August 27, 2021

Afghanistan- of course it was about oil.

_The Afghanistan war disaster raises questions about the ANZUS treaty and what we were really fighting for.

November 1, 2020

Company director is the one job where pay and performance don't matter (ABC Oct 27, 2020)

For generations, it has been the nation’s most exclusive club. Entry is strictly invitation only. And while acceptance is difficult, once you’re in, you’re in for the long haul.

February 26, 2020

LAURIE PATTON. School’s Out – Time for better governance and oversight in the education sector

The principal resigned, his deputy stood aside, but apparently the school board knew nothing.

July 15, 2021

The Forever War in Afghanistan is Far From Over

Simple-minded analogies with Vietnam in 1975 are misleading. The Taliban does not have anything like the military might of the North Vietnamese army. Moreover, Afghanistan is a mosaic of ethnic communities, tribes and regions, which the Taliban will struggle to rule whatever happens to the Kabul government.

May 6, 2021

More transparency needed around Uni’s audit into ‘foreign interference’

The University’s approach to ‘foreign interference’ puts its Chinese staff at risk. There’s a tension in the idea of the modern university, between the essentially borderless nature of knowledge production, and the rival claim that universities should serve the “national interest”.

February 28, 2020

MARK BEESON. What’s at stake in the Coronavirus crisis?

The Coronavirus is causing a political crisis as well as the more obvious medical variety. Some governments may not recover.

July 1, 2021

Grenville Cross-Closure of Apple Daily in Hong Kong and the political obsessions of one man .

It is always sad when people lose their jobs, and there is sympathy for the Apple Daily employees now facing redundancy. They include journalists from, for example, the entertainment, finance and sports desks, as well as engineers, printers and delivery workers. They have all fallen victim to the political obsessions of one man, the newspaper’s founder and Next Digital owner, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, and to the machinations of his inner circle

January 13, 2021

Flawed followership fosters failed leadership

The visual gallery of the front-liners who broke into the Capitol building is revealing. Long have Americans had a fascination for the cult of individual leadership. Uncritical and sycophantic admiration of a political leader only leads to endorsing their entitled autocracy.

December 10, 2020

Ending America’s Forever Wars (CounterPunch, Dec. 4)

There was a time, almost two decades ago, when America was not at war throughout the greater Middle East. Events in November 2020 boosted the hope that such a time might return sooner rather than later. That was when Trump installed a group of officials in the defence department who are apparently more responsive to his decision to wind down U.S. forever wars.

February 20, 2020

NOEL TURNBULL. The real ScoMo: A cross between Rasputin and Crocodile Dundee

Up until recently Morrison has managed one bit of very successful marketing – himself. But now the real ScoMo – the one seen in his career before politics – is becoming more apparent.

December 20, 2020

Israel's Nuclear Secrets That Peres Shared With Kissinger in 1965 (Dec 14, 2020)

There is something fascinating about decades-old, secret government documents. Sometimes the big secrets become unimportant, almost trivial, over time, because the lifespan of state secrets is usually short and time sensitive. But that’s not the case when the government decides that certain subjects have an unlimited lifespan. This is true of the dark history of Israel’s nuclear program.

March 26, 2020

MIKE SCRAFTON. Capability gaps: mean dogs and submarines

A flurry of submarine related commentaryhas followed a new Insight Economics report, _Australia’s future submarine: do we need a plan B?_ Its arguments for submarine capability, and for a Collins 2.0 class to fill in until the Attack class enter service, lean very heavily on a rather fuzzy concept; the capability gap.

February 20, 2020

LAURIE PATTON. Sports rorts shows need for public sector re-think

_The buck has to stop somewhere. Despite the prime minister’s best efforts when it comes to the so-called ‘sport rorts’ affair it’s unlikely to stop with a temporarily sacked minister.

March 20, 2020

ALEX MITCHELL: Defending TAFE is a winner for NSW Labor

Created by the Whitlam Government, TAFE tuition was free, offered trade and technical training to a generation of young men and women and upgraded education and career opportunity to all those who wanted it.

March 11, 2020

MELISSA CONLEY TYLER & PRAVIN SILVA: Building Asia-Australia Engagement through the New Colombo Plan

The New Colombo Plan has celebrated its first five years funding Australian students to study and work in the Indo-Pacific. As a high-profile Australian Government program, what has it achieved? And what do we know about its wider impact?

March 11, 2020

ROSEMARY O'GRADY. The Pell Appeal : A Hail Mary Pass

The Full Bench of the High Court sitting in Canberra this week is listed to hear the Appeal in M112/19 Pell and The Queen on Wednesday 11th March.

March 10, 2020

MIKE SCRAFTON. When to take the military option off the table

Many of the Chinese regime’s practises are repugnant to democratic values and human rights. That distaste and disapproval doesn’t warrant Australian governments pursuing a crusade or adopting an irrational strategic policy based on fighting a war with China, either in the company of the US or alone.

February 5, 2020

ANNE TWOMEY. What is the 'palace letters' case and what will the High Court consider?(The Conversation 4.2.2020)

_The dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 remains as controversial as ever. Its last chapter is to be decided in the High Court when it hears a case brought by historian Jenny Hocking seeking public access to the letters between the governor-general, Sir John Kerr, and the queen.

March 30, 2020

Coronavirus pandemic: sceptical question marks make for better policy than excitable exclamation marks

When did the world’s media and politicians become collective versions of Lance Corporal Jones in the British comedy series Dad’s Army, screaming ‘Don’t panic! Don’t panic!’? Colour me contrarian, but since the 2003 Iraq war, my working motto has been: when you come across excitable exclamation marks, substitute sceptical question marks and you’ll be right.

March 12, 2020

DAILAN PUGH. We are in Serious Trouble when Rainforests Burn.

_A third of northern NSW’s ancient and irreplaceable rainforests burnt last year. Buffers need to be established, and weed control undertaken, to increase their resilience.

March 9, 2020

ALAN BOYD.-Spy versus spy as China eyes US bases in Australia.( Asia Times 2.3.2020)

China conducts deepwater surveys near secretive base US and Australian subs and ships use in South China Sea.

February 18, 2020

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Don't rely on evidence in climate change.

The Coalition war is over climate change and whether the city-based moderates or the reactionary rural rump will prevail.

February 4, 2020

GEORGE BROWNING. Trump's definition of peace in Israel

The strong prevail – the rest submit

May 19, 2018

The Vicar of Bray

The Vicar of Bray has become a cultural byword for political expediency, hypocrisy, and insincerity. He changed his allegiances time and time again. Can you think of an Australian Minister who reminds you of the Vicar of Bray?

February 26, 2020

JACK WATERFORD. Sherlocks lost the plot on child sex abuse years ago.

Sundry crime bodies in the home affairs portfolio, operating in the new co-ordinated mode, are proving indefatigable in their search for extra powers to conduct cyber warfare against Australian criminals.

November 15, 2020

The US election - a tragic comedy in which the hero - democracy - loses

Historians may define the seminal moment when a once great nation began its decline, as the moment when a grandiose narcissist, with a fondness for crude invective, ascended to the US Presidency.

March 20, 2020

JOHN CARLIN. The Corona Virus and Camus' "The Plague".

_Camus concludes that “in the midst of so many afflictions” what one learns is that “in man there are more things worthy of admiration than of contempt.”

February 26, 2019

NOEL TURNBULL. Alarmed with due cause.

As Australia is heading for the mother of fear campaigns for the next election it is significant that in the USA – home of fear, loathing and negative campaigns – voters are becoming alarmed about the most fundamental threat (other than nuclear war precipitated by Trump sitting on the button) to the future of our world.

April 18, 2021

A Minneapolis community and systematic racism

While I think would be a conceit for outsiders to imagine the lives of the residents of George Floyd’s neighbourhood, the trial in Minneapolis does however provide a limited glimpse of a lived experience which, other than for many indigenous citizens, is alien to most Australians.

March 18, 2020

MILES LITTLE. Coronavirus - more than an ethical problem

There are support groups springing up at community level in various places, offering contactless food delivery for self-isolating people and for the elderly left without carers, and regular telephone calls for the isolated.

March 6, 2020

JAMES GRUBER. China has effectively contained corona virus.

It’s now clear that draconian measures imposed in response to the crisis have worked.

June 16, 2021

Is the expanding medical workforce meeting changing community needs?

After around 20 years of expansion in medical workforce supply (Geffen, 2014), what are the key issues facing the medical workforce today? When producing more doctors, it is essential to ensure the additional doctors are used to meet the population need for healthcare, rather than reinforcing a paradox of overtreatment and overdiagnosis for some of the population existing alongside undertreatment for those most in need. This includes trying to get the ‘right’ balance of the medical workforce between urban and rural areas, between specialties, and between generalism and specialised care. Flexibility and adaptation are central to this, and are key ongoing themes of the new National Medical Workforce Strategy.

August 19, 2021

Taliban Vow 'No Revenge' Against Fellow Afghans Who Worked With US Forces

During their first press conference since retaking control of Afghanistan, Taliban representatives on Tuesday vowed not to seek retribution against fellow Afghans who worked with U.S. occupation forces and said the new government will respect the rights of women—with the caveat that they must adhere to the group’s interpretation of Sharia law.

February 19, 2020

Copyright Laws: Corporate Greed, Legal Farce

The operation of Copyright Laws amounts to a giant con, a legal farce and an opportunity for corporate greed.

September 8, 2022

Tomorrow’s adults want democracy ‘but not the western kind’

The people of Africa are joining folk around the world to speak out against the policy of insisting that western liberal democracy is the only acceptable form of government.

May 19, 2021

Biden should summon the courage to reverse course on China

If Kennan were alive today, he would be shocked to see the US spending $5tn on unnecessary wars, while the bottom 50 percent of Americans have seen their incomes stagnate for decades. There is a “sea of despair” among white working classes.

April 5, 2021

In America, a cancer is eating democracy from the inside, and China has clocked the weakness

China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, got uncomfortably close to the truth when he lectured American officials about creating turmoil by invading other countries, having a “Cold War mentality” and trying to impose its democracy on the world.

November 8, 2020

Why Trump Can’t Afford to Lose (New Yorker Nov 2, 2020)

The President has survived one impeachment, twenty-six accusations of sexual misconduct, and an estimated four thousand lawsuits. That run of good luck may well end, perhaps brutally, if Joe Biden wins.

May 20, 2021

Standard piano keys are too wide for too many. But alternatively sized keyboards are on the way.

The piano is the instrument most preferred by music students. It is often the instrument of their dreams: playing beautiful music perfectly and displaying extraordinary pianistic athleticism. However, the conventional keyboard – with its fixed key width – is unsuitable for many, dooming them to a future of unmet hopes. We can’t change our hands but we can change the keyboard!

June 20, 2022

A memory jogger that China and Australia once were allies. ( A slightly amended post update from September 7, 2014)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought to draw Australia into his enmity towards China and he did so in the Australian parliament recently. Unfortunately Tony Abbott allowed himself and Australia to be drawn into Shinzo Abe’s agenda of hostility to China which is not in Australia’s interest.

April 1, 2020

TREVOR PARMENTER. The new eugenics

Are we about to face the era of a ‘new eugenics’ movement or is it simply a return to the ‘old eugenics’ which we thought had disappeared shortly after the end of World War II? The health crisis may force us to decide who to prioritise and on what basis.

March 4, 2020

JONATHAN PAUL MARSHALL. Carbon Capture and Storage yet Again.

Despite the jaded history of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Australia, the Government has announced it will fund it rather than Renewables.

February 13, 2020

MARK BUCKLEY. Sheer Hypocricy - No Joke

The Morrison Government is withholding funds to the Commonwealth Secretariat “unless flaws in how it operates and hands out lucrative contracts are fixed.” You could not make this up!

May 17, 2021

Israel Is Carrying Out Mass Murder, Aided and Abetted by the US

Israel is not exercising “the right to defend itself” in the occupied Palestinian territories. It is carrying out mass murder. It is a war crime. The United States is not an honest broker for peace but has funded, enabled and defended Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people. Israel is not defending the rule of law. Israel is not a democracy. It is an apartheid state.

January 29, 2020

GEOFF HARCOURT and PETER KRIESLER. Secular economic stagnation around the world

“Secular stagnation” refers to the long-run (or secular) tendency for growth rates to stagnate in advanced capitalist economies – associated with high unemployment and excess capacity.

April 2, 2018

EAST ASIA FORUM. Moritomo scandal miseries

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has led a rollercoaster, but often charmed, political life. After being forced to resign prematurely during his first stint as prime minister in September 2007 due to a stinging July 2007 upper house election defeat and a bowel illness, Abe managed a rare political comeback. In December 2012 he led his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to victory and back to government.

February 5, 2020

PRIYA CHACKO. India’s changing and Australia’s paying no attention(EAF 1.2.2020)

With bilateral trade negotiations stalling and India choosing not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, attention has shifted away from economics and towards defence and security cooperation as the key to building a closer relationship between Australia and India.

January 4, 2021

Research reveals shocking detail on how Australia’s environmental scientists are being silenced

Ecologists and conservation experts in government, industry and universities are routinely constrained in communicating scientific evidence on threatened species, mining, logging and other threats to the environment, our new research has found.

March 20, 2020

WANNING SUN.-China’s journey through Covid-19: A tale of one city and one family. (ABC Religion and Ethics 18.3.2020)

A difficult question is whether we can achieve similar results(as China) without the heavy-handed top-down control and significant incursions into individual liberty and freedom as we have seen in the City Y.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal