June 17, 2021

An Agricultural Visa Would Change Australian Society for the worse

After years of resisting creation of an Agricultural Visa, Prime Minister Morrison has announced we will now have an Agricultural Visa for farmworkers from the 10 ASEAN countries. This may be the final step in Australia becoming a low skill guest worker country, something we had resisted for decades.

The article below has been republished from a previous entry on Pearls and Irritations on 14 November 2018.

August 29, 2020

What a post-war contrast Germany and Japan; Angela Merkel and Shinzo Abe (REPOST from Aug 31, 2017)

For all its atrocities in the 1930s and 1940s, Germany has become an exemplar country promoting prosperity and peace. Angela Merkel stands out as a world leader more than any other. By contrast, Japan has again become a divisive country in its region and its Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has been acquiescing and promoting an ultra-nationalist cause. Germany quickly came to terms with its past. Japan has refused to.

March 18, 2020

JUDITH WHITE. Arts budgets in the age of catastrophe: the case of NSW

In the panic over the coronavirus, arts organisation are pleading for support as performances and festivals are cancelled, museums and galleries close and whole areas of the country are threatened with lockdown.

January 1, 2019

ABUL RIZVI. The Best of 2018: How the 2017-18 migration program was delivered.

The report on the 2017-18 migration program has now been publicly released, more than two and a half months after an exclusive to The Australian newspaper and a short time after the Home Affairs department appeared before Senate estimates. As reported in The Australian, the outcome was indeed 162,417, over 27,500 below the ceiling of 190,000 by far the largest program shortfall in at least 50 years.

March 12, 2020

ALEX MITCHELL: NSW Parliament is a politicians tuck shop

All Liberal and National MPs in the NSW Parliament get a prize. Their basic salary is topped up by appointing them as junior ministers, assistant ministers, parliamentary secretaries or committee chairpersons.

March 12, 2020

JINHEE KIM. COVID-19: Lessons from South Koreas quick response

In mid-February the number of cases of COVID-19 in South Korea suddenly increased and there are now over 5,000 confirmed cases. As a result South Korea has instituted containment strategies, designated clinics for mass screening and established over 200 public relief hospitals. How does Australias response compare?

February 11, 2020

NICK DEANE. The climate crisis and the need for peace.

_The climate crisis increases the likelihood of war and refugee flows.

February 13, 2020

ALEX MITCHELL. NSW Liberals torn apart by factional Game of Thrones

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her Coalition partners are fond of declaring that__they are free of factions. But factionalism is alive and well.

February 24, 2020

WILLIAM BRIGGS. Assange when telling the truth becomes a crime

_The campaign by Julian Assangess lawyers to stop his extradition and the support that his campaign has won and is winning across the globe shows just how torn the fabric of our democracies has become.

February 20, 2020

ALEX MITCHELL: How NSW is becoming a corporate autocracy

Since winning the State Election almost one year ago, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has remodelled herself as the listening premier who wants to reconnect her Coalition Government with voters. Is it working?

July 26, 2022

Hope for a better Australian policy toward Southeast Asia?

America has been trying to use Southeast Asian countries and ASEAN in its contest with China for regional dominance andAustralia has long followed Americas lead. But now there is a glimmer of hope that at least the Australian approach towards Southeast Asia may change for the better.

July 25, 2020

Whether a ratings chase or ideological war, News Corps coronavirus coverage is dangerous (The Conversation 22.7.20)

Rupert Murdochs News Corporation… has become a clear and present danger to the welfare of Australian society. What a contrast between The Daily Telegraphs coverage of the Ruby Princess debacle (Coalition government in New South Wales) and the Herald Suns coverage of the hotel quarantine debacle (Labor government in Victoria).

April 2, 2020

RICHARD HIL. Covid-19 and the conspiracy theory freight train

It didnt take long, did it? Yes; its off and running the Covid-19 freight train of conspiracy theories.

December 28, 2020

Israels Gulf coup: How Palestinians lost their Arab allies (Dec 22, 2020)

For decades, Palestinians forgot a crucial mission. Focused on Western audiences and outflanked by an increasingly sophisticated Israel hasbara machine, they failed to settle in the hearts and minds of Gulf Arabs

February 26, 2020

IAN WEBSTER. The retreat from patients, a letter to young doctors

The idea that the pressures of patient care cause doctors to withdraw from direct clinical work has been in the background of my observations of my colleagues and their work since the 1970s.

August 5, 2022

Gilding the cage of suburbia: farewelling Neighbours

_The statistics of Australias longest running drama series about sickeningly idyllic suburbia will interest soap show boffins. It lasted 5,955 episodes over 37 seasons, starting in 1985.

February 27, 2020

JERRY ROBERTS. Labor's deadline is near. Do we have an Opposition?

_The Senate Economics Legislation Committee is due to submit its report on the Currency (Restrictions on the Use of Cash) Bill 2019 on Friday 28 February. Labor Senators on the committee have led critical scrutiny of the proposed legislation.

March 23, 2020

ROGER SCOTT. Queensland by-elections: Tale of Two Cities

There is so much else happening, Queenslanders and the media can be excused for being uninterested in two by-elections which are scheduled to be held alongside state-wide local government elections on March 28. But the future of both major party groupings could be dramatically affected if there is a viral-like surge of opinion away from the norm.

September 22, 2022

Learning from people who are homeless

A homeless person’s life, burdened, as it often is, by physical and mental illness, addiction, and social disadvantage, can lead us to think their life is meaningless and of no value; but we can be so wrong, they have much to teach us.

May 26, 2022

Bachelet in China: Will the truth about Xinjiang be uncovered?

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet arrived in China on 22 May, the first such high-level visit since 2005. During her six days in China she will visit the far west province of Xinjiang where the Uighur minority people have been subject to several rights violations, as admitted by her office last year. Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on 22 May that Bachelets visit was private and was to enhance exchanges and cooperation and promote the international cause of human rights.

May 5, 2022

The Philippines another Marcos presidency

After a long and tortuous journey, even for the Philippines, the elections outcome is in little doubt. Bong Bong Marcos (BBM as he is known) is so far ahead in the opinion polls you can put down the glasses and his running mate - Sara Duterte (Mayor of Davao and the incumbent Presidents daughter) - likewise in the Vice Presidential race. What lies ahead?

It has been a quintessentially Philippines process getting to this point. The eventual pairing of BBM and Sara Duterte was certainly not what Duterte Sr. had in mind at the outset. He wanted his daughter to run for the Presidency in her own right and was lining up his still considerable influence to support her. But she has not always been on the same wave length as her father. He initially decided he would run as a Vice Presidential candidate alongside his long time chief advisor ( Bong Go) against his daughter but then switched to running for a Senate seat only to back out of that later.

October 24, 2020

Conflicted cuts at the Audit Office (Inside Story Oct 20, 2020)

The federal agency that revealed the sports rorts scandal has had its funding cut again.

June 26, 2021

The Senate's nuclear waste dilemma

The Australian Senate is poised to vote on a controversial nuclear waste dump plan. It is an issue of national concern, but it has been pitched by the government as a matter only for the 824 eligible voters of the Kimba Shire.

March 22, 2020

JAMES GRUBER. Managing our fears. Some practical advice.

Fear. It’s everywhere and palpable. Fear for the health of ourselves and our families.

May 25, 2021

The struggle for real reform in the Australian Catholic Church: Catholics and their bishops are at odds

Australians should be concerned about what is happening currently in the Catholic church. Catholics are engaged in a review of their church in this country, yet there is growing evidence the process is being manipulated.

April 21, 2021

Rio Tinto needs more than Gorilla glue to repair its reputation

One of the challenges of issue management is the perception by some critics that it might be more about looking good rather than doing good.That’s certainly the test facing Rio Tinto attempting to piece together its reputation, shattered by the high-explosive used to destroy 46,000-year-old aboriginal caves in Western Australia’s Juukan Gorge.

April 2, 2020

JULIET BENNETT. The Covid-19 catalyst? From industrial to ecological civilization

While the Covid-19 crisis threatens our lives today, the climate crisis threatens our lives today and for hundreds of years to come. As we mitigate the Covid-19 crisis, can we mitigate the climate crisis as well?

July 24, 2021

Sunday environmental round up.

Developing nations issue a last chance challenge to rich countries in the lead up to the Glasgow climate change meeting. Exxons climate action cynicism exposed by insiders. EU wants all new cars to be EVs by 2035. Alan Kohler calls for more climate change risk analysis. Street art proclaims Dont Frack the NT in Melbourne.

March 17, 2020

PETER TAIT, BETH SLATYER, SUE INGRAM and BOB DOUGLAS. Awakening Democracy.

How can we elect political representatives who are committed to the interests of the whole community, and are not influenced by vested interests? _

November 12, 2020

What it means to be a Palestinian child in Israeli military court

Each year 500700 Palestinian children under the age of 18 are arrested, the majority of the children are tried in military courts that do not meet international fair trial standards.

September 15, 2022

Symon Hill: 'Who elected him' and the arrest that followed

I was arrested after asking who elected him? at the proclamation of King Charles.

What other freedoms can be suppressed in the name of monarchy? Who else will be arrested under the vile Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act?

July 16, 2022

Robert Hunziker: Chomsky and the United Nations warn of collapse

Its entirely possible that doomsayers of the world, though widely ridiculed, could be on target about the prospects for global societal collapse. But, of course, when? According to a recent Noam Chomsky interview, its an ongoing grind that will end with a thud.

March 15, 2020

NOEL TURNBULL. Credulity, stupidity and two types of infection

As the coronavirus infection spreads it is hard not to think that it might be a good idea for one of the recently infected, Peter Dutton, to be isolated on either Christmas or Manus Islands rather than one of the various properties he owns.

November 16, 2020

The Quad: Security Cooperation Among the United States, Japan, India, and Australia Overview (Congressional Research Service Nov 2, 2020)

In October 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his three counterparts from Australia, India, and Japan convened an in-person meeting in Tokyo.

February 24, 2020

ANDREW PODGER. In defence of an apolitical, professional public service( The Mandarin 24.2.2020)

I cannot let Laurie Pattonsopinion piece go unchallenged. It is a recipe of despair in its dismissal of fundamental principles of responsible government.

September 14, 2022

Immigration Inquiry - A new beginning?

At last, a government that recognises where immigration and the contribution of immigration sits in our national life. For some ten years we have endured the demonisation of migration, the systematic downgrading of immigration policies and procedures that has left us worse off.

April 6, 2021

To Halt '30-Year Race to the Bottom,' Yellen Calls for Global Minimum Tax on Corporations

“A high global minimum tax can change the face of globalizationby making its main winners (multinational companies) pay more in taxes, instead of them paying less and less.”

August 1, 2020

America's drive to war with Australia as a willing participant.

The world has moved a step closer to war. US secretary of state Mike Pompeos latest outrageous speech has signalled a change of policy and Australia has once again willingly agreed to aid and abet the USA in its provocative and dangerous actions.

March 1, 2020

NOEL TURNBULL. COVID-19 communication in a pandemic

Most governments are hopeless at communicating risks except for the imaginary ones they conjure up to attack their opponents.

March 25, 2020

JOHN TONS. Nature Bats Last

Australias summer of discontent has morphed into an autumn of fear as we bunker down to protect ourselves from coronavirus. Nature is reminding us that she is not to be trifled with, that she cannot be ignored.

September 23, 2022

Weekly roundup Saturday 24 September

Weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy.

September 29, 2022

The rise of Trussonomics

Its impossible to know whether the new British Prime Minister is genuinely serious about constructive policy or not. She is certainly interested in greasing palms and calming the storms, if only to delay the inevitable. Having proven herself the shallowest of candidates to succeed her disgraced, not wholly banished predecessor, Liz Truss has leapt into economic policy as her starting point.

September 27, 2022

Pro-population increase advocates blind to sustainability crisis

Any new inquiry into Australias migration program needs to assess the full costs and benefits of population growth, especially the costs to our environment and the risks of collapse.

June 14, 2020

JOHN MENADUE. Michael Mullins as Guest Editor

For three weeks from Monday 15 June, Michael Mullins will be Guest Editor of Pearls and Irritations. Michael was formerly Editor of Eureka Street.

July 17, 2022

Fighting to the last Ukrainian

_Ukraine is a pawn in the US struggle against Russia

July 5, 2022

The unlimited, and unaccountable powers weve given police

The US Supreme Courts decision to overrule the Roe v Wade principle that the right to an abortion is a privacy right guaranteed by the American constitution has magnified the fears of pro-choice citizens. They are worried that in the red states that have already criminalised abortion, right-to-life zealots, including those in law enforcement, will be anxious to search out and punish those breaching these state-based laws. The text of some of these laws, and the rhetoric of some of their proponents, suggest that the concern is by no means simply paranoid.

September 21, 2022

Australia and Southeast Asia: Australia needs a new plan?

At a time when Australia needs an innovative rethinking of its policies towards Southeast Asia, this will not be delivered by the recently announced Defence Strategic Review.

February 16, 2020

How the OTIS group did Albanese a favour

A group of disgruntled federal Labor politicians known as the OTIS group and dubbed by some the ‘outside the inner sanctum group’ has helped Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese in a number of ways they probably didnt intend.

July 11, 2020

IAN FRASER. Banks, master criminals of the Universe (Literary Review February 2020)

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal