October 8, 2020

Short-termism is the enemy of good governance

Deeper thinking, even during this critical impasse we are facing, must underlie the monumental decisions being made about where to splash the cash, where to invest in skills development, which industries to encourage and which to phase out.

September 30, 2024

Behind the headlines on Australia’s 'top performing health system'

It is quite challenging to reconcile headlines like ‘ Record number of Australians raid super to fund medical treatments’ with a health minister’s statement claiming, ‘ Medicare top performing health system in the world’.

July 10, 2024

Slaughter, not war

My copy of Iris Chang’s THE RAPE OF NANKING is missing its collection of historical photographs. Having seen them once, I could not bear to see them again, nor risk my teenage son coming across them, so I ripped them from the book.

June 12, 2024

Palestinian prisoners starved, abused and mistreated

Since October 7th last year more than 9,500 Palestinians including 635 minors from the West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem have been held in Israeli jails. More than 3,400 Palestinian detainees, including women and children, have also been placed in administrative detention under the pretext of secret evidence. All prisoners and detainees have been subjected to systematic physical and psychological torture, deprivation of basic needs of human life and minimum levels of treatment.

September 12, 2023

US decides to supply depleted uranium shells to Ukraine

At the G20 summit in Bali last year, most of the worlds most influential leaders had strongly deplored the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. By contrast, thejoint declarationfrom the just concluded summit in New Delhi does not mention Russia by name. Instead, it talks about the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security. It calls on states to refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition and notes different views and assessments of the situation. Not surprisingly, Russia hailed the unexpectedly soft outcome but Ukraine dismissed it as nothing to be proud of. This consolidates Russias diplomatic gains in China, the Middle East and Africa as noted byWalter Russel Meadin_The Wall Street Journal._

August 23, 2023

ABC shamelessly spruiks China Threat stories on morning of ALP National Conference AUKUS debate

The morning of the ALP National Conference on 18 August, ABC online news led with two Bad China stories. One about whether China is building an airstrip on a contested island, the other likely to cause great discomfort and anxiety to Australians because it showed the level of Chinas spying on Australia via hundreds of satellites and Australias great disadvantage because we have no military satellites whatsoever.

August 19, 2023

Environment: Fossil fuels still dominate energy systems and economies

Burning of all fossil fuels continues to increase. Gas is not better for the climate than coal but the myth continues and companies increase production. The fertile crescent is no longer fertile.

August 1, 2023

AUKUS, Australia and the drive to war

My fear is not that AUKUS SSNs, if they arrive, will be late, ineffective, and obsolete. My fear is that they will arrive and will be effective and even lethal. Because, if that is the case, they will play a part in the drive to a potentially devastating war with China that would be a disaster for the entire world.

May 5, 2023

Will the Albanese Government revive the values that underpinned Medicare?

Or will it fiddle around the edges like the Rudd/Gillard Governments?

May 2, 2023

Red Alert! Knott spouts more drivel over Solomon Islands threat

In the Sydney Morning Herald of 2 May, Matthew Knott, foreign affairs and national security writer, has written an alarmist piece on the inability of the Australian defence force to respond to alarming but plausible scenariossuch as China establishing a military base in a nearby Pacific nation.

August 4, 2022

US military colonisation continues ---- To be updated---JM

The UK is preparing to transfer the sovereignty of Diego Garcia to the US and we are preparing Cocus Keeling for US military use.

August 17, 2021

One could always rent the Nationals. A generation ago the process was called churching the old whore, but now you can buy them freehold

Many of the Nationals’ representatives, from Joyce down, would give no better service if they were actually openly on the payroll. The hydrocarbon energy lobbies are of course, as much international as they are Australian-owned and controlled.

August 9, 2021

Three things West gets wrong about China

China is woefully misrepresented, says a Harvard Business Review report. More people in China actively trade their shares than Americans, Europeans or Hongkongers; more than 93% of adults are homeowners; and citizens like their system and support their leadership.

October 28, 2020

Watches and wages

Its easy for the public to understand and get enraged about executive gifts of Cartier watches but the far more important issue is the steady shift of wealth to a privileged minority.

October 15, 2020

Universities belong to the whole community: why we should fund the humanities

Universities exist for the benefit of the whole community, including those who will never have the privilege of studying at one. Everyone benefits from thriving humanities departments - but these departments cant fund themselves.

August 24, 2024

A call to civil society: it’s time to reframe media policy

The health implications of media policy are wide-ranging but not usually front of mind in national debate, whether for governments, communities or even the health sector.

June 10, 2024

Voters tell Modi: Keep going, but under caution

The biggest takeaway from India’s eighteenth general election is that the death of Indian democracy has been much exaggerated. The exercise was a resounding win for the election machinery of the world’s most populous democracy. The entire exercise and the outcome affirm once again the competence, professionalism, and integrity of the country’s election machinery. ‘India is starting to look like a Central Asian dictatorship,’ said an article in the Australian Financial Review on 7 May. Really? That particular analyst will not be the only one with egg on their face.

June 3, 2024

Why we must never stop exposing cant and hypocrisy

To witness repeated atrocities around the world is hard enough. To observe wilful slaughter, when it’s openly supported by nations claiming adherence to human rights and international law, is nauseating. The killing of dozens of Palestinians in a supposed safe zone in Rafah is just the latest bloody outrage on global view.

June 2, 2024

ACT legal eagles hit out at Chief Justice

The upper echelons of Canberra’s criminal bar are on a collision course with Chief Justice Lucy McCallum over the conduct of sexual-assault trials in the ACT.

August 2, 2022

Our dangerous ally could drag us into war with China.

_The most likely way we could get into a war with China is if we continue to act as a proxy or deputy sheriff for the US in the region. Nancy Pelosi is doing her best to provoke China.

January 6, 2021

2020: Apocalypse now (or next year)

2020 was an unambiguously bad year. Unfortunately it wont be the last. Will political rhetoric eventually have to change to acknowledge this?

December 13, 2020

Labor is set to have itself a nervy little Christmas. Its not too late to make 2021 sing (The Conversation Dec 8, 2020)

Federal Labor marginal seat members face a very nervy Christmas.

December 9, 2020

Reveille for Timor, apology from Australia: Courage or Cowardice in Public Life

In common with other countries, Australian rejuvenation after the Covid pandemic depends not only on a vaccine, but also on a language for humanity, as in advocating the return of human rights principles and displays of courage in public life.

October 15, 2020

Superannuation and the Guarantee.

Public debate on superannuation is currently focused primarily on the level of the guarantee. This is a legitimate debate, but the guarantee is not the most important issue for ensuring Australians have adequate and secure retirement incomes.

June 24, 2024

The US and Western allies commit to another forever war

Ho hum, the US has just committed itself to another ‘forever war.’ Its faithful obedient Western allies, like puppies wagging their tails, have fallen in behind. One would think they would tire, or at least learn lessons from, the game. Seemingly not.

April 16, 2024

Lest We Forget: Japan joining AUKUS a stark reminder of China’s Century of Humiliation

With the addition of Japan, AUKUS ceases to be a device to supply nuclear powered submarines to Australia several decades in the future but a stark reminder of the oppressive powers that abused Chinese sovereignty in the 19th and 20th centuries.

April 13, 2024

Anti-junta forces control Myanmar borders – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Resistance has regime capital in its sights. Plus: Japan, US, boost Tokyo’s anti-Beijing role; International law ‘backs China’ in islands’ disputes; Tech giants will not solve climate change, social injustice; South Korea voters deliver rebuff to president; Given a chance, Chinese and American folk like each other.

April 5, 2023

A long game---peace in the Asia-Pacific

Perhaps Australia should play the long game, and do everything we can to avoid a war in the Pacific, not just work out how we might take part in one.

September 1, 2022

Graham Maddox: The undermining of conventions on responsible government by Kerr and Morrison

The solicitor-generals response that Morrisons secret swearing of himself into five extra government portfolios was not illegal has done us no favours. On the 7.30 Report, Laura Tingle announced that Stephen Donaghues findings were not about the legality or constitutionality of the findings, although Donahues report did go on to say that the principles of responsible government are fundamentally undermined.

July 31, 2022

The 100-year flood and the floor levels of houses

The so-called 100-year (or 1% Annual Exceedence Probability) flood has two main uses in the public domain in Australia. Both are problematic, though not intentionally so on the part of those whose professional activities are bound by its use.

July 29, 2022

In Asia media this week

Myanmars sickening political executions; a terrible new normal in Sri Lanka; dictatorial democracies; bananas a code for bribes; China hits out at ASPI; no consensus on Taiwan consensus; HKs latest status symbol.

July 28, 2022

Triggers for war: Why and how did the Ukraine war occur?

_The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 burst onto the international scene and has, within a few short months, upturned much of what international politics was thought to be about, at least in the developed West.

July 7, 2022

A radical future for ABC childrens television programs

_Now that the new Communications Minister, Michelle Rowland is considering a review of the whole broadcasting sector, the lid might be lifted on failures in the system for children. Among all the resets needed for the digital age, the ABC should be charged with the mission for children it should have been on for the last 50 years.

July 7, 2022

Anthony Albanese on China - What next on the human rights dilemma?

China is reported as undemocratic, persecuting Tibetan and Uighur minorities, incarcerating Hong Kong separatists, and having border skirmishes. But many other countries fit that label too, yet we court them rather than shun them. A notable example is Myanmar, where Australia refuses to join other Western nations in imposing sanctions on the military junta for its genocide against Muslim Rohingyas. Until last year, Australia gave military assistance to the regime.

June 24, 2022

Weekly roundup Saturday 25 June

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

April 4, 2022

Ukraine: A victory narrative will be hard to maintain for Europe and America

Wars end. The peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine will determine whether President Putin or President Biden achieved his policy aims in the war. It seems unlikely that America will be able call it a win.

January 2, 2021

It's time to decommission ASPI

The time has come - indeed, is well past - for those responsible for giving the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) its Length Of Type Extension to decommission it in the manner of a ship of the line, or submarine, whose usefulness to the fleet has demonstrably expired and cannot under any circumstance be regarded as fit for purpose it was designed for.

November 8, 2020

We now know what America is. (Andrew Mitrovica, Al Jazeera, 4.11.2020)

After four years of Trump, millions of Americans have still chosen to vote for him. The biggest lie is not about Trump,but America.

July 3, 2024

Luckily, Joe Biden did not stumble into a war with China at Second Thomas Shoal

President Bongbong Marcos played down the ramming of a Filipino Navy boat by a Chinese coastguard on 17 June. Calling it an accident, not amounting to an armed attack, when the photos showed otherwise. It was an embarrassing afterthought for a Head of State.

September 24, 2023

Anti-China rhetoric threatens thriving technology partnerships with China

Australias existing relationships and collaborations with China give Australian Industry and consumers a head start in the cost-effective use of some of the most important technologies of the future, including those vital to achieving net zero emissions. Most countries would give anything to be at the forefront of such developments, but Australian University researchers are already there, working very closely with many key people, institutions, and industries in China. But much of the current anti-China rhetoric is ill-informed and is threatening to demolish these productive and well-established links with China.

April 1, 2023

Environment: Climate change, chickens or cats: choose our poison

Climate change is causing more flash floods in dry areas and increasing methane emissions from wetlands. Cats continue to destroy Australian wildlife. Chicken and salmon farming pollute their local environments.

September 24, 2022

The origin of monarchy is violence: Can Australia choose a new path?

The concept of monarchy began as an antidote to human violence.

July 11, 2021

Peak Sinophobia in Australia?

How can the collapse of the Australia-China diplomatic relationship be explained? Despite a recent flurry of articles and books, the answer isnt a mystery nor is it complex.

July 1, 2021

Key Assange accuser backs away from what he told US prosecutors

Why the reluctance of the Australian media to report on a significant development in the Assange case?

February 8, 2021

If there is no crisis in VET, why is it so difficult to tackle acknowledged weaknesses?

How does the Productivity Commission see vocational education and training: is it about quality training needed now by employers and employees and provided by TAFE during the Covid-19 pandemic, or about a competitive training market?

January 10, 2021

Most viewed posts 2020: The government sees itself as an agent of the private sector (Oct 8, 2020)

Frydenbergs budget, based on discredited trickle down economics, misses an opportunity to restructure our economy, weakened by seven years of Coalition mismanagement.

June 23, 2024

Cartoon Commentary

May 4, 2024

Right-wing pro-Israel agitators threaten free speech on campus

The Jewish Council of Australia condemns attacks on students exercising their democratic right to protest.

September 26, 2023

Preparing for America's Gleichschaltung

2025 America wont be like 1933 Germany and they wont be wearing brownshirts. But the program of the reactionary forces in America is as radical as that of the interwar fascists. And they have a plan for taking over.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal