September 17, 2022

The Defence Strategic Review: The Hollywood version of ANZUS

_It is highly unlikely that China would threaten Australian territory unless we become enmeshed in containment by the US.

May 5, 2021

Time to silence the drums of war

For many familiar with the excesses of Cold War rhetoric and the hyped-up fears used to justify our ill-fated interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the current China bashing is a case of déjà-vu. But the latest bout of politically contrived anti-China hysteria is especially troubling.

December 15, 2020

Overtreatment in Dentistry: A Professional Controversy

_Overtreatment is clearly an ethical issue in dentistry; we need leadership within the profession that is not afraid to confront the challenges which face both practitioners and the public.

November 5, 2020

Let's have a proper review of public sector remuneration

In calling for a review of Australia Post in light of its decision to reward some executives with Cartier watches, the PM stated that ‘there wouldn’t be a board member of a government agency or a CEO of a government agency that didn’t get my message’.

October 4, 2024

Israel's ideology of genocide must be confronted and stopped

Israel’s violent extremists now in control of its government believe that Israel has the Biblical license, indeed a religious mandate, to destroy the Palestinian people.

July 20, 2024

The unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory must cease immediately

“All States are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. […] This illegality relates to the entirety of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967.”

June 21, 2024

The cut-through message: wind, solar and pumped hydro are all we need, and cheaper

Wind, solar and pumped hydro energy storage can provide all the electrical energy we need, on demand, cheaply, quickly, with minimal carbon emissions. This is the message that will cut through the energy confusion. The clean energy debate is hampered by widespread lack of awareness of off-river pumped hydro energy storage. It is the third leg of the clean energy tripod. It uses mature technologies and there are abundant suitable sites.

June 6, 2024

Serious concerns about the AUKUS submarine deal are not going away

Despite continuing optimism from Prime Minister Albanese and Defence Minister Marles and the defence commentariat about the AUKUS submarine deal it continues to attract significant uncertainty and doubt in the wider community. This centres around issues such as sovereignty , our industrial capability to manage the construction and longer term maintenance and the massive donation ( over $A4 billion) to the US’s own worrying ailing defence industry.

August 3, 2023

Abandoned sovereignty: Australia's intelligence function colonised by US

That the Albanese government could further compromise Australia’s sovereignty, international integrity and national interests seemed inconceivable. Yet, intelligence, a vital government function inextricably connected with independence and protecting national interest, is being penetrated and colonised by the Americans.

July 31, 2023

Australian media's alarm over Chinese spy ship highlights stark double-standard

The mainstream media has once more tried to generate alarm about the presence of two relatively innocuous Chinese electronic spy ships in international waters during the latest biennial Talisman Sabre military exercise spread across the Australian mainland and offshore oceans. It involves 30,000 troops from 13 countries. Although the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi had publicly assured his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese that his country would attend, India did not turn up.

June 26, 2023

A failed coup but what now?

The only possible winner is Ukraine. Both Putin and Prigozhin are losers. The situation remains unclear and what happens next remains to be seen. Rationality does not seem to be part of events.

September 20, 2022

The Defence Strategic Review: The US Taiwan Policy Act would be a game-changing act of provocation

The Australian government, perhaps initially through the DSR, must explain clearly to the Australian public what cost it is prepared to pay as a tool of American policy, or how it intends to maintain its sovereignty and ensure the security and safety of Australians.

August 20, 2022

This week with Ian McAuley - Morrison's magic ministries and more

Weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy.

June 20, 2021

Sunday environmental round up, 20 June 2021

The harmful health effects of climate change are under-recognised. Calls for a socio-ecological approach to tackling climate change and biodiversity loss together. Trends in the reporting of climate science. ‘Zombie’ fires in northern boreal forests, and LGBQTI+ activists stand up for climate change and human rights.

May 31, 2021

Arbitrary detention in China: The case of Yang Hengjun

Australian Ambassador Graham Fletcher, denied observer entry to the closed court hearing of the case against Australian citizen Yang Hengjun, told the press on 27 May that the case was one of arbitrary detention. This was not an off-the-cuff remark or an attempt to further damage relations with China.

November 26, 2020

Understanding 'Beijing expansionism'

Canberra’s shift to anti-China rhetoric and expanded military spending is said to be due to China’s shift to expansionist and aggressive policies. And just in case there is some truth in the ‘Beijing expansionism’ claim let’s look at the claimed evidence.

April 28, 2024

“Considering” recognition of the State of Palestine

The recognition of the State of Palestine has been an issue for the current Labor government since it came to office. Readers are reminded of these articles: The ALP and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, 9 August 2022; Why did Australia oppose the ICJ advisory opinion on Israeli settlements?, 15 February 2023; Recognise Palestine Now!, 3 October 2023; and The 2025 Federal Election – what are we to do?, 30 January, 2024.

September 21, 2021

Protracted timeline shows the folly of Australia's nuclear submarine deal

Buying ludicrously expensive nuclear submarines upsets our neighbours, inflates the defence spending budget, unbalances our military forces and does nothing to address the bigger security threat of global warming and species extinction.

June 22, 2021

Breaking up ABC HQ suits its competitors, not the ABC

Of all the Sydney-centric notions, the idea that the ABC would better represent Australia if it moved its programmakers from Ultimo in Sydney to Parramatta in Sydney is about as Sydney-centric as you can get.

January 26, 2021

Patriotic ins and outs at the Australian unity jamboree

It wouldn’t be late January if Australians were not being drawn into pointless “national conversations” about Australia Day, its occurrence on the anniversary of British settlement and the beginning of Aboriginal displacement, and what it means to be Australian.

December 10, 2020

What is meant by 'democracy' in Hong Kong.

Seeing the theatrics going on in the USA leads me to muse on “Democracy” and what it means in Hong Kong terms. Is there a template into which every model must fit, or is it a broad concept which encompasses not only its technical structure but also the values it seeks to uphold ?

December 2, 2020

Challenging the wolves: how to reply to Beijing's tweet

An unexpected tweet from a senior Chinese diplomat on Monday 29 November provided a perfect excuse for the Prime Minister to divert attention from his domestic problems, to praise our gallant defence forces, to refer to our national values, and to stand up to the People’s Republic of China, who, as everyone knows from numerous press reports and commentaries in recent months, has been threatening our trade and undermining our public institutions.

December 3, 2018

PATRICIA EDGAR. Kids Technology and the Future: Radical revamp needed for Children’s TV content quotas.

Today’s kids are way ahead of our broadcasting regulators and television producers in the way they use both television and digital media. It’s time for a radical rethink of content regulations, quotas, and subsidy for children’s media education and entertainment in their best interest.

September 26, 2024

What has happened to Australia’s commitment to the United Nations?

On the eve on the UN International Day of Peace, I searched ministerial websites for media statements that might reflect the Australian Government’s commitment to this year’s theme “Building a Culture of Peace" but I found no indication that the Albanese Government has a vision of its role as a middle power working to support international law and prevent the ravages of militarism. Instead, there were various references celebrating AUKUS and increased military expenditure, but I could not locate any official recognition that the Australian Government marked 21 September as an important day in the UN calendar. Fortunately, we can rely on the non-government sector including “Religions for Peace”, “Raising Peace Festival” and other community organisations to ensure that International Day of Peace was recognised in Australia.

September 18, 2024

Independence too big a price for AUKUS fantasy

Paul Keating, Bob Carr and I seem to have jangled a few security establishment nerves with our critique of the AUKUS submarine deal as having profound negative implications for Australia’s security and sovereignty.

May 26, 2024

Will famine in Gaza turn Netanyahu and Gallant into war criminals?

With the ICJ ordering a cessation of Rafah hostilities there is now close to a certainty Netanyahu and defence minister Gallant will be charged with a war crime.

May 15, 2024

Future Gas Strategy is a betrayal of promised Climate and Environmental Policies

Climate scientists reveal data that earth’s heating is accelerating, heat extremes are increasing and 1.5C has been breached faster than forecast. We are failing to treat climate change as the single greatest threat to humanity.

April 6, 2023

The 'Senior Advisor and Principal Author' of our Defence Strategic Review is a Director of the United States Studies Centre

Serious questions must be asked about conflicts of interest among Australian government advisors in both AUKUS and the Defence Strategic Review.

August 9, 2022

Time to tell the truth at the Australian War Memorial

_Imagine an Australia where government agencies operated according to grossly outdated ideas. The Department of Health still accepts the theory of Humours regulating the body; Treasury tries to keep to the Gold Standard; Defence believes in the Domino theory.

April 16, 2022

Weekly roundup Saturday 16 April

Weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy.

July 2, 2021

The Intergenerational Report: helpful, but so much less than it could be

Since the 2021 Intergenerational Report (IGR) was released the media has been bombarding us with its “predictions” and “forecasts”. Just take The Australian’s front-page headline ‘Economic snapshot warns of disaster if we don’t act now’, with the first line reading, “Australians’ average incomes will be $32,000 lower”. Or think of Paul Kelly’s header, ‘Australia sleeping through its alarm’.

June 11, 2021

The Tamil family: cruelty beggars belief

The continued detention of the Tamil Biloela family, let alone the threat to deport them, confirms the government’s fascination with cruelty as policy. To demonstrate their bravery in defending Australia’s borders, Ministers think that to protect comfortable and fortunate Australians, they must show a wanton disregard of the interests of the powerless and vulnerable.

August 3, 2024

America’s war machine: Unless Australia acquires nuclear weapons, why acquire AUKUS subs?

Nuclear-powered Virginia Class and AUKUS submarines are a useful deterrent only if they carry cruise missiles with nuclear warheads that can be launched from their unique vertical firing shaft.

June 22, 2024

Labor’s cowardice on the world stage

Labor’s cowardice on the world stage stems from a deep-rooted fear that to do anything other than slavishly follow American policy would be to hand government over to a Coalition which has always done exactly that.

June 4, 2024

American folly-starting and fighting endless wars

Politics have come to this in America. Several former US presidents committed extremely serious war crimes that killed, maimed and displaced huge numbers of people without any suggestion that they be charged with these crimes. However, a former president Donald Trump has been found guilty of the crime of trying to cover up a brief sexual encounter with a porn actress that he denied occurred. Just how this is a crime is a little hard to understand.

August 28, 2022

News Corp - How a rogue organisation operates. A repost from 27 October 2017

What power always does is reveal.

September 24, 2021

Crying wolf: How to stop talk of war with China

How might it be possible to stop talk of war with China? Are our civil and military leaders, and their loyal press simply “crying wolf”? Or is there a real and present threat that might justify war talk?

August 6, 2021

Nothing dollarable is safe in the Kosciuszko National Park

“Nothing dollarable is safe, however guarded” wrote the great American conservationist and protected area crusader, John Muir in 1909. He was right then, and he’s still right today: maybe more than ever.

June 28, 2021

Frances Adamson's "graduation speech" - a conditional pass?

Frances Adamson, outgoing Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), gave a wide-ranging speech at the National Press Club (NPC) on 23 June, revealing that little if anything was achieved during the five years of her term as departmental head and that her leadership was lacking, or at least, seriously limited by other forces in Canberra.

December 18, 2020

China-Australia relations: it's not as simple as ABC

There are many commentators with strong and legitimate concerns about China. The relationship between Australia and China is a very important one and it warrants open and vigorous debate

January 31, 2020

JON STANFORD: Second rate leadership: Future Submarine Part 4 of 4

I have suggested that recent governments have failed to provide leadership in the defence portfolio. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of SEA 1000, the future submarine program.

August 19, 2024

Is peaceful cooperation a hopeless pipe dream?

According to Matt Pottinger, ‘a China expert and deputy national security adviser in the Trump White House…anyone who has entertained the idea of stable ties with Beijing is really smoking dope.’ If that’s what it takes, it might be time to light up.

August 6, 2024

Israeli MP condones sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners

What democracy would accept a member of parliament agreeing that it was permissible and acceptable for its soldiers to sexually abuse political prisoners?

July 31, 2024

AUKUS servility just one facet of poor governance

Richard Marles has the Navy out in force firing torpedoes at AUKUS critics.

June 11, 2024

Israel the grotesque, who supports that government?

Celebrations on Tel Aviv beaches followed news of the rescue of four Israeli hostages. As part of an alleged clinical, precise military exercise, as many as 300 Palestinians were killed and 700 injured, but in Israeli revellers’ eyes, this latest slaughter of Palestinians is of no consequence, even welcomed.

May 12, 2024

Does self-interest necessarily rule - with inevitable destruction?

Before attempting an answer, first let us hold the mirror up to obvious signs of our dysfunction.

April 8, 2024

Australia’s disgraceful diversion of responsibility over Gaza war crimes

It seems our PM and Foreign Minister remain able only to show a carefully graduated and modified ‘outrage’ over the death of an Australian aid worker in Gaza. Expressed directly to Netanyahu, Albanese could only deliver restrained diplomatese: sought was a “thorough investigation” with “full accountability and transparency”. That hardly rocked Netanyahu to the core: his response - it was a mistake but such things inevitably happen in war – bordered on the offensive.

May 20, 2023

How we can live with a weaker US

We must not exchange American hegemony for a dominant China. A new regional balance of power is the best answer.

October 1, 2022

The great game in Ukraine is spinning out of control

Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski famously described Ukraine as a “geopolitical pivot” of Eurasia, central to both US and Russian power. Since Russia views its vital security interests to be at stake in the current conflict, the war in Ukraine is rapidly escalating to a nuclear showdown. It’s urgent for both the US and Russia to exercise restraint before disaster hits.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal