June 4, 2024

Canberra bureaucrats commissioning NT houses unfit for purpose

Labor’s $4 billion for Indigenous housing in the Northern Territory is set for failure unless it incorporates Aboriginal expertise.

April 21, 2024

Pope fires warning shot to Church leaders who would defy Vatican II

The neo-traditionalists have been sent a clear message by Pope Francis that their dismissal of synodality, and their disruptive behaviour do violence to the very nature of the Church itself and thereby damage the Reign of God.

April 11, 2024

The Government must abandon its gas policy

For every thousand tonnes of fossil fuels mined, one person dies. As climate science provides increasing evidence of accelerating warming, we must recognise that gas is our main threat and stop producing it.

August 23, 2023

The Big 4, government procurement and the rivers of gold

Australian governments are now amongst the biggest users of external consultants on the planet.

April 30, 2023

Another quiet little review into Sydney Metro

Without the open-air scrutiny of a public inquiry into NSW transport, Labor is vulnerable to the misinformation and deceit that infects every part of NSW transport policy.

April 15, 2023

Matching markets

‘The market and life-changing interventions: two phrases that arent normally seen in the same sentence.

September 21, 2021

Australias nuclear-powered submarines will risk opening a Pandoras box of proliferation

The AUKUS decision to equip Australia with SSNs not only is a fools errand but also could pose a grave threat to regional and international security.

October 22, 2020

Darylgate: a Federal matter as well

_A week is a short time in politics. In less than that time, an affair emerged that had lasted five years if you believe Gladys, or seven if you believe Daryl.

September 26, 2024

Axing negative gearing won't have any effect on rentals

Negative gearing costs Australian taxpayers billions each year. Its defenders say abolishing it will cause a rental crisis. That’s not true.

June 19, 2024

Why is Australia’s criminal justice system so resistant to change?

How many more wrongful convictions does Australia have to have before state and federal attorneys-general and senior members of the legal profession agree that they must address this serious problem?

June 8, 2024

A long range plug-in hybrid with a low price

Okay, are you sitting down? If you happen to live in China, the base price for the BYD Qin L and Seal 06 is 99,800 yuan (USD$13,775). Holy EV disruption, Batman! If these cars ever came to the US, BYD would never be able to keep up with demand. Of course, they are not coming to the US, because there is now a 100 percent tariff on Chinese made cars, but even at double the price, American buyers would be breaking down the doors to get one.

April 19, 2024

No substitute for US exceptionalism: Manifest destiny made manifest

Manifest Destiny, now more commonly called American Exceptionalism is a traditional and widespread view in the US. American views of its relationship with the world vary from isolationism to leadership, but the underlying base is always that the US is something special. While some may be more subtle than others, how many Americans could accept that the US must resign itself to a silver or even a bronze medal in the power race?

August 6, 2023

The APS: Integrity, or spineless servility?

The Robodebt Royal Commission has shown that the Australian Public Service is at a crossroads. It can be a professional and ethical APS that serves the public interest through the government of the day. Or it can be an overtly politicised service, little different from the staff in ministerial offices. What must not persist is the stealth service, where the pretence of a professional public service masks spineless servility and outright capture.

June 30, 2023

Grave misconduct: Gladys Berejiklian corruption report should put all public officials on notice

When an anti-corruption agency issues a 688-page report with findings a former premier engaged in serious corrupt conduct and breached the publics trust, it puts all public officials on notice.

May 1, 2023

Budget must show what we are invested in

In three weeks or so, a little after the second Labor budget, the Albanese government will mark its first year in office.

July 14, 2021

Covid 2021 Lessons from Dunkirk about unused resources. Think pharmacies

With the Covid Vaccination rollout in danger of stalling 18 months into the program, it is time to reconsider what underutilised Australian resources can be used to accelerate the rollout process.

July 4, 2021

High noon for big tech in Washington?

While everyone was riveted on the huge bipartisan deal between President Biden and a group of moderate Republican and Democratic Senators talks that ultimately led to agreement on the largest infrastructure program in US history another drama was unfolding on Capitol Hill in the House Judiciary Committee: the most significant move to bring the antitrust laws to bear on the most powerful companies in America (and the world) since Microsoft was the target of a move to break up its business model 23 years ago.

September 13, 2024

Why we're still at war with terror

The talented comic song-writer Tom Lehrer, from a family of secular Jewish New Yorkers, complained during the Vietnam war that nothing was funny any more. He would agree now about the war in Gaza.

August 30, 2024

Path not taken: the Petroleum and Minerals Authority at fifty

Speaking recently on the ABC, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz claimed that Australia was “giving away its natural resources”. This he found “mind-boggling”. Would a sovereign mining company have made a difference?

July 19, 2024

Conscription and the Monarchy — the infant in the room

In 2012 I was in Cambridge, newly enthroned as the Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy. The town had a new Duke and Duchess that year, too, in William and Kate. When they announced they were expecting their first child, I wrote a piece for The Conversation. Welcome as Baby Cambridge would be, I said, she or he was entitled to normal choices in life.

September 9, 2023

Nurturing justice with a YES to the Uluru invitation

The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to the Australian people from First Nations Australians. It asks Australians to walk together to build a better future by establishing a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution, and the establishment of a Makarrata Commission for the purpose of treaty making and truth-telling. (from https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement/)

July 27, 2023

Bowen: Its too late to avoid the climate emergency

Australias climate and energy minister Chris Bowen says the extreme weather events of recent years, and the heatwaves sweeping the globe in this northern summer, show that the world has already failed to prevent a climate emergency.

July 6, 2023

Pillar of ACT judiciary proves our exceptionalism

The ACTs judiciary will henceforth be lacking a meticulous pillar of consistency, but the resignation of Magistrate Beth Campbell allows also pause for reflection on the exceptional criminal courts the Territory has grown across Campbells quarter-century on the bench and indeed across the 34 years since self-government.

May 2, 2023

Will Labor restore immigration compliance activity?

One of the many appalling consequences of establishing the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), and transfer of immigration compliance functions to Australian Border Force (ABF), was an extraordinary cut back in immigration compliance activity.

December 21, 2020

Hotel quarantine report blasts government failures, but political fallout is likely to be minimal

Thefinal reportof the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry, issued by former judge Jennifer Coate, outlines monumental errors made by the Victorian government and its public servants.

September 6, 2023

A new national agenda for multicultural Australia

The Australian Government’s current Multicultural Framework Review is looking at ways for government and the community to work together to support a cohesive multicultural society and advance a vibrant and prosperous future for all Australians.

August 5, 2023

Australia should offer our Pacific family access rather than simply reacting to China

During hisrecent speech at the Solomon Islands National University, Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy said strategic competition [] is an unavoidable reality for our region.

July 9, 2023

Profit-making from government funded community services should be banned

Why the new ALP governments new Child Care funds should restore its social benefits and stop funding the failing profit/market model.

May 13, 2023

Rime of the AUKUS submariner

Lines composed on Budget Day as Australia starts saving up for our new nuclear-powered fleet.

May 5, 2023

South Korea gains nuclear deterrent Asian Media Report

In Asian Media this week: South Korea nuclear guarantee better than NATO. Plus: Thaksin party just hangs on to poll lead; Asia tops world growth, with China the driver; Indian courts progressive sex-gender rulings; Russia sees AUKUS as NATO-style alliance; Asian war far worse than Ukraine; woman arrested over Thailand serial killings

May 12, 2022

The destructive Rupert Murdoch

_The grim news is that Rupert’s heir, Lachlan, is a less intelligent and harder right force in News Corp. The death of the old man cant save us.

December 23, 2020

Can Biden lead the world with a hole in America's middle class? (AFR Dec 20, 2020)

Since Joe Bidens US election win a wave of relief has washed over the foreign policy commentariat. The storyline appears set: with adults back in the room, Washington will relight multilateralisms torch while displaying a surer touch on alliance management and strategic competition with China.

July 23, 2024

Former New Zealand political rivals alarmed at sudden foreign policy changes

The New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon unilaterally announced new directions for New Zealand’s foreign policy in an interview during a visit to the United States to attend a NATO meeting.

May 6, 2023

Age care policy needs a complete rethink. Homeshare is one solution

Minister Mark Butlers Hugh Stretton Oration (April 27) demonstrates he gets it. He may be the first Minister we have had in Aged Care who understands the issues of ageing and is prepared to speak out. Policy makers and those in the professional age care industry (both advocates and providers) seem to be trapped in the same outmoded mindset: old people are a problem, needing care (like children) and needing to be sequestered into old peoples ghettoes where others can serve their bodily needs.

February 11, 2021

Quarantine: States also have powers to make laws

Commentators have repeatedly drawn attention to the section of the Commonwealth Constitution that apparently makes the Federal Government responsible for quarantine. However, this is not an exclusive Commonwealth power.

October 6, 2020

West Bank annexation - dead and buried or just comatose?

If Trump is re-elected and revives Netanyahus ambitions, Australia must have a plan to make the existing suspension permanent.

August 12, 2024

Will the real Olympic cheats please stand up

Because they are no longer the top dog in the Olympics, the US now wants to expand its kinetic and trade wars into the sporting arena, or at least the anti-drugs section of the sporting arena.

July 14, 2023

Lack of tenure core driver of Robodebt disaster

Its to be hoped that as much as possible can be squeezed from the Robodebt disaster not only to avoid a repeat but more generally to improve the working of the Australian government and its public service.

April 16, 2023

Back in black? A menu of measures to repair the budget

The federal government needs to cut spending and raise taxes to rein in Australias structural budget deficit, according to a new Grattan Institute report.

October 7, 2020

It is time for a political solution to the Julian Assange persecution.

A travesty that passes for British justice has now run its course at the Old Bailey.

August 26, 2024

From Aussie politics to Henry Lawson: the story of how ‘Australian studies’ spread across China

There are nearly 40 Australian studies centres in China’s universities and institutes. This is a greater number than anywhere else in the world, including in Australia itself.

July 11, 2024

“The Sun has won”: exponentially growing solar destroys nuclear, fossil fuels on price

It’s not known if Peter Dutton reads The Economist but if he does, he must probably think from time to time that it is sometimes dangerously left wing.

July 6, 2024

ACIL modelling used by Sydney University fundamentally flawed

This Sydney Morning Herald article reports on ACIL Allen modelling undertaken for Sydney University which concludes that in 2025, there will be around 60,000 fewer international students enrolling compared to 2023 and will lead to job losses of around 22,000. The rationale for this is based on a flawed understanding of how Net Overseas Migration works.

May 20, 2023

Grief and closure

Grief is not something we get over, or we must move on from. The truth is we grow into grief; we do not get closure from it.

April 13, 2023

Australia has over 800 secrecy and non-disclosure laws

Federal governments have been winding back administrative law reforms for 30 years, largely ignoring serious commitments (as signatory to Open Government Partnership (OGP) since 2015), to more open government.

August 25, 2021

Afghanistan: Was September 11 the only reason for the attack on Afghanistan?

In one of his latest statements, Joe Biden reiterated the US states mission in Afghanistan, “America went to Afghanistan 20 years ago to defeat the forces that attacked this country on September 11th. That mission resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden over a decade ago and the degradation of al Qaeda.”

April 4, 2021

Anything goes, in Canberra

Share your truth. It is your power Grace Tame, Australian of the Year 2021.

May 30, 2024

Dutton's nuclear dream

In the unlikely event that Peter Dutton could manage the succession of problems with nuclear power stations – persistent massive cost overruns; State legislation banning nuclear; and NIMBY backlashes - he would still have a big problem – lack of staff to run the plants.

April 24, 2024

Lehrmann and the engagement of ministerial staff

In the oceanic commentary on the Bruce Lehrmann cases, little attention seems to have been given as to how he got into Minister Linda Reynolds office in the first place. If he hadn’t all could have been spared the terrible things that have happened as a consequence of his admission – the catastrophic ignominies he brought upon himself, the agonies of Ms Higgins and the reputational injuries to many who’ve got within a bull’s roar of the saga – Minister Reynolds and her chief of staff, the ACT public prosecutor Drumgold, Judge Sofronoff and Channel 7 and some of its unadmirable staff and on and on it goes.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal