March 26, 2019

CAMERON DOUGLAS. Thailand's elections - horse-trading, according to plan

The results of Thailand’s first post-coup elections went well for the military junta, following their script for keeping control of government in the name, and name only, of democracy.

July 15, 2019

HUGH WHITE. Why Pacific nations would host a Chinese military base (AFR 13-14.7.2019)

Our neighbours’ commitment to values and interests shared with Australia might prove feeble in the face of Chinese persuasion.

December 24, 2018

TONY DOHERTY. Do we really know the Christmas Story?

In a year in which the Church we cherish has been shaken to the core, what has the Christmas story have to offer our understanding of faith?

April 16, 2020

BRIAN COYNE: The Bolt-Pell interview: It was "vintage Murdoch"

Stir up the emotions of Benny-Ratz’s little people

October 19, 2018

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Whose rules? What order?

As baby diplomats we learned always to vote in good company. Countries, we understood, were judged by the company they kept. Not any more. The countries Australia rubs shoulders with now, and the hips we are joined at, make people who used to represent Australia overseas wonder how much worse it can get. Other Australians who come back after a decade abroad say they can’t believe what we have become.

July 22, 2014

John Menadue--Power prices - we ain’t seen nothing yet!

We have seen wild exaggeration about the effects of the carbon tax on prices and the economy. It has all turned out to be quite a fizzer. The price increases we have seen have little to do with the carbon tax and the economy continues to grow steadily. Whyalla has survived.

But we have a real problem just around the corner in energy policy. The price of domestic gas is likely to at least double in the next year or so as the domestic price of gas rises to meet the international price. Compared with the impact of the carbon tax, this increase in domestic gas prices will be quite severe. By comparison, the carbon tax will be seen like a blip on the horizon.

April 29, 2020

DUNCAN GRAHAM. A breakup's unthinkable – so let's give it another go

Australia and Indonesia are not the neighbours we ought to be. Many button lips for fear of arousing wrath, but here’s the truth: The neighbours aren’t part of the Anglosphere. _They don’t understand or trust us, nor we them.

April 14, 2020

MICHAEL WEST. Virgin Australia: buy the business, don’t bail out the shareholders (MWM 02.04.20)

_Virgin Australia is pleading for a bail-out twice what its shares a worth. Its wealthy foreign shareholders can afford to pay. They’ve scampered. What is the answer?

May 28, 2020

JUDITH WHITE. Cultural recovery in a globalised world

With international travel at a standstill, arts organisations are grappling with the dilemma of future programming. There is no lack of local work to showcase – but what about international connections?

April 20, 2020

MIKE SCRAFTON. Australia's strategic quandary: political leadership and the abandonment of strategy

_On current planning, in the next great war Australia will have no strategy.

April 23, 2020

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Arse-backwards: Questions which should have preceded the decision on the future submarine. Part 4 of 5

The enemification of China and Russia in US, and thus, alliance statements and documents on international security can now reasonably be described as an idée fixe: a persistent preoccupation which has become a delusional idea that dominates all proceedings and is demonstrably and firmly resistant to any attempt to modify it no matter the dangers – quite possibly fatal - which arise from persisting in it.

January 13, 2020

KEN HENRY.-In these dreadful times,spare a thought for the wombat.

The iconic wombat has faced numerous challenges since white settlement of the Australian continent. And the events of recent months have elevated several threats.

August 27, 2020

Monthly digest on housing affordability and homelessness – July/Aug 2020

The following is the latest instalment of a monthly digest of interesting articles, research reports, policy announcements and other material relevant to housing stress/affordability and homelessness – with hypertext links to the relevant source.

June 4, 2020

MARIANA MAZZUCATO and GIULIO QUAGGIOTTO. The big failure of small government(Social Europe 26.5.2020)

It is no coincidence that countries with mission-driven governments have fared better in the Covid-19 crisis than those beholden to the cult of efficiency.

January 27, 2020

JOHN MCCARTHY. Reflections on the Accidental Independence of East Timor.(The Strategist 18.1.2020)

_Every country has its legends. They may be important to national self-esteem, but they’re not necessarily good history.

April 20, 2020

MARK BUCKLEY. Scott Morrison's crisis management

_Scott Morrison is proving to be adept at crisis management and Australia is benefiting. There have been missteps, and mixed messages, and the occasional catastrophic blunder (the Ruby Princess springs to mind), but in a global pandemic we have, along with our cousins across the Tasman, apparently slowed the progress of the virus.

May 29, 2020

DAVID SHEARMAN. After Covid-19 the 'New Normal' must have 'Real Universities' acting on the Climate Crisis

The Market Forces UniSuper divest campaign details continuing UniSuper investments in fossil fuels despite many concerns expressed by academics and despite the progressive climate change crisis. Do the Universities have responsibilities?

April 21, 2020

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Arse-backwards: The SEA 1000 Attack Class future submarine project and the emergence of the neo-Carrollian School of Maritime Strategy. Part 2 of 5.

In a reproach to all reason the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland famously demanded verdict first, evidence later. In an evolutionary turn, the decision to acquire the Shortfin Barracuda for the Royal Australian Navy has taken the Carrollian principle one step further: evidence of a strategic-operational nature which had a direct bearing on the final decision was dispensed with.

April 24, 2020

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Arse-backwards: Surveying Australia’s future submarine debate and finding that it doesn ’t start with Australia. Part 5 of 5.

In the course of studying the arguments for and against the decision to acquire the Shortfin Barracuda submarine to replace the Collins Class boats the sense has emerged that almost every aspect of the debates was concerned with the need to please strategies determined elsewhere. This applies, moreover, to both the bureaucratic inarticulacy of government statements and the Insight Economics reports which, on the other hand, are compendiums of empirically based critique written for Submarines for Australia.

April 6, 2020

PROFESSOR DANG VAN DUONG: COVID-19: National Unity and Solidarity: Lessons learnt from Vietnam

In Vietnam up until April 3rd 2020 there have been 233 cases of COVID-19, with no deaths. Complete recovery has been observed in 85 cases.

February 27, 2019

MIKE SCRAFTON. The dangerous shibboleths of ‘strategists’

Some commentators on strategic policy seem to regard Australia’s national interests as close enough to immutable. That makes strategic policy a trivial and static matter.

June 4, 2018

GEORGE EATON. Italy's new hard-right government is the biggest threat the EU has faced.

The country’s most right-wing government since Mussolini is determined to test the euro’s limits.

July 28, 2020

Don’t Pick a Cold War You Can’t Win (Slate 24 July, 2020)

Trump and Pompeo are ratcheting up tensions with China, but have no way to back up their threats.

August 6, 2020

Killing slowly to show love

WARNING: This article contains observations which some may find disturbing.

January 23, 2020

JULIAN CRIBB.The War on Global Carbon

Citizens of the USA, Australia, Brazil, Canada and elsewhere are slowly waking to the sickening awareness that they are no longer up against local political forces – but, rather, a metastasizing international power against which they are largely impotent.

May 14, 2020

EDITORIAL BOARD, ANU. Australia’s diplomatic COVID-19 self-isolation (EAF 11.5.20)

Australia’s domestic response to the COVID-19 health and economic crisis has brought plaudits at home and from around the world, especially from commentators in the United States.

August 2, 2020

The mystery of the Top End’s vanishing wildlife, and the unexpected culprits (The Conversation, July 29 2020)

Only a few decades ago, encountering a bandicoot or quoll around your campsite in the evening was a common and delightful experience across the Top End. Sadly, our campsites are now far less lively.

May 26, 2020

NOEL TURNBULL. Nev Power's fossil mates still pushing doubt - Part 2

In 2008 David Michaels’ published a book – Doubt is their Product. How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens your Health – which was instrumental in the subsequent exposure of the systematic efforts of various industries to raise doubt about the science relating to areas from tobacco to today’s climate change.

November 15, 2019

South Australia’s stunning renewable energy transition, and what comes next (Renew Economy 5-11-19)

The eyes of the energy world are upon it, but the renewable energy transition in South Australia is probably one of the misunderstood, misreported and under-appreciated achievements of our time.

July 29, 2020

The Power of Attorney and abuse of the elderly

Australia has a long way to go and COVID is lifting the scab revealing how neglect and absolute indifference have exposed these communities of older people to an end of life nightmare.

July 14, 2019

PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 14 July 2019

The ALP supports the Adani mine in the Senate, assisting Australia’s exported carbon emissions to increase greatly. The USA’s coal industry continues to decline but not without first screwing the workers and the environment to maximise short term rewards at the top. Bill McKibben identifies three strategies for tackling the urgency of climate action, while Barnaby continues to express his passion. Fortunately Victoria delivers a couple of pieces of common sense.

May 28, 2020

FRANCESCA BEDDIE. Tertiary education after COVID-19: part two

Are we finally seeing the end of the Dawkins era? If so, what next?

January 21, 2020

GRAEME WORBOYS: “I’ve never seen anything like this before”

Catastrophic fires in Australia in 2019/2020 burnt millions of hectares, lives were lost and property burnt. Huge walls of fire, ember attacks and spot fires burnt through super dry bush and other lands. “I’ve never seen anything like this before” was a regular response.

January 14, 2020

JOCELYN CHEY Two Systems One Strait

The re-election of Tsai Ying-wen at the weekend ensures the continuation of the status quo as far as relations between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic across the Strait.

October 19, 2018

The extraordinary determination of China to have the world embrace its traditional medicine. (Part 3 of 3.)

The artemisia annua plant has been used for centuries in China to fight malaria. In 201__1 a Chinese scientis__t, Tu Youyou, discovered how to extract the ingredient responsible for the anti-malarial effect (now called Artemisinin) and her reward was a Nobel Prize. Where there is good anecdotal evidence that something in a herb or plant can help with certain diseases, it’s more than appropriate for modern scientific techniques to be used to try and identify, purify and standardise the responsible chemical. This has nothing to do with the concepts associated with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Many of the drugs we use today are derived from plants thought to have medicinal properties in numerous cultures.

April 13, 2020

RICHARD HAASS.The Pandemic will accelerate history rather than reshape it(Foreign Affairs 7.4.2020)

_We are going through what by every measure is a great crisis, so it is natural to assume that it will prove to be a turning point in modern history.

April 20, 2020

GREG LATEMORE. A Tale of Two Leaders-Trump and Ardern.

The contrast between two national leaders in these ‘interesting’ times could not be more pronounced. The differences between America’s President Donald Trump and New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinta Ardern are remarkable.

January 22, 2020

JON BLACKWELL and KERRY GOULSTON. Aspects of Australian healthcare reform (part 3 of 3) – Big problems and big opportunities

In the first of this 3 part series, we outlined the shortcomings and achievements of our efforts to plan and implement Healthcare Reform in NSW some years ago. In the second paper, we outlined the more recent approach in Denmark, which had a wider and more inclusive Reform Plan. In this third paper, we stress the enormous difficulties currently facing all Australians needing healthcare both now, and in the years ahead, and propose a way forward.

January 17, 2020

Morrison's scary words on deployment of troops

Although you can no longer believe everything Scott Morrison says, its necessary to take everything he says seriously and examine his utterances carefully – just in case in a particular instance he will follow through on what he has said.

October 18, 2020

Sunday environmental round up, 18 October 2020

Plastics: littering the ocean floor, not being recycled, not easily replaced, may or may not provide oil and gas producers with a prosperous future. Populations of vertebrates have declined by 68% in 50 years.

June 24, 2020

Row erupts over the New Zealand Government’s Covid crisis mistake.

The internationally acclaimed excellent performance by the New Zealand Government against the Carona virus has been marred by a mistake. It may damage the Government’s credibility as an election approaches.

April 10, 2020

DAVID SOLOMON. Planning for a better future

Its time to think about – and plan for – what will be on the other side of this coronavirus bridge the Prime Minister keeps talking about. It may be 12, 18 or 24 months away, but the thinking and planning for life after COVID-19 should start now.

January 22, 2020

ABUL RIZVI: Forecasts of Net Overseas Migration – Why they matter

It does not matter much if Treasury forecasts of net overseas migration (NOM) from one year to the next are out by 30,000 or 40,000 as is likely for the 2019 Budget forecast for 2020. This happens regularly. But it is much more serious if forecasts are out by this much for every year over the four years of the forward estimates.

August 24, 2020

What about the security companies? Don’t they have corporate ethical responsibility?

We are in stage 4 of the lock-down in Melbourne and that has great implications for personal and social life as well as the economy. As a result of the lock-down, listeners have contacted radio stations, approving of it because it would finally bring about the end of the spreading of Covid-19.

January 15, 2020

NOEL TURNBULL. The Morrison Government tries to get empathetic

The Morrison Government’s is trying a new ploy – one which is beyond even the wildest satirical imagination. It has hired an empathy consultant.

February 10, 2018

Changed America is now a threat

Malcolm Fraser’s lucid case for Australia to strike out independently from the USA in its foreign and defence policies (Dangerous Enemies, MUP 2014) pointed to a vitally important fact. The America we signed the ANZUS treaty with in 1951 is absolutely no longer the America with which Malcolm Turnbull would have us joined at the hip today. It is time to face the fact that the contemporary USA is a major threat to Australia’s security and prosperity. It’s time to replace ANZUS with a more mature agreement that will not constrain Australia’s independence.

September 10, 2020

The Stalinist Trial of Julian Assange (CounterPunch Sep 7, 2020)

Having reported the long, epic ordeal of Julian Assange, John Pilger gave this address outside the Central Criminal Court in London on September 7 as the WikiLeaks Editor’s extradition hearing entered its final stage.

May 5, 2020

Character Assassination as Journalism & Politics

The notion common humanity presupposes regard for respect, dignity, tolerance, thoughtfulness, generosity and support for non-violence. Recent attacks against the Assistant President of the NSW Upper House, Moslem Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane, displayed none of those qualities.

September 3, 2020

Pandemic: inconvenience for the privileged, tough luck for the poor (SMH 2.9.2020)

The popular coronavirus refrain that “we’re all in this together” is a call for everyone to pull together and be more conscious of the interests of others, not just our own. What it’s not is a statement of fact.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal