February 9, 2017

PETER HUGHES. Losing the plot on immigration policy

If governments choose to make immigration policy based on populism, expect an increase in human suffering

August 13, 2020

Media in the Asian Century

Our main stream media just does not understand Asia. It’s ignorance and hostility is on display day after day.It relies on news ‘drops’ from our security and defence agencies.

February 26, 2017

NICOLE GURRAN & PETER PHIBBS. How the Property Council is shaping the debate around negative gearing, taxes.

We see their spokespeople quoted in the papers and their ads on TV, but beyond that we know very little about how Australias lobby groups get what they want.

March 28, 2015

Caroline Coggins. Holy Week: what is our invitation this year?

At the start of holy week we read of a woman who, uninvited, breaks into a gathering of men at table, drops to her knees to pour the most extravagant oil onto the feet of the man she loves, wiping the oil in with her hair! There is no shame or apology, even though those observing are self-righteously indignant, angered by her ‘display’. She is not hedging her bets but is utterly there in love. How interesting that this scene, after Palm Sunday, will lead us into Holy week (John12:1-6). We are not invited as strangers, but as intimates.

March 2, 2017

CHRIS GERAGHTY. Jesus and CFMEU

Its not a time for business as usual. Its a time for outbursts of horror, for open-throated cries for justice a time for sackcloth and ashes, for fasting and floggings of repentance a time to cease celebrating, singing, canonizing and collecting money a time to call a halt to ordinary business, to close the shop, to stop preaching and declare a time of silence during which the religious leaders will cover their celibate loins and prostrate themselves before the community a time to embrace the victims and their wounded families.

January 23, 2017

JIM CHALMERS. We can't let go of the fair go.

New unreported data shows Australias proud tradition of inclusive economic growth is at risk, writes Shadow Finance Minister Jim Chalmers.

January 8, 2015

Corporate tax avoidance.

The Parliamentary Library has prepared a report for the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance. The report provides background on this issue as well as a summary of what other countries are proposing to address corporate tax avoidance by multinational companies. See link to report below. John Menadue

http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2014/December/Senate_inquiry_into_corporate_tax_avoidance

December 21, 2018

JOHN MENADUE. Seasons' greetings.

John and Susie wish you a peaceful Christmas and a meaningful new year.

We do appreciate the help that we have received from contributors, readers and supporters.

There will be no posts on 24, 25 and 26 December.

June 5, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Shrill parliamentary voices.

Our Prime Minister is obviously not as graceful and elegant as Marceau, nor, unfortunately, as silent: he has spent the last week of parliament repeating the same diatribe in ever-increasing volume in the hope that those few voters who watch question time on television will hear him even when they have reached for the mute button.

January 15, 2015

Andrew Podger. Integrating aged pensions and superannuation.

Just as the Abbott government sorely needs a coherent health policy, welfare policy and family assistance policy, it should also put time and effort in 2015 into investing in a coherent approach to retirement incomes instead of focusing narrowly on the age pension.

The budget measures are being stymied by the Senate, not because of poor communications, but because they simply do not stack up as fair and reasonable.

David Murrays FSI offers a more considered approach though it too only covers part of the retirement incomes system. Perhaps its most important contribution is Murrays simple admonition to articulate in legislation the objectives of the superannuation system, the primary one being, to provide income in retirement to substitute or supplement the age pension.

June 22, 2015

Walter Hamilton. Magna Carta and universality.

Current Affairs.

Eight hundred years ago, this month, King John reluctantly signed Magna Carta, a form of peace treaty forced on him by rebellious barons. It is considered to have marked the beginning of the end of the age of despotism. Some also see Magna Carta as the extension into politics of Christianitys leveling theology: no longer was there one chosen people (monarch); all humanity had access to salvation (the law).

January 15, 2018

RICHARD BUTLER. The Real Danger: A New Nuclear Arms Race.

New US nuclear weapons policies, quantitative and qualitative will ensure that a new nuclear arms race proceeds. Global danger will increase as will the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons. Its not just Trump that is at issue. He has merely enabled an increased influence of the US military/industrial/intelligence complex and, of a specifically imperial mind-set, in the US: the one that has seen the US author war repeatedly since the Second World War. Does the Alliance compel Australia to support this?

May 4, 2018

GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND ...

I know its not true but it could be true. In the New York Times Daniel Effron of the London Business School explains Why Trump Supporters dont Mind his Lies. Even if we know that a story is untrue, if it aligns with our prejudices, and if we can imagine a situation where a similar story might be true, the story tends to confirm our prejudices.

Writing in Fairfax media Jessica Irvine presents two views one from the economic right, one from the economic centre, about the likely effect of the budget on young people. Tony Shepherd, who headed Tony Abbotts Commission of Audit, emphasises the future liability of government debt. Saul Eslake, says that the whole system of income, wealth and taxes has all been changed in a way which advantages baby boomers at the expense of their kids. From either perspective the budget will probably be tough on young Australians.

November 28, 2016

MUNGO MacCALLUM. the National Party is 'feeling its oats'.

Mungo MacCallum writes that the National Party may not yet be out of control but it represents a far more frightening prospect to Turnbull and the Liberals than the cross-benchers ever will.

March 23, 2015

Peter Day. Mum and Dad, or Mum and Mum, or Dad and Dad?

Human sexuality is a complex and fragile thing far greyer than black or white. It is best tended to by gentle, wise, and humble hands.

Alas, there hasnt been much gentleness or wisdom surrounding the same sex marriage debate, let alone same sex attraction in general. Witness the recent furore over an alleged homophobic slur directed at a player during a Super 15 Rugby match between the ACT Brumbies and the NSW Waratahs at the weekend.

October 10, 2016

John Menadue. Australia, the White Mans Media and Donald Trump

This article was first posted on 29 January 2016. The situation has worsened since then!

I am usually interested in politics but I am already sick and tired of the US elections and Donald Trump. And we have twelve months to go!. Forget about Indonesia, China, Japan and India. Our media does not think them important! They go instead for Donald Trump. Or the latest snow storm in New York.or a bombing at the Boston Marathon.

But Donald Trump is easy copy at the moment for our lazy and derivative media.

November 13, 2016

JOHN AUSTEN. Sydney Metro - a disaster in store.

The public has been given no serious justification for why Sydney needs a separate, distinct and very expensive new rail system like Metro. All we have is a very big bill and more on the horizon.

Sydney could spend almost as much on its metro rail as Australia will pay for its new submarines, with little to no scrutiny of whether metro is the right solution and whether it might actually be working to the detriment of the existing commuter rail network and therefore to the detriment of Sydneys economy and people overall.

January 1, 2015

Malcolm Fraser. Australia's dangerous ally.

The National Interest, in its January/February 2015 edition has just published an article by Malcolm Fraser, ‘Australia’s dangerous ally’. The National Interest is not sold on news stands in Australia, but it is available online.

Malcolm Fraser concludes his article by suggesting several steps that Australia should take to address problems in our relationship with the US. First, the removal of US task force out of Darwin. Second, closure of facility at Pine Gap. Third, expanded diplomatic facilities and relationships in our region. Fourth, a boost to Australia’s defence force spending to about 3% of GDP.

September 7, 2014

Annette Brownlie. No new war in Iraq.

Both major political parties are once again standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the US, in support of what amounts to a new military intervention in Iraq.

The process began with the dropping of humanitarian aid supplies to the Yezidi. It has now moved on to the delivery of weapons and munitions to Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Meanwhile, Defence Minister David Johnston has indicated that Australian armed forces (Super Hornet warplanes and C130s) are to be made available to support whatever action the US decides upon.

March 20, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. How the gaming of land rezoning by vested interests keeps housing unaffordable.

After Easter, we will be posting a ten-part series on making housing more affordable for all. One of the problems in housing affordability is the political muscle of some developers in gaming rezoning and reaping substantial capital gains from property. The politics of property is a major issue. Property-owning interests have a particular interest in inflating property prices. In the repost below, Paul Frijters and Cameron Murray describe the corruption of land rezoning in Brisbane. When this report was first posted, Michael Pascoe in the SMH on 29 September 2015, said ‘This paper should have brought down state and local governments, sparked a royal commission and radically changed the Australian housing industry. Months later, the paper seems to be forgotten and Australia’s biggest racket rolls on unchallenged; gaming land rezoning for enormous profits.’ John Menadue

September 27, 2014

John Menadue. Postcard from Copenhagen I went to the wrong church.

I fronted up for Mass last Sunday or so I thought. The web had described the cathedral as small case c catholic rather than upper case C Catholic. It was the Protestant/Lutheran cathedral in Copenhagen. I missed the Eucharist but it was a moving encounter with my separated brothers and sisters.

In 1536 when the absolutist Danish monarchy decided to follow Luther rather than Pope Paul III, they arrested the Roman Catholic hierarchy and almost swept the state clean of Roman Catholics. In a population of only five or six million in Denmark, there are now only about 40,000 Roman Catholics, mainly foreigners. The historic old Roman Catholics churches, such as the 12th Century UNESCO listed cathedral in Roskilde, became Lutheran or Protestant churches.

September 21, 2014

Gaza, Israel and Palestine.

In the link below from AlterNet, published on 9 September 2014, you will find a very important analysis by Noam Chomsky. John Menadue.

http://www.alternet.org/noam-chomsky-real-reason-israel-mows-lawn-gaza?akid=12222.32110.TSqdYT&rd=1&src=newsletter1018632&t=2&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

June 29, 2015

Ian Macphee. Celebrating the arrival 40 years ago of Vietnamese refugees and their contribution to Australia.

Current Affairs.

Throughout Australia the Vietnamese community in Australia has been holding meetings to commemorate the arrival of the first Vietnamese refugees forty years ago. Sadly but appropriately these functions are also commemorating the wonderful leadership of Malcolm Fraser in welcoming the Vietnamese and consolidating the end of the White Australia policy. In this he was supported by the Labor Party and this bi-partisan policy continued until 1993 when mandatory detention was established by the Keating government. This worsened under the Howard government from 1996 onwards and the bi-partisan policy since has been inhumane.

December 16, 2014

Hazel Moir, How trade agreements are locking in a broken patent system.

Ten years on from the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, Australia is entering another round of negotiations towards the new and controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. In this Free Trade Scorecard series, we review Australian trade policy over the years and where we stand today on the brink of a number of significant new trade deals.

Australia has long had low requirements for obtaining patents. Some of these low standards were locked in in the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. This made reform to the system difficult but not impossible.

February 27, 2017

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. The Catholic wrap-up at the Royal Commission.

But in the past, these spiritual leaders were also professing their commitment to an institution which commanded their hierarchical obedience and clerical acquiescence in protecting the institutions public reputation and its coffers.

May 16, 2016

JOHN MENADUE. People have been rude to the Queen - again.

According to press reports, the Queen believes that some Chinese were rude during President Xi Jinpings visit to Britain last year. Apparently the Queen told Metropolitan Police Commander, Lucy dOrsi that she had bad luck in being responsible for security for the visit and that they were very rude to the (UK) ambassador.

Rude seems to be a frequent part of palace vocabulary.

In 1974 in Kingston, Jamaica, aboard her yacht The Britannia, the Queen told me that your Prime Minister had been rude to my family. I was the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet at the time.

Forgive me for mentioning it but when you read down you will understand.

September 10, 2019

RAGHURAM G. RAJAN. The True Toll of the Trade War (Project Syndicate, 5 Sep 2019)

Another day, another attack on trade. Why is it that every dispute whether over intellectual property (IP), immigration, environmental damage, or war reparations now produces new threats to trade?

October 11, 2014

The community of expulsion.

In the International New York Times of October 6, Roger Cohen spoke of ’the community of expulsion’. He was referring not only to the expulsion of Jews and the diaspora, but also the expulsion of the Palestinians. He said “Palestinians have joined the ever recurring community of expulsion. The words of Leviticus are worth repeating for any Jew in or concerned by Israel today: Treat the stranger as yourself for ‘you were strangers in the land of Egypt’.”

June 19, 2015

David Stephens. Why is Australia spending so much more on the Great War centenary than any other country?

Current Affairs

The question at the head of this article has intrigued Honest History since we began our coalition and our website. This was in the floundering days of the Labor Government. When Abbott replaced Rudd II, the federal commitment to the Anzac centenary already stood at $140 million, it has been going up ever since and it is way ahead of any other country in the world and, possibly, of every other country combined. (More of that shortly.)

December 17, 2014

Luigi Palombi. It's time to fix the free trade bungle on the cost of medicines.

Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership present an opportunity to correct a mistake made a decade in the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, which led to Australia paying higher prices for pharmaceuticals.

May 25, 2015

John Menadue. Failed policies have made us a larger terrorism target.

Current Affairs.

The major drivers of Islamic terrorism are a century of Western policies in the Middle East that have colonised, expropriated and attacked the people of the Middle East. Those suffering from these policies are overwhelmingly Muslim. Add to that the continued and current meddling of Western powers in the Middle East and it is not surprising that we have a surge of young Muslim misfits who have a sense of resentment and grievance against the West.

June 18, 2015

Geoff Miller. Australia should not follow the US into an ill-considered adventure in the South China Sea

Current Affairs

We all owe thanks to Sam Bateman for his excellentEast Asia Forum articleof 1 June in which he explains that the situation in the South China Sea around the Spratlys is not at all simple according to maritime law, that ‘innocent passage’ is hedged with many conditions, and that freedom of navigation operations ‘are inherently dangerous’.

He also points out that ‘other countries…have also undertaken extensive reclamation works on their occupied features, including building airstrips and adding military fortifications.’ The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia have all built airstrips on their islands; the Philippines airstrip is over 1km long andcan take C-130s.

January 14, 2015

Building more roads is not 21st century thinking.

In my blog of 3 January, I discussed our love affair with cars and how cars are crippling our cities.

In the SMH on January 12 this year, Jacob Saulwick takes up the issue of our failure to face up to the futility and cost of building more roads. See link below to the article. John Menadue.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/building-more-roads-is-not-21st-century-thinking-20150111-12lstx.html

November 15, 2014

The G20 economies.

The link to The Conversation below, provides a useful summary of the G20 and its member economies, e.g.

The G20 economies represent 65% of the world’s population, 79% of world trade, 84% of the world economy and 77% of world carbon emissions.

Australia rates number 3 in GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity.

As a percentage of GDP, Australia has a relatively low level of debt compared to other G20 economies.

May 27, 2015

Spencer Zifcak. Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights.

Fairness, Opportunity and Security. Policy series edited by Michael Keating and John Menadue.

Do Human Rights Fit or Should We Just Forget About Them?

Hard upon the ascent of violent terrorism in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere, and Australias first experience of terrorist crime in Martin Place, the Australian Government has been active in bringing forward new legislation designed to prevent and punish terrorist crime. There can be no quarrel with that. Nevertheless, the draconian nature of the new laws has caused alarm amongst many concerned with the protection of individual rights and freedoms.

September 12, 2019

WASHINGTON POST Editorial Board. John Boltons legacy: Chaos, dysfunction and no meaningful accomplishment (11-9-19)

Apparently Mr. Bolton was pickedbecauseMr. Trump had enjoyed watching him on television. The result was to compound the chaos that has characterized the administrations foreign policy and left Mr. Trump without meaningful accomplishments.

March 1, 2017

IAN McAULEY. Pauline Hansons youth support

A recent survey has found surprisingly high levels of support for One Nation among young voters in George Christiansens electorate in northern Queensland. At first sight this seems incongruous with the Brexit and Trump votes, which showed younger people were more supportive of mainstream parties of the centre-left.

December 15, 2016

CHRIS BONNOR & BERNIE SHEPHERD. Australias test scores: what lies beneath?

The big lesson for Australia in education is that we can ‘reform’ schools to the hilt, hammer the maths and science - but nothing will change unless we address structural and equity problems as well.

December 1, 2014

Rethinking the cost of Western intervention in Ukraine.

In the Washington Post on November 25, Katrina vanden Heuvel had a very interesting article on the mistakes that Europe, NATO, and the US have made in their approach to Russia over the Ukraine and Crimea. She quotes Henry Kissinger as saying ‘Nobody in the West has offered a concrete program to restore Crimea. Nobody is willing to fight over Eastern Ukraine. That’s a fact of life.’ Kissinger has said that the West might weigh its real security concerns before posturing and escalation over Ukraine.

May 26, 2015

Greg Bailey. Lobbyists and Consultants.

Current Affairs.

John Menadue has written an excellent summary of what might originally have been a problem of the sociology of knowledge, where particular groups in society appropriate the debates relating to public policy. They usually ignore the intellectual currents that lie more deeply behind these policies, even though they have been strongly influenced by them. Whilst it is the task of intellectuals to expose these currents, it should be the task of public servants to assess their validity, when translated into specific policy recommendations, for implementation in the public sphere.

December 19, 2014

Is religion the cause of war and violence in the Middle East and elsewhere?

We are consistently seeing the ghastly side of Islam with public beheadings but we also need to keep in mind the ghastly side of Christianity which was so evidence during the Crusades.

Many conclude that religion, now and in the past, is the cause of so much violence. Karen Armstrong has just written ‘Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence’. This book has been reviewed by David Shariatmadari in The Guardian. He says ‘We know that the slaughter of the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, the Opium Wars, the First World War, the Armenian Genocide, Stalin’s Great Purge, the Second World War and the Holocaust, had little to do with religion. Indeed, much of us was explicitly anti-religious. So how on earth have we ended up with the idea - still in evidence in, for example, the comments readers leave on news websites - that religion above all is to blame for human violence.’

November 9, 2014

John Mant. Tribute to Gough Whitlam

It is difficult to make this speech - so much to say about this great man and his times.

I observed him from a number of angles:

Working with Tom Uren and Gough Whitlam on urban policy proposals before the elections.
Assisting my friends Peter Wilenski and James Spigelman in their work on the administrative orders for the new government.
As Uren’s principal advisor for the first year I attended that amazing two man Cabinet meeting when we made the first great installment on changing Australia.
During the first year of the government I was closely involved in a number of critical issues.
Finally I worked as the PM’s principal private secretary in the five months before the coup.

And coup it was, make no mistake about that.

June 24, 2015

John Menadue. Triple-dipping by Big Pharma.

Current Affairs

The major pharmaceutical companies in Australia, almost all foreign owned, keep pushing their luck at the expense of Australian consumers and taxpayers.

In my series on health reform, I pointed to a minimum of $2 b. p.a. that we could save in drug costs if we had a government purchasing system like the New Zealanders. In the last budget the Minister for Health made a few changes around the edges but the high prices charged by Big Pharma will continue.

January 17, 2015

John Menadue. What does Labor stand for? Part 6

You might interested in this repost of part 6 on the economic role of government.

The economic role of government

In addition to key principles the second immediate issue is the economic role of government. Those who would benefit from weak and distrusted government have deliberately undermined the legitimacy of the public sector.

We are often told that there is really no difference between the major parties. In some respects that is unfortunately true but I suggest there is a major and continuing difference. And that difference is over the role of government. The Labor Party has always rejected the view set out in the Liberal Platform that only businesses and individuals are the creators of wealth and employment

November 12, 2015

Ian Richards. Australias new submarine.

Jon Stanfords article Australias new submarine: what is its mission? is spot on.

The trouble with Defence planning and White Papers is that they all start off with what in my early days in the Navy was called a Staff Requirement. This thing, this equipment or ship is what we require. The first chapter of a Defence White Paper should be How much money have we got!

The bureaucratic Canberra attitude to money is that it just comes. A very competent technical Admiral once said to me in my days as Deputy Chief Ian, are you saying we cant do this just because of money?

April 27, 2015

Kieran Tapsell: The Problem with Bishop Finn

On 21 April 2015, the Vatican announced that Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas, Missouri, had resigned. The announcement referred to the Code of Canon Law that states that a bishop who “has become less able to fulfil his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.” Bishop Finn seems to have been in good health, so the grave cause must have been that he had been convicted in September 2012 of failing to report to the police one of his priests, Fr Ratigan, who had been producing child pornography. Finn received a two year suspended sentence with probation, and despite calls for his resignation then, Finn refused to do so until now.

September 28, 2014

John Menadue. The dubious trade deal with Korea

In earlier blogs See July 6, 2014 Turbocharging our trade or mainly hype - I drew attention to the exaggerated benefits of bilateral free trade agreements. We now have 7 of them with more under negotiation, including with China and two signed but not yet in force.

These FTAs are third-rate in promoting trade compared with multi-lateral agreements.

The recent September Report of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties on the FTA with Korea confirms my doubts about the net benefits of these arrangements.

January 6, 2015

John Menadue. Australia and the White Mans Media

I have said many times that a person from Mars who read and listened to Australian media would conclude that we are an island parked off London or New York with little relationship to Asia. Our news and media coverage is so derivative, relying heavily on the BBC, CNN and other news and entertainment houses in the UK and the US .We are recyclers. Tony Abbott delights in our being part of this Anglosphere with its British monarchy, Sirs and Dames.

March 8, 2016

Kishore Mahbubani. The China threat! What happens when China becomes number one?

In considering the Defence White paper, it is important as Hugh White has pointed out, that we consider carefully the growing power of China and its determination to be accepted as a strong regional and global power. In this article (reposted from 27 April 2015) by Kishore Mahbubani, he describes the likely consequences of China becoming the ’number one’ regional and possibly world power in the decades ahead. Our Defence White paper discounts the significance of growing Chinese power and the need to accommodate it. John Menadue

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal