August 1, 2013

Our business failure in Asia. John Menadue

In my blog of March 14 on Productivity and Skills I drew attention to the failure of Australian business to equip itself for Asia. PM Rudd in his address to the National Press Club on 16 July this year put it very clearly.

‘I am concerned that if you went through our business elites, you would not find a lot of the top 25 executives in each of our top 100 firms who have spent any of their career time serving in Asia – the engine driver of the global economy through until mid-century. Remember this is the Asian Century. The truth is Australia is much underdone in Asia.’

May 15, 2017

The Honest History Book (UNSW Press 2017)

This is a book of singular importance. It provides the evidence and materials for the correction of the distortion of Australia’s history resulting from Anzackery and the continuing insistence that our national character was forged in and remains defined by our participation in foreign wars.

March 23, 2017

RICHARD BUTLER. The many risks we run - United Nations (Part 1 of 2)

The United Nations continues to be vital in the humanitarian field, but is failing in its role of maintaining international peace and security. The continuing abuse of their veto power, by the permanent five members of the Security Council, is jeopardizing the UN itself. This must be resisted.

April 1, 2016

Ian McAuley. Labor's policies.

Amid all the political chatter about tensions between Turnbull and Morrison, a possible early election, and the laundering of donations to the Liberal Party, Labor has released a substantial policy document – Growing together: Labor’s agenda for tackling inequality.

With a gathering of Labor luminaries – Jenny Macklin (who has main carriage of the policy), Bill Shorten, Chris Bowen, Andrew Leigh – it was hardly surprising that the media had a strong presence at its launch at ANU late last month.

February 24, 2017

RICHARD WOOLCOTT. Policy for now and the future.

The United States has led Australia into one lost war ( Viet Nam),two ongoing losing wars ( the second invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan ) and,most recently, into the dubious operations in Syria opposing Assard . Russia ,China and Iran will not allow Assard to be removed and,as Ross Burns has so well argued,Australia would be prudent not to involve itself in this complex conflict .

September 20, 2019

RYAN MANUEL. The United Front Work Department and how it plays a part in the Gladys Liu controversy (ABC News 15-9-19)

Gladys Liu is in hot water over her alleged association with the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Yet no-one has alleged that Ms Liu herself, nor the Liberal Party she belongs to, holds any communist sympathies. Her association is with a body that is not in Hong Kong, where she was born, but rather in mainland China, and she hasn’t been a member since 2015, well before entering.

April 25, 2017

PETER HUGHES. Citizenship Test Mark II - How much juice can you squeeze out of an orange?

It seems that Coalition governments have developed a habit of squeezing the citizenship “orange” for political advantage when there are some community concerns about migrants.

Last week’s announcement by the Turnbull Coalition government, at a time of poor government performance in opinion polls, of a “toughening” of the Australian citizenship test for migrants has a familiar ring to it.

November 6, 2013

Climate change as portrayed in ten major Australian newspapers. John Menadue

Last week the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney released a report on the above subject. It highlighted, amongst other things the unprofessional performance and influence of News Ltd publications in shaping the public debate in favour of the sceptics of climate change.

This is despite the overwhelming consensus by eminent world scientists as expressed particularly in the UN’s 5th Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change report just released, The panel said that it was increasingly confident that climate change was occurring and that it was now 95% confident that this was due to human activity.

August 30, 2014

John Menadue. Who owns Medibank Private (continued)

In my blog of August 14 I examined the question of who owns Medibank Private (MBP) particularly in light of the Abbott Government proposal to privatise the business. This is not an idle question or an academic issue only. MBP has 3.5 million members and the government has estimated its sale value at $4 billion.

The Government has now announced that MBP will be sold by Christmas

It is clear that for many years it was assumed that the policy-holders/members owned MBP. That is clear from an examination of the accounts and the comments of a former chairman of MBP. John Deeble who was an architect of Medibank/Medicare and who was a director of the Health Insurance Commission which operated MBP put the issue as follows ‘The question of ownership in 1976 (when MBP was established) wasn’t raised because it was never considered that the government owned MBP.’

April 20, 2017

TED TRAINER. Oil wake-up call.

Almost no one has the slightest grasp of the oil crunch that will probably hit them within a decade. When it does it will literally mean the end of the world as we know it. Here is an outline of what some recent analysts are saying. We had better think carefully about their claims. Nobody will of course take any notice.

April 9, 2013

Child sexual abuse: who are the abusers? Guest blogger, Professor Kim Oates

The awareness of the existence of child sex abuse, particularly its frequency, has only occurred in relatively recent times. Now, we read or view daily stories about it. Whether this widespread public awareness of the problem has done much to prevent it and to help the victims is questionable, but it is better than our previous state of ignorance.

Child sex abuse is not a new phenomenon. There is no good evidence that it is more common now than in the past. However, before it started to be studied and publicised in the 1970s, it was hardly ever recognised and rarely discussed. This was mostly due to two factors.

February 9, 2017

STEVE GEORGAKIS. Gilchrist and Australia’s national sport, Cricket?

Until recently cricket is a sport that has rarely engaged other minority cultures, such as Indigenous Australians or newly arrived migrants. In fact, unlike other sports such as Australian Rules football, cricket has been resistant to broaden its base. … The more multicultural Australia became, the more insular cricket became. … The integrity stops with the baggy green and the sport sells its soul to the junk food and alcohol industry.

September 19, 2018

ROD TIFFIN. Murdoch and Stokes

If the Liberal leadership upheaval was a Muppet show, as Scott Morrison described it, Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Stokes have been revealed as its Statler and Waldorf. Muppets fans will remember the two cantankerous old men who heckled from the sidelines. The media moguls did not publicly heckle, but their behind the scenes barracking was reflected in their media.

February 14, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Cory Bernardi and the Liberal Party.

In less exciting times, many in the Liberal Party – probably most – would have viewed the defection of Cory Bernardi with more relief than dismay. Understandably, they regard the South Australian senator as a royal (or at least monarchist) pain in the arse.

June 3, 2016

FAZAL RIZVI. The benefits to Australia of our Asian diasporas which now constitute over 17% of our population.

That Asian-Australians are making a substantial contribution to the Australian economy is a fact that can no longer be contested. This contribution is of enormous significance, especially as Australia seeks to become integrated into the regional economy.

April 13, 2017

JOHN TULLOH. Turkey - Erdogan's day of judgment.

Turkey’s voters face a momentous choice: whether they want their president to have the dictatorial power of a potential tyrant or one whose authority remains curbed by parliamentary government.

December 28, 2016

Broken men in paradise.

‘The world’s refugee crisis knows no more sinister exercise in cruelty than Australia’s island prisons.’

In this long, searing account in the New York Times, Op-ed columnist, Roger Cohen, describes what he found on a recent visit to Manus Island.

July 6, 2016

MARK TRIFFITT & TRAVERS McCLEOD. Stability will only be found through ideas and democratic renewal

On Saturday, Australia’s political system crossed a line. From the normal messiness of democracy into fragmented incoherence. From voter unrest to potential revolt.

The implications are clear for anyone who wants to see. Instability is no longer a one-off in Australian politics but a pattern. Out-of-touch political leadership is no longer an individual failing but systemic.

The enemies of the major parties may no longer be each other. Their principal enemy is fast becoming the ballot box.

February 2, 2017

PETER DAY. Trump’s Tower of Babel

Indeed, “May God well bless America”, because what it needs now appears to be well beyond the scope of mere mortals.

May 31, 2016

JOHN O'DONOGUE: On Compassion - even for people who are 'different'

Compassion distinguishes human presence from all other presence on the earth. The human mind is one of the most gracious gifts of creation. The human mind is the place where nature gathers at its most intense and at its most intimate. The human being is an in-between presence, belonging neither fully to the earth from which she has come, nor to the heavens toward which her mind and spirit aim. In a sense, the human being is the loneliest creature in creation. Paradoxically, the human being also has the greatest possibility for intimacy. I link compassion immediately with intimacy. Compassion is the ability to vitally imagine what it is like to be an other, the force that makes a bridge from the island of one individuality to the island of the other. It is an ability to step outside your own perspective, limitations and ego, and become attentive in a vulnerable, encouraging, critical, and creative way with the hidden world of another person.

September 21, 2016

ELAINE PEARSON. Australia's harsh refugee policy is no global model.

This week in New York, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said, “Our policy on border protection is the best in the world,” and he’ll be touting the Australian model of offshore refugee detention and resettlement at two refugee summits this week. But Australia’s approach should give world leaders some pause.

“I understand the need to protect the safety of Australians, the need to control the borders,” an Iranian refugee who had tried to reach Australia by boat told me. “But sometimes I wonder if it would have been better to drown at sea than live here.”

I spoke with him on remote Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea. Australia intercepts boats filled with desperate asylum seekers and sends them there or to the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru. These are no tropical island paradises, but offshore purgatory, where people endure a horrendous existence without hope for the future.

December 7, 2015

Walkley Award for refugee advocate, Safdar Ahmed.

All the 2015 Walkley Award Winners announced on Thursday evening came from mainstream media organisations except one, Safdar Ahmed. Safdar, who won in the ‘Artwork’ category for his documentary web-comic Villawood: Notes From An Immigration Detention Centre, is a Sydney-based artist and academic in the field of Islamic studies.

The work depicts the stories of asylum seekers and refugees inside Sydney’s Villawood detention centre. It includes the testimony of people from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, including men, women and teenagers. Some of those included are long-term detainees who have been detained for up to five years.

June 12, 2017

IAN MCAULEY. Learning from the UK election

There are many local factors explaining the comparative fortunes of Theresa May’s Conservative Party and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in last week’s UK election. Issues around Brexit are unique to the UK, and May’s campaign was inept. But Corbyn’s comparative success, in defiance of the assumptions of the media and self-appointed policy elites, carries a message that goes beyond Britain, all the way to our own democracy.

September 10, 2014

Michael Kelly SJ. Pope Francis is a game-changer.

There’s no doubting that Pope Francis is a game changer and not just for the Catholic Church. The question remains whether he can pull off the changes he’s foreshowed and many Catholics want.

Three decades of people being made bishops more for reasons of their readiness to comply with directives from Head Office than for any evident leadership capacities means that Papa Bergoglio as the Italians call him has little to draw on in the way of resources and personnel to see the desired changes through. And five decades of resistance by the Vatican Curia to the changes mandated at Vatican II in the early 1960s means that the challenges start at GHQ.

January 12, 2017

JOHN AUSTEN. Roads – another year of congestion-causing deficits

We are spending enormous sums on roads and increasing our national debt. Communities are being seriously disrupted and the congestion is increasing. When will we put a stop to this nonsense?

May 18, 2016

TONY DOHERTY. Women deacons.

Three feet of ice, the Chinese say, are not frozen in one day. Nor does it thaw in one year.

Large institutions are famous for sometimes moving with all of the speed of an inert glacier. The ancient institution of the Vatican is no exception to this rule.

August 7, 2018

ALEX WODAK. Drug Reform Series -Drug policy: prohibition and punishment is just not effective

The failure and futility of drug prohibition has been well accepted among political elites in Australia for a long time. It is time we debated the merits of regulation, combined with targeted health and social intervention, rather than blunt prohibition and punishment. Such an approach is likely to be more effective, and fair.

December 10, 2016

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Will the refugee deal with the US come off?

IF United States President-elect Donald Trump decides not to honour an agreement to accept refugees from Nauru and Manus Island then they should be settled permanently in Australia, Jesuit theologian and lawyer Fr Frank Brennan says.

October 1, 2024

A five-minute scroll

Five minutes on X reveals the outrage toward the Australian government for its response to weekend protests while Israel is bombing Beirut. The Malaysian PM calls for western leaders to put the narrative right, while Craig Mokhiber calls for the arrest warrant of Netanyahu and Netanyahu offers the people of Iran a better future.

October 10, 2013

The apathy and hostility of South Koreans to their Northern cousins. Guest bloggers: Markus Bell and Sarah Chee

In every way, Yu Woo-seong was a model defector. In his early 30s, he was smart, friendly, ambitious and well-liked. Despite the fact that he had been in South Korea for less than six years, Yu managed to work through his university studies while adapting remarkably well to his new environment, finishing his bachelor’s degree in 2011.

While taking on organizing roles in a number of Seoul-based clubs and organizations created by North Korean defectors to help new arrivals, Yu gained entry into a master’s degree program, majoring in education in social welfare. Less than one year into his graduate studies he was hired by Seoul City Hall as a special attaché for North Korean defector projects. In every way, he was a model assimilation case – until early this year, when he was arrested as a North Korean spy.

September 9, 2016

PATRICK McGORRY. We must settle the refugees before it is too late.

In this article in the SMH, Patrick McGorry, the President of the Society for Mental Health Research, says;

The time has come, before it is too late, to re-settle these fellow human beings and not just the children, but all of those who qualify as genuine refugees and who deserve a second chance for life.

See link to article below:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/we-must-resettle-the-refugees-before-it-is-too-late-20160907-grav05.html

February 6, 2017

TONY KEVIN. Trump, Putin and the priming of the impeachment trigger.

A game plan is now evident for the possible expulsion of Donald Trump from the US presidency by impeachment, unless he toes the line of Washington’s established bipartisan national security agenda. Putinophobia is central to this dark Shakespearean drama. Trump is increasingly friendless and bereft of the respect normally due to a US President. Recent polling suggests that 40% of Americans favour Trump’s impeachment: so far missing is sufficient Republican and Democrat votes in both houses of Congress to translate this mounting public antipathy into political action. If present trends continue, he will be either impeached, or politically neutered by his fear of impeachment. On Washington’s blasted heath, Trump’s enemies are marshalling their forces and priming their weapons.

February 17, 2017

PETER JOHNSTONE. What sort of bishops do Catholics want?

Concerned Catholics who responded to a recent Catholics for Renewal online survey showed widespread dissatisfaction with the current state of their local diocese and parishes. Their dissatisfaction referred to current governance arrangements, the need for a stronger pastoral focus and more effective leadership from their bishop based on his willingness to consult widely.

June 29, 2016

It is disingenuous of the Coalition to claim it has no intention of privatising Medicare.

The election campaign battle over Medicare should come as no surprise. It echoes disputes during previous campaigns and have their origins in ideological divides that date back to well before Medicare was founded and have persisted through the subsequent political disputes. Labor sees the health of Australians as a matter of sufficient national importance that it requires government intervention; the Coalition sees it more as a matter of personal responsibility and individual choice.

December 20, 2015

Peter Day. The Cupboard.

“There you go, Peter, today’s pay. Don’t waste it.”

“Thank you, Mr Boss; I can now buy some paint for my cupboard. Have a good night, Mr Boss, I’m going home now.”

“Okay, Peter, see you tomorrow … same time?”

“Yes, Mr Boss, same time, same time: fifty-five past 8 o’clock in the morning.”

It usually took Peter an hour to get home as he navigated the bustling alleys and back streets of Kolkata, passing fruit vendors, beggars, monks, sewerage drains, smoking meats, motorbikes, street kids, temples, magicians, orphaned dogs-cats-and-rats; not to mention the myriad friendly faces ‘who just had to be smiled at’. Really, it was a journey of 1,000 “hellos”, with each greeting accompanied by a gentle, respectful bowing of the head. Peter was always conscious of being polite, which wasn’t at all difficult thanks to an innate fondness he had for his fellow man; a true philanthropist, you might say - if a very poor one. This gentleness flowed from the nurturing and modelling of his beloved grandmother - more on her later.

December 6, 2014

Tony Kevin. Cuts to ABC Classic FM strike at Australia’s cultural heritage’

Limelight, ABC Classic FM’s online magazine, reported on 24 November

‘The number of concerts recorded will be slashed by a massive 50%, with just 300 performances due to be recorded over the next two years verses the 600 concerts recorded during the previous two years. Broadcasts of live performances currently account for 17 hours of Classic FM’s weekly output.’

http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/news/major-cuts-abc-classic-fm%E2%80%99s-programming-confirmed

So listeners will lose around 50%, i.e., 8-9 hours of Australian-performed broadcast music each week.

September 1, 2018

JOHN MENADUE Is money behind the Coalition's addiction to coal?

It is clear to almost everyone that new coal fired generators will be not only very polluting but much more expensive to operate than the generation of power from renewables. But the Coalition keeps pressing the case for coal . Some months ago our new Prime Minister even threw lumps of coal around the Parliament to promote coal.

Coal makes no environmental or efficiency sense. But it may make selfish political sense to promote coal in return for political donations from wealthy miners.

In an interview with Emma Alberici on the ABC,Alex Turnbull said ‘there is an undue level of influence on Liberal Party policy by a very small group of miners’

Who could he be referring to!

We do know that the Liberals are short of election funds

You join the dots after reading the edited story below from Myriam Robin in the Australian Financial Review of 30 August, 2018.

May 11, 2017

MICHAEL KEATING. The 2017 Budget - A welcome change in direction. Part 1 of 2

This Budget represents a welcome change in direction. Forget the politics, it deserves to be supported. This latest Coalition Budget finally reflects a realistic appraisal of Australia’s fiscal needs.

August 26, 2014

John Menadue. Scott Morrison at the Human Rights Commission.

Minister Morrison, assisted by the Secretary of his department, continued his aggressive ways at the hearing on August 22.

He said that his policies discouraged asylum seekers risking their lives at sea. He described himself as the champion of the voiceless, ‘the ones that are at the bottom of the ocean’. He clearly wants to occupy the high moral ground.

But was it really concern about deaths at sea which motivated his campaign against asylum seekers arriving by boat? Wikileaks reported that ‘a key Liberal strategist told the US Embassy in November 2009 that the boats issue was “fantastic” for the Coalition and ‘the more that came the better’ (SMH 10 December 2010).

September 16, 2015

The Exaggeration over Free Trade Agreements.

I have posted many blogs in the last couple of years concerning the Free Trade Agreements with the Republic of Korea, Japan and China. I have pointed out that the years of negotiation of these agreements occurred under the Rudd and Gillard governments. The Abbott government gave the agreements the final touch. The other issues that I have raised is that the Abbott government has seriously exaggerated the benefits of the FTAs. Andrew Robb has referred to them as ’turbo-charging’ the Australian economy. That is nonsense but unfortunately the exaggerated nonsense continues even with the new Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. The FTAs are useful but we need to keep them in proportion.

May 30, 2014

John Tulloh. Egypt's new would-be Pharaoh.

The headline in The Australian was stark and brutal: SISI VOWS TO ERADICATE BROTHERHOOD. Eradicate? This is a word you associate with efforts to get rid of a disease or an agricultural pest. But in this case it was meant as a kind of cleansing of religious adherents and caused barely a ripple of protest outsider Egypt.

The story, of course, referred to Egypt’s new strongman, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has won this week’s presidential election. He says one of his first tasks will be to suppress the Moslem Brotherhood out of existence. His interim government has already declared it a terrorist group.

August 17, 2015

Walter Hamilton. It's not the apology, stupid!

W__e must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize.

This comes from the statement issued during the week by Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in the Pacific. It is perhaps unfair to highlight one sentence from a longish document, but, in my reading of it, this accurately summarizes its abiding sentiment.

October 18, 2024

A five-minute scroll

Israel announces the ’elimination’ of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Palestinians react to the reports, Netanyahu declares the war is not over yet, PM Albanese denounces Sinwar as a terrorist and Mary Kostakidis shares an interview of Sinwar, reminding us it is important to hear what they have to say. Unicef’s James Elder talks with Christiane Amanpour advising the North of Gaza has had no food aid at all during October and Abby Martin recalls how the world should have reacted a year ago. TRT’s documentary The American Dilemma: Elections Amid Gaza War reveals US complicity and more footage shows the devastation of North Gaza. Chris Hedges writes about how extermination only works at first, while British police storm the home of highly regarded investigative journalist Asa Winstanley. A five-minute scroll on X brings more news than we see in our media.

October 17, 2024

A five-minute scroll

The onslaught of Israeli horror continues on Northern Gaza. Learn about the victim in the images shared across the world, Shaban al-Dalu, a 19-year-old university student. Israel has dropped the equivalent of six atomic bombs on Gaza, three times smaller than Hiroshima. We see horror in the aftermath as women and children are found in the debris, and the landscape in Lebanon resembling that of Gaza. There is no safe place for children, says UNICEF. Francesca Albanese is investigating private sector complicity, while Senator Wong sends more empty messages. Our five-minute scroll on X, telling the news and views you don’t see in mainstream media.

September 15, 2015

Rod Tiffen Lord Leveson, your country needs you, again.

Two events in the past week show the importance of the Leveson Inquiry reconvening to complete its second report. The Leveson inquiry was set up by British Prime Minister David Cameron in July 2011 at the height of the phone hacking scandal centered on Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World newspaper.

Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry became, as he said in his report, ‘the most public and the most concentrated look at the press that this country has seen’. The proceedings provided many riveting moments as in nine months of oral hearings 337 witnesses gave evidence, including victims of phone hacking. Four prime ministers and a variety of politicians and media figures, including Rupert and James Murdoch also testified and were cross-examined.

June 12, 2017

MICHAEL KEATING. The British Election and Brexit

Mrs. May called the election ostensibly to strengthen her mandate in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations. Although she failed to strengthen her majority, it is doubtful if the election result will have any impact on the Brexit negotiations.

July 3, 2014

Financial Planning explained by an Irishman.

Paddy bought a donkey from a farmer for £100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. In the morning he drove up and said, ‘Sorry son, but I have some bad news. The donkey’s died.’ Paddy replied, ‘Well just give me my money back then.’ The farmer said, ‘Can’t do that. I’ve already spent it.’ Paddy said, ‘OK then, just bring me the dead donkey.’ The farmer asked, ‘What are you going to do with him?’ Paddy said, ‘I’m going to raffle him off.’ The farmer said, ‘You can’t raffle a dead donkey!’ Paddy said, ‘Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.’ A month later, the farmer met up with Paddy and asked, ‘What happened with that dead donkey?’ Paddy said, ‘I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at £2 each and made a profit of £898’ The farmer said, ‘Didn’t anyone complain?’ Paddy said, ‘Just the guy who won. So I gave him his £2 back.’ Paddy now works for the Commonwealth Bank.

April 8, 2015

John Menadue. Cafes and restaurants are booming despite penalty rates.

Despite the booming café and restaurant industry, the special pleading by employers on penalty rates and minimum wages goes on and on.

Employers seem to have little appreciation that there is a difference between the market and society. The latter is much more important. The right to a decent wage and time off for recreation and relaxation with family and friends is essential. Markets are important, but they are a means to an end.

July 24, 2014

Richard Rigby. Tiananmen 25 years on.

On the night of June 3-4, units of the Peoples Liberation Army entered Beijing, killing some hundreds of ordinary Beijing citizens as they made their way to their objective, Tiananmen Square, the focal point of massive protests that had begun in late April following the death of former Party Secretary Hu Yaobang. The square was cleared of protestors. Further killings and arrests ensued over following days. A small number of soldiers were also killed. Protests in scores of other Chinese cities were simultaneously brought to an end, with varying degrees of violence. Significant protests in Shanghai were settled largely peacefully. Beijing was the worst. This much is known; although a final, credible death toll has not been published to this day.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal