May 30, 2021

Democratic reform is vital to address the climate and environmental crises

Society faces a fast moving confluence of climate change, environmental decay, and increasing zoonoses but fails to recognise the most compelling underlying problem, the crumbling ability of democratic systems to deliver any meaningful action.

April 22, 2021

How do we show true respect for the Anzacs?

First things first: let us remember and respect all those lost forever to the juggernaut of war, and all those crushed by it who still live with the trauma. But what does it mean to be truly respectful of our Anzacs? Should we focus unwaveringly on military achievement, or should we also probe fearlessly the origins, purposes and sometimes the folly behind our long history of expeditionary warfare?

January 27, 2021

BLM and MAGA movements: regime violence can increase the success of non-violent campaigns

In spite of the harsher treatment from security forces of Black Lives Matter protestors relative to those representing Make America Great Again, it would appear that BLM’s outcome was more favourable. This can be explained by applying the concept of political Jiu-Jitsu.

September 4, 2024

The world’s population is poised to decline – and that’s great news

Some 18 months ago, the news broke that China’s population was beginning to contract. There was a knee-jerk reaction from business commentators who were wringing their hands eagerly over the implications this would have on China’s economic forecast and its place in the world – namely that fewer people would result in less consumption, ultimately slower growth, and thus alter the trajectory of its rise.

June 5, 2024

War fears and rate worries: monthly economic and market review

Since my last report, the All-Ords share price index rose by 3.2% from Friday 3rd May to Thursday 16th May, but then fell by 2.2% to Friday 31st May. But for a 0.9% uptick last Friday there would have been no gain in the last four weeks.

May 24, 2024

Cartoon commentary

April 13, 2024

Focus research beat ups

In journalism and politics there are beat ups every day of the week. But some are so outrageous that they make a zephyr breeze look like a tornado.

August 7, 2023

Shane Drumgold, despite his alleged sins, is an unlikely master villain

In the Sofronoff inquiry, Counsel Assisting, Ms Erin Longbottom went straight for the jugular of Shane Drumgold, prosecutor in the Bruce Lehrmann rape trial. She made mincemeat of him. By the end of her display of complete dominance, he was a shattered wreck. He had withdrawn his suggestions of political interference, softened his criticism of police resistance to a prosecution, and admitted that some statements he had made to the presiding judge were not well-phrased. Report summaries of the Sofronoff inquiry into the ACT Justice system suggest Drumgold was entirely to blame. This is tosh, the more so for being completely over the top.

June 3, 2022

Environment: An asset for profit or a space for children to thrive?

Is the natural environment to be commodified for profit or cherished to help children and adults thrive? How to decarbonise Australias transport systems.

April 3, 2022

To end war, a language of peace, for Ukraine and for Russia

Despite hatreds generated by aggression and slaughter, a ceasefire in Ukraine depends on respect for the dignity of all parties and on their potential to recognise a common humanity.

August 16, 2021

US defeat again and too little, too late by Australia.

_The Taliban over-ran Kabul last night. They had been speedily advancing throughout Afghanistan for weeks. Despite the US spending trillions of dollars training and equipping the Afghan army it collapsed almost overnight due to corruption and poor morale.

August 11, 2021

The Marines in Darwin, the governments dereliction, and sexual assault: predictability all round

The Australian Government needs to reassess its agreement that allows the US Marines to rotate through Darwin, especially in the light of the expansionist nature of this agreement. The cause is straightforward: sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape against female members of the Australian Defence Force. And these occur at a time when such offences have reached epidemic proportions in the US and Congress has mandated radical reforms.

August 5, 2021

The usual China-thumping and sanctimonious censuring have continued as intensely as ever.

Late 1989 is rightly regarded as a singular historical turning point when geopolitical business-as-usual was unambiguously interrupted: The Berlin Wall opened up and then came down. Major changes to previous regimes across Eastern Europe swiftly followed and by late 1991, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had become Russia, again.

August 2, 2021

The Climate Emergency: a need for radical honesty - laced with courage and compassion: Part 2

_The sight of an ice-free Arctic or Siberia on fire is tantamount to the discovery of cancer spreading to the brain. Some mitigation is possible but the prognosis is bad.

July 29, 2021

Japan is tempting fate by joining the US-led anti-China coalition

_War between China and the US is not inevitable. But it is becoming increasingly likely - and Japans actions could be the trigger. Japan and its US backers should not tempt fate.

July 20, 2021

The EU tariff plan is good news for Australia's place in the World

The steady deterioration in Australia’s environment and the ineffective revision of the EPBC Act suggests that we need help from other developed nations to solve our problem. This help may come from proposals on trade from the EU and the USA.

July 14, 2021

The fraying of judicial nerves in migration cases

George Brandis as Attorney-General started a round of appointments to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and to the Federal Circuit Court which has continued to adversely impact the fair and efficient resolution of refugee and migration cases. The under-resourcing of these bodies is also impacting decisions.

July 11, 2021

Julian Assange and the culture of revenge

To lessen the macabre prospect of Julian Assange spending 175 years in a US maximum security prison, the US Department of Justice suggests that he could serve prison time in Australia. In a decades long tragedy, this latest act looks like nurture for an all consuming culture of revenge in which legal theatre has provided only a convenient rationale.

July 8, 2021

Virtuous and vicious virology

If virologists are independent seekers after scientific truth, dedicated to advancing human wellbeing, recent revelations about their profession make it look more like mud-wrestling.

January 1, 2021

Postmodernism, social justice, conspiracy theories and Jungian archetypes

Why do conspiracy theories thrive? Why has postmodern theory subtly permeated our thought in such a way that we no longer recognise it because it has become part of the fabric of our culture? Part of the answer may lie in Carl Jungs theory of archetypes.

November 19, 2020

Building a wall of silence about possible attacks on Australia

There are plans to protect civilian populations in the case of a military attack on Australian soil, but theyre classified not reassuring when you live in close proximity to the Pine Gap military base, widely regarded as a likely target for attack in the case of a hot war between global powers.

October 14, 2020

The strategic aspect of human rights: a tool of hegemony

With America’s fading hegemony, new regional powers with regional hegemonic aspirations are displaying their ideas about human rights; ideas based on their particular historical, cultural, political, and religious experiences.

February 2, 2020

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Bridget McKenzie and the subversion of public funds.

The Auditor-Generals report left no room for alibis and wriggle room.

January 29, 2020

JON STANFORD: Second rate leadership: Future Submarine Part 3 of 4

I have suggested in earlier posts 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.

June 26, 2024

Another royal tour: should we expect a formal apology to our First Nations?

The announcement last week of an impending Royal Tour provokes many considerations. Both international and domestic developments need to be taken into account. The global reconsideration of the legacy of centuries of European imperialism, of slavery, indigenous dispossession and economic exploitation represents the latest manifestation of the long process of de-colonisation. As a consequence Britain, along with much of the West, is losing both intellectual hegemony and moral authority. They will be hard to retrieve.

May 15, 2024

Australia’s crucial knowledge gaps in China expertise: Strategies for the future

Australia’s most severe China knowledge gap is the virtual collapse of University-level advanced Chinese language study, together with the study of Chinese society, politics and culture. This is the major finding of a report, _Australia’s China Knowledge Capability_, published in 2023 by the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

April 27, 2024

Rhetoric and reality in technology visions

The complex interplay of vision, power, and governance in innovation districts, precincts, and hubs.

September 16, 2023

From Biotech to AI

Can regulation of Biotechnology provide clues for the regulatory measures now required to limit risks in the use of AI?

July 6, 2023

Sinking billions - undergunned and over priced - part 1

Missing records, billions in over-runs, conflicts of interest, and flawed ships. How the Australian Defence Departments new frigates project is a boondoggle for a British weapons-maker.

September 5, 2022

Gorbachev changed the world

Most people have modest aspirations of being able to feed, house, clothe and educate their families, assist their children to climb one rung higher on the social ladder and spend their autumn years in comfortable retirement. Some aim a little higher and strive to make a mark in a chosen field of human activity. There are very few of whom it can be said: they changed the world.

September 2, 2022

Impact of increasing the permanent skilled migration intake

Businesses are crying out for more workers. But boosting permanent migration wont fix their problem. Heres why.

August 30, 2022

Murdoch v Crikey

The writer is a retired, or close to retired, barrister who practiced in the area of defamation. He asks: are we to sit back and expect to be entertained for the next one to two years whilst the Federal Court discharges its duty to these litigants?Subject to the qualifications below, he thinks that it is unlikely.

July 22, 2022

Whose rules-based order?

Everyday, we are told we must defend the rules-based order. But whose order? What rules? Why should we defend an order that we did not have a say in shaping?

April 13, 2022

Christ's Resurrection in 2022

_In the gospels Jesus challenges the religio-political establishment, hostility to him grows, and he is convicted on trumped-up charges and dies as a common criminal on the cross. His life seems over.

April 6, 2022

It is time to remind Labor that there is power in a union

_While Labor declare they will never agree to a coalition with the Greens, their competition happily takes power from them, ONLY BECAUSE they rely on being in their own coalition with a party far more extreme, far more incompetent and far less representative than the Greens.

September 23, 2021

With AUKUS, Australian nationhood is dead in the water

Joe Bidens new pal, the uh, fella down under has dramatically outdone all previous attempts to sabotage Australia becoming a real nation state.

August 30, 2021

Monthly digest on housing affordability and homelessness July/Aug 2021

The following is the latest instalment of a monthly digest of interesting articles, research reports, policy announcements and other material relevant to housing stress/affordability and homelessness with hypertext links to the relevant source.

July 4, 2021

A choice between national happiness and national misery

Australia treats its environment with indifference. Yet the evidence is mounting that the environment is at the heart of national wellbeing. One country is showing the way.

April 15, 2021

Look at Morrison and see for yourself

The LNP, led by the mendacious Morrison, is in a bad place. Morally bankrupt, it is destructive, by default and design. Many have followed, both blindly and with intent, and now find themselves equally bereft.

March 2, 2021

The AFP is a political tool of government.

Parliamentarians and the public already know enough about the handling of the alleged sexual assault case in the office of the Minister for Defence to make judgments about how the political system treats victims.

October 22, 2020

Protests against Indonesian economic reform: stability and a minimum wage have gone

Indonesian President Joko Widodo wants to snare foreign investors. Theyre a wary lot. Though excited by big markets and the chance of bigger returns, theyre fearful of losing fortunes, and with good reason: Risk.

June 24, 2024

Australian Libertarians and Theocrats unite in Albury

The Triple Conference took place in Albury in March. Conspiracists and hustlers appeared alongside the well-meaning and self-important to inform a small audience of largely white-haired elders about the North Korean conditions overtaking Australia. We are dark in politics and spirit.

June 8, 2024

Israel-Gaza war: Chinese satellites detail scale of destruction in besieged Palestinian territory

Analysis using remote sensing technology from Wuhan University puts the level of damage at about 60 per cent.

May 28, 2024

David McBride’s trials and travails

Last week, David McBride, the Military Officer who disclosed tranches of confidential documents with respect to the behaviour of Australian Defence Forces during the nation’s involvement in the wars in Afghanistan, was sentenced to six years imprisonment. McBride believed that in making these disclosures he had acted appropriately and correctly in the public interest.

August 6, 2023

US post-9/11 wars caused 4.5 million deaths, displaced 38-60 million people, study shows

Wars the US waged in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan following September 11, 2001 caused at least 4.5 million deaths and displaced 38 to 60 million people, with 7.6 million children starving today, according to studies by Brown University.

May 19, 2023

The creeping shadow of army rule Asian Media Report

In Asian Media this week: Big economies talk about rules-based order. Plus: empire strikes back in Imran Khan showdown; hot Asian summers will add to climate change; US return to Philippines sparks sex abuse fears; Gandhi bests Modi in latest test; post-poll scenarios after progressive victory in Thailand.

May 12, 2023

Turkish elections: What if Putin loses Erdogan?

During a 27 April ceremony marking the delivery of Russian-made nuclear fuel to the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in southern Turkiye, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his support for his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the hotly-contested, upcoming 14 Maypresidential elections.

June 5, 2022

ASPI a bastard child

Foreign Minister Penny Wong in two forays into the Pacific over the same number of weeks has shown both ASPI and the Chinese how diplomacy should be conducted. No megaphone and no presumption.

February 22, 2021

Sidney Nolans St Kilda paintings: the 'innocence' of a man in his 20s with a wife and two mistresses

The Canberra Museum+Gallery is exhibiting several of Sidney Nolans St Kilda paintings until March 30, complete with a Childrens Trail for the nippers. But are the paintings as innocent as the stories that have built up around them curated by Nolan himself suggest?

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal