September 11, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. 'Come on chaps,I am right behind you'

It was not the end; it was not even the beginning of the end. But it was, finally, the end of the beginning. The High Court has at last fanned the long smouldering same sex marriage into flame, and now it has become a question of not if, but how, the inferno will play out and how many victims it will consume in the forthcoming holocaust.

February 25, 2015

Ukraine: Watch This Space

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has announced his decision to send a contingent of 75 trainers to Ukraine as a demonstration of support for Kiev in its fight against Russian supported rebels in South Eastern Ukraine. The deployment will provide instruction in command procedures, tactical intelligence, battlefield first aid and logistics.

November 8, 2016

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Dog-whistling again on asylum seekers.

Labor has decided not to support the Turnbull governments latest asylum bill which was announced in a most hamfisted way on the Sunday morning before last, and which contains very unacceptable overreach measures. So now it will be a matter for the Senate cross benchers. The Turnbull-Dutton bill is a disgraceful mishmash of dog whistle measures.

August 23, 2018

BRUCE GUTHRIE. Hello Rupert, bye-bye Malcolm (The New Daily 23/8/2018)

Anyone who doubts Rupert Murdochs role in the political chaos that has played out in recent days has never worked for him at a senior level.

Murdochs annual visits to Australia invariably trigger seismic events both in and outside News Corp, the company hes presided over for decades.

So is it any surprise that Malcolm Turnbull is facing his political demise less than a fortnight after Murdoch arrived here? Of course it isnt.

July 17, 2018

RICHARD BUTLER. Trump/Putin : Finnish Rhapsody

In a most unusual Trump/Putin media conference in Helsinki it seemed that the notably absent participant was Robert Mueller.

August 20, 2017

MACK WILLIAMS. The South Koreans are a critical part of the equation

As the shouting match becomes more heated between Kim Jong Un and President Trump the role of the popular new President Moon has become more difficult. The most likely casualties in any outbreak of military exchanges would be the population of Seoul and would be very large. These must be considered properly in advance of military action.

August 27, 2018

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Morrison is, and has always been, a creature of the right, both economically and socially.

A bandaid has been administered to the schism between moderates and rightists but the war will go on unabated.

July 16, 2018

MUNGO MACCALUM. ACCC Report ignites squabbling.

Just when you might have thought you were getting a grip on the tin full of worms masquerading as the governments energy policy, along comes yet another authoritative report.

June 18, 2020

David Solomon. Black Lives Matter here, too.

I hate the way we so often slavishly follow whatever fashion is currently gripping the American people. But I make an exception for the protest movement that has taken to the streets prompted by the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the United States.

January 23, 2020

SUSHANT SINGH. With a flag, song and book (Indian Express 24-1-20)

As well as Australia Day, 26 January is an important day of celebration in India as Republic Day. The Constitution of India formally came into force on 26 January 1950.

May 1, 2014

Michael Kelly SJ. Next item on the Catholic reform agenda

This is a time of reform in the Church. Everyone who bothers to look, from average Catholics around the world to the cardinals who elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio to become Pope Francis, knows the Church is in strife and in need of a lot of work to render it an effective means to the end it serves: to proclaim the Gospel and serve Gods people.

First steps are being taken to fix a dysfunctional Vatican. But some of the big-ticket items for the wider Church wont be fixed as quickly. Many of them are pastoral and require cultural change as much as administrative amendments. And asanyone with experience in changing the culture of an organization will attest, that type of change is the slowest in coming.

August 27, 2018

JOHN MENADUE Tracking Peter Costello is not a good start for Josh Frydenberg .

After failing with his National Energy Guarantee, Josh Frydenberg rushed to Melbourne to get some tips from Peter Costello about handling his new Treasury portfolio. In fawning style over coffee, Frydenberg described Costello as the greatest living Treasurer. It is part of the Liberal Party myth that conservatives are better economic managers. But it is just not so and for Peter Costello in particular.

January 12, 2018

GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND ...

Writing in The Guardian Alfred McCoy explains “how the heroin trade explains the US-UK failure in Afghanistan”. In that war-torn country opium is the farmers’ most viable cash crop, and the Taliban, once opposed to drugs, are now financed by the opium trade.

Canberra Times journalist Crispin Hull makes a strong case for fundamental tax reform, not only to make the collection of tax fairer, but also to boost public revenue. He also puts up for consideration the idea of a universal basic income, an idea gaining currency in many European countries, including Finland and Scotland.

March 13, 2017

MICHAEL WEST. Gas crisis? Or glut? Why Japan pays less for Australian LNG than Australians do.

It is bizarre that gas customers in Japan buy Australian gas more cheaply than Australians. Some of this gas is drilled in the Bass Strait, piped to Queensland, turned into liquid and shipped 6,700 kilometres to Japan but the Japanese still pay less than Victorians.

November 18, 2018

CAVAN HOGUE. Where the bloody Hell are You?

Our current Prime Minister loves P R slogans and seems to believe that they are a satisfactory alternative to an understanding of a world that does not eat meat pies. To his credit, however, he has publicly criticised US trade policy which is at least standing up for Australian interests as he boasts he does. The same cannot be said for the Jerusalem fiasco. He is a member of the Pentecostal church which believes that Jesus will return in Jerusalem so we must support Israel. As he faces elections next year that is probably all that will save him.

January 8, 2014

A 100 billion dollar tale of piracy in the Timor Sea. Michael Sainsbury

Although it sits on a vast undersea gas reserve, Timor-Leste remains deeply impoverished.

Deep under the Timor Sea, there is a huge reserve of gas. Geologists now believe it is worth upwards of US$100 billion; a figure more than twice the amount estimated by Australia as recently as 2006. It is perhaps ironic that the nation with the strongest claim to ownership of that gas, by dint of proximity to it, is Timor-Leste, which is also among the world’s poorest nations.

January 18, 2017

RICHARD BUTLER. Trump and Nuclear Weapons

Trumps stance on nuclear weapons is ignorant, inconsistent, confused. What he has proposed on nuclear arms control and proliferation will not be accepted. His latest offer to the Russians has no chance of serious consideration.

May 17, 2017

PETER Sainsbury. Crisis what crisis? Australian government discussion paper downplays climate change

By ratifying the Paris Agreement on climate change in November 2016 the Australian government committed to a target of reducing Australian carbon emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030. The government also agreed to review its climate change policies during 2017 to ensure that its policies remain effective in achieving the 2030 target and the other commitments in the Paris Agreement. In March 2017 the government released Terms of Reference for the review and a discussion paper Review of climate change policies (http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/review-climate-change-policies).

September 4, 2017

RAMESH THAKUR. India and China provide rare glimmer of hope

A confrontation in the Himalayas could have turned violent, but mature diplomacy won the day.

May 9, 2019

DAVID SOLOMON. A hidden agenda

Extract from notes for a victory speech by Prime Minister Morrison to the Coalition party room: I want to make special mention of the contribution to our victory by my Cabinet colleagues. Now Josh, you had a special role. As Treasurer, you had to let the people know that Treasury didnt like anything that the Labor party was planning to do because it would hurt the economy. Now we all know that Treasury may or may not have thought that, but you weret put off by that. You knew, without asking, what Treasury would have said if you had asked. And who could contradict you? Thats one of the advantages of incumbency, isnt it?

October 16, 2024

A five-minute scroll

John Mearsheimer on ethnic cleansing and Double Down news debunks the myth of self defence. Francesca Albanese questions Germany’s position on Israel, while chemical weapons are used on UN peacekeepers. Penny Wong announces sanctions on Iran, but not Israel. Life for Palestinian journalists and a record of IDF atrocities. Sophie McNeill corrects the ABC, Abul Rizvi corrects the facts on asylum records. Lula da Silva meets asylum seekers arriving in Brazil, while Australia’s state premiers decline to join the official welcome for the King. Five-minutes scrolling on X._

September 6, 2018

DAVID FRUM. This Is a Constitutional Crisis (The Atlantic 5/9/2018)

A cowardly coup from within the administration threatens to enflame the presidents paranoia and further endanger American security.

I_mpeachment is a constitutional mechanism. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment is a constitutional mechanism. Mass resignations followed by voluntary testimony to congressional committees are a constitutional mechanism. Overt defiance of presidential authority by the presidents own appointeesnow thats a constitutional crisis._

June 13, 2017

David Ben-Tovim, Some private hospitals are safer than others, but we dont know which

Our research has shown that some private hospitals are safer than others, but from the data we analysed we couldnt tell which. Governments should balance commercial interests against the publics right to know which hospital is providing safe, high-quality care.

November 18, 2018

ANDREW FARRAN. Brexit: The Beginning of the End

Thursday 15th November was a most extraordinary day at Westminster where a besieged lady tenaciously stood her ground at the despatch box and stared down some hundreds of howling Parliamentary interlocutors (mostly of her own party) and remained totally unfazed in defending the 585 page Withdrawal Agreement she had negotiated with the European Union.

April 11, 2019

JOHN MENADUE. We need a national summit to promote trust in politics. An edited repost

At the forthcoming election the Liberal Party will be asking, Who do you trust Scott Morrison or Bill Shorten? Scott Morrison repeated it yesterday many times. This seems odd for a leader who most reminds me of salesman, Donald Trump. But that aside the issue of trust in our politicians and our political institutions is a major national concern.

December 12, 2014

Michael Keating. The politics of the Medicare co-payment

The adjustments that Tony Abbott announced to the Medicare co-payment are presumably intended to remove this particular barnacle. According to Graham Richardson, that self-styled political expert writing in the Australian, Abbotts parliamentary colleagues are breathing huge sighs of relief … that the Medicare co-payment has been so restructured that it scarcely exists anymore. Really? Are they stupid or dont they and Richardson know the facts?

The reality is that the $7 co-payment has been abandoned for pensioners, other card-holders and children, but for the rest of us the co-payment is still $5 a visit instead of $7. Furthermore, this difference of $2 has been taken back from the doctors who were previously going to receive this $2 while the government got the remaining $5. According to Abbotts press release the revenue raised by this latest version of the co-payment will still amount to more than $3 billion, which is not much less than the $3.5 billion shown in the Budget; the difference of $0.5 billion presumably reflecting the loss of revenue from pensioners and children who will now not have to pay this extra charge.

December 7, 2014

John Menadue. Outsourcing and redundancy at the ABC.

Mark Scott has expressed concern at the pain being felt by staff losing their jobs and careers. He announced that he and his senior team would take a pay freeze for a year.

When it was pointed out that there would not be sufficient staff left to fill the program schedule, some senior manager apparently announced that the money achieved through some of the budget savings would be used to commission some individual programs and short series from some of those very people who are about to be made redundant. So, the ABC management is proposing to sack long serving and loyal staff with proper jobs, and use their salaries to bring them back on short term contracts and commissions with no security of employment.

May 10, 2015

Stephen FitzGerald. Security in the region.

Fairness, Opportunity and Security. A policy series edited by Michael Keating and John Menadue.

Paul Keating and Gareth Evans used to claim, with justification, that by the mid-1990s Australia had become the odd man in in Asia. This was in significant part because of the headway theyd made in Southeast Asia, with ASEAN countries, in gaining acceptance of Australia as one of them. This was no slogan. Behind it lay a geostrategic idea of Southeast Asian countries as natural partners into the long term future, in a world dominated by competing great powers, and offering the entree to what Keating called finding our security in not from Asia. Keating and President Suhartos Agreement on Maintaining Security was a first stage in that direction, flanked by the initiative for a Ministerial Forum with Indonesia. Evans, encouraged by the response of Southeast Asian colleagues, floated a geopolitical definition of Asia that included Australia as a logical component of what he called the East Asian Hemisphere.

November 18, 2018

ALISON BROINOWSKI. The latest hobgoblins.

On the eve of an APEC meeting, with impeccable timing, Australias lack of foreign policy independence was once again on display for our Asian neighbours: mimicry of US decisions, militarism abroad, securitised borders, containment of China, and fear of Islam. Indonesians and Malaysians recognise the pattern from long experience. Another terrorist event in Melbourne could not have been better timed to reinforce it.

September 25, 2017

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Easier for Turnbull to deal with Blackout Bill than Abominable Abbott

ABC news flashed the headline last Thursday: Abbott headbutted by SSM supporter.For a delirious moment I thought that Malcolm Turnbull had finally run out of patience with his sniping, undermining, wrecking tormentor and replied to his latest provocation with a full blown Liverpool kiss.

May 1, 2018

STEPHANIE DOWRICK. Would ordaining women save the Catholic Church?

In our 21st century, and even allowing for widespread secularism especially in the West, about 2.2 billion people still call themselves Christian. Of these, about 1.2 billion are Roman Catholic. This number is only slightly smaller than the total number of Muslims (1.3 billion). The overall picture is clear: Catholicism is still a force to be reckoned with. Whats more, its influence for better and worse goes well beyond the parish gate. So maybe youd prefer to ask, Should the Catholic Church be saved (from itself)?

October 31, 2019

BRUCE DUNCAN. Mr Morrison, please do not abandon innocent Aussie children in Syria.

How will the Morrison government respond to the desperate plight of some 65 women and children detained in a camp in Syria? Relatives are pleading with our government to bring their family members safely home, but it appears immobilised by fear of a political reaction. How good is that?

April 12, 2018

MICHAEL O'KEEFE. Response to rumours of a Chinese military base in Vanuatu speak volumes about Australian foreign policy

Rumour has it that Vanuatu has agreed to a Chinese request to establish a military base. The substance of this rumour is highly speculative at the least and disingenuous at most. Regardless of the truth, the fact that it raises alarm about the threat of Chinese military expansionism speaks volumes about Australian foreign policy, particularly toward the Pacific.It looks like another beat up in the anti China phobia

July 15, 2018

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Three Stooges ride again.

Our older readers the really old ones may remember The Three Stooges, Larry, Curly and Moe.

July 17, 2019

ERIC HODGENS. Missing the Catholic Bus.

The Catholic Church is now in freefall. Vatican II called for adaptation to the modern world. Most of the opportunities for adaptation have been missed. How do we catch the last bus?

November 4, 2019

CAVAN HOGUE: Why is Mr Dutton afraid of Australian children?

The Australian women and children facing danger in Syria are not being brought home because it cant be done or because they would be a threat to Australia but because of cheap domestic politics. As H.L. Mencken observed: The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. Our SAS could do the job and the expensive white elephant on Christmas Island could keep them and us safe while they are processed.

September 12, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. An energy emergency after ten years!

Malcolm Turnbull assures us that he is concentrating on energy and its three pillars cost, security and environment. Well, at least the first two; it must be said that the environment has not had much of a look in during the last frenzied week.

January 6, 2015

Israel must be its own worst enemy.

The Palestinians have requested that they join the International Criminal Court. It could be a double-edged sword if both Palestinian and Israelis were brought before the International Court. But most people would believe that joining the International Court would be an important way to demonstrate that the Palestinians wanted to join the international community and be subject to its norms.

But both Israel and the US opposed the request. Robert Fisk in The Independent on 6 January this year underscores the futility of policies in the Middle East. See link below. John Menadue.

August 23, 2018

STEPHEN DUCKETT. A hospital win-win: improving care and saving money.

Every day we hear stories about innovation in health care new drugs, new machines and new tests that will help us live longer. We have got used to thinking that any improvements in health care will come at a price often a big one, given the years of development and testing needed to bring the innovation to market.

August 12, 2018

JENNIFER DOGETT AND P & I CONTRIBUTIONS. -An important series on drug law reform (Croakey)

Drug law reform is an issue that has been on the political agenda for decades, with varying degrees of urgency. Yet despite the overwhelming evidence for law reform and the sustained efforts of advocates from a range of sectors, most of the political and legislative changes required to reduce the harms associated with illicit drug use have not been achieved.

August 27, 2018

Help from across the Tasman

August 5, 2018

ANN SYMONDS. Drug Reform series -The politics of social change

The War on Drugs has failed. Not only has it failed to stem the use of illicit drugs but it has also given rise to a host of other issues, including increased crime and corruption and a higher rate of disease and death from the use of such drugs. Reform is long overdue, including a review of alternatives to blunt prohibition. We can learn a lot from overseas experience.

September 28, 2017

CAROL SUMMERHAYES. Another Trans-Siberian experience.

John Tullohs post brought back memories of my Trans-Siberian train journey, some twenty-three years after his. He was there in 1967, and not a lot had changed when I was there in 1990, travelling in the reverse direction.

June 3, 2016

DAVID PEETZ. The penalty rates time-bomb is ticking.

A looming decision on weekend penalty rates presents problems for both major parties in the lead-up to Australias federal election. The Fair Work Commission seems likely to hand down its decision in the controversial case soon after the federal election.

Nobody knows what the commissions decision on penalty rates in the retail and hospitality industries will be. There seem to be more tea-leaf readers predicting it will cut Sunday penalty rates to match Saturday rates than who think it will make no changes.

If so, employer organisations would be happy, but many retail employees will be worse off. Pressure would grow for cuts to penalty rates elsewhere.

The commission presidents request for submissions on whether some employees should be given a right to refuse to work on Sundays, perhaps as a trade-off, has added to the confidence of the former group of tea-leaf readers.

January 4, 2017

JOHN TULLOH. Erdogan aims for the long haul as an Ottoman-style ruler.

Not long ago, when events in Turkey were as unsettled as they are now, its military leaders would have stepped in, toppled the government and taken draconian control to restore order. But President Recip Tayyip Erdogan seems safe for now, having emasculated the military leadership after the failed coup last year, sacked much of the judiciary and bureaucracy, jailed opponents and perceived rivals, cowed the local media by locking up editors and journalists and currently imposing a local news blackout.

November 6, 2016

MACK WILLIAMS. General Macarthur, the Philippines and Australian troops in WWII.

The very good Boston Globe article reminded me of two other events in Philippines history of WW11 about which so little is known in Australia. They have some relevance to the contemporary scene.

For a long time prior to the famous Macarthur landing in Leyte, the Australian Government lobbied Washington right up to the President for our 7th Division to be included in the invasion force. Macarthur steadfastly refused even when so directed by the White House. The result was that the AIF’s 7th Division was separated out of the invasion fleet and sent to Borneo (many ending up in Sandakan). But their supply ships continued on to the Leyte Gulf which involved the largest ever naval force Australia has ever put to sea! How things could have been different!

June 28, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. Our white man's media coverage of chemical weapons attacks in Syria

In this blog on 12 May 2017 I wrote: “Our media have accepted without examination the US/Intelligence view that President Assad was responsible for the awful gas attacks in Syria. He may have been responsible. But no independent evidence has been produced. I have not seen any of our media attempt to examine this issue’.

Pulitzer Prize winning author, Seymour Hersh has now written that there was no evidence that the Assad regime had initiated the chemical weapons attack in April this year.”

May 18, 2016

JOHN MENADUE. Never underestimate a survivor, but Peter Dutton obviously under estimates refugees. They may be 'takers' in the early years, but they become great contributors.

The following are extracts from a blog I posted on 27 June 2013. John Menadue

As responsible members of the human family, we have a strong moral case to provide protection for refugees who are the victims of persecution and violence.

There is also a strong case in our own self-interest Refugees are almost by definition risk-takers and entrepreneurial. It can be argued that refugees are amongst the most highly motivated and determined in the Australian community.

February 21, 2013

The Greens and Asylum Seekers. How the 'perfect' became the enemy of the 'good'.

The policy purity of the Greens has helped deliver us Nauru and Manus where asylum seekers are suffering. Furthermore, and as the former Secretary of the Department of Immigration told us last year, the Nauru/Manus approach would not work again to deter asylum seekers. That now seems tragically borne out by more tragedies at sea

In the Senate last year, the Greens voted with the Coalition to defeat Government legislation which would have allowed cooperation between the Malaysian Government, UNHCR and the Australian Government on processing in Malaysia. This legislation was in response to the High Court striking down the Malaysian agreement. As a result of the combined actions of the High Court and the Greens in the Senate, we saw a three-fold increase in boat arrivals.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal