords and moving his embassy to Jerusalem. John Bolton is anxious to forge close military ties with Brazil. Bolsonaro has taken measures to replace indigenous rights by commercial agriculture and mining in the Amazon basin which poses a threat to both the people and the environment. It’s nice to have friends in high places.

August 7, 2020

Historic houses in NSW up for sale

NSW has a priceless collection of historic houses. They go largely unnoticed, unappreciated and unfunded. Conservative politicians and their wealthy supporters stole the timeless landscape of indigenous Australia and gave it to white settlers. Now they want to profit from colonial history as well.

December 7, 2018

RICHARD ECKERSLEY. The demise of the official future

Americans are more likely to think the US is heading in the right direction since Donald Trump’s election. Why?

May 25, 2018

Australia must position itself in Asia (ABC radio interview with Hugh White)

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/australia-must-position-itself-in-asia-expert-says/9794492

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal