January 29, 2018

JOHN MENADUE. We are joined at the hip to a country perpetually at war. Part 1

Next week I will be posting articles asserting that we are running great risks in being tied to what Malcolm Fraser called our dangerous ally, an ally almost always at war.The risks,disasters and dangers predate Donald Trump . Think Vietnam and Iraq.

In recent issues of Pearls and Irritations I have posted many articles, mainly by very credible Americans (Sax,Nichols,Bacevich) about how America has never had a decade without being at war, how it has subverted and overthrown numerous foreign governments and has a military,industrial ,intelligence and political complex that depends heavily on continual wars. We have become part of that complex.

I repost below an article by Andrew Bacevich from December 29 2017- ‘When will America’s wars have their Harvey Weinstein moment’ He asks ‘What makes a Harvey Weinstein moment? The now-disgraced Hollywood mogul is hardly the first powerful man to stand accused of having abused women. The Harveys who preceded Harvey himself are legion, their prominence matching or exceeding his own and the misdeeds with which they were charged at least as reprehensible.’

Other reposts on related issues will follow this week.

April 6, 2025

Over the rainbow

The Albanese Government is entitled to proclaim that the agreements they have now reached with every state and territory will put all public schools on a path to full and fair funding.

April 14, 2020

CHARLES SAMPFORD. Perils of Dichotomies and Perverse Incentives: from essential jobs to hibernating c ompanies

In making and explaining major policies on the run, it is easy to slip into confusing dichotomies and create perverse incentives. Unsurprisingly, the Job Keeper program is one of them.

January 15, 2020

MACK WILLIAMS. Alliance management " It's the elections now...stupid"!

_The New Year has confirmed that the US Presidential election cycle is up and running and will pick up speed soon to dominate all forms of political discussion in the US until November. To paraphrase that old American clich : Its the elections stupid!

January 16, 2020

CHRIS DENNIS. A burning country.

Our country hangs its head in shame.

January 7, 2018

ROGER SCOTT. Joh Bjelke-Petersen - 1987 in retrospect.

This is the season for personal nostalgia. In my case, personal perspectives inevitably shade into the political. On 1 January Queensland Cabinet papers from 1987 were released; and as a further reminder of that era, on 4 January a state funeral was held for Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen who had died shortly before Christmas.

October 1, 2020

Grieving for the Lost Parish.- an institution on its knees.

Some church groups are pressing for a post-pandemic opening up, others, who have already opened up, are sounding a lament as they find it is not business as usual. There are signs of grieving for the parish an institution on its knees.

August 5, 2020

A breach of faith with many thousands of Catholics.

Leading church renewal group, Concerned Catholics Canberra Goulburn, has called on Australian Catholic bishops to release an essential document for consultation with the broader Catholic community before the bishops finalise it and send it to Rome ahead of the historic Plenary Council.

September 22, 2020

Six Ways Sacked Hacks Can Keep Keyboarding

If airline pilots grounded by Covid-19 can retrain as header drivers to reap this years harvest, sacked political journalists can keep supplying readers needs through a little retraining.

August 26, 2020

Border openings, vaccine illusions and a log jam of proposals

Even before a Covid-19 vaccine arrives Coalition politicians, limited by their assumption there is no alternative to capitalism, are recommending the resurrection of Reagan and Thatcher policies to treat everyone and everything as a commodity.

November 17, 2017

We have been reading and listening to ...

Trumps attack on the media and truth are disturbing, says Joseph Stiglitz (the Guardian)

Paul Keating warns that, without imagination, the economy is lost. (Mark Kenny - the Canberra Times)

Writing in the Canberra Times last weekend, Crispin Hull reminds us of the history of upheaveals from the French Revolution to the recent support for far-right populists when the wealthy elites fail to pay a reasonable share of taxes so that the broad mass of society gets decent education, health and housing.. Capitalism must be saved from its own self-destructive forces.

June 2, 2020

DENNIS ARGALL. We are ill prepared for inevitable dramatic change. and the need to shift fundamentals of national strategy

A revolution is not a dinner party: Chairman Mao.

We are in the middle of a number of revolutions, which we must try to understand and which require independent national strategy and vigour. These processes will be rough and unavoidable. Can we make it? Not with present political leadership and community attitudes.

May 15, 2018

GREG HAMILTON. No stomach or mind for democracy.

Australians have a flaw in their character that shows up in their acceptance of a defective political system no decent reform can come close to changing. When their democratic system is attacked by minority anti-democratic forces, theyll back the attackers, not their system. And, having done so, they choose to believe their system is still democratic. Theres no helping a fickle electorate.

July 13, 2020

Pork Missile: Government fires cash at weapons-maker EOS in Battle for Eden-Monaro

ACT remote weapons systems manufacturer, Electro-Optic Systems Holdings, that has hitched its wagon to countries known to be engaged in gross violations of human rights and likely war crimes, wins big from the Coalitions weapons announcement on eve of election, writes Michelle****Fahy.

July 1, 2020

The mainstream media fails on Australias foreign policy

_Our media avoids any discussion or analysis of the literally hundreds of United States military bases that are situated in proximity to China, and similarly the hundreds of military bases aimed at containing Russia.

May 11, 2019

FIONA ARMSTRONG. Health groups release climate policy scorecard: Coalition earns 0/8

The national coalition of health groups working for climate action, Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA), has released a Federal Election Scorecard after analysing the parties policies on climate change and health.

The health impacts of climate change are the cause of deep concerns among health and medical professionals worldwide. The British Medical Journal and the World Health Organization Director General have both described climate change as a health emergency and the Medical Journal of Australia has said that inaction on climate change is costing lives in Australia.

CAHA welcomes the leadership from the Australian Labor Party and The Greens, who have both committed to tackling the health impacts of climate change through a National Strategy on Climate Change and Health. The Liberal-National Coalition however have so far failed to make a similar commitment.

There is little evidence of an appreciation of the profound risks to health from climate change by the Coalition, with Health Minister Greg Hunt recently referring to the potential health impacts of climate change, despite Commonwealth government funded research having documented these significant impacts over several decades. It is instructive, and demoralising, to read Professor Tony McMichaels plea during the 2013 election campaign for climate change and its threats to human health, survival and social stability [to] be at the top of the election agenda and with at least a hint of bipartisan understanding and strategic agreement.

The 2019 Climate and Health Scorecard shows we still have some way to go to achieve this.

CAHA assessed the policies of the three main political parties in relation to their commitment to: emissions reduction targets recommended by the national Climate Change Authority; 100% renewable energy by 2030; supporting a sustainable and climate-resilient healthcare sector; an economy-wide carbon price; a national moratorium on new coal or gas; a just transition for fossil fuel workers; strong air pollution laws, as well as the national strategy.

The results?

Liberal-National Coalition 0/8 Australian Labor Party 4.5/8 The Greens 8/8

See the Scorecard below and online:https://www.caha.org.au/federal_election_2019

Climate and Health Alliance Membership

CAHAs membership includes over 30 health and medical groups, representing hundreds of thousands of nurses, midwives, doctors, public health, health promotion, rural and remote health professionals, as well as schools of public health, research institutions and health services.

Members include:

A ustralian Association of Social Workers(AASW),Australian College of Nursing (ACN),Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS),Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA),Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA),Australian Institute of Health Innovation (AIHI),Australian Womens Health Network (AWHN),Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA),Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF),Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA),Australian Psychological Society (APS),CoHealth, CRANAplus,Doctors Reform Society (DRS),Friends of CAHA,Healthy Futures,Health Issues Centre (HIC),Health Nature Sustainability Research Group (HNSRG),Health Services Union (HSU),Koowerup Regional Health Service (KRHS),Pharmacists for the Environment Australia (PEA),Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA),Psychology for a Safe Climate(PSC),Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union (QNMU),School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of NSW,School of Public Health, University of Sydney,Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health (SARRAH), Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association (VAHPA),Women's Health East (WHE),Womens Health in the North (WHIN).

Fiona Armstrong, Founder and Executive Director, Climate and Health Alliance

April 16, 2020

PERCY ALLAN. Central banks must print money for nation rebuilding (AFR 15.4.20)

An idea from 1930s Germany could now give voters hope that there is a growth plan after the virus passes.

April 6, 2020

GRAEME HOUGHTON. Role of the private hospital sector in the Covid-19 pandemic

The Commonwealth has announced that it is partnering with the private hospital sector to provide additional resources for dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

April 28, 2020

JOCELYN CHEY. Corona Politics and China Relations

_Recent media discussion of relations between Australia and China seems run to a simplistic logic, dividing the world into goodies and baddies. Such a line is being promoted by Donald Trump in an attempt to shift blame for the spread of Covid-19, and now prominent Republican Mitt Romney has joined the chorus, calling for the US to unite with its friends against China’s untethered abuse.

April 16, 2020

MIKE SCRAFTON. Blinded by 'the science': COVID-19 and the authority of science in public policy

_Governments should not be able to avoid scrutiny and accountability for their actions by leaning on the authority of science.

December 30, 2019

JOHN MENADUE. The anti-China think tank receives farewell largesse from the Coalition. (A Repost from 5.4.2019)

The ASPI is not an independent think tank that it claims to be. It is joined at the hip to the US defence/arms and intelligence complex and an enthusiastic supporter of almost all things American. Fed by our intelligence agencies it is paranoid about China and has become the go to organisation for anti-Chinese commentary.

April 19, 2020

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Arse-backwards: the now unmistakeable nature of the Future Submarine programme by refusing to ask the prior questions. Part 1 of 5.

Even from well outside the arcana imperii of the processes which led to the decision to select the Shortfin Barracuda proposal by French shipbuilder Naval Group to replace the Collins-class submarines it is apparent that the result is contrary to the good order and strategic discipline which should be the hallmarks of such a project.

April 21, 2020

KERRY GOULSTON, THANH NGUYEN AND OLIVER FRANKEL. Vietnams success in containing Covid-19

Relative to most other countries, including Australia, Vietnam seems to be faring extremely well in the shadow of the current coronavirus pandemic, and has recently earned praise from the WHO. Vietnam had only 275 confirmed cases _of Covid-19, and thankfully no deaths from the virus, as at 17 April 2020.

June 22, 2020

Can we rely on the PMs forecast economic boom?

Scott Morrison says Australias economy will have to expand by 3.75% per annum for the next five years to recover from the corona virus recession.

April 19, 2020

MELISSA PARKE. War & Wildlife in the Time of the Coronavirus

Amid the heavy global toll of suffering and loss caused by COVID-19, there may yet be some silver linings.

June 30, 2020

Habemus Taoiseach: Ireland has a new government at last

_Last Friday evening, as white smoke wafted from the chimney above Irelands parliament building, Leinster House in Dublin, the Ceann Comhairle (Speaker) came out onto the steps and announced to the assembled throng in Kildare Street, Habemus Taoiseach (We have a prime minister).

April 5, 2018

ANDREW GLIKSON. Daniel Ellsberg and the global nuclear suicide machine

The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save human way of thinking and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophes. Albert Einstein 1946

Daniel Ellsberg, former presidential advisor, who had released the famous top-secret Pentagon Papers related to the Viet Nam war, also possessed a cache of top secret documents related to America’s nuclear program in the 1960s. In this new book The Doomsday Machine**:** Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner (5/12/2017) he reveals the contents of those documents, with their shocking relevance for today. It is an insiders account of the most dangerous arms buildup in the history of the world, whose legacy threatens the very survival of humanity. Ellsberg’s analysis of recent research on nuclear winter shows that even a small nuclear exchange could expand to cause billions of deaths by global nuclear famine.

June 23, 2020

Washingtons Cold War with Beijing exposes its true view of Australia

Even before the onset of coronavirus, it had become something of a truism to talk of USChina relations plunging into a new era of heightened geopolitical competition.

June 7, 2020

NEVILLE ROACH. Historic Summit between Australian and Indian Prime Ministers.

Does It Finally Signal A New Dawn In The Australia-India Relationship?

April 19, 2020

NEVILLE ROACH. International student in Australia post-COVID-19

Australia’s tertiary institutions, reliant on tuition paid by overseas students, and the Federal government need to understand why these students choose this country if Australia is to remain a competitive international destination post-COVID-19.

April 12, 2020

GEOFF MILLER: After the Pandemic; more self-reliance, more costs too.

Australia will want and need to play a meaningful role in mitigating these consequences. This will be a significant load on top of restoring our own economy, but will be crucial to our place in the Asia-Pacific, and should from the start be an integral part of our recovery planning.

April 6, 2020

MUNGO MACCALLUM. JobKeeper, perhaps not too little and not too late

Two hearty cheers for ScoMo and his $130 billion JobKeeper package.

September 8, 2020

Abbott - a national disgrace

Just when you thought it was safe to open a newspaper again, Tony Abbott is back in the news. This time he is in the UK, where the Brits have appointed him a trade envoy.

June 24, 2020

An Indigenous inspired paradigm for the War Memorial

The debate over the purpose of the Australian War Memorial needs to be revisited with a view to recognising the Indigenous people who mounted heroic resistance to a ruthless invader from 1788.

April 23, 2020

CAVAN HOGUE. Kishore Mahbubani on China and the US

In a most interesting article in The Economist, Kishore Mahbubani argues that the post-COVIC-19 world will be characterized by an accelerated shift in power from the West to East Asia.

September 30, 2020

Australia and VC Awards

Among the many memorial plaques in the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral is a small plaque and bust honouring Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, VC & Bar, MC (9 November 1884 4 August 1917).

August 27, 2020

Australian charities are struggling with demand: the Coalition will rue turning its back on them (MWM Aug 22, 2020)

The charity sector is struggling in the face of unprecedented demand from those the Coalition refuses to help. There are now fears that many charities wont survive. But if they go down, a big chunk of Australias social safety net will go with them, as will large numbers of jobs.Julie Mackenreports.

April 6, 2018

ANDREW BLAKERS, MATTHEW STOCKS. Solar PV and wind are on track to replace all coal, oil and gas within two decades.

Solar photovoltaic and wind power are rapidly getting cheaper and more abundant so much so that they are on track to entirely supplant fossil fuels worldwide within two decades, with the time frame depending mostly on politics. The protestation from some politicians that we need to build new coal stations sounds rather quaint.

The reality is that the rising tide of solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind energy offers our only realistic chance of avoiding dangerous climate change.

June 2, 2020

PAUL COLLINS. First Step to a Better Church?

I must admit up-front that Im not a fan of committee reports. Theyre usually pedestrian and repetitious, even at the best of times. So, to be honest, I didnt approach the 200-page Governance Review Project Team (GRPT) report The Light from the Southern Cross with much enthusiasm.

April 27, 2020

NEVILLE ROACH. Lessons for Morrison and Albanese from Churchills Shock Loss in 1945

Scott Morrisons leadership in the Covid-19 War has boosted his popularity, suggesting he will win the next election against Labor. However, such a conclusion would be premature.

July 6, 2020

Will they be renamed koala tears?

Possible koala extinction in New South Wales is a symptom of a deeper malaise. The inability of this cherished herbivore to bounce back following the summers inferno shows that many species are threatened by cynical human activity.

May 4, 2020

TONI HASSAN. The earth is breathing easier.

Major cities and their birds are breathing easier.Across China, smog has given way to the colour blue. Even the snow-capped Himalayas are visible from parts of Northern India for the first time in locals memories.

March 26, 2019

WILLIAM GRIMM MM. Schoolyard bullies in the sacristy. Sexual abuse by clergy should be blamed on emotionally immature men, not homosexuality or celibacy

Half a century ago, the bishops’ conference of the United States commissioned an interdisciplinary study of the priesthood in that country. Key parts of it were led by two priests who at the time were celebrities in the Catholic community, Andrew Greeley the sociologist and Eugene Kennedy the psychologist. (Disclosure: as a seminarian I was office assistant to Kennedy in the early stages of the study.)

May 13, 2018

JOHN MENADUE. How and why corporate regulators have failed us.

The failure of corporate regulation and regulators is in plain sight for all to see. And it is not just in banking. Political ideology and corporate conceit has enabled the powerful to tilt the market in their favour at the expense of the less privileged. The result is growing inequality and insecurity.

The Liberal Party branch offices,the BCA,News Corp and the Australian Financial Review also failed to uncover corporate failure and malfeasance on a grand scale.Was this deliberate or were they just asleep?

It is unlikely that the regulars were wilful .. It is more likely that they just wanted to please the big end of town.

July 5, 2020

Indonesia's President Widodo finally takes a firm stand, but will it matter?

Indonesias founding president Soekarno was a dazzling demagogue, feared and loathed by the West and admired by the East. Apart from Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), his successors performances at the podium have been pedestrian, but suddenly Joko Widodo, the epitome of a mild-mannered Javanese, has let loose.

August 6, 2020

No war with China, cold or hot

Australia must say no to any war with China, cold or hot. We must not follow US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in characterising US-China relations in Manichean terms, such as freedom and democracy against tyranny.

September 29, 2020

How Trump could win

It is increasingly evident that Trump is determined to be re-elected, whatever the cost. At what point will referring to him as leader of the free world become an oxymoron?

April 30, 2020

ROBIN BOYLE. Flights From The USA Should Have Been Shut Down Earlier

Australia should have restricted arrivals from the USA on the 11 March, in the same way as it did for Italy. Failure to do so has caused extra immeasurable cost and trauma to the Australian economy and people.

April 28, 2020

JACK WATERFORD. The snares of proclaiming victory against the virus

With success beyond all expectations in the struggle to contains the coronavirus in Australia, one might imagine that the next task before the prime minister is discerning that exact moment at which it is appropriate to roll back the various forms of social distancing and quarantine so as to concentrate on rebuilding the economy.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal