March 26, 2019

GRAHAM HUNTER. A nationwide approach to Climate Change is possible.

Under the _Paris Climate Agreement__, all countries acknowledged that the total of their current targets for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases was insufficient to avoid dangerous climate change. They agreed to enhance the targets progressively. Developed countries are to lead the way. All countries have been invited to submit their new targets to a UN climate summit in September this year. This could be an opportunity for a new Australian national approach to climate change._

July 10, 2017

JOHN QUIGGIN. Governments are buying up where the market has failed. Is this the end of privatisation?

Australian governments are back in business. Every couple of months, it seems, we hear of a new venture into public ownership of business enterprises, or an expansion of existing enterprises. Most recently, Victoria’s Labor government has announced the purchase of a sawmill in Gippsland to stave off the threat of closure. Last year the South Australian Labor government announced it would build a gas-fired power plant and issue tenders for large-scale battery storage. After denouncing this action as socialism, Malcolm Turnbull reversed course and proposed a major expansion of the publicly-owned Snowy Hydro scheme.

January 23, 2019

MIKE SCRAFTON. Three democracies in crisis

The three nations that gave birth to modern democracy are exhibiting its weaknesses. Democracy is showing its limitations in dealing with contemporary challenges in UK, the US and France. Saving democracy from authoritarianism and populism is a popular subject. Yet first the viability of existing democratic institutions has to be questioned.

December 12, 2017

ALLAN PATIENCE. Confecting a new China hysteria.

Australia’s diplomacy with its Asian neighbours and contenders has always been awkward. In a similar manner to Britain’s awkward partnering with Europe, so Australia is Asia’s awkward partner. In the past we could calm our fears by relying on great and powerful friends. Those days are over. Australia needs urgently to plan for an independent future while integrating itself knowledgeably and sensitively into its region. First and foremost, that means learning how to relate intelligently to China, the emerging regional hegemon.

March 12, 2019

STUART REES Free Julian Assange

If an individual is repeatedly labelled ‘unusual,deviant,criminal, possibly a terrorist’, that person’s guilt of something reprehensible begins to be taken for granted.

March 5, 2019

JUDITH WHITE. Government arts policy slammed in NSW report

The NSW Coalition Government has breached its own Treasury guidelines and governance of the arts and culture sector needs a complete review, according to the final report of the Upper House Inquiry into Museums and Galleries.

July 13, 2018

BERTIL LINTNER. As Trump turns away, China gains in Myanmar (Asia Times 4/7/2018)

US leader has left predecessor Obama’s engagement policy to wilt on the vine, giving Beijing an opening to renew its trade and security agendas

_Does US President Donald Trump have a distinct policy towards Myanmar, and if so how does it differ from the engagement gambit championed by his predecessor Barack Obama?

March 28, 2018

IAN McAULEY. South Australia's election – Xenophon no kingmaker but still a force

At first sight the South Australian election looks like a collapse of Xenophon’s SA Best Party and a stunning victory for the Liberal Party in taking office from Labor. But the reality is a little more complicated: SA Best is still a strong political force, and the Liberal Party’s vote has actually slipped.

October 6, 2014

Michael Kelly SJ. Stopover in Hong Kong

John Le Carre (real name David Cornwall) has written a lot of books about the fairly predictable workings of spies. The Dirty Tricks manual doesn’t have a lot of chapters and you don’t have to be too smart to anticipate the moves and motives of different players. But they can make a thrilling read.

Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution is petering out. Basically, for a business town, the behavior of the students was becoming an interruption to trade. And so business leaders joined with police and government officials in telling the students and their allies that the game is over.

February 13, 2019

ANDREW GLIKSON. Imagining the real: Two minutes to mid-night on the Clock of the Atomic Scientists

On January 24, 2019, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stated: “Humanity now faces two simultaneous existential threats, either of which would be cause for extreme concern and immediate attention. These major threats—nuclear weapons and climate change—were exacerbated this past year (2018) by the increased use of information warfare to undermine democracy around the world, amplifying risk from these and other threats and putting the future of civilization in extraordinary danger.”

February 12, 2021

Unruly scenes as removalists arrive for Premier Gladys

Recent actions from NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet would suggest an imminent reshuffle aimed squarely at the Premier’s office. Despite asserting she is not leaving in March, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been elbowed out of the way by her current Treasurer, who is behaving as if he has been sworn in as the State’s 46th Premier.

January 8, 2020

KEVIN CLARKE. The U.S. killing of Soleimani could have devastating consequences for Iraq’s Christians

Following the news reports last night that eventually confirmed that a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 2 had killed Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, and associates including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Iran-backed Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, I found myself hoping that someone in the Trump administration was remembering the perilous status of the Christian remnant in northern Iraq.

October 8, 2020

How does the 2020-21 Budget stack up?

The budget deserves a “pass”, but the government is favouring tax cuts which may not all be spent. Also much of the assistance appears to be poorly targeted to the areas which have most suffered a loss of jobs.

November 23, 2018

C.J. POLYCHRONIOU. Noam Chomsky: Moral Depravity Defines US Politics (Truth Out).

The US midterm elections of November 6, 2018, produced a divided Congress and essentially reaffirmed the existence of two nations in one country. But they also revealed, once again, the deep state of moral and political depravity that prevails in the country’s political culture — at least insofar as political campaigns go. In the exclusive interview below, world-renowned scholar and public intellectual Noam Chomsky discusses how the major issues confronting the United States and the world at large were barely addressed by the majority of candidates of both parties.

April 8, 2020

BRUCE DUNCAN. Faith and the Triple Crises of Corona Virus, Economic Shutdown and Climate Change.

The photo of Pope Francis speaking on 27 March to the completely empty square in front of St Peter’s in Rome spoke volumes. Isolated and alone, like so many others because of the corona virus outbreak, he epitomised the dilemmas we face as the crisis spreads everywhere.

May 18, 2018

ROGER SCOTT. The prominence of women in Queensland politics.

Until this week, JANE PRENTICE was not on the roll of women prominent in Queensland politics, a short list which includes two ALP Premiers but also a number of women of alternative political persuasions, starting with Lady Flo and including two current party leaders.

June 29, 2020

Comparing land use in Australia

If we attempt to compare Aboriginal land use with those of the early settlers, we should broaden the meaning of ‘land use’. We must move away from the narrow European notion of agriculture and horticulture, to one which includes religious and cultural associations with the land, and one which allows the skills and the bounty of hunting and gathering to enter the picture.

May 11, 2020

DEEPANSHU MOHAN. The geopolitical contours of a post-COVID-19 world (East Asia Forum 2.5.20)

While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy is more dramatic than any other shock in recent history, the consequences of the virus for the geopolitical order could be even more consequential. A radical shift in the global political economy may be imminent in the post-COVID-19 world.

July 13, 2017

STEPHEN CORBETT After the Grenfell fire in London

The fire in the Grenfell tower in London has heightened awareness of fire risks in tall buildings in Australia. The pressure to increase height limits and urban density, and to create sustainable and efficient buildings, must not lose sight of the fundamental engineering and design requirements for fire safety, and of the need for robust regulatory oversight of these standards.

June 7, 2018

SHANNON TEOH. After two weeks, Malaysia's King consents to PM Mahathir's choice of Attorney-General (The Straits Times, 5 June 2018)

Sultan Muhammad V has agreed to the Mahathir Mohamad administration’s choice of Attorney-General (A-G), despite widespread concerns in Malaysia that the candidate is not from the Malay Muslim majority.

In an unexpected concession in the early hours of Tuesday (June 5), the National Palace said Malaysia’s supreme ruler, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, had withdrawn its consent for incumbent Apandi Ali to continue as the nation’s top lawyer.

January 5, 2018

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Australia and the wars of the alliance: fragments for a coronial inquiry - Part 4: A REPOST The finding: a disordered national mindset and body politic

Australia’s alliance wars – their respective causes, conduct, and consequences - are overdetermined by the politics and strategies of the United States. In general, though they consist of few battlefield successes, the overall record is one of failed campaigns informed by repeatedly failed – indeed, ‘dead’ - ideas that for various reasons maintain their currency. The purpose of this post is to conclude a limited coronial inquiry on the basis of the three previous posts – that is, to establish the mind-set existing up to the time the death occurred.

January 15, 2019

'CHRIS HARRINGTON. Care? The scourge of the ward station'

The professionalism in hospitals may have contributed greatly to better data collection and use of technology, but after a visit to a hospice and an ICU unit recently, I wondered what has happened to care. Our system is failing us.

January 3, 2018

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Australia and the wars of the alliance: fragments for a coronial inquiry - Part 2: United States strategy.- A REPOST

Australia’s alliance wars – their respective causes, conduct, and consequences - are overdetermined by the politics and strategies of the United States. In general, though they consist of few battlefield successes, the overall record is one of failed campaigns informed by repeatedly failed – indeed, ‘dead’ - ideas that for various reasons maintain their currency. The purpose of this and associated posts – Parts 1, 3, and 4 - is to conduct a coronial limited inquiry – that is, to establish just how the death occurred.

February 25, 2019

Reasons for cautious optimism in Hanoi (The Japan Times).

Americans seem to be afflicted by a curious historical amnesia. The facts are indisputable. The number of non-nuclear countries to have been attacked and invaded by the United States since 1945 is legion. Conversely, not one country with the bomb has been attacked. This equation, more than any other, drives the decision-making calculus of countries fearful of U.S. aggression. Kim may be paranoid about U.S. military strikes. The cause of his paranoia lies not in any internal psychoses, but in the history of belligerent U.S. militarism.

January 16, 2019

STUART REES. Redefining anti-Semitism erodes freedom of speech.

Claims about western values usually include praise for the freedom enjoyed through governments’ respect for freedom of speech. Yet, even in democratic states, those principles are being treated as outmoded, not least in regard to criticism of Israeli policies towards Palestinians. Other countries also ride roughshod over freedom of speech. Control of the media and suppression of dissent is spreading like wildfire in Sudan, Serbia, Hungary, China, Russia, Egypt, India and elsewhere. Reference to the disregard of free speech in these other countries needs to be made in anticipation of the response, ‘When examining human rights abuses, why single out Israel?’ I am doing so because widening interpretations of anti-Semitism, designed to protect Israeli policies from scrutiny, represent a serious challenge to western commitments to freedom of speech.

May 20, 2020

SANDI KEANE. Covert-19: Government stacks Covid Commission with oil and gas mates, cosy deals follow (MWM 13.5.20)

The Government is quietly blowing away years of environmental protections under cover of Covid. Its Covid Commission (NCCC) is stacked with executives from the gas and mining lobbies in what is turning out to be a bonanza for multinationals and yet another destructive blow to Australia’s efforts to curb global warming. Sandi Keane investigates.

September 22, 2020

P&I ISSUES in Stuart Rees’ Cruelty or Humanity , Bristol: Policy Press 2020

Regarded by international jurist Richard Falk as ‘A road map for humanity’ and by Noam Chomsky as ‘a wonderful guide to the challenges we face’, Stuart Rees’ ‘ Cruelty or Humanity’ identifies world-wide threats to freedom and democracy and displays the humanitarian alternatives.

January 24, 2020

HAJO DUKEN. Monarchy vs Republic - Two decades later and still debating the wrong questions

Two decades after the failed referendum, it seems that the debate about Australia becoming a republic is still stuck in the 20th century ignoring everything that has happened since.

July 11, 2018

RICHARD A. BITZINGER. US, China cash in on Asia’s growing appetite for arms.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has just released its data on the global arms trade for 2017, and it is big news for Asia as a whole, and for China and the United States in particular.

May 25, 2020

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit Britain - “The lonely little country”

Will Boris Johnson maintain his stance that there will be no extension to the transitional period for completion of the UK/EU Future Relations agreement even though the time remaining is well short of the time required to settle and formalise the myriad of still seriously outstanding matters?

August 12, 2020

130 Degrees (NYRB August 20, 2020 )

_With the climate crisis…no one is going to produce a vaccine. _So now we have some sense of what it’s like: a full-on global-scale crisis, one that disrupts everything.

Normal life—shopping for food, holding a wedding, going to work, seeing your parents—shifts dramatically. The world feels different, with every assumption about safety and predictability upended. Will you have a job? Will you die? Will you ever ride a subway again, or take a plane? It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

October 15, 2019

MARK O'CONNOR FMS. Letters from the Synod. There are new steps: Prophetic voices amaze and energise in first week of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region

I am sure some of you might remember that fine Australian film Strictly Ballroom.

In it, there was an epic struggle going on. On the one hand, there were those convinced that there is only one model of ballroom dancing and hence their insistent and non-compromising mantra: “No new steps”.

March 13, 2019

JOCELYN CHEY. Cyber-security need not tear countries apart

Telecommunications company Huawei legal action against the US Government’s ban on their involvement in 5G roll-out is a counter attack on claims that their involvement would impact national security. Exaggerated fears about cyber threat are part of a US campaign to contain China, and form the background to this week’s warning to the UK Government by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Cyber security is a concern to all national governments, but, rather than put up barriers, more can and should be done to develop protocols and agreements for international cooperation in this area, and in this China, Australia and South East Asian countries could take the lead.

November 23, 2018

STEPHEN DUCKETT. The tooth hurts but Victoria’s public dental system is broken (Grattan Institute).

Our dental care system is not working for a lot of Victorians. More than half a million Victorians say that the cost of dental care stopped them from getting care when they needed it in the past 12 months.

May 18, 2018

KIM WINGEREI. Cultural Appropriation: Political Correctness gone bad - it is all about respect!

The debate on Cultural Appropriation needs to be put into perspective, and the hoary old chestnut of Political Correctness derails proper debate - it is all about respect!

December 6, 2020

Sunday environmental round up, 6 December 2020

There’s a new kid on the block: nature-based solutions. Child prodigy or juvenile delinquent? Fossil fuel producing nations need to show more application. AIHW examines the health effects of last summer’s bushfires and the NSW electricity plan graduates with a distinction. China could try harder to protect wild animals.

April 29, 2019

SAUL NEWMAN. The Australian Government funds both pro- and anti-alcohol research efforts

Revelations in The Guardian on Good Friday, Former CSIRO researcher accuses science agency of pro-alcohol research, about the pro-alcohol bias of Australia’s premier scientific organisation the CSIRO have been made by a former employee in a letter recently published in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet ( End government support for pro-alcohol research). Dr Saul Newman has questioned the CSIRO’s enthusiasm for pro-alcohol research in the face of the significant and growing evidence of the magnitude of harm caused by the consumption of alcohol in Australia. Below he expands on his concerns.

July 18, 2018

PEPE ESCOBAR. China’s silky charming of Arabia (Asian Times, 11.07.18)

President Xi Jinping has promised more than $23 billion in loans and aid to Arab states, as Beijing ramps up ties with the Middle East; this includes aid for Palestine; Beijing foresees importing a whopping $8 trillion from Arab states up to 2025.

January 4, 2019

ABUL RIZVI. The Best of 2018: Privatising visa processing – the alarm bells are ringing (Part 1)

Major ICT transformation projects conducted ‘in partnership’ with a big IT company are high risk. Privatisation of core government functions such as visa processing are also high risk, especially when undertaken under the cloak of commercial-in-confidence type secrecy. Doing the two together multiplies the risk big time. But that is exactly what the Home Affairs department is doing.

February 13, 2019

SANDRA MORRISON, INGRID HUYGENS. Explainer: the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi (The Conversation).

The Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand’s foundation document. On February 6, 1840, the treaty was signed by representatives of the British Crown and Māori chiefs who acted on behalf of their hapū (sub-tribes).

Māori are indigenous to New Zealand, with historical ties and common narratives extending to Polynesia. The signing of the treaty confirmed formal European settlement in New Zealand. But debate and confusion have continued ever since regarding the exact meaning of the treaty text.

April 9, 2019

Who Will Bell the Sydney Airport Security Madness?

Is it possible that pranksters with a perverse sense of humour are in charge of security procedures at Sydney International Airport? Perhaps they are trying to test the limits of traveller tolerance. If so, they might be close to succeeding with me. I am slowly approaching the tipping point where either I will break and risk a confrontation or else I will abandon international travel, at least via Sydney. I say this as someone of reasonable intelligence and exceptionally wide international travel experience as a frequent traveller – and therefore someone who is very heavily invested in safe flights.

December 14, 2017

MICHAEL KEATING. The Productivity Commission on more effective government. Part 2 of 2.

The Productivity Commission’s findings regarding the effectiveness of Australia’s public services reflect the findings of many previous reviews. Fundamentally a change of culture is needed in favour of well-calculated risk taking and, I would add, greater independence based on the pursuit of evidence through comprehensive program and policy evaluation.

February 15, 2019

DIANNE HERIOT. New Zealand and Federation. (Parliamentary Library Flag Post 25.1.2019)

While New Zealand participated in the Australasian Federation Conference convened in Melbourne in 1890, it had little real enthusiasm for the prospect of federating with the Australian colonies. As Sir John Hall, then Premier of New Zealand and one of two New Zealand delegates to the Conference, observed:

Nature has made 1200 impediments to the inclusion of New Zealand in any such Federation in the 1,200 miles of stormy ocean which lie between us and our brethren in Australia.That does not prevent the existence of a community of interests between us. There is a community of interest, and if circumstances allow us at a future date to join in the federation, we shall be only too glad to do so. But what is the meaning of having 1,200 miles of ocean between us? Democratic government must be a government not only for the people, and by the people, but, if it is to be efficient; and give content, it must be in sight and within hearing of the people.

March 26, 2018

Labor is a Specialist in Special Deals for Private Schools

Bill Shorten has committed Labor to standing “shoulder to shoulder” with the Catholic school system. He promised it $250 million over two years and billions more over a decade. Catholic Education Victoria reciprocated by campaigning on behalf of Labor in the Batman by-election. What a cosy deal! More money for Catholic schools in return for electoral favours!

May 17, 2019

MARK SWIVEL. ‘To be without a home. Like a complete unknown. Just like a rolling stone’. - Bob Dylan.

Having a home one of the most basic human needs. We talk about housing or shelter as a human right - as we should. But that is not what we want. Not just the bricks and mortar but the sense of place and belonging. It’s why homeless people gather. Sure there’s safety in numbers when sleeping rough but we need each other and want to be together with others.

July 14, 2018

GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND

A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts covered in other media.

December 27, 2018

GABRIELLE CHAN. Nationals face their biggest threat yet after an annus horribilis (The Guardian).

Traditional party of the bush wracked by personal scandals, leadership instability and a raft of new competitors on their turf.

July 4, 2018

BEPPE SEVERGNINI. In Italy, Immigrants Evoke Fear, Not Racism.

CREMA, Italy — As I was walking home, a man in his 70s, wearing a youthful shirt and sporting fiercely dark hair, stopped me in the main square, under the spire of the ancient Duomo. He introduced himself, then said he’d had a tough life, working as a cow milker on a farm since he was a child. He didn’t understand why I was so soft on migrants, in my writing and on television.

November 4, 2019

RAMZY BAROUD. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinian Christians that Nobody is Talking About (CounterPunch 31-10-19)

Palestine’s Christian population is dwindling at an alarming rate. The world’s most ancient Christian community is moving elsewhere. And the reason for this is Israel.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal

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