April 7, 2022

Admiral Prune: Defending Australia Part 3 of 4:What sort of ADF do we need?

Commentators suggest that the Morrison Government is attempting to frame a khaki election. It would be far better were it a blue election - sea and sky blue.

January 14, 2021

Its dangerous for Australia to be so dependent on the United States

On 6 January 2021, the same day as President Donald Trump crossed the red line into incitement of insurrection in Washington through the assault on the Capitol, his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also crossed a line in provocations against China.

November 1, 2020

Australia must have a strong corruption watchdog, but the Coalition shows little interest.

It is now obvious that Australia needs, and most of the community is demanding, a strong national integrity commission. Not, however, the Coalition.

October 27, 2020

Part 2. Australias Defence Strategy: built-in resistance to change

The governments Defence Strategic Update suggests Australia faces the greatest threat to our independence since 1942. This demands a sophisticated diplomatic strategy, the development of a sound military strategy and the careful analysis of how to deliver an appropriate force structure so as to address the threat in an acceptable timeframe.

August 9, 2024

Team genocide walks out on Nagasaki commemorations

In an astonishing “Fuck you” to the survivors of the 1945 US nuclear bombing of Nagasaki, several Western countries including the US, Australia, Canada, France, Italy and the UK have just dropped a bombshell: reportedly announcing their ambassadors are shunning this week’s commemorations in solidarity with Israel.

July 3, 2024

Speaking truth to power

Senator Fatima Payman’s riveting conversation with David Speers on Sunday’s ABC Insiders program was powerful, erudite, compassionate and completely in line with Labor Party policy on Palestine.

June 6, 2024

About that elusive 'context'

Why do mainstream journalists write as if today’s events just popped up out of nowhere? Why has it become de rigueur to ignore the events of all the yesterdays and yesteryears that brought us here? Where is that elusive ‘context’ in stories on Ukraine, Gaza, China and others? Without context, how can we navigate our way through the propaganda of an empire anxious to preserve its hegemony and a military-industrial complex pursuing ever increasing profits?

July 25, 2023

Global NATO bringing extra danger to our neighbourhood

On the eve of the Vilnius summit Foreign Affairs published an article by long term, and recently reappointed, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg entitled A Stronger NATO for a More Dangerous World: What the Alliance Must Do in Vilniusand Beyond. Foreign Affairs is the bible of the American foreign policy establishment, being the journal of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and NATO is a major instrument of US power, so the article is significant. That does not mean it should be taken literally; it is a travesty that distorts and inverts reality in a way that would leave Orwell bemused. Nevertheless what Stoltenberg says here, the way he says it, and what he omits deserve careful scrutiny.

June 6, 2023

Australia catching up with the Asian century at last?

Every word of Anthony Albaneses address to the Shangri-La dialogue on 2 June was chosen with care. It was a balancing act, with the Prime Minister poised between peace and war, defence and diplomacy, the US and China, in a high-wire performance his Coalition predecessors wouldnt have attempted.

September 11, 2022

The Defence Strategic Review must not confine itself to more of the same but address a new world

The government is conducting a Defence Strategic Review: an independently-led review that will consider Defence’s force posture and force structure. The terms of reference are narrow. What is needed, what this Defence Review may not be able to do, is a review of Australias overall strategic circumstances. Courage is needed to choose between allocation of resources to what makes Australia strong and healthy as a nation on the one hand, and deeper spending on dangerous pointy toys on the other.

July 24, 2022

International law and rules-based order are different in important ways for Australia

Australian politicians appear purposefully blind to domestic developments in America; and especially poorly briefed on the subterranean scholarly debates that suddenly emerge as new policy directions. For instance, understanding the intellectual battle over international law that has been taking place in professional journals and academic monographs is of vital importance to Australias public diplomacy and strategic policy.

July 4, 2022

Hospitals and general practice reform

Reducing the pressure on hospitals from patients who dont require urgent and complex care requires reform of general practice.

May 15, 2022

Who does the White House want to win the election?

_The Alliance is fully bipartisan in Canberra and Washington. It is not subject to which party occupies the White House or has a majority in the House of Representatives in Australia.

April 25, 2022

How liars and bullies can win elections

Ive met them; youve met them. You can find them in the corporate world, in academia, in the public service, in publishing, the media, the church and, of course, in politics. The bullies who get away with it because of their capacity to turn on the charm when required. The barefaced liars who mask their mendacity with a disarming grin.

April 18, 2022

'The standard you walk past'

The Australian Army has failed its own leadership test. Where does the buck stop?

June 11, 2024

Reserve Bank has squeezed us like a lemon, but it’s still not happy

Let me be the last to tell you the economy has almost ground to a halt and is teetering on the edge of recession. This has happened by design, not accident. But it doesn’t seem to be working properly. So, what happens now? Until we think of something better, more of the same.

June 2, 2024

Presidents who gamble with nuclear Armageddon

Each of the last five presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, have brought us closer to the brink. We desperately need leaders with a knack for peace who can steer the nation, and the world, toward a more secure and less dangerous future.

September 27, 2022

Taiwan "is not a vital Australian interest we do not recognise it as a sovereign state". A repost from November 17, 2021

Peter Hartcher has a lot to answer for, writes Paul Keating in a response to the Nine columnist that did not make it to print.

September 23, 2022

Americas muddled Taiwan policy

In early August, U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, announced she planned to make a trip to Taiwan to give it moral encouragement at a time of tense relations with China. She would be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Taiwan since 1997, when Speaker Newt Gingrich made the trip.

September 12, 2022

The Defence Strategic Review: What suffering will we accept to keep America in first place?

Do we want to risk incalculable suffering to prevent America from slipping to second place among the nations of the world? Without serious assessment of what cost we are willing to pay in the Defence Strategic Review - how much death and destruction we can tolerate - planning for war is little more than a vacuous exercise.

September 10, 2022

The Defence Strategic Review and the decline of the US led western world

It is time to take the path less travelled. The Defence Strategic Review must recommend an independent defence and foreign policy if Australia is to successfully navigate the emergence of a multi-polar world.

September 21, 2021

The AUKUS pact: If you want peace, prepare for war

Australia’s nuclear-power submarines will greatly enhance Australias ability to provide for its own self-reliant defence. Nevertheless, the new strategic approach confronts us with a number of almighty challenges.

May 9, 2021

What do we get for the millions spent on COVID consultancies?

Australias COVID-19 vaccine rollout is not just a shambles, its an expensive shambles. The program is so bad that government has given up on setting meaningful targets and has now redefined target setting to when an activity starts, rather than when it finishes.

February 28, 2021

Julie Bishop's travels along the Gold Brick Road. Part 2

In this second of a three-part examination of the employment of former senior Coalition ministers, we investigate former Foreign Minister Julie (Duchess) Bishops post-politics employment with the international aid group Palladium.

November 23, 2020

The national anthem is back on the playlist

Our national anthem is back on the playlist, and as always for the wrong reasons.

February 16, 2020

GEOFF MILLER; United States; Portraying the policy reality.

Recently the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command spoke in Sydney. He criticised Chinas behaviour in very strong terms, but in talking about the United States role and attitudes he described a set of policies that no longer exist.

June 28, 2024

Lessons from fighting for Assange freedom

There are vital lessons and warnings that must be considered in the freeing of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

April 11, 2024

A craven acceptance of US strategic hegemony in Asia

The Financial Review, if it wishes to remain relevant, requires a monster dose of reality - a de-lousing of its misplaced strategic ideology and its craven acceptance of US strategic hegemony in Asia, a region where not one US state resides.

August 22, 2023

The APS: Balancing responsiveness and independence

Since the Robodebt saga there have been many calls for a more independent public service that can be trusted to provide competent advice frankly and fearlessly. In that case a key issue is how departmental secretaries are appointed and dismissed.

June 12, 2023

The wrongful conviction of Kathleen Folbigg: why did it happen and what must be done to stop it from happening again?

It is 41 years since Lindy Chamberlain was convicted for a non-existent crime, spent nearly five years in prison, and had her family life destroyed.

May 25, 2022

David Goodman and others - An Open letter to the New Government on relations with China

To Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Minister Wong,

April 29, 2022

If I were the Minister for Employment in the next government these are the three priority things I would do

Fix the Institutions, the Fair Work Act and Casual Employment

January 26, 2021

'Australians all let us forget that we are not all free'

Until recently, Australia Day for most was just a long weekend to do nothing. I yearn for such a return. Who wants immigration ministers feeling they can decide what we should wear, and what we should be doing? That official bossiness is a precursor to a national security state and social exclusion.

October 21, 2020

Despite more than 30 major inquiries, governments still havent fixed aged care. Why are the lobbyists getting away with it? (Oct 21, 2020)

The government funds the sector and provides a relatively light-touch oversight, while the providers attend to the day-to-day running of the facilities. However, there is concern this alignment has meant successive governments are not as involved as they should be and proposals for change are diluted by the influence of industry lobbyists.

September 30, 2024

Building a new global economic order: The role of BRICS

Over the past few decades, the Western economic system has shifted increasingly towards financialisation, prioritising the creation of paper wealth through financial markets rather than real economic output. This trend has led to significant imbalances, with wealth accumulating disproportionately in financial assets, rather than contributing to tangible improvements in living standards or infrastructure.

June 25, 2024

The sun sets on the American empire: the Gaza debacle

The mayhem of the last eight months suggests that the United States remains ascendant in the Middle East, and its global hegemonic presence undiminished. Reality points in a different direction. In this series, Joseph Camilleri explains how, despite its global military reach and expanding alliances in Europe and Asia, America today stands adrift and diminished. Gaza, Ukraine and the China obsession tell the story.

August 9, 2023

The Voice debate is about more than who wins: this is a battle for fundamental values

We need to return to respectful dialogue. We are facing a critical test of Australian democracy and the resilience of the peaceful infrastructure of the public sphere and civil society.

July 11, 2023

Good news on nukes: US cant sell Australia nuclear subs

The good news is the US cant sell Australia the three to five used Virginia class nuclear subs that the Albanese government has announced it will buy. Nor will it sell us any new ones.

August 19, 2021

The end of a just transition on coal. There will be disruption.

Last weeks report by the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) shows that the prospects of achieving a just transition to a green economy have all but disappeared.

January 27, 2021

Parable for Australia Day: rewriting history with Japanese as victors

I recently wrote an article suggesting we should be sensitive to the pain our choice of the date of Australia Day causes our original inhabitants. A friend replied that we cant bow to the opinion/demands of every minority group and change the date. I noted that a people whod been here 300 times longer than us is hardly just another minority group and offered the following parable. I haven’t heard from him since.

October 20, 2020

Back to the future: From JobServices Australia to JobActive and beyond - Part 2

The Australian experience with employment service purchasing suggests that a hybrid model would work best. This would include a public provider and online service for those requiring limited employment assistance.

August 6, 2024

Spaceship Earth is experiencing turbulence

Spaceship Earth remains a compelling metaphor for our collective reality. Unfortunately, our ship looks as if it may have been made by an inter-galactic branch of Boeing.

July 12, 2024

Mr Modi goes to Moscow

Putin has done it again. Prime Minister Modi will visit Moscow as his first overseas destination since his re-election. And Modi has again demonstrated that India pursues an independent foreign policy. While this visit will come as a shock to Western policy makers. It also strikes a blow at efforts to isolate Russia internationally, while China will also be concerned.

June 15, 2024

Dig deeper

I dug a hole in the garden I don’t why just felt like digging Just broke up with my girlfriend I needed something … something to do Soon I’d dug so deep The sky was just a window above me But I didn’t care … mmm Looking for something deeper

Jackson Jackson (2006)

August 10, 2023

What Albanese could seek to achieve in China visit

Whether Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit China in 2023 remains uncertain, but the odds are favourable. Beijing has issued an invitation andAlbanesesaid that the trip remains likely. Foreign MinisterPenny Wong has confirmedthat Canberra would look to make sure that a visit can occur. But there remain two factors that might derail a visit.

June 14, 2023

Why is America so reluctant to acknowledge Chinas economic power?

The statistical evidence clearly shows that China is the world’s number one economy. Unfortunately, the US and many commentators are unwilling to acknowledge that reality, but the future stability of the region depends on acceptance that we are living in a multipolar world.

June 7, 2023

Four nuclear myths

The hubris and arrogance of the nuclear-armed states leaves the world exposed to the risk of sleepwalking into a nuclear disaster. The case for nuclear weapons rests on a superstitious magical Realism that puts faith in the utility of the bomb and the theory of deterrence. Here are four myths about the utility of nuclear weapons.

May 13, 2022

Weekly roundup Saturday 14 May

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

September 28, 2021

That sinking feeling from Down Under: What does AUKUS mean for Asia?

The AUKUS deal confirms essentially that Australia opts to sink or swim with its rich Anglosphere few, rather than the global many.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal