July 21, 2024

The siren’s call

A poem from Roger Chao

July 7, 2024

Racism arrived with the First Fleet

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of words written and spoken about racism but little to remind us that racism landed here with the First Fleet. It is very deeply embedded in our culture.

May 22, 2024

The symbiotic relationship between organised crime and money laundering in Australian real estate

Tranche 2 Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terror Financing Laws Protect Us All.

April 28, 2023

$50 a day Jobseeker payment cruel - Weekly Roundup

Government announces that nice people drive electric cars; $50 a day Jobseeker payment cruel; and a Wiradjuri warriors Anzac Day. Read on for the Weekly Roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy.

April 7, 2023

Public still love Albo, but don't trust him - Weekly roundup

Noel Pearson on the Voice; survey finds we still love Albo, but we don’t trust him; and time to throw out your gas cooktop. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy.

June 24, 2021

Outcomes of the 'Biodiversity, Natural Capital and the Economy' Report at the G7 Summit

Following Australia’s extravagant claims to climate leadership at the G7, hopes for a more diplomatic approach were dashed by a Prime Ministerial statement claiming that “Australia is a frontrunner when it comes to taking action to conserve our biodiversity…”

January 27, 2021

And then there were three - Australia's dwindling oil exports

With a growing dependence on imports, Australia will become more vulnerable to disruptions to supply. It will not be easy to quantify the disadvantages. And it will be extremely difficult for governments to decide what level of insurance against disruption would be appropriate.

July 30, 2024

Kamala is still the underdog

The withdrawal of Joe Biden and the selection of Kamala Harris has transformed the presidential election of November. It will now be argued on different issues and on different battlegrounds, not all of former president Donald Trump’s choosing. His planned strategy has been much weakened and try as he might he will have difficulty in fixing Harris with the blame for any of Biden’s sins, real or alleged.

June 13, 2024

'Two years to save the world'

This was the haunting title of a recent speech by UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, at Chatham House in London.

June 21, 2023

Greg Melick, the AWM and Frontier Wars

Major General Greg Melick, a member of the Australian War Memorial Council, would be in a very interesting position in any public company committed to best practice corporate governance principles.

June 14, 2023

Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere hits high not seen for millions of years, threatening accelerated global heating

_Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) TheNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Monday that parts per million of carbon dioxide in our planets atmosphere averaged 424 ppm in the month of May, reaching a level not seen for millions of years.

August 26, 2021

Redress on Sexual Abuse

_Is the Governments response to the Second Anniversary Review of the National Redress Scheme (NRS), a Royal Commission waiting to happen in 10 years? ..The Government’s response has been slow, demonstrating little leadership, accountability or empathy for survivors and their families.

August 25, 2021

Australia has close to zero chance of achieving net zero emissions by 2050

The newly released report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is emphatic: the effects of climate change we are seeing now are irreversible and will worsen. It underscores the critical importance of the upcoming Glasgow climate conference and the need for all countries to lock in net zero emissions by mid-century in order to have any hope of avoiding catastrophic impacts.

July 14, 2021

Renew the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne or sink into the sunset.

Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, now accepts that his diocese is in a huge existential crisis. He told his diocesan clergy on 28 April 2021 and parish lay leaders on 22 May 2021 that the diocese is on a threshold and either we do something or sink into the sunset_.

June 27, 2021

Monthly digest on housing affordability and homelessness ; May/June 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.

June 17, 2021

Immigration: language of cruelty or words for humanity

The Coalition governments self-image, values and attitudes towards powerless people, such as the Tamil Biloela family, are parcelled in a language and style that is far removed from ideals of a common humanity.

April 28, 2021

Armenia, genocide, and Australia

For all our talk about not forgetting, Australia has a selective memory about Armenia and other atrocities.

April 28, 2021

The political problem of defining "flood prone"

The words flood and prone are simple enough to comprehend, but when they are put next to each other in a sentence they can quickly become problematic.

April 24, 2021

Reinventing ANZAC Day away from its imperial origins

Attendance at ANZAC DAY dawn services plummeted by 70% between 2015 and 2019, and questions have been asked about the Days fading relevance. We need to re-invent ANZAC Day as a day of restitution for the appalling losses of an imperial expeditionary tradition that bears no relationship to the defense of Australia and its dignity as an independent nation.

April 20, 2021

Who is Australia's worst Health Minister? How does Greg Hunt rate?

In the past 50 years, Australia has had 23 health ministers. But who is the worst?

April 18, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccines: Risks, Benefits, and Indemnity

_The Morrison government has provided Indemnity for vaccine manufacturers but not Australians at risk of the exceedingly rare, but sometimes fatal, blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

August 7, 2024

The language of right wing thuggery in British cities

In response to riots, attacks on police, and destruction of property in numerous British cities, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says ‘I utterly condemn the right wing thuggery we have witnessed this week-end.’

May 4, 2024

In federal elections Australians can now take the lead in setting the agenda for their nation

In 2025 Australians are due to vote in another federal election, this time to elect their nation’s 48th parliament.

September 15, 2021

The 'accidental prime minister' is making it up as he goes

When a politician rises to the top of his profession we expect that he or she has always wanted the job, and that he or she has meticulously planned every step along the way.

June 14, 2021

London reports on Hong Kong: politics undercut analysis

The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) issued its latest six-monthly report on Hong Kong on 10 June.[1] Although this report has emerged five and half months after the end of the period it covers, from 1 July to 31 December 2020, the delayed delivery does not appear to have improved its substance.

June 10, 2021

Climate tipping point looms

_It is ironic that the most successful film in box office terms about climate change and dramatic changes to the earth was made by Rupert Murdoch’s 20th Century Fox.

May 23, 2021

Education department refuses to hold private schools accountable for taxpayer funding

Yet another damning report by the Auditor-General shows that the Commonwealth Department of Education continues to fail to fully hold private school systems accountable for how they distribute taxpayer funding. It also criticises the Minister for Education and the Department for failing to meet their parliamentary reporting obligations.

May 9, 2021

Anti-China Threat Production in Australia: A redundant, out-of-control industry

Australia cannot lay claim to being the sole, or even senior author of its defence strategies and policies.

September 19, 2020

Review: TOAST the new Australian primer on climate change

Toast describes the huge threat climate change poses to the world and to Australia in particular. It explains why this is so difficult to perceive. It sets out evidence that the climate scientists, not the denialists, are right.

February 4, 2020

JACK WATERFORD. TRUMP, Congress and the Australian Parliament

Donald Trump is in trouble on so many fronts now that minor set-backs of practical administration probably do not pre-occupy him much. But there was interesting case in the US District Court recently that has the potential for Australian consequences while Australian senators have a rump of independents and minor parties capable of joining with an opposition to block legislation.

May 19, 2024

Unravelling Indian elections 2024: the queered pitch

For the first time, Indian elections warrant scrutiny. The largest Earthian carnival is in full swing in India. Over staggered phases, nearly a billion eligible voters are electing 543 representatives from 62 parties across 36 States and Territories. This grand spectacle of democracy of and by and for the people is fuelled by a staggering public and political parties’ spend of over $15 billion. The winner will be declared on 4 June.

September 12, 2023

Fukushimas nuclear waste: Stigmatising Russia, approving Japan

_Twenty years ago, Japan demanded Russia halt disposal of nuclear waste in the Sea of Japan. What changed? Is it the case that there is felonious nuclear waste and respectable nuclear waste? Japan seems to believe that this is so and the Mainstream Media understands why this narrative may deserve its support.

August 25, 2022

Australias problems with cosmetic surgery: why they have happened and how to fix them

Hardly a month goes by without a new media report (and here) of alleged scandalous conduct of some doctors who call themselves cosmetic surgeons but who lack recognised specialised surgical training. These reports have tended to focus on the harm done to patients and generally failed to explain to the public how and why the situation has arisen. While some commentators have blamed the medical profession for failing to regulate itself, this is far from the reality.

September 19, 2021

Three unjustified problems with the Queensland euthanasia bill

_The Queensland Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill goes too far in trampling on the rights of those who want nothing to do with it in the last stages of their own life or in their long term relationships with their patients and residents.

September 14, 2021

The Singapore mouse that taught the China elephant

_Compare Singapore’s dextrous diplomacy with the clumsy manner in which the Australian government handles its relationship with China.

September 7, 2021

Why the West lost in Afghanistan: too much nation building or not enough?

Now that Afghanistan is back in the hands of the Taliban and the West is in humiliating retreat the search for answers about what went wrong and who is to blame is gathering steam.

July 25, 2021

Ready or not: a carbon price on exports is coming to Australia

Those of us who have at least an elementary grasp of economics would have been astonished at the reasoning of Trade Minister Dan Tehan during his ABC interview last week on The EUs proposed carbon levy on imports (the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

May 23, 2021

Myopic thinking in Australia on electric vehicles and renewable power

Everyones looking at the transition to renewable power but ignoring another massive transition that has huge implications for the grid - the transition to electric vehicles. Looked at together changes the story.

May 12, 2021

Will we ever see a socially responsible budget?

They might be calling it the Womens Budget, but the way I read it this budget attempts to appear to be in the public interest but its actually aimed squarely at the private sector. Funding allocated to target womens needs is actually designed to give money to providers of services that employ mainly women and serve mostly female needs. These providers are increasingly for-profit, and there is little in the budget for not-for-profit groups, or for extending public services to serve the public.

May 23, 2023

Centrist parties crush dissent, foreclose on race to avoid extinction

We are thankful you are here. We are happy to a be recipient of [the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association] APPEAs largesse in the form of coming here more oftenThe South Australian government is at your disposal (South Australian Labor minister for energy and mining, Tony Koutsantonis, May 15, 2023).

October 14, 2020

The National Disability Insurance Scheme: a consumer's experience

Much has been made of the failings of the NDIS, but as a reluctant and apprehensive consumer, I have been more than pleasantly surprised.

August 28, 2024

Australia should promote authentic ‘collective security’ in the Indo-Pacific

In a recent article for the Washington Post on the militarisation of Australia’s north, the Minister for Defence, Richard Marles, said: “We’re working together [with the United States] to deter future conflict and to provide for the collective security of the region in which we live.”

May 30, 2024

Jewish extremists in West Bank pose biggest threat to Israel: report

When it comes to the security of Israel, it is uncommon to publicly hear of any threat facing the country other than that which emanates from either its Arab neighbours or else Iran.

April 17, 2024

Modi will win again. But India may well end up the loser

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to win a third consecutive term in office in general elections in which voting begins on April 19 and runs over seven days.

May 18, 2024

Budget politics and a warning from Slovakia - Weekly Roundup

An unnecessarily conservative budget from the government and a pathetic response from the opposition, how we are so generous to Western Australia, the Coalition and nukes, the disgrace of McBride’s jail sentence. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and political issues.

September 17, 2023

Refugee goes on long walk to take Australia on a journey

On 10 September 2023, at the end of refugee Neil Paras marathon 1014 kilometre walk from Ballarat to Sydney, it was made public that Neil, his wife, Sugaa, and two daughters, Nivash and Kartie, had been granted permanent visas (his youngest, Nive, was born in Australia, and she was made a citizen when she turned 10). But this fact is taken from the middle of this story.

May 15, 2023

Is that all there is? A bad deal for government schools

This years budget will not set school education alight. It contains too many harsh lights, some bright lights and certain very soft lights. Funding arrangements have endured in the budget that will mean the diminishment of government schools and the expansion of non-government schools.

January 26, 2021

Wiped from history books: Menzies' plan for the Jindivik pilotless bomber to finance Woomera

Far from being duped, Prime Minister Bob Menzies and his Cabinet went to extraordinary lengths to support the development in Australia of British atomic bombs and thermonuclear components for the H bomb.

October 29, 2020

Racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia and disability discrimination are pervasive.

The absence of women in the boardrooms of companies is evidence of systemic misogyny; the applicant in the wheelchair with the equivalent qualifications rejected because access to the office will be difficult is redolent with systemic disability discrimination; an absence of coloured faces on TV screens reflects the conscious and unconscious biases of systemic racism.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal