June 14, 2023

We used to call it Culture Conflict

It is a sad fact that the White staff who take jobs in remote Aboriginal communities tend to socialise together after work, thus maintaining a clear social distance from the people they are working for, or working with, or working among. Close and trusting relationships between the locals and the strangers teachers, health workers, and manager do exist, but rarely. The knowledge and skills of such outsiders are needed in communities. But their knowledge and skills were acquired in quite different social circumstances, and carry cultural norms and everyday common sense that is at odds with the cultural norms and the common sense of the remote locals.

August 1, 2022

Wardens of secrecy discredit their own system

_Retired ACT Supreme Court Justice John Burns has copped a severe caning from the independent National Security legislation monitor this week. Its over his handling of a case in which a man we cannot name was secretly charged with serious criminal offences, which cannot really be itemised other than in the most general way, who was tried in secret in a closed court with evidence we are not allowed to know about. He was found guilty and given a 31-month jail term in the ACT prison without the public or even the ACT Attorney-General being allowed to know _anything about it.

June 17, 2022

Chinas peace keeping soft power and its new MOOTW regulations

On 15 June President Xi Jinping signed into force new regulations regarding Chinas Military Operations Other Than War usually abbreviated as MOOTW. Eryk Bagshaw of the Sydney Morning Herald immediately declared them to be an expansion of his countrys military capabilities, giving the defence forces the power to protect its interests abroad. The Herald offers its readers consistent negative reporting on China, but in this case Bagshaw also displayed an unfortunate superficial understanding of the country and of the principles and practice of MOOTW.

June 27, 2021

Private schools brawl to get their snouts deeper in the funding trough

A coalition of Independent schools complained (on the ABC 7.30 Report) that they are disadvantaged by the Morrison Government’s new funding model because their funding increase is not as big as others. They want yet another special deal from the Morrison Government as do many other Independent schools.

February 20, 2021

The 'Gamblers Curse': finance traders upstaged by their own tactics

When a trading “rabble” hit financial markets in late January, with retail investors - the Main Street Traders - putting a squeeze on Wall Street’s squeeze of GameShop, financial journalists were furious on behalf of the merchants of debt who offer nothing but their own enrichment.

November 8, 2020

The Trump Twist: Appeal to emotions, label all media as false and undermine science

The deliberate attack on rationality in effect multiplies the impact of Trumps emotional appeals because factually correct counter arguments are often pre-emptively negated. The Trump Twist allows him to have it both ways only emotional appeals and no rational appeals.

August 29, 2023

Pearls and Irritations refuses to follow the pack mentality

A tonic for readers who are drowning in news about China, climate change and socioeconomic problems…

June 26, 2023

Voice needs a serious rattle of spears

The biggest risk to the success of the referendum on Aboriginal recognition is the Albanese governments lack of resolution. It has strongly promoted the voice, successfully in parliament, but far less effectively within the broader community. There is a serious prospect that the various proponents of the No case will win by default, mostly because the Yes campaign has not started and does not seem organised.

June 12, 2023

Can the Pacific Engagement Visa deliver positive outcomes?

Earlier this year, I wrote on the potential risks of the new Pacific Engagement Visa (PEV) that will provide a lottery-based pathway to permanent residence for nationals of Pacific Islands and Timor Leste.

August 16, 2022

Marape returned as Prime Minister in Papua New Guinea

On 9 August, with the date for the extension of writs having been extended by a week but still only 99 of the 118 seats declared in countrys recent national election, Papua New Guineas National Parliament met to elect a prime minister.

May 22, 2022

The Teal tsunami and the entitled princelings

The teal tsunami has marked a fascinating moment in Australian politics. Not only has it put integrity and real climate action at the forefront of our civic conversation, it has sent a collection of strong and accomplished women into federal parliament.

May 2, 2022

Teals assault the thin blue line

If there is one thing worse than losing office to the other major party in politics, it is losing strength in the factional balances within ones own party. On both sides of politics, even in mid-election there are some working for the defeat of politicians on their own team, even at the risk indeed likelihood that the loss of a seat may be the difference between government and opposition.

July 4, 2021

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.

June 20, 2021

Australia's Covid vaccine rollout: what we were promised

How does the original Covid rollout compare with what we are experiencing right now and what we are likely to end up with? In Part 1 we look at what we were promised. In Part 2 we examine how the rollout collapsed. In Part 3 we find that at mid-year, significant changes to our rollout strategies are inevitable. In Part 4 we show that a successful Pfizer rollout completed by December is possible if the federal government is up to it.

June 8, 2021

Mr Morrison, the G7 Summit and the report "Biodiversity, Natural Capital and the Economy"

When Mr Morrison arrives at the G7 Leaders Summit later this week he will have before him a report on Biodiversity and if he reads and understands it he will realise that Australia’s reformed gross domestic product (GDP) would almost certainly be in negative territory and likely to fall further because of our poor record in maintaining natural resources.

November 16, 2020

Let's face it, Australia goes to war far too easily (Canberra Times Nov 15, 2020)

The soon-to-be-released Brereton Report will shine a light on alleged war crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan. It is expected that a culture of impunity within the special forces will be highlighted as a significant factor in perpetuating crimes against Afghan civilians

October 25, 2020

Following up on Otto and Eric Abetz

A Google search for the German-born Abetz condemnation of the Nazis produced very little, except that, according to Wikipedia, his great uncle,Otto Abetz, was a convicted war criminal, a Nazi SS officer and the German ambassador to Vichy France.

September 30, 2024

Dutton is unacceptable, but Labor under Albanese doesn’t deserve to be re-elected

Increasing numbers of political observers are arriving at the view that Anthony Albanese appears to be doing everything possible to assist Peter Dutton to look strong and visionary compared to his own hesitancy and timidity. Lost for an explanation, Jack Waterford wondered on these pages whether the Albanese strategy might be “part of some divinely appointed mission to save the two-party system”.

July 20, 2024

Health leaders call for University of Melbourne to drop disciplinary action against students

In an open letter, health leaders have urged the University of Melbourne to drop disciplinary action against 21 students involved in activism for Gaza.

July 4, 2024

Will a stranded Philippines' ship trigger war with China?

China claims sovereignty over roughly 62% of the South China Sea (SCS) as delineated by a nine-dash line first published on a Chinese map in 1947.

September 18, 2023

Avoid the damage of NO: A plea to all women

This is a PLEA to all sensible women (and men) to vote Yes in the referendum because the damages of a No win will move us backward, not forward. We will still need ways of remedying the serious mess of inequities initiated in 1788. The failure of Yes will show the lack of sufficient trust of voters of those whose country this was before colonisation. As a feminist, I hope that womens experiences as the second sex will help us better understand more of the difficulties of first nations descendants!

May 30, 2023

What will it take for Peter Dutton to say YES to the Voice?

Obviously if the Hon. Peter Dutton were to change his mind and offer bipartisan support for the Voice Referendum, its prospects would be immensely improved.

May 25, 2023

In solidarity with Stan Grant

The racist vitriol to which our ABC colleague Stan Grant has been subjected, especially over the last few weeks, says a lot about Australias media. And its not pretty.

July 2, 2022

Convenient omissions: The Ukraine-EU candidacy show

Instances of sympathy are rarely excuses to throw out the rule book. In the case of the European Union, throwing out the rule book about admission has tended to be a feature of enlargement. Credentials of candidate states have been, when needed, boosted or cooked for the occasion. Others, whatever the progress, have been ignored. For a collective that really ought to tidy the stables before admitting more occupants, the enthusiastic glee with which Ukraines symbolic candidacy has greeted stayed true to form.

June 20, 2022

Can Albanese maintain the honeymoon mood?

Anthony Albanese is not the first prime minister whose taking of office has been greeted with widespread relief and a sense or at least a hope those years of acrimony, squabbling and ineffectual government and unpopular policies might be over, at least for a reasonable period. That is in fact the norm a part of the reason indeed that a different party has captured a majority of the seats.

May 19, 2022

What does Scott Morrison believe?

Departing Liberal Senator, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells told the Senate just before the election was called that Morrison has no moral compass. Referring to Morrisons publicly espoused adherence to evangelical religion, the Senator said that Morrisons actions conflict with his portrayal as a man of faith: He has used his so-called faith as a marketing advantage, she said. Harsh words from a fellow Liberal about her leader.

September 28, 2021

Three Catholic Archbishops: A viral infection

One would hope that, at a time of crisis, archbishops would be careful not to lend their authority in a way that could be construed as supporting anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown sentiments.

June 28, 2021

How many are fleeing Hong Kong?

Google, fleeing Hong Kong, today, and over 100 headlines immediately present themselves. Most speak of deep fear and plans to escape.

May 13, 2021

Washington is playing a losing game with China

Americas latest policies toward China will prove self-defeating. USChina relations now exemplify Freemans third law of strategic dynamics: for every hostile act there is a more hostile reaction.

May 12, 2021

Housing and the 2021 Budget

The 2021 Budget provided little encouragement for Australians in housing needs but provided the predictable range of homeownership programs that will help pump up demand and prices.

April 6, 2024

The one state solution

Right now, with Israel about to bomb Rafah to smithereens, world leaders including our own are chorusingas they have repeatedly done for decadesthat We support a two-state solution. And what has that chorus achieved over the years? Other than making the people saying it feel good, nothing!

July 5, 2023

Dam Busters and Anzackery at the War Memorial

Treasuring old stuff and old stories is something the Australian War Memorial does a lot of. Recently, the Memorial made much of an artefact from the Dam Busters Raid of May 1943. The artefact was a model of a dam with surrounding countryside. The suggestion was that RAF Bomber Command had studied it or something similar as it prepared for the assault, codenamed Operation Chastise.

September 7, 2022

What happens if the climate and ecological crisis is framed as a national threat?

_For 30 years, the risk of dangerous climate change, which would render the Earth uninhabitable for most species, has been treated as a scientific and economic governance issue. Partly due to historic norms, but also due to legitimate concerns about securitisation, these have been strictly civil matters.

June 16, 2022

Will the Greens be smarter this time

The Greens will have more seats in both houses of Parliament. That is welcome. But in the past they have not used their power wisely. The perfect became the enemy of the good.

September 16, 2021

'Everybody did it': wealthy doctors' lobbies ride JobKeeper gravy train

JobKeeper for dentists? Fair enough. But more public subsidies for doctors lobby groups? Callum Foote reports on Australias medical colleges refusing to pay back millions in JobKeeper payments.

August 17, 2021

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan back with a bang. The axis is Taliban-Pakistan-China.

The US ’loss’ of Afghanistan is a repositioning and the new mission is not a ‘war on terror,’ but Russia and China.

December 19, 2020

World leaders deserve to know about Australia's abysmal climate change policy, so I wrote to them

Australias leaders are playing with climate policy, pitching a nationalist and populist message to their base.

July 9, 2024

Mega-thinktanks have one dangerous thing in common

With former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Varghese undertaking a review of taxpayer dollars spent on strategic policy work, Australia’s China hawks have argued a Canberra-based thinktank, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), cannot be touched.

September 4, 2023

How I decided to vote in the upcoming Voice referendum

With the date of the Voice referendum now having been set for 14 October, all households will have received a pamphlet outlining the Yes and No case. Australians should understand that these pamphlets have not been officially fact checked. An attempt at fact checking the two cases by The Guardian is worth reading but I found that insufficient.

August 23, 2023

Tomahawk missiles over Indonesia? No worries, they're only passing by

In the early 1960s, the then USSR started building missile sites in Cuba, near enough to Florida forendurance swimmers. This almost led to the Cold War turning flaming hot. Now Australia is to buy more than 200 US missiles and stage them close to Indonesia.

July 12, 2023

Reporting and surviving in an age of geopolitical paranoia

Journalism is tough at a time when many topics could be seen through a political lens. Hong Kong provides an interesting case, although it is not the only place where journalism is having to navigate shifting geopolitics and social developments that divide countries and communities.

April 19, 2023

Anti-China witch hunt intensifies with Csergo arrest

In the Csergo case the big question is: does the prosecution have any evidence of a real crime and not just a breach of the ridiculous Reckless Foreign Interference law?

April 3, 2023

Please sir I want some more. The case for needs-based funding for the Northern Territory

When unpacking the way in which national funds for front line services such as homelessness are handed out, arguably little has changed for modern day Darwin since the garrison town was bombed in 1942.

August 9, 2022

Albanese scores a parliamentary goal

For many years, federal governments have done their best to reduce to the absolute minimum the number of days on which they have scheduled sittings of the Parliament.

September 8, 2021

Afghanistan, the aftermath: Recognition or engagement?

What are the options for states, including Australia, in their dealings with Afghanistan following the retreat of the previous government and the assumption of power by the Taliban?

September 5, 2021

The climate apocalypse: Can a collapse of global civilisation be avoided?

If OECD countries don’t phase out existing coal by 2030, they will be facilitating global collapse.

August 4, 2021

The COVID-19 'National Plan' seems designed to fail

The end goal of the National Plan to transition Australias National COVID-19 Response announced on July 30 is a nation willing and able to weather the endemic existence of COVID-19 in the community. But this may well be unachievable under the plan because of two fundamental flaws: it is a plan that allows for opting out, or even a veto, by key players; and its targets are not accompanied by timelines.

July 27, 2021

NSW rail policy: more than cooking the books

Media reports claimed changes to NSW railways artificially inflated State Budget results. Yet cooked books are the least of the concerns.

June 21, 2021

Australia's Covid vaccine rollout, Part 2. What weve been delivered

At a press conference about the vaccine rollout in December, Health Minister Greg Hunt said, our goal is to under-promise and over-deliver. Over January and February, the rollout was mapped out for us. However, the problems that soon developed were not a case of the best-laid plans going awry but more like a case of no plans at all! It was inevitable that what was promised would not be delivered.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal