May 6, 2020

RIVKA T. WITENBERG Promoting Tolerance and Acceptance through Education

The role of education is to encourage moral and socially moral/ethical individuals who develop a robust sense of fairness, justice and empathy which will influence tolerance and acceptance.

January 5, 2021

Assange decision welcome but sullied by legal chicanery

The British judge’s ruling that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the United States is welcome, but it comes after the charade called justice in which British authorities held an unconvicted person in a top security prison and made his defence as difficult as possible.

January 21, 2021

A Letter to President Biden: Rebuilding US credibility

You will be acutely aware that, after the ravages of the Trump years, you have a big healing job ahead of you, not only at home but abroad.

March 23, 2018

HAROLD LEVIEN. How to Solve our Housing Crisis.

Federal Government policies are primarily responsible for the housing crisis facing Sydney and Melbourne first-home buyers and renters. Yet this Government virtually ignores fist-home buyers. Indeed it pursues policies which drive very many out of the housing market into exorbitant rentals. One policy, annual tax concessions to housing investors, cost $12 billion last year.

December 13, 2017

DAVID ISAACS AND ALANNA MAYCOCK. Australia is wilfully damaging the health of children on Nauru to make a point - and it is appalling.

When we visited Nauru as paediatric specialists three years ago, we were asked to see 30 of the 100 children being detained on the island. Among them was a six-year-old girl who had tried to kill herself and a two-year-old boy with such severe behaviour problems a doctor had prescribed anti-psychotic medicines. Their parents were in despair. They had fled persecution, trying to save their children from harm, but had ended up imprisoned on a remote island, without hope. We left with the view that these were the most traumatised children we had ever consulted on, far worse than children we had seen in Australia, Africa, Asia or Europe.

November 29, 2020

Why the Biden victory is not the answer to our prayers

Much of America is breathing a sigh of relief that, gracefully or otherwise, Trump will soon vacate the White House. Allies of the United States not just governments but much of the commentariat are expecting a less turbulent and more predictable international environment. That may be wishful thinking.

January 13, 2020

DANIELLE CELERMAJER.-Opinion Omnicide:Who is responsible for the gravest of all crimes?(ABC Religion and Ethics 7.1.2020)

_As the full extent of the devastation of the Holocaust became apparent, a Polish Jew whose entire family had been killed,Raphael Lemkin, came to realise that there was no word for the distinctive crime that had been committed: the murder of a people.

November 22, 2020

The Brereton Report: the failure of political and military leadership

Our political leadership will never be the subjects of the Office of the Special Investigator or the Australian Federal Police, nor, therefore, will they ever be charged. Indeed, in their exaggerated innocence they will display only the inevitable hypocrisy of the failed war-maker: a passion for condemning others and a total unwillingness to accept responsibility for their role in their crimes.

February 11, 2021

Morrison can barely hide his disdain for China; Labor fears being wedged

Until there is more positive signalling out of Washington, the AustraliaChina relationship will remain frozen. Neither Morrison nor Albanese has the grace, courage, or diplomatic skills to challenge the status quo.

January 31, 2021

Taiwan: a 'wicked' strategic problem for Australia

ASPIs executive director Peter Jennings is banging the war drums over Taiwan again. He would have Australia automatically marching into a war in defence of the island. Why would Australia go to war over Taiwan?

February 18, 2021

Tokyo 2020: The Troubled Games of the XXXll Olympiad

On 25 March, the Olympic Torch Relay is to set out from Fukushima with its sacred flame on a national circuit, visiting all 47 prefectures and arriving at Tokyos Games venue for the opening ceremony on 23 July. But will this scenario really play out?

May 3, 2018

GREG BAILEY. The Business Council of Australia, a new political body appealing to the small business constituency?

The Business Council of Australia has hit the electronic and print media in the past few days, but for all the wrong reasons. It has been accused of setting itself up to run political campaigns along the lines of the main parties and the ACTU. Why is it doing this now and why is it trying to broaden its appeal beyond its traditional constituency of corporations, the large consultancy firms and big business in general?

April 3, 2019

MARY KELLY. The horrifying reality of a military occupation

I recently spent some months living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. I was shocked, deeply distressed and angered by what I witnessed on a daily basis. Palestinians living under the Israeli military occupation experience a relentless, dehumanising, brutal and intimidating regime managed by the Israeli Defence Force and supported by hundreds of thousands of illegal settlers.

June 14, 2013

Our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, deserves respect. Guest blogger: Chris Geraghty

The leader of the opposition addressing a protest crowd in Canberra and a team of colleagues all standing in front of a large sign DITCH THE WITCH

Anthony Abbott continuing to grace the commercial radio station and be softly questioned by the commentator who refers to our prime minister as JU-LIAR, or who opined that they (women) are destroying the place, or who thought it might be a good idea to put our prime minister in a bag and leave her out at sea, or who had the appalling taste to state publicly at a Liberal Party function, that the prime ministers recently deceased father had died of shame.

November 14, 2018

PETER ARKELL. Choosing our head of state does not need to be difficult.

The Australian Republic appears to be coming back into the communitys discussion. The stumbling block for previous models seems to have been how the head of state will be chosen and even concern that we do not offend the Queen. Perhaps there is a solution that she would be pleased to step aside for.

April 29, 2020

MICHAEL POWELL Morrison seeking unimpeded power

Conservatives always seek unimpeded power and Scott Morrison is no exception. Some cynics suggest this is a right to rule mentality, but it is not. It is a duty. A right to rule is arrogance; a duty is more sinister because it is steeped in moral certainty.

February 26, 2019

Education Department Slammed for Failure to Monitor How School Systems Distribute Taxpayer Funding

The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit of the Parliament has slammed the Commonwealth Department of Education for failing to ensure that government funding of public and private school systems is distributed according to needs-based principles.

February 26, 2018

John Tulloh. Macedonia - Whats in a name?

I experienced the most beautiful thing that any Greek soul can offer, by just doing my duty, said an exhausted Melbourne woman, Zoi Petalidou. Because this is how I see it: as my duty and what my soul needed.

October 3, 2020

Sunday environmental round up, 4 October 2020

Developing countries need help to avoid the clutches of the fossil fuel industry. Action is needed right now to combat climate change and the UKs NHS is up for the challenge. 64 world leaders commit to Living in Harmony with Nature to reverse biodiversity loss but Australia and Indonesia must have lost the invitation. China out in front on renewables.

February 22, 2021

I have never seen, over 50 years, a more slippery customer than Morrison

How Prime Minister Scott Morrison feels the pain of others. For him, almost everything is a public relations problem.

November 20, 2018

IAN McAULEY. How Peter Dutton and Kelly ODwyer set themselves up to look ridiculous.

A year ago, when the Turnbull Government had been dragged into setting up a commission on the finance sector, Peter Dutton and Kelly ODwyer relished the thought of exposing bad behaviour in the union-dominated industry superannuation funds, even though it had been clear for many years that the industry funds were serving their investors far better than the retail funds operated by the banks, as confirmed by the Commissions work. How did they get it so wrong?

May 21, 2020

ALEX MITCHELL. Don Harwin becomes cactus

In the halcyon days of the NSW Liberal Partys ascendancy, Don Harwin was a fast-rising star. Then he hit a wall and fell from being one of States most powerful Liberal Ministers to the lowly status of an unloved backbencher. How and why?

August 17, 2020

A Former President of Colombia Has His Oscar Wilde Moment

Senator lvaro Uribe, a former president of Colombia, commenced a private prosecution against Senator Ivn Cepeda for attempting to pervert the course of justice by paying witness to make false allegations against him. The judge dismissed the case, and found that it was Uribe who was doing the perverting. The matter is now before the Colombian Supreme Court, and Uribe has been placed under house arrest.

December 5, 2017

LUKE FRASER. Is Sydney in thrall to an infrastructure cargo cult? (Part 1 of 3)

This is the first of three articles considering transport infrastructure spending levels, shortcomings in transport governance and strategy and the potential for doing better.

November 14, 2018

RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Will Japan's Love Affair with Nuclear Power be Resurrected?

On Friday 11 March 2011, a tsunami knocked out emergency generators at Fukushima Dai-Ichi, resulting in melt-downs in three of six reactors, covering the countryside in eastern Honshu with radiation. Some isotopes were short-lived, others will be around much longer. Seven and a half years later, an endless torrent of sea water continues to be pumped into the damaged cores to try to keep them cool with no safe options for disposal or preventing leakage into the biosphere. Some of Japan’s most productive pastoral land around the reactors has been permanently poisoned against future use.

August 9, 2018

JEFFREY SACHS. Trump is robbing America of what makes it great (Washington Post)

American prosperity since World War II has been built upon science and technology breakthroughs spurred by a powerful innovation system linking the federal government, business, academia and venture capital. U.S. innovation policy has been successfully emulated in Europe and Asia, most recently by China. President Trumps trade war against China aims to slow Chinas technology ascent but is misguided and doomed to fail; instead, American prosperity should be assured by doing what America does best: innovating at home and trading with the rest of the world.

November 17, 2019

TRENT PENMAN, KATE PARKINS, SARAH McCOLL-GAUSDEN. A surprising answer to a hot question: controlled burns often fail to slow a bushfire (The Conversation 15-11-19)

As sure as night follows day, this weeks bushfires prompted inevitable debate about whether fire authorities should have carried out more hazard reduction burning, and whether opposition from conservationists prevented this.

February 11, 2019

ANTHONY PUN. A relapse of China panic.

Three media reports in the Sydney Morning Herald could be seen as a Relapse of the China Panic since it went into remission last December. It came in a period where Chinese Australians celebrate the Lunar New Year and indeed some would say what a bloody new year present (a pun Red packets are gifts during the festive period). The Chinese Australian community reacted to these publications and the SMH was kind enough to publish them. On political donations, Australians will have the final say whether to accept all donations with conditions or ban them all together.

April 17, 2023

Never before has a Labor Government been so bereft of policy ambition

In facing the great challenge of our time, a super-state resident in continental Asia and an itinerant naval power seeking to maintain primacy the foreign minister was unable to nominate a single piece of strategic statecraft by Australia that would attempt a solution for both powers.

Paul Keating’s response to Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s speech at the National Press Club, 17 April 2023.

June 22, 2020

The Irish Elections of 2020 Are We There Yet?

After almost six weeks of negotiations agreement has now been reached between the leaders of Fine Gael (FG), Fianna Fil (FF), and the Green Party (GP) to form a coalition government in Ireland.

September 19, 2020

A dialogue of the deaf as the noisy hawks circle (AFR Sep 16, 2020)

Now that the Australia-China relationship has hit a new low, the timings right for charting a way out of the current impasse.

November 20, 2018

ABUL RIZVI. Morrison says enough to a problem largely of his making.

Scott Morrison says enough to the level of migration to Sydney and Melbourne (see here). Yet he fails to mention that it was his actions that brought about the surge in migration to Sydney and Melbourne in the first place. And more knee jerk decisions wont help, either from the Commonwealth or the states.

February 21, 2019

ERIK PAUL. Resurgent racism in Australia's foreign policy.

Australia’s banning Huawei points to a resurgent racism in foreign relations. Australian foreign policy should disengage from the military alliance with the US and adopt a more sustainable economy and independent foreign policy.

April 29, 2020

MIKE SCRAFTON. Regulation, tariffs and reform of supply chains.

The political leaders that brought us global supply chains, hollowed out public services, and dwindling administrative capacity, are potentially about to find themselves in a series of contradictions.

January 24, 2018

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Defence policies and alliances have become the new religion. Part 4 of 5 : The Sacramental Alliance.

Government pronouncements in Australia, especially in the fields of Strategy and National Security, it is claimed, are determined by scientific rationality and definitely not configured according to religious belief. This is both fraudulent and a dangerous conceit: religion, has not been banished; indeed, the present reeks of ecclesiastical history and religion (more specifically, its deformation, religiosity). Accordingly, the proposition is that a more politically accurate understanding of Australias mindset is to be afforded by an interrogation of five aspects: the present state of world politics in history; the acutely deranged state of the present; the emergence of the Papal Presidency in the US; the religious state of the Australia-US Alliance; and White Papers and their like as religious documents.

March 22, 2018

JOHN AUSTEN. Immigration and infrastructure.

While immigration - and a big Australia - is presented as the cause of infrastructure woe the real culprit is policy failure: deficient planning, bad structural arrangements and absence of road congestion pricing.

January 22, 2020

Why are files on British nuclear weapons development in Australia being removed from public access at the UK National Archives?

In 2018 the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority( (NDA) started withdrawing an estimated 1,700 files from Britain’s National Archives about the building of Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent in the 1950s and 1960s. There has not been any explanation for their removal.

January 16, 2020

NOEL TURNBULL. - This is how you do it to appear genuine.

While Scott Morrison was saying it was fortunate no-one had died on Kangaroo Island and forcing people to shake his hand another PM quietly, and without seeking publicity, showed him how he should be behaving.

August 8, 2020

China Series: Where To From Here?(A repost from 23.12.2019)

A SERIES of posts on this blog in the last two weeks have highlighted aspects of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) that are often overlooked in discussion of the bilateral relationship. We have to get used to living with the Chinese elephant in our neighbourhood.

February 5, 2018

LINDY EDWARDS. There is much we don't know about political donations.

The big story about this week’s political donations disclosures is how little they really tell us. Over the last decade the major parties have routinely only transparently disclosed 10-20% of their incomes as donations.

November 20, 2018

LAURIE PATTON. Its poor planning, not the size of the population, thats the problem

As Christopher Pyne has pointed out, “We don’t need to put a handbrake on population growth, we need to manage our population growth sensibly in a country which quite frankly can take a lot more than 25 million people”. Pyne comes from Adelaide, of course, where the state government says it would like to see a lot more people living?

February 23, 2016

Spencer Zifcak. Special Envoy on Human Rights. Ruddock. What?

In 2003, I wrote a short book entitled Mr Ruddock Goes to Geneva. The book was not as superficial as its title might have suggested. It was in fact a serious study of Australias vexed relationship with the UN Human Rights Treaty System. My argument was that the Howard Government should have given the recommendations from UN Human Rights Treaty bodies about ways in which Australia could improve its observance of human rights more thoughtful consideration.

June 28, 2018

Exclusive: Facing U.S. blowback, Beijing softens 'Made in China 2025' message (Business News)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing has begun downplaying Made in China 2025, the state-backed industrial policy that has provoked alarm in the West and is core to Washingtons complaints about the countrys technological ambitions, diplomatic and Chinese state media sources said.

February 21, 2021

Trial by media, politicians or social media does not serve justice

The mindset that says that all persons who make claims of sexual abuse are to be believed and therefore they are survivors or victims is problematic to say the least.

February 28, 2019

CHAS W. FREEMAN JR. After the trade war, a real war with China

[T]he greatest danger of a [real] Sino-American war is Taiwan. Taiwan is a former Chinese province that was recovered from its Japanese occupiers by Nationalist China at the end of World War II. In 1949, having been defeated everywhere else in China, Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist forces retreated to it.

February 7, 2019

TED EGAN. Matthew Flinders: Conditor Australis.

Two items are prominent in the news at the moment: Matthew Flinders remains have been unearthed at Euston Station, London; and t__here is heated debate in Australia about the most appropriate day to recognise as Australia Day.

November 17, 2019

ANTHONY FORSYTH. No, a complex system is not to blame for corporate wage theft (The Conversation 11-11-19)

Is Australias award system so complex major corporations capable of handling millions of customers and billions of dollars cant manage to pay employees properly?

November 4, 2019

J.A. DICK. Faith Development or Stunted growth.

Thinking about some well-known public personalities who, despite their age, are still rather adolescent in their beliefs and behaviour, I went back to James Fowlers understanding of faith development.

May 29, 2018

MICHAEL EASSON. Israel, Gaza and Australia.

There is neither joy nor bright prospects from any of the recent violence and suffering in Gaza. The tragic loss of life in May naturally focuses attention on Australias policy concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal