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.

May 27, 2020

LESLEY RUSSELL. The Next Community Pharmacy Agreement

In normal, pre-coronavirus pandemic times, we would have expected to see the details and funding for the 7th Community Pharmacy Agreement announced in the May federal budget. But the new agreement, expected to cost some $20 billion over five years, is being negotiated behind closed doors and out of public view.

June 29, 2020

National Plenary Council Discernment Reports.

The purpose of the Discernment reports is, seemingly, to inform the development of an agenda for the formal sessions of the Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church. The documents are important in determining the success or otherwise of the PC. However, the six papers fail to bring together a coherent picture of the real issues confronting the Australian church and provide little confidence that an incisive and meaningful agenda will emerge.

December 27, 2020

Can we find common ground on China? (Canberra Times Dec 21, 2020)

In 2000, the Reserve Bank of Australia held a conference reviewing the 1990s. The US was mentioned 93 times. China wasn’t mentioned once.

August 27, 2020

Media sensationalism of the virus

_The media in Victoria gave widespread coverage to the death from Covid-19 of a man in his twenties – the youngest death from the virus in Australia. But it turns out he didn’t die from the virus!

April 8, 2020

CAVAN HOGUE. What will a post-COVID-19 world mean for Australia?

There is much speculation about what the post-COVID-19 world will look like but we do not have answers and can only ask questions at this stage.

July 10, 2020

Childcare - why should it be subsidised at all?

Increased subsidisation of childcare seems to be the received wisdom these days, so perhaps I am the only one in step. But please tell me again why other members of the community should pay to subsidise those parents who want to farm out the care of their young children so they can do other work in lieu.

July 3, 2020

Neoliberalism and the corporate plunder of India (Part 2/2)

The legacy of the East India Company lives on. There is much anger in India fuelling a rise in Hindu nationalism. Dalrymple is feeling this anger.

June 11, 2020

Neoliberalism: Journalism in an age of fractures. (Part1/2)

Riots in America; ever-intensifying geostrategic competition; inequality and poverty growing continually. Are the divisions taking on an existential quality?

May 22, 2020

RORY McGUIRE. The curious case of our energy myopia

The economics of our energy supply are being turned upside-down but, as the Federal Government’s acceptance of the recent King Review shows, our decision-makers seem unable to comprehend.

January 10, 2019

CHRISTOPHER LAMB. Pope Francis comes out in support of Macron and Merkel in warning against the resurgence of Nationalism.

The Pope said the ‘resurgence of nationalistic tendencies’ is at odds with the ‘vocation’ of international bodies The Tablet 08 January 2019.

Pope Francis leads an annual meeting to exchange greetings for the new year with diplomats accredited to the Holy See, at the Vatican Jan. 7. Photo: Pope Francis leads an annual meeting to exchange greetings for the new year with diplomats accredited to the Holy See, at the Vatican Jan. 7.

January 22, 2020

GRAEME WORBOYS: Kosciuszko: Post 2020 fire responses

In January 2020 severe bushfires burnt parts of Kosciuszko National Park impacting its National Heritage listed catchment wetlands, fauna and flora values.

August 2, 2019

YANIS VAROUFAKIS. Jeremy Corbyn’s Finest Hour? (Project Syndicate 30.7.2019)

With Boris Johnson as UK prime minister, and his Brexit strategy crystal clear, the task of the Labour opposition is equally clear. It must expose the truth about Johnson’s no-deal option – namely, that it means a Trump-deal Brexit – and put forward its own plan to end Britain’s interminable ordeal immediately.

January 14, 2020

MUNGO MACCALLUM.-The Veil of the Temple is Rent in Twain

If there is nothing you really believe in, consistency is an optional extra.

November 8, 2019

Australia is defenceless against an advancing foe (Croakey, 05 November 2019)

Our Government maintains the primacy of the economy in all its deliberations. Even when mental health gets attention through the Productivity Commission it is with a view to “improving mental health to support economic participation and enhancing productivity and economic growth,” rather than with the primary purpose of alleviating suffering.

June 24, 2020

The Unpresident and the Unredeemed Promise

Resolution can come in only one of two ways. Trump’s boast that he can do whatever he wants will have to be imposed by state violence. Or there will be a transformative wave of change.

June 12, 2020

Neoliberalism: Journalism in an age of fractures. (Part2/2)

There is another new player which could mean another cold war; andhuman rights going out the window, liberal democracy suspended. Journalists asking difficult questions face significant risks.

June 5, 2020

TIM BUCKLEY & PRAVEEN GUPTA. Energy is pivotal to India’s economic development and sustainability goals. Part 2 of 2.

In Part 1, Tim Buckley and Praveen Gupta discussed the influences on India’s economic growth, energy security and environmental sustainability. In Part 2 they explore the Indian government’s energy strategies and possible ways forward.

May 28, 2020

A great documentary from Canada on the Iraq War

I strongly encourage all readers of Pearls and Irritations to watch this remarkable new documentary from the National Film Board of Canada on PM Jean Chretien’s decision to say no to the Iraq War in 2003.

April 5, 2019

JOHN DWYER Chiropractic manipulation of infant's spine

Recently social media and then the mainstream media exploded with outrage following the publication of a photo showing a Melbourne chiropractor “treating” a newborn baby by suspending the child in midair, holding its foot high as it thrashed around in protest.

June 25, 2020

Save Australia's Dairy Industry

When John Dahlsen tells us we need to pay more for milk and our dairy industry needs urgent government intervention we should sit up and pay attention.

April 6, 2020

SUE WAREHAM. Healthcare Not Warfare

_Australia should support the UN Secretary General’s call for a global ceasefire. There are steps that our nation could take in the very short term and beyond to prioritise healthcare over warfare. We are spending vast sums on equipping ourselves for the next war while our frontline health workers struggle to find enough face masks to protect themselves and others. As even greater health threats loom, this is unsustainable.

May 15, 2018

MICHAEL LESTER. Political Culture and the Limits of the APS Independent Inquiry.

There is an old saw that cautions politicians never to establish an enquiry unless they know the outcome beforehand. The Prime Minister appears to have learnt that lesson from the ‘can of worms’ exposed in his Royal Commission on Banking.

Turnbull has announced an ‘independent inquiry’ into the future of the Australian Public Service (APS). An independent inquiry is not a Royal Commission and its terms of reference and membership are presumably designed to keep it focused on his own political agenda.

September 16, 2020

Zero-case status is the best COVID-19 option for Australia – And that means stronger controls over international arrivals (Part 2 of 2)

To achieve and continue with zero-case status we need to minimise the risk there will be a major breach in our current systems for quarantining international arrivals.

June 4, 2020

TIM BUCKLEY & PRAVEEN GUPTA. Energy is pivotal to India’s economic development and sustainability goals. Part 1 of 2.

In Part 1, Tim Buckley and Praveen Gupta explore the factors influencing India’s economic growth, energy and water security, natural resources, air pollution and environmental sustainability.

January 28, 2020

ABUL RIZVI: Why 5% unemployment today is not the same as 5% unemployment 10-20 years ago

The unemployment rate, and even the underemployment rate, have become an inadequate measure of the true health of our labour market.

February 25, 2019

JACK WATERFORD. Soft cops are soft-soaping us (Canberra Times 23.2.2019)

_It was another so-so week for police public relations. As usual, it was trying to straitjacket any news into its own public relations construct of itself. But the image is fraying.

June 3, 2020

SUE BUTLER. COVID-19 language outbreak

A new environment requires us to produce new names so that we can identify its elements and come to terms with it. Every settler in a strange terrain goes through the process of naming plants, animals and geographical features. The social landscape altered by a pandemic required some linguistic landmarks.

April 16, 2020

JUDITH WHITE. The Australia Council latest funding - the arts betrayed.

The latest round of The Australia Council funding, announced on 3 April, marks a new level of government interference in the arts. The council was never meant to police the arts on behalf of government, but under the Coalition that has become its function.

September 8, 2020

Greg Sheridan's feverish cherry picking

What has Greg Sheridan of The Australian been smoking or taking, or is it just common or garden cherry picking?

July 24, 2020

Pope Francis finally makes bishops accountable for cover-ups

_On 16 July 2020, the Vatican published a manual for dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse against Church personnel. It marks a significant change in culture expressed in canon law for the last 100 years where the Church was more concerned about providing immunity for clergy child sex perpetrators than it was for the welfare of their victims.

April 8, 2020

TONY SMITH. Viral vulnerability is universal - the economic impact is not.

While I sit at home in splendid isolation contemplating viral vulnerability, I am alarmed by the way some members of the Australian community are being disadvantaged by government responses to the pandemic. I was ashamed to see the lines outside Centrelink offices. Perhaps we are all in this together, but some seem to be deeper in than others.

June 3, 2020

MIKE SCRAFTON. The Deep State conspiracy theory

When, without apparent reason, good things disappear or bad things appear it cannot be random. That’s when conspiracy theories flourish. The US presidential election campaign is haunted by one. Is Trump laying the groundwork for The Great Presidential Robbery?

April 22, 2020

COVID-19: Another consequence of exceeding the limits to growth

Consumer–capitalist society is blindly committed to limitless growth in production and consumption. This is unsustainable and is generating a range of alarming global problems. However, little attention has been given to how is a cause of viral pandemics.

July 9, 2020

Marshall's SA Government – Just like a duck

Moderate Marshall is calm on the surface – but paddling like mad underneath…

March 30, 2018

ROBYN J WHITAKER. Jesus wasn’t white: he was a brown-skinned, Middle Eastern Jew. Here’s why that matters

I grew up in a Christian home, where a photo of Jesus hung on my bedroom wall. I still have it. It is schmaltzy and rather tacky in that 1970s kind of way, but as a little girl I loved it. In this picture, Jesus looks kind and gentle, he gazes down at me lovingly. He is also light-haired, blue-eyed, and very white.

April 30, 2020

JUDITH WHITE. Funding, local content and the future of Australian culture

There can be no question that the arts have taken an enormous hit in the pandemic. Token support from governments is not the answer. The crisis requires not only a bailout, but a re-examination of cultural policies in the digital age.

April 21, 2020

ADAM ELSHAUG & STEPHEN DUCKETT. Hospitals have stopped unnecessary elective surgeries – and shouldn’t restart them after the pandemic (The Conversation 16.4.20)

Part of Australia’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was a severe reduction in elective surgery, and so private hospitals have stood almost empty for a month now.

July 2, 2020

Neoliberalism and corporate plunder of India (Part 1/2)

Dalrymple’s The Anarchy is about the East India Company, its strategies, artifice, grand corruption, and the consequences of unbridled corporate greed; an account acutely relevant today.

April 13, 2020

GARY MOORHEAD. CSL- It Could Have Been Worse; Can It Be Better?

Back in 2010, Australia’s privatised Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (now CSL) was being tempted to move its vaccine research facilities to Switzerland, where it had been promised a better tax deal.

January 7, 2019

DUNCAN GRAHAM. Ignoring the Doings Next Door

On a recent edition of ABC TV’s free-for-all Summer Drum, participants sounded off about possible Democrat nominees for the 2020 US Presidential election.

Social commentator Jane Caro sprayed the screen with alternatives. The Australian columnist Greg Sheridan, who comes across as reasonable on the telly, and community advocate Aisha Novakovich tossed in their suggestions.

Host Adam Spencer assumed viewers knew all names and understood the American selection process, so didn’t intervene with descriptors. Nor did the talent interject: ‘Hey, this is asinine. We’ve got swags of homegrown issues to air.’

June 10, 2020

MARK BUCKLEY. Arise, Sir Tony...

_At the risk of beating the same old drum, this current Government seems to be heading steadily down the ethical and moral drain, ever since the unexpected election win.

June 17, 2020

Less Aboriginals in Gaol ? How can we do it ?

_“Circle Sentencing” was a great idea: Get the Aboriginal Community involved in the the administration of justice to the First Nations people. But why wait until the horse has bolted, when guilt is assumed and penalty is the question.

January 11, 2019

PETER WOODRUFF. What Matters at the Show and in the Church.

I spent my childhood and youth in Tasmanian towns, never had any desire to live on a farm but always enjoyed going to what I knew as ‘the show’, which was in fact an agricultural show. The show offered two kinds of spectacles: what went on in the side-shows and what happened in the main arena.

July 24, 2020

How climate has changed the world

The Morrison Government’s attitude to our history is that it started with Captain Cook and then – as if transported by the DeLorean car – arrived at the era of John Howard, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Milton Friedman.

October 11, 2018

CHRIS BONNOR. Ruddock review kicks up a storm

If short term reactions are any guide it seems that many of those who submitted to the Ruddock review into religious protections might have some cause for regret. While it is early days, it is likely to throw a timely spotlight on religious school enrolment and employment discrimination. Such discrimination already applies unevenly across Australia, but an emerging question might be why it should exist at all.

June 19, 2020

China Matters: Letter to the editor of Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun.

The article by Ms Ellen Whinnett in the 14 June 2020 edition of both The Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun contained demonstrable falsehoods and defamatory insinuations about the work of China Matters, and the supporter circle of the organisation.

April 28, 2020

Surviving the mega-threats to our world

We humans are a threatened species, and it is mostly of our own making. To survive the ten mega-threats we must act fast, and we must collaborate.

November 8, 2019

ALFRED M. WU. The failings of ‘one country, two systems’ (East Asia Forum, 29 October 2019)

The ‘one country, two systems’ framework is coming under increasing pressure as unprecedented protests and months of unrest rock Hong Kong. Sustaining local autonomy against the background of an increasingly assertive Chinese centre has become a progressively tricky issue.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal