April 28, 2013

Tony Abbott keeps telling us that boat people are illegals and by inference, criminals. John Menadue

Last week on radio Tony Abbott was at it again, repeatedly referring to illegals and illegal boats. It cannot be ignorance to keep calling asylum seekers illegals. He must know they are not illegals, but by using this language he inflates fear and hatred of people in distress.

We cannot presume that boats are illegal because they are exercising passage through our territorial waters. The Law of the Sea makes that clear. And people seeking asylum are not illegals because of our commitments under Article 31 of the Refugee Convention.

June 12, 2017

MARK BEESON. Dysfunction rules, OK?

Britains election result was a shock, even in todays volatile political climate. The outcome is potentially disastrous, but it is unclear whether Corbyn could have pursued his agenda even if he had actually won.

August 13, 2018

MARC HUDSON. The Nationals have changed their leader but kept the same climate story (The Conversation 28 February 2018)

After Barnaby Joyces demise as Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader, and his replacement by Michael McCormack, we might wonder what the junior Coalition partners leadership change means for Australias climate policy.

November 4, 2024

A five-minute scroll

Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti has been noted for his statements about Israel and Gaza. Australian whistleblower seeks support. Over the weekend the Israeli army has continued its bombardment in North Gaza, blocked school children in Hebron and killed more children ( and families) is airstrikes. Al Jazeera continues to track IDF social media while satellite images show the damage to villages in South Lebanon. Another week begins in the world.

October 10, 2016

ALLAN PATIENCE. Australias American Leadership Distraction

Back in the 1960s, in his book The Lucky Country (a title he meant as irony), Donald Horne noted that Australia was a lucky country despite being run by second-rate people. Considering todays leaders across Australia, we would have to conclude that Hornes judgement is much too generous. The reality is that its mostly third-rate people who are now running the country. And they do so with impunity. The barely concealed contempt the four bank CEOs displayed towards their questioners at the recent parliamentary inquiry is a case in point. It appeared they couldnt have cared less about their institutions responses to ruinous financial advice given to unsuspecting customers, unjustifiably high interest rates, and related grubby business practices.

November 7, 2024

A five-minute scroll

Trump returns to the presidency, while an IDF soldier congratulates the win by shooting at homes in Gaza. Francesca Albanese tells Canada that international laws has no space for excuses and thanks Rabbi’s for joining her in New York. Israel bombs Lebanon’s Baalbek raising concern for UNESCO sites. Chris Hedges speaks to the Democrats loss, raising the importance of not ignoring your own base, while Mary Kostakidis warns of the lessons to be learned as the Albanese government approaches Australia’s 2025 election. UK’s Jonathan Pie unpacks the Democrat loss in brutal truths, while Bernie Sanders says it should come as no surprise. George Yeo speaks to understanding why China doesn’t have western-like hegemonic aspirations. The genocide and starvation of people in Gaza continues.

April 4, 2015

The speech that Rupert had written for Gough. 30 November 1972

The following is the speech that Rupert Murdoch had written for Gough Whitlams final election rally in St Kilda in the 1972 election campaign. It was written by Evan Williams.who at the time was a senior journalist on The Australian.

Gough Whitlam decided not to use ‘Ruperts speech’

. What a journey it has been for Rupert Murodch from 1972 to 2015!

John Menadue

Everywhere I have gone in this campaign one thing has been clear and unmistakable above all else : the Australian people are crying out for a new deal. They are crying out for leadership. They are crying out for a government that will put the needs of the people first that will unite and inspire us, rekindle the energies of the Australian people, and lead this country forward to the greatness it deserves.

January 5, 2015

John Menadue. Is the state being captured by special interests?

In his recent book, The Origin of Political Order and Political Decay Francis Fukuyama of End of History fame, focuses on how even developed and democratic societies can be captured by powerful vested interests. He suggests that this has happened in the US with the coalition of extremists in big business, the Republican Party and the Tea Party.

First there was the crippling of the political process in the US with money and lobbying; then followed the capture of the state.

April 10, 2019

JOHN MENADUE The myth that the Liberals are better economic managers?

Scott Morrison in today’s announcement of the election date said once again that ‘Labor cannot manage money’

In an earlier post I argued that the economy is a means to an end. It is not an end in itself. The economy must ensure and hopefully advance the health of our planet and our society. Unfortunately the Government sees the economy as paramount. It believes that this will play to its strength. But the facts do not show that the Liberals are better economic managers.

November 11, 2016

SUSAN RYAN. Affordable housing and inclusionary zoning.

There are recent signs that governments are belatedly starting to move on the urgent problems created by the lack of affordable housing. A variety of data sources shows that increasing numbers of people, especially older women, face homelessness. Based on 2011 census figures, among poorer single older women alone, we are looking at something like half a million who do not own a home and once they have left the workforce cannot afford private rentals.

This problem does not only affect poor older Australians who have ended their working lives. Younger people, especially in our cities are locked out of home purchase. House prices rise continually, fuelled by extravagant tax concessions to private investors. Those excluded from home purchase must rent, adding pressure on the rental market. Without major changes in housing policy these renters will also face homelessness later in life. Homelessness in Australia is likely to reach unmanageable levels.

November 11, 2024

A five-minute scroll

A statement from Prime Minister Albanese for Remembrance Day, 2024. An overview of Israeli action in Gaza over the last month and an overview of entering Gaza over the weekend. Protests in the Netherlands in support of Palestine after ugly scenes during and after the soccer. Chris Hedges describes the ‘corporate civil war’ in the US, while an independent British Media poses Musk’s journey into politics with Trump. Senator Payman speaks at a protest in Melbourne while Penny Wong tells a member of the public we are not selling weapons to Israel. David Shoebridge asks how the new social media laws will test age, for all.

February 15, 2017

ROSS GITTINS. Outlook for Australian politics and government in 2017.

The area of economic reform where the governments performance has been most egregious is on policy to ease our transition to a low-carbon economy and honour our commitments at the Paris conference. Leaving aside Abbotts role in our policy regression, Turnbulls disservice to the nation was to swear off introducing a carbon intensity scheme.

June 29, 2014

Kieran Tapsell: The Nestor Case

The Catholic Church hierarchy has now accepted that its attempts to cover up the sexual abuse of children by clergy facilitated further abuse. But there was a second reason for the increase in the abuse the canonical disciplinary system was dysfunctional. It was dysfunctional enough prior to 1983, but Pope St. John Paul II made it useless with his 1983 Code of Canon Law. It became virtually impossible to dismiss these priests under the Code. They remained priests, and took advantage of their positions of power and authority to continue their assaults on children.

January 14, 2018

IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 5: Competition

Competition is a means of encouraging innovation and productivity, and bringing those benefits to the community. When it becomes an end in itself, however, it can impose costs on us all.

March 7, 2016

Michael Kelly SJ. Where to from here for the Catholic Church in Australia

Despite the unpersuasive Vatican spin on Cardinal Pells appearance last week before the Royal Commission into child sex abuse in institutions that his performance was dignified and edifying, his performance, in the assessment of most observers including this one, was inept, cowardly and unconvincing.

Cardinal Pell is only one Australian Catholic and he has a small following, even among the countrys bishops. But he has single handedly brought the Catholic Church in Australia to its knees. If what occurred last week happened to any other entity in Australia a political party, a trade union or a university, for example a death notice in the newspaper would be expected.

June 13, 2018

DANIEL RUSSEL. A Historic Breakthrough or a Historic Blunder in Singapore?

Kim Jong Un May Have Outwitted Trump at the Summit.

May 22, 2014

Richard Butler. American Greed trumps the American Dream: With help from the referee.

During the last two weeks a Professor from the Paris School of Economics, Thomas Piketty, has been touring the US speaking about his book; Capital in the Twenty-First Century. His audiences have been overflowing. Public television described the reception he has received as reminiscent of that given the Beatles, in their first visit to the US, fifty years ago. The book was briefly sold out on Amazon.

Capital is not an argument, a Manifesto. It is a proof based on research conducted over ten years, analyzing data from twenty countries, in the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries. It shows that when the returns to capital exceed the rate of growth in the overall economy, extreme inequality results. In the past, this has led to extreme political breakdown. It could do so again.

March 12, 2017

PETER PHIBBS. we must call governments out on this 'Game of Homes'.

When politicians say supply will fix the problem, ask them why it hasn’t worked yet. And also send them a copy of the graph from Chapter 1 of any first-year economics text book showing that price is the result of the interaction of supply and _deman_d.

February 16, 2015

Marie Coleman. Human Rights Commission and the forgotten children.

In February 2015 the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse found that Cardinal George Pell, the former Archbishop of Sydney, had placed the churchs financial interests above his obligation to a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

In February 2015 the Prime Minister of Australia, supported by his Ministers, has launched a blistering attack on a distinguished legal scholar and President of the independent statutory Australian Rights Commission, for a report which has found that both the Labor and Coalition Governments have failed to protect children in mandatory detention from abuse and mental and physical harm.

October 2, 2017

LUKE FRASER. Congestion charging: - Stockholm, Melbourne and Turnbull's legacy-a repost

_On congestion charging. There are three lessons: first, congestion charges are devilish hard to put in place, even when they work demonstrably well; second, dont try to implement this in a city where there is no serious traffic congestion, or people will smell it for the revenue grab that it is - and respond accordingly._A third, vital lesson: Stockholm needed more than one level of government support to implement the charge.

February 27, 2017

How we can do better on education. (Jean Blackburn Oration)

When you do so little to require the winners from economic change to compensate the losers, and then, whether by accident or design, you have an influx of immigrants, you end up with Trump, Brexit and the resurrection of One Nation.

October 28, 2013

A Click of the Fingers. John Menadue

We badly need someone close to Tony Abbot to click their fingers and break him out of the hypnotic trance that he has been in for a long time. He has been hypnotised into campaigning mode and has yet to be released.

Many had hoped that as Prime Minister, Tony Abbott would successfully make the transition from an aggressive critic to a more constructive, sober and positive prime minister. But he doesnt seem able to help himself. He continues in attack mode.

August 11, 2014

Bob Douglas and Claire Higgins. Beyond Operation Sovereign Borders.

Recently in The Saturday PaperMax Opray reported on the harrowing story of two 16 year-old Vietnamese asylum seekers, who have been removed from their Adelaide school without warning, and placed in closed detention in Darwin. The boys are among around 30,000 asylum seekers who are currently in Australia awaiting resolution of their protection claims. Many live without work rights, and many fear sudden re-detention or removal. Indeed, the boys case has led to fifteen other Adelaide teenagers in a comparable situation to go into hiding, wary of a similar fate.

June 12, 2017

GEOFF DAVIES. The UK election: lessons for Australian stunned mullets

The UK election result is heartening, joining a series of demonstrations that people want positive change. But in Australia we seem to be paralysed, no-one willing to pick up the torch, many still unwilling to change their old allegiances despite the manifest destruction around us.

June 12, 2017

ANDREW FARRAN. Britain and Brexit: The Starting Pistol Fires!

No amount of political pressure from the EU would force Britain to accept a package it doesnt want, and vice versa. A closure without agreement because of the Article 50 deadline would be an own goal for all parties. Yet we may be seeing another replay of familiar European conflict themes, a century after these were intended to be put to bed.

September 27, 2015

Refugee Diary.

It is one thing to endure the terror of barrel-bombing by the Assad regime and the barbarism of ISIS in Syria. But this is only the beginning of a harrowing trek by Syrians in their journey to safety and freedom in Germany and elsewhere.**Verica Jokic,**an ABC journalist gave a compelling account on Radio National on Thursday 24 September 2015, of the trek from Syria to safety. Her eye for the small detail brings home the plight of asylum seekers much more effectively than all the statistics. John Menadue.

June 30, 2014

Thailand - toppling a democratically elected government.

The best article I have seen recently about the confused state of politics in Thailand was in the London Review of Books. It was written Richard Lloyd Parry. See link below. John Menadue

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n12/richard-lloydparry/the-story-of-thaksin-shinawatra

February 27, 2013

Normalising Crime

There is a tendency to normalize crime in our own group, church or community by saying that the rate of crime in our own group is no worse than in other groups. It is a view I have heard expressed recently in the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Ratzinger used this argument at a conference in Spain in 2002.."..the percentage of these (sexual) offences among priests is not higher than in other categories and perhaps it is even lower…less than 1%of priests are guilty of acts of this type. The constant presence of these news items does not correspond to the objectivity of the information or to the statistical objectivity of the facts"

April 5, 2015

Michael Keating. Tax Reform 2015

According to the Government its first objective for tax reform is lower taxes. A responsible government would, however, first consider what revenue will need to be raised to efficiently fund the sorts of services that our society expects.

Of course, opinions may differ on what level of service provision is appropriate, and how it should be paid for. Unfortunately the various Intergenerational Reports and the Governments decision to abandon its own Budget do not install confidence that lower taxes are in fact realistic.

April 10, 2019

The economy is a means to an end. It is not an end in itself.

Bill Clinton said its the economy, stupid. He was wrong, although in later years he spoke more wisely about putting people first.

April 23, 2017

MACK WILLIAMS. Korean Peninsula - just where are we right now?

So much is going on in the different channels between the US and China, China and the DPRK and by now maybe US and DPRK that reading the tea leaves is an almost impossible - if not frantic - task. The situation remains extremely high risk and crystal ball gazing is near to fantasy.

April 18, 2014

This is about more than a bottle of wine

To mix my metaphors, the bottle of red wine that Barry OFarrell received is only the tip of an iceberg a sleezy world of lobbying, influence-peddling and corruption.

November 28, 2016

VINCENT MAHON. China ready to step up and lead on climate change.

Vincent Mahon contends that China is poised to promote global leadership on climate change should the US under Trump walk away from its Paris commitments.

September 8, 2014

Ian McAuley. A Year Of Tony Abbott.

The Abbott Government was elected one year and one day ago. Ian McAuley celebrates the countless successes that have slipped under the radar.

A year into the Abbott Governments term we can reflect on its impressive economic achievements.

The highlight is the repeal of the carbon tax. Its easy to stand up against tree huggers and leftwing romantics who prat on about global warming, but it takes political courage to stand up against scientists and economists.

January 7, 2015

Max Corden. Without revenue, Australia can only have half a budget debate.

The missing element in this weeks mid-year economic and fiscal outlook, and more broadly, in current government policy, stares Australians in the face. Revenue needs to be increased. Increasing taxes, reducing tax concessions and eliminating loopholes are all options, which I and other commentators have argued for.

For example, journalist Peter Martin has shown that if compulsory superannuation contributions were taxed as income, i.e. like wages (rather than being taxed at a concessional rate) there would be a net gain to the budget of approximately A$12 billion a year. But there are many other measures to consider, all designed to increase revenue. Prominent is the ending of negative gearing.

February 20, 2019

PETER HUGHES. The Coalition Governments immigration shambles Part 1

The Coalition Government is once more in its element screaming at Australians that only they can save us from hordes of maritime asylum seekers. But look at the record!

March 2, 2017

ANDREW FARRAN. Some good news on trade at last.

The WTOs long awaited multilateral Trade Facilitation Agreement has at last received the required number of ratifications and entered into force on 22nd February. It will expedite the movement and clearance of goods at the border and at airports, and significantly reduce time and costs for traders.

February 14, 2017

WALTER HAMILTON. Fake news triumphant

Japans Shinzo Abe, US President Donald Trump and Russias Vladimir Putin have a great deal in common, particularly their aversion to being exposed to a free press.

February 20, 2019

A national humiliation. We are not allowed to read our own history: The Queens letters on Whitlams dismissal Remain Secret

As the media debated the political precedents for the Morrison governments historic defeat in the House of Representatives last week some pointing to the Bruce government in 1929, and others to the Fadden government in 1941 largely forgotten was the more recent, and far more compelling, example of the 1975 defeat of the Fraser government in a crucial vote in the House of Representatives. At 3.15pm on 11 November 1975, the newly installed Fraser government comprehensively lost a confidence vote - not a legislative vote as Morrison did but a formal want of confidence motion - by 10 votes. That Frasers historic parliamentary defeat has largely gone unnoticed despite its obvious relevance, says much about the persistent historical amnesia about the dismissal of the Whitlam government.

January 22, 2017

JOHN AUSTEN. Badgerys Creek testing times

The new airport at Badgerys Creek will test national competition and state transport infrastructure policies and may reveal the latter to be gravely flawed. The usual Commonwealth-state funding fight spectacle should be treated as a trivial pantomime and not distract from the serious policy issues that must be addressed and their permanent consequences for many Australians. In any event, rich spoils extracted from the public purse await the airports owners and infrastructure industry players.

May 23, 2017

DAVID STEPHENS. Afghanistan infinitum or walking away? The possible cost of shared values

Where do Australias values come from and what are they? Ten years ago, Australias then Minister for Defence, Brendan Nelson, was convinced that our Australian values were forged on the battlefield:No group of Australians has given more, nor worked harder to shape and define our identity than those who have worn and now wear the uniform of the Australian Navy, Army and Air Force. They forged values that are ours and make us who we are, reminding us that there are some truths by which we live that are worth defending.

March 26, 2014

Martin Laverty. Poverty and poor health go together.

In 2008, the World Health Organisation provided an action plan to Australia and other countries to tackle the health disparity between rich and poor which sees an Australian in the lowest group of wealth-holders live with up to three times the amount of chronic illness of a person in the highest wealth-holding group.

One year ago last week, Catholic Health Australia and the members of the Social Determinants of Health Alliance applauded a co-authored report of a Coalition, Labor and Greens Senate Inquiry that recommended the Parliament endorse the 2008 World Health Organisations recommendations on how to address health equity that we had argued must be the first important step towards meaningful action on social determinants.

May 3, 2015

Richard Butler. Australia No Longer Interested in Nuclear Disarmament?

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is universally described as the cornerstone of nuclear arms control and disarmament. All but four members of the United Nations subscribe to it. Those four; India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, have developed nuclear weapons. Five countries, party to the Treaty, are recognized in it as the Nuclear Weapon States, the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council; China, France, Russia, UK, US.

November 5, 2014

Noel Pearson. Tribute to Gough Whitlam.

The Honourable (Edward) Gough Whitlam, AC QC

State Memorial Service

Noel Pearson

Sydney Town Hall

5 November 2014

Paul Keating said the reward for public life is public progress.

For one born estranged from the nation’s citizenship, into a humble family of a marginal people striving in the teeth of poverty and discrimination, today it is assuredly no longer the case.

This because of the equalities of opportunities afforded by the Whitlam program.

November 24, 2015

John Menadue. Good schools, good teachers, good students and Gonski.

On November 15, 2015, The Sun Herald carried a very encouraging story about St John’s Park High School in Sydney, is principal Sue French and staff, and most importantly - its students.

Quoting Ms French, the report said

At .. St Johns Park High School, more than 90% of students come from a non English speaking background, while more than 100 of them are refugees. Yet for the HSC last year we had five students with ATARS over 99, 15 over 90, and 146 out of 170 students received a university offer. … Ms French Said. … Surprisingly, those schools had less parent involvement than worst performing schools. … The schools early intervention by one-on-one interviews was integral to identifying children’s needs, whilst the bonus of the first four years of Gonski funding had certainly helped, Ms French said. … It’s about building resilience and their ability to express themselves, so students can take the opportunities and run with it. That has been the key.

April 20, 2017

TIM COLEBATCH. Yes, there is such a thing as too much immigration

Adjusting the intake in response to shifts in employment makes long-term sense.

Between 2008 and 2016, in net terms, the Australian labour market expanded by 474,000 full-time jobs. But only 74,000 of them went to people born in Australia. Thats fewer than one in six.

March 7, 2017

MACK WILLIAMS. Joint patrols with Indonesia in the South China Sea?

Has Foreign Minister Bishop finally been able to kill off the proposed joint Australia: Indonesia patrols in the South China Sea ?

December 20, 2016

MICHAELSAINSBURY. Xi who must be obeyed

Already China is prodding at the U.S. at this delicate time when it is shifting administrations, testing the waters, as it were with its capture of an underwater drone not far from the Philippines this week. Internally, he faces the 19th Congress as his test.

January 2, 2017

RICHARD BUTLER. Julie and Julia in the Promised Land

Australias position on Israels policy of building settlements in occupied Palestinian land is contrary to that of a clear majority of countries. It is driven by domestic political calculations, by both sides of Australian politics. Foreign Minister Bishops unnecessary public reiteration of this position not only addresses a favoured domestic constituency, but seeks to reassure the Trump camp of our fealty.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal