June 28, 2024

The Chemist Warehouse deal is a sideshow: pharmacies are ripe for bigger disruption

There’s something curious about the proposed merger between Chemist Warehouse and Sigma Healthcare.

May 27, 2024

John Pilger on the war in Ukraine

The Guardian obituary of John Pilger last year did not mention his views on the war in Ukraine. John Pilger, the renowned Australian journalist who passed away in 2023 at age 84, was a vocal critic of Western foreign policy and media propaganda.

May 13, 2024

Australia's love affair with imprisonment

The latest statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics paint a grim picture of a nation becoming more and more entangled in the web of incarceration. During 2022-23, the total number of people behind bars surged by three percent, accompanied by a one percent rise in the imprisonment rate. These figures not only reflect a disturbing trend but also confirm that this country has a love affair with imprisonment.

July 18, 2023

50 years of Civil Celebrants in Australia

On July 19, 2023, Australia celebrated the 50th anniversary of civil celebrancy.

In her captivating book on Lionel Murphy’s life, Dr. Jennifer Hocking recounts how Murphy, almost single-handedly, persisted for several years to achieve the groundbreaking reform of no-fault divorce. It was an arduous and contentious struggle.

As a corollary to no-fault divorce Murphy was also very conscious of the indignity of secular marriage ceremonies. Persons who did not believe in religion, and divorced persons who had been rejected by the churches, only had one option -the notorious registry office.

July 8, 2023

Discovering the village effect

It probably wasnt the best time to venture near to the Belarus border.

August 26, 2024

Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? Feral cats in the bush

I love cats, furry and friendly. I love kittens chasing feathers and butterflies. I do not love cats in the bush.

July 23, 2024

Nothing to fear here

Active Muslim participation in our democracy should be encouraged and celebrated, not feared.

July 5, 2024

How Australia can contribute to world peace

Without ANZUS Australia would no longer feel the need to follow its great and powerful friend into wars which have nothing to do with this country. Most importantly, Australia would no longer have to sacrifice young Australians in wars which have little or nothing to do with this nation.

July 3, 2024

Market drift and rate rise threat - Monthly economic and market review

The Australian All-Ords index rose 8.3% during the financial year ending last Sunday. But Australia’s economy has had a dismal time with real GDP per capita contracting in each of the five quarters to March 2024. With annual CPI inflation rebounding after earlier falls, the market now expects the RBA to further dampen consumer spending by increasing its cash rate from 4.35% to 4.6% in either August or September.

July 11, 2023

Average earth temperature last week was highest in 120,000 years

The earth is getting especially hot this year, as record after record falls. Seth Borenstein at AP reports that three times this past week, the average temperature of the earth topped anything ever recorded. Thursdays average 17.18 C. (62.9 F.) broke the record yet again.

September 24, 2024

Never forget the Sabra and Shatila massacre 16 September 1982

“The killers were often not satisfied with killing; in many cases, the attackers cut off the limbs of their victims before finishing them off. They smash the heads of children and infants on the walls. Women and girls were raped before being killed with axes. Men are sometimes taken out of their homes in groups to be killed in masse in the street with axes and knives. Militias spread terror and killed men, women, children and the elderly without discrimination. They would not distinguish between Christians and Muslims, Lebanese and Palestinians. Some have been hanged, and others have had their stomachs cut out.”

August 11, 2024

NT school funding agreement includes more accounting fiddles

The new school funding agreement between the Commonwealth and Northern Territory governments brings a much needed boost to public schools funding. However, the claims by the Federal Education Minister, the NT Chief Minister and the NT Education Minister that Territory public schools will be fully funded by 2029 is a deliberate falsehood, that is, a lie.

August 1, 2024

Maduro slams attempted 'Coup against Venezuela' as far-right cries fraud

One political scientist argued that “doubts about Venezuela’s elections appear less as concerns that the people’s voice will not be heard, than that it will.”

June 24, 2024

The fascist wave must be defeated

The antecedents of the far-right in France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Germany and a number of other countries go back to its origins in Europe in the 1920s with the triumph of Italian fascism.

June 12, 2024

A bill of rights is now tantalisingly close

Australia is the only western liberal democracy without a mandated charter of human rights. It’s now closer than at any time in 40 years.

June 3, 2024

Log the forest and get carbon credit rewards

Two major Malaysian logging companies that have devastated Borneo’s forests have been granted “Forest Carbon Research Permits” in the first step to enable them to log old-growth forests and claim carbon credits.

April 17, 2023

Restricting Medicare access to GPs that bulk bill all patients

In a recent article in The Conversation, Professors Stephen Duckett and Fiona McDonald and Ms Emma Campbell suggest restrict[ing] Medicare access to GPs who agree to bulk bill all patients, while allowing those who dont bulk bill to rely solely on out-of-pocket payments. While there is much to commend this proposal, it is not without risks that would need to be carefully managed.

February 18, 2020

John Carlin. A Cold Civil War

_There is a cold war going on in the world between those who believe that truth is important and those who don’t care if their leaders lie.

September 22, 2024

China and the West: commercial pragmatism versus political resistance

Echoing the sentiment often associated with Calvin Coolidge, who famously said, ‘The chief business of the American people is business,’ the reasoning from a business perspective is straightforward: China delivers. Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory stands as a testament to this, producing hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles annually. Chinese firms like BYD and CATL lead in renewable energy and electric vehicle sectors, illustrating how partnerships with China are driven by practical needs rather than ideology. The 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that confidence in Chinese firms, especially in tech and energy, is growing among business leaders, who prioritise results over political narratives.

June 16, 2024

Britain and the nuclear 'option'

If the Tories’ plan for young people to serve in national service is not bizarre enough, we now find that the Labour Party will use nuclear weapons should they deem it necessary. The ideas raised by possession of nuclear arms are just as contradictory now as they have been throughout the nuclear age. They demonstrate the stupidity of the nuclear arms race very succinctly.

April 15, 2024

Glencore and the patronising disposition of unaccountable power

The recent P&I article by Chris Douglas featuring Glencore and the Great Artesian Basin raised many genuine concerns, especially regarding the sophism of corporate social responsibility. These included Glencore’s predatory culture and rapacious deeds and the egregious conduct of many other extractive mining brigands across Australia and elsewhere around the globe.

April 10, 2024

New Zealand nearly sanctions the United Nations

The Bank of New Zealand blocks a donation to UNRWA, then thinks again.

April 6, 2023

Have the old parties fatally betrayed their origins?

It seems Liberal voters are figuring out that their party has been hijacked. Labor voters are slower off the mark, but Labor also bears little resemblance to its past. Political terminology lags even more, which obscures radical shifts in our political mainstream.

October 22, 2020

Home Affairs is too heavy handed to handle immigration

The 2020 Budget highlighted the dependence of Australias economic growth on a continually rising population. The Covid-19 border restrictions have caused negative net migration for the first time in more than a century. In a double whammy, the pandemic-induced anxieties have caused a drop in annual births per woman from 1.69 to 1.58.

September 26, 2024

Culpable corporate mind, legal blameworthiness

Corporate culpability under law relies on a"Where’s Wally" logic to identify a natural person within a corporation to hold responsible for corporate wrongdoing but finding the “smoking gun” has proven elusive.

August 31, 2024

The plight of the Iranian people

Given the growing likelihood of the Gaza maelstrom moving on to a direct military confrontation between the US and Iran, the epic plight of the Iranian people should not be overlooked – a plight which Britain and the Americans instigated back in the 1950s with the removal of their democratic rights and in which hopes for restoration of these rights have been dashed by the political grip of their own clerics.

August 8, 2023

Of 24 countries, Australia has the most unfavourable view of China

Views of China and its soft power are more positive in middle-income countries.

June 6, 2023

American security establishment continues the persecution of Assange

News that the FBI continues its investigation into the case around Assange appears to have taken both supporters and the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus by surprise.

May 27, 2021

Monthly digest on housing affordability and homelessness: April/May 2021

The following is thelatest instalment of a monthly digest of interesting articles, research reports, policy announcements and other material relevant to housing stress/affordability and homelessness.

May 4, 2024

Will Solomon Islands’ new leader stay close to China?

Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament.

April 6, 2024

The death of Amr

Over 13,000 children have been killed in Gaza. Amr Abdallah was one of them.

August 28, 2023

A multicultural environment benefits all

In an increasingly globalised world where opportunity invites immigration, multiculturalism plays a significant role in facilitating deeper connections and embracing cultural diversity.

August 21, 2023

New Zealand risks perilous pivot

Wellingtons shift in defence policy abandons long-held neutrality, follows US anti-China stance.

August 18, 2023

The United States has troops operating inside China

Theres a lot of controversy over what China is doing in the South China Sea, but there seems to be very little in the way of perspective. The recent water attack on Philippines vessels was not a hostile act by a military nation, it was a Chinese Coastguard ship deterring another nation from building on a disputed island. Chinas actions are overshadowed by the immense US military presence encircling China, and now extending to US troops operating inside China.

May 20, 2024

When it comes to Ukraine, Australia's media is one-eyed

It is curious that though the Russia-Ukraine conflict is now in its third year, Australian audiences have been only given one side of the picture: that of Ukraine and its Western backers.

August 11, 2023

The silence on Imran Khan

Pakistan has imposed a media blackout over the deposed prime minister and thousands of new political prisoners incarcerated in appalling conditions. Condemnation in the U.K. and U.S. has been non-existent.

July 23, 2023

Not so happy birthday for Julian Assange

Two years ago a group of us gathered beneath the pandanus and fig trees in pouring rain near Main Beach, Byron Bay NSW.

June 15, 2023

Behind the Chinese successful drive to become the largest vehicle exporter

Just released vehicle export figures for the first five months of 2023 indicated that China would be the world’s largest vehicle exporter in 2023.

May 17, 2023

Indonesian's embrace democracy - but do its leaders?

More Indonesians than Americans are likely to vote in key presidential elections next year. But Australia is focusing on distant North America, not adjacent Southeast Asia, the zone where the Titans could clash.

July 21, 2022

Menace from George Brandis: how to represent state interests not Julian Assange

_Appearing on last Thursdays ABC Q&A programme, George Brandis, former Attorney General and former Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, behaved as though Australian citizens should always be grateful for the way he would protect their interests.

September 6, 2024

PNG’s sustainability rests on funding people, not elites

Political and economic pressures are rising in Papua New Guinea (PNG), with escalating social tensions suggesting a need for focused regional support. Critics argue that given ongoing civil unrest, political instability with Rainbo Paita’s challenge to Prime Minister James Marape and substantial economic challenges such as a stagnating minimum wage and increasing poverty, financial aid and strategies should be directed towards supporting the PNG populace rather than bolstering the political elite.

August 30, 2024

Retirement villages: are they really a safe haven for retirees?

The looming question for me and my partner is “where might we live as we grow older and frailer?” For us, the ideal place is likely to be a retirement village. But at what cost?

August 3, 2024

OpenAI closes its mind and opens yours

The last time I caught up with Edward Snowden online was at his Substack site, Continuing Ed. That was back on September 22, 2022, when he wrote his first piece there in almost a year. He came back briefly to remind us: America’s Open Wound: The CIA is not your friend. Essentially, the piece details the history of CIA miscreant behaviour since its founding in 1947.

June 29, 2024

Control the past - then the future. Thus spoke Orwell

It’s been argued that Indonesia’s next President may be good for Australian interests; for domestic progressives that’s doubtful.

June 20, 2024

Shoot the messenger, kill the story

Daniel Everett Hale killed lots of innocent people. He went to jail, not for killing people – he was paid to do that by the US government – but for revealing the truth behind it. Recently released, he has an astonishing story to tell.

May 30, 2024

'Jaw-Dropping': Mossad Chief threatened ICC prosecutor over Israeli war crimes probe

“Bullying won’t hide genocide and war crimes,” said one anti-war group.

September 28, 2023

Waiting for the collapse of the 'China collapse' prediction

For the past one month or so, my wife has been on a self-guided tour of Europe, visiting friends and scenic spots. She told me on the phone recently that she could not help but argue with her friends and new acquaintances when they tried to convince her that China would “collapse” in two to three years.

July 19, 2023

Palestine lives

We are all one and liberation is our destiny.

May 2, 2023

ABC analyst Mick Ryans US government funded affiliations

It seems the automatic go to for the ABC on matters military is Major-General Mick Ryan. His opinion is usually presented as unbiased fact. Is that the case?

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal