October 12, 2021

Partisan political favouritism on trial in Berejiklian's ICAC case

When former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian faces an ICAC hearing, we might finally have a debate on whether we can call politicians doing favours for political or personal mates “corruption”.

June 7, 2022

How Australias new leaders really see Israel and the Palestinians

In the recent election, aided by a febrile Murdoch press, the right-wing campaign to smear Australia’s opposition as ‘antisemitic’ and ‘anti-Israel’ reached fever pitch. With Labor now in power, it’s time to set the record straight.

June 24, 2022

Ann Wright: Largest ever US and Nato naval war drills in Pacific a threat to both peace and marine life

Military posturing in the Asia-Pacific also risks nuclear war and the potential extinction of the human species.

August 28, 2021

Sunday environmental round up.

Almost half of all children globally are at Extremely High risk of suffering harmful consequences of climate change and other environmental shocks. Frogs and pollinators are at the sharp end of the loss of biodiversity. Fast fashion: first world behaviour with third world environmental and social consequences. Third world?? bah, who cares?

June 10, 2022

Weekly roundup Saturday 11 June

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

March 5, 2024

Penny Wong rattles the China can

It doesnt take much to encourage Penny Wong, sporting her deeply concerned frown, to rattle the China can a can she gave a good shake to yesterday.

June 6, 2022

Did $863 secure a Labor majority in the Reps?

How cheap is democracy? Improbable as it might seem,$863, spent on Facebook, might have given the ALP the 76th seat it needed to govern in its own right. What?

January 16, 2021

It's surely time to come clean on Australia's 1950s' nuclear plans

Why was Britain allowed to break its agreement that it would not conduct thermonuclear tests in Australia?

June 12, 2022

DAVEY HELLER - The Australian election: the working class moves leftward under conditions of crisis

The Federal election showed that despite appearances, including the anti-vax rallies and the best efforts of the press, the working class has shifted to the left rather than the right during the last two years of crisis. The election delivered a severe blow to the project of consolidating far right politics through electoral processes. The Liberal Party is hopelessly split due to the ruling class divisions over climate change. It has effectively lost its base in the upper middle classes of the cities. The far-right minor party vote largely did not eventuate.

June 22, 2022

RYAN YOUNG. Elon Musk's gambit: Twitter and Free Speech

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has sharpened philosophical and epistemic differences over speech and content moderation. He will create an interesting natural experiment between different moderation approaches on platforms, if he is successful in changing the philosophical attitudes at Twitter.

June 15, 2022

When reality trumps good manners: The last frontier of tolerance

Smothered in evidence. Floundering in the sea of your own haemorrhaging ego. Repeating the same drivel over and over again. Your game is tired. Were all bored. We see through you.

October 14, 2020

Bowling Tips from John Howard

Former Prime Minister John Howard loved cricket as much as he loved war-making. Problem was he was terrible at the former and successful at the latter.

June 5, 2022

Peter Dutton 2.0 The re-imagining

Peter Dutton and more importantly Murdoch understand that for Dutton to succeed he must radically change his public persona to reveal the real Peter; one who lives in a wonderful family environment where his self-deprecating sense of humour is witness to his true character. And there has been plenty of support for this make-over with Sky News and their after-dark crowd of sycophants giving him every opportunity to sell this new image. Sure, he has a tough side but he has a softer side that people would see if he became PM.

May 15, 2022

David Morawetz-A hung parliament is chaotic"... or is it?

Have you received recently in your mailbox a card headed Voting Independent risks a chaotic hung parliament with weak leadership? I have. And its just plain wrong.

April 27, 2018

EMIRZA ADI SYAILENDRA. Indonesias elite divided on China

The diffuse nature of policymaking in Indonesia discourages its leaders from departing from the countrys status quo policy towards Beijing. The status quo aims to allow Jakarta to have its cake and eat it too that is, enjoy close relations with Beijing while preserving its strategic autonomy in ASEAN.

March 3, 2019

GARRY EVERETT. Sex Only??

The recent Hollywood movie, On the basis of sex, tells the story of the first successful court case argued by Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 9th Circuit Court. The subject matter was discrimination by the Federal Tax Laws, against a man who was denied a tax concession as his mothers carer, on the grounds that only women were regarded as carers. It was the early 1960s, and one wonders how such an antiquated view could have still prevailed in the USA legal system.

July 5, 2018

DAVID KANG. Reasons to be optimistic about North Korea (East Asia Forum)

_There has been a torrent of whining about the TrumpKim summit. Critics are calling it little more than a photo opportunity for a dictator, and claim that nothing was agreed while North Koreas horrific human rights abuses were overlooked. Sceptics claim that the agreement is the same as previous agreements between the United States and North Korea, that Kim will never change and North Korea will never denuclearise, and that stopping USROK war games will reduce US military readiness in the event of conflic_t.

December 19, 2020

Antisemitism claims mask a reign of political and cultural terror across Europe (Blog, Dec 11, 2020)

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has run a fascinatinglong reportthis week offering a disturbing snapshot of the political climate rapidly emerging across Europe on the issue of antisemitism.

September 6, 2022

Uyghurs and the Bachelet report

As UN high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet has released the report of her office into humanrights concerns in Chinas Xinjiang province. Amongst other things it accuses officials in the province oftorturing Uyghurs detained for suspected dissident crimes.

June 1, 2022

Michael Edwards-The unfortunate irrelevance of the arts in Australia

Objective and anecdotal evidence shows that activity in the Australian arts sector declined significantly during the pandemic. Performances closed, venues shut, exhibitions were cancelled and many artists were forced to abandon their artistic careers hopefully temporarily. The sectors demise produced the occasional news item, but otherwise it has aroused little reaction from the public or public policy makers.

December 19, 2020

Even the Opposition Believes Venezuelas Election Was Legitimate. A failed US coup attempt

Before the National Assembly elections on December 6 in Venezuela, the United States government began a campaign to delegitimize the process.

May 27, 2022

The window for Albanese to assert Australia's sovereignty is closing

Its far too early for a running commentary on the Albanese government. The new Prime Minister handled himself as well as could be expected in Tokyo and dispatching the Foreign Minister to the Pacific while her Chinese counterpart is in the region is a good move. Hopefully, the new Cabinet will bring a new perspective to foreign and strategic policy before being dragged down into the delusional world of the military/security/intelligence establishment.

July 20, 2022

Sri Lanka and Green Policy

Sri Lanka’s food problems do not stem entirely from Green Policies or Organic Farming as is being alleged in some media outlets, but from general economic and external pressures.

May 29, 2022

Will Ukraine break the back of the beleaguered US Indo-Pacific strategy?

Implementation of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy is already facing significant obstacles. Now divisions over Russias invasion of Ukraine are further undermining US diplomatic efforts.

October 6, 2020

Julia Gillard and those Military Funerals

While sitting in on 24 soldier funerals did Gillard ask herself the same question, in substance, is it worth it?. No doubt each time she would have given herself the same answer yes.

January 24, 2019

JOHN MENADUE. Corporate failure in Australia. They just don't get it.

There is a growing and unfortunate litany of corporate failures in Australia and not just the banks and energy suppliers. There is wage theft on a large scale. Instead of addressing their own obvious failures the BCA accuses its critics of business bashing and waging class war.

As Warren Buffett put it ’there is class war all right, but it is my class, the rich class,that is making war and we are winning it.'

Senior business people will just not ‘stick to their knitting’ and properly and competently run their businesses.Instead they attack their critics and the unions. They fiddle while capitalism burns.

They seem unable to understand that capitalism is under serious challenge because of the growing divide in society. They show no sign that the unfairness and inequality that capitalism has spawned must be urgently tackled. They just don’t get it.

One continuing failure has been an unwillingness by our corporate sector to equip itself for the Asian Century. Many of our large corporations and their senior executives have scant knowledge and interest in our rapidly growing region.

January 25, 2018

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Defence policies and alliances have become a new religion. Part 5 of 5 : White Papers, Strategic Reviews, Papal Bulls and Encyclicals

Government pronouncements in Australia, especially in the fields of Strategy and National Security, it is claimed, are determined by scientific rationality and definitely not configured according to religious belief. This is both fraudulent and a dangerous conceit: religion, has not been banished; indeed, the present reeks of ecclesiastical history and religion (more specifically, its deformation, religiosity). Accordingly, the proposition is that a more politically accurate understanding of Australias mindset is to be afforded by an interrogation of five aspects: the present state of world politics in history; the acutely deranged state of the present; the emergence of the Papal Presidency in the US; the religious state of the Australia-US Alliance; and White Papers and their like as religious documents.

July 25, 2020

Where are the most disadvantaged parts of Australia? New research shows its not just income that matters (The Conversation 13.7.20)

New research on disadvantage in Australia has found the gap between rich and poor is very wide in Sydney, while much of Queensland struggles with educational disadvantage and regional NSW and Victoria are both more disadvantaged when it comes to health.

October 31, 2020

What does loving China mean? The Communist Party decides (SCMP Oct 25, 2020)

_My country, right or wrongseems to be the mantra to which Chinese people must adhere whether viaindoctrination in schools or by command of the national security law. However, noted the British writer G.K. Chesterton in a 1901 essay, that phrase was the last thing that a true patriot would say. Patriotism involved principles and behaviour, not to be conflated with the specific actions of ones national government.

August 22, 2020

Iran's pact with China is bad news for the West (Foreign Policy 9 August 2020)

Tehrans new strategic partnership with Beijing will give the Chinese a strategic foothold and strengthen Irans economy and regional clout.

March 5, 2024

Australian Prime Minister referred to ICC for complicity in genocide

The Australian government and its most senior officials have both failed to prevent or respond to the genocide committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and been complicit in the carrying out of this genocide in a manner which falls squarely within Article 25 (3)(c) and/or (d) of the Rome Statute of the ICC, state Birchgrove Legal in a communiqu to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

September 7, 2022

A final word on NATO expansion and Ukraine

Mr Jon Richardson has written a piece commenting on some of the points that I made in my critique of an earlier piece by him, and while I think exchanges often reach the point of exhaustion, some of his comments do warrant a response.

August 10, 2022

Monthly digest on housing affordability and homelessness

This is the latest monthly digest of articles, research reports, policy announcements and other material about housing stress/affordability and homelessness.

April 9, 2022

William Xu and Li Bingcun: Three senior Australian judges show confidence in HK's legal system

Three Australian judgesWilliam Gummow, Anthony Gleeson and Robert Frenchstated in an email to the South China Morning Post that they support the judges of the Court of Final Appeal in their commitment to judicial independence. The Canadian judge, Beverley McLachlin, also intends to stay on, according to media reports.

June 10, 2021

Pentagon Papers failed to cure servile pro-war media

The mainstream media nowadays often show more distrust and indignation about peace than about war.

December 19, 2020

Waiting with hope for Church renewal.

We begin to die the day we dont act on things that matter.

Dr Martin Luther King Jnr

July 19, 2021

John Mant remembered

John Mant, who died on 10 July 2021 aged 84, leaves a legacy which is still in the making, especially in the field of urban planning.

April 27, 2018

ROGER COHEN. The insanity along the Gaza fence

Israel has the right to defend its borders, but not use lethal force against unarmed protesters.

June 8, 2022

Urging renewable transition, UN Chief says humanity set to 'Incinerate our only home'

“If we act together, the renewable energy transformation can be the peace project of the 21st century,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres.

December 18, 2018

IAN VERRENDER. Josh Frydenberg's first MYEFO will be declared a triumph, but why did it take so long to fix the books?

Better late than never.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this morning officially will unsheathe the first federal Budget surplus in more than a decade.

April 14, 2022

US-CHINA compromise in the South China Sea could be the basis of a larger strategic framework

_China has already proposed a new model of great power relations implying equality and shared responsibility in world affairs. To avoid military conflict, the U.S. must accommodate to some extent Chinas legitimate interests and aspirations by sharing powerwhen, on what issues, how, and how much are to be negotiated.

August 15, 2020

40 Years of Climate Warnings Ignored by Australian Politicians

Coronavirus will have a temporary effect on much of humanity but global warming will have a permanent impact on the whole of humanity. Our current federal government relies heavily on science to deal with the former but largely rejects it for the latter.

February 15, 2020

PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 16 February 2020

Migration is the focus this week, particularly within country migration, with stories about human migrations in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Asia and the USA, bird migrations in Australia and bee migrations in the USA.

September 6, 2022

With Najib Razak behind bars, could Malaysias corruption fight be winnable at last?

For the first time ever, an ex-Malaysian PM is serving time in prison for a criminal offence and Najib Razak still faces multiple other allegations. Some see the verdict as just the tip of the iceberg and a victory in the fight to clean up the countrys politics, but Mahathirs not so sure.

September 6, 2022

Our primary care system needs a philosophical and structural revolution (part two)

_One of the unique disadvantages we must deal with as we try and integrate our delivery of health care is the division of responsibility for Hospital care and Primary Care between our State and Federal governments. The tension created, largely around money, makes the desired smooth integration of all health care needs ,in a patient focussed way, impossible. No reform is more important than abandoning this mess by creating a single funder model for Australias health care.

April 25, 2021

'Exclusive survey' from company with strong links to Liberal Party provides great fodder for Nine's newspapers

While countries around the world are targeting green hydrogen production, Energy Minister Angus Taylor is spruiking clean hydrogen, which keeps fossil fuels in the game.

November 14, 2020

Andrew Leigh and disconnectedness good on documentation but poor on explanation

There has been reduction in acquaintance with neighbours, volunteering, giving to charity, blood donation, membership of organisations such as Scouts and unions, satisfaction with democracy, and number of trusted friends.

September 28, 2021

A people's inquiry about the cost of the US alliance

Independent Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) is currently facilitating a peoples inquiry exploring the costs and consequences of the US alliance and US-led wars and exploring the alternatives.

September 7, 2022

Why are the Greens opposing the Voice?

As the Greens flirt with a serious loss of electoral support over its policy on the Voice to Parliament, the puzzling question is why they are doing it.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal