July 6, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. Why I am still a Catholic

Cardinal John Henry Newman once said that there is nothing as ugly as the Catholic Church yet nothing as beautiful. It is hard to see that beauty at this moment. With sexual abuse it is time for sackcloth and ashes. But I will hang on.

May 23, 2015

Pope Francis and Raul Castro - The Jesuit Alumni.

Current Affairs

If you continue talking like this, sooner or later I will begin to pray again and return to the Catholic Church.

That’s what Raul Castro confessed to having said to Pope Francis during their May 10 private meeting at the Vatican.

The comment underscored a dramatic rapprochement between the two men, which some will point to as evidence that the Argentine pope is politically naive or worse, that he’s really a communist. But to do so would be to commit as big a mistake as those that see him as a liberal.

September 16, 2019

MIKE SCRAFTON. The Afghanistan failure

President Trumps muddled and reactive approach to foreign and strategic policy regularly distracts the media and commentators away from the geopolitical consequences of Americas actions under his stewardship. The coverage of the negotiations with the Taliban and proposed withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan is a perfect example. After eighteen years of war the US is understandably keen to extricate themselves from a costly conflict. When they do peace will continue to elude the Afghans.

August 6, 2015

Jane Tolman. Facing up to dementia.

As I reflect on the ongoing complaints at federal and state level about our ailing health system, widespread community concerns and a medical culture which is still often hospital- and doctor- centric, I wonder how we will be able to sort it all out.

In the 20th Century, when average life expectancies were in the 60s and 70s, we died from a range of illnesses, but often from vascular diseases (heart attacks and strokes) and cancers. With our increasing longevity, the 20th Century diseases are being replaced by the neurodegenerative diseases of the 21st Century. These include Parkinsons, motor neurone disease, the dementias (Alzheimers being the most common one in Australia) and many more less well known. They involve physical and very often cognitive elements, marked by increasing frailty and dependence. Impairment of mobility, balance and all the senses (hearing, vision, taste, smell and touch) are common features. They are all progressive.

November 4, 2014

Richard Woolcott. Whitlam on the world stage: Courage, vision and wit

Gough Whitlam had political courage and a vision for Australia. A forward-looking, pragmatic realist, he sought to reshape Australia’s approach to the countries of North and Southeast Asia, the region in which we are forever situated.

It was stimulating to be a senior official in the then Department of Foreign Affairs when Gough became prime minister on 2 December 1972 and the winds of change swept so forcefully through this country. Three days after his election, Whitlam said:

June 27, 2017

JIM COOMBS. Three Government Ministers in Contempt

For a start wh__at the three Federal ministers did was attack the judiciary in Victoria, for which they got a right bollocking from the Chief Justice of Victoria. Some sagely assert that they breached the doctrine of the separation of powers suggested by the Constitution. It is pretty clear that, insofar as their comments prejudiced a matter still to be determined, they had gone way too far. They attacked judges who by convention do not engage in political controversy, although sometimes having to decide matters which have varying degrees of political effect that is, they were kicking someone who cant really kick back. Others might say they were interfering with the independence of the judiciary, a cornerstone of the checks and balances enshrined in the Constitution.

February 5, 2019

RICHARD FLANAGAN. Tasmania is burning. The climate disaster future has arrived while those in power laugh at us. (The Guardian 4.2.2019)

Scott Morrison is trying to scare people about economic policy but seems blithely unaware people are already scared about climate change.

January 29, 2015

US Government unveils goal to move Medicare away from fee-for-service.

On 27/28 and 29 January 2015 I posted three articles on Health Policy Reform. One issue I discussed was the major problem of fee-for-service (FFS) as a means of remunerating doctors. Such a scheme remunerates quantity rather than quality of service.

On 26 January, the US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Sylvia M. Burwell, outlined a major change in the way that doctors and hospitals will be remunerated in future. She said ‘HHS has set a goal of tying 30% of traditional, or fee-for-service, Medicare payments to quality or value through alternate payment models. … Today’s announcement would continue the shift towards paying providers for what works, whether it is something as complex as preventing or treating disease, or something as straight-forward as making sure a patient has time to ask questions’.

April 1, 2018

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Sledging on and off the field.

As what is left of Australian cricket segues from its dismal autumn into a miserable winter, there is at least a tinge of irony in the disaster.

Last week, Malcolm Turnbull, still drooling with spittle and bile after another session of parliamentary question time, gave the world a homily about the evils of sledging before returning to denigrate, abuse and generally defame his political opponents, principally Bill Shorten.

August 18, 2015

A tribute to Hugh Stretton

Hugh Stretton, one of the greatest social scientists and public intellectuals that Australia has produced, passed away in late July after a long illness. His legacy as a thinker, writer, activist, advisor, teacher, mentor and friend is vast. Those of us who have had the honour of his advice and support can only marvel at the way in which Hugh balanced his great mind and deep knowledge and engagement across a very wide intellectual terrain with human capacities to connect with others at all levels with an inner calm, wisdom, kindness, humility and self-deprecation.

November 13, 2014

Ian McAuley. Is capitalism redeemable? Part 3: Why tax avoidance is bad for business

One article of faith in the corporate sector is that low taxes are good for the economy not only low corporate taxes but also low taxes in general.

Echoing this sentiment, Treasurer Hockey and other spokespeople for the Government repeatedly promise to cut taxes. Even suggestions that the GST should be increased are set in the context of a tradeoff against income taxes, rather than any net increase in tax.

August 13, 2018

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Turnbull running out of energy.

Neg can be an abbreviation of either negative or negligible, both terms the vociferous critics from left and right have used to denigrate Malcolm Turnbulls masterwork in progress.

September 13, 2014

Mike Steketee. Politics vs Science.

THE laws of physics are non-negotiable, observed Michel Jarraud, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organisation, this week. https://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_1002_en.html

You wouldnt think so listening to the often frenzied debate about global warming or, according to Tony Abbotts senior business adviser Maurice Newman, what is really global cooling http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/were-illprepared-if-the-iceman-cometh/story-e6frg6zo-1227023489894 .

Jarraud was commenting on the release of the WMOs annual greenhouse gas bulletin https://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/documents/1002_GHG_Bulletin.pdf , based mainly on data collected by 50 countries. It shows a 34 per cent increase in the warming effect of greenhouse gases between 1990 and 2013. Most of this is attributable to carbon dioxide, atmospheric concentrations of which have risen by 142 per cent since the start of industrialisation in the 18th century, primarily because of emissions from combustion of fossil fuels and cement production. The WMO recorded an increase of 2.9 parts per million in 2013 the largest rise since 1984 although it added the figure was subject to seasonal and regional variations, such as a changing balance between photosynthesis and respiration or the amount of biomass burned.

November 25, 2015

Victoria Rollison. The Future of Australia's Trade Unions

A strong trade union movement is crucial to combating growing wealth inequality in the Australian economy.

When asked in 2014 what Australia had done right to defend the economy against the chronic wealth inequality experienced in the US, Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz answered: unions. He explained that Australia has been able to maintain stronger trade unions than the United States. The absence of any protection for workers, any bargaining power, has had adverse effects in the United States. You [Australia] have a minimum wage of around $15 an hour. We [the US] have a minimum wage of $8 an hour. That pulls down our entire wage structure.

May 29, 2015

Budgets and Women at Work

Current Affairs.

Since 1984 Federal Governments have produced a Women’s Budget Statement as one element of the official Budget Papers. The present government discontinued this practice last year.

In response, the National Foundation for Australian Women together with others took up the task of analysing the implications of the budget that were of particular interest to women. See link below for this analysis. John Menadue.

http://sydney.edu.au/business/research/wwrg/budget

October 5, 2015

Richard Butler. Russia and Syria: The continuation of politics by other means.

In their addresses to the UN General assembly, last week, Presidents Obama and Putin focused on the civil war in Syria. Both emphasized the need for the war, now in its 5th year, to be brought to an end. They both said that a political solution needed to be found, but they differed on a central issue: the role of Syrian President Bashir Al Assad.

The US position widely supported by western and key regional states and, of course, Syrian groups fighting the regime, was that Assad and his government must go. The Russian position was that Assads government is the legitimate authority in Syria and it must have a role in any negotiations to bring about an end to the conflict and determine the future government of Syria. Even before Putins public address, Obama stated in his, that Assad might be given a transitional role, but could not be left standing at the end. This was seen as a concession by the US. Indeed, conservative critics of Obama decried this as yet another sign of his inherent weakness.

October 26, 2015

Next week's launch of the Blog's book 'Fairness, Opportunity and Security'

You are invited to the launch of Fairness, Opportunity and Security: Filling the Policy Vacuum, edited by John Menadue and Michael Keating, and published by ATF Press. The book is a collection of the special policy series of blogs that was published earlier this year.

Topics include Democratic Renewal, the Role of Government, Foreign Policy, the Economy, Retirement Incomes, Population/migration/refugees, Communications and the Arts, Security internal and Human Rights, Security, Health, Development of Human Capital, Environment, Indigenous affairs, Welfare and Inequality.

September 7, 2019

PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 8 September 2019

An update on the Adani mine to start and on Sydneys Sea-eagle chicks to close. In the middle of the sandwich is evidence demonstrating the lethal effects of air pollution and the health benefits of reducing even apparently low levels of pollution, a new World Heritage site recognising the link between Indigenous culture and country in Victoria, and an explanation of why weve got only 12 years left to act on climate change.

April 14, 2019

MACK WILLIAMS. Australia and the United States more than joined at the hip?

The recent Morrison Budget and the subsequent public commentary had precious little new to add to policy debate about future foreign policy directions for Australia other than to cut again our overseas aid budget to an accumulated 27% since this government has been in office. Sadly neither did the Shorten Budget Reply. But tucked away in the DFAT Portfolio Budget was a reference to an Australia: United States joint work plan which represents a significant strengthening of our linkage with the US.

October 15, 2014

Michael Kelly SJ. On being a Priest.

Ive been a priest for thirty years and for perhaps the past two decades, I have known that when I walk into an unfamiliar setting or join a new group of people and tell them what I am, a goodly number are thinking to themselves: What sort of a weird, psychologically deficient, sexually repressed and potential criminal do we have here?

Part of me enjoys the dare that such subconscious assessments offer. I am none of those. Ive made some choices in life and had to live with their blessings and burdens.

August 17, 2017

JEAN-PIERRE LEHMANN. Why the West and Japan should stop preaching to a rising China

Jean-Pierre Lehmann says the imperialist powers of old should acknowledge their own bloody history of plunder and exploitation, and work with Beijing to find a path to a peaceful rise, which so far is unprecedented.

June 16, 2015

John Menadue. Catholic bishops keep saying sorry, but avoid structural and cultural reform.

Current Affairs.

Catholic bishops keep telling us that they didn’t know and how sorry they are about the horrific events in Ballarat and in many other parts of the Catholic Church before that. We all know how terrible these events are, but what have the bishops done to address the opaque governance structures and cultural problems that have contributed to this abuse. The Catholic Church is still run like an absolute monarchy. Sexual abuse of children is an appalling abuse of power but it is only one form of abuse of power in a hierarchical and clerical system.In the selection of bishops for example the laity have little or any role at all.It is a rigged system.The laity who would know about sexual abuse are isolated and passive. There is a massive governance problem in the Catholic Church.

August 5, 2015

John Menadue. Dont tamper with citizenship.

The Australian Government has presented new legislation that would enable the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to revoke Australian citizenship for dual nationals who might have been involved in terrorism activities. There would be no judicial review.

As a result of an apparent disagreement in Cabinet, the government has deferred a decision on how to deal with sole Australian nationals who might be linked to terrorism.

This is a massive overreaction for largely party-political purposes promoting fear of terrorism and feeding anti-Muslim sentiment in the community. Determined not to be wedged on the issue the ALP is yet again in me too mode.

November 17, 2014

Is capitalism redeemable? Part 6: Inequality it aint fair

We get a laugh out of the Monty Python sketch of four Yorkshiremen competing with one another to tell stories of the hardship they endured when they were children, 30 years earlier you think you had it tough ….

Without going into Pythonesque exaggeration, four older Australians could easily recount similar stories. If they grew up in a Brisbane middle-class suburb, their house probably had no indoor toilet: there would have been a bucket toilet in the backyard emptied by the dunnyman (the sanitary collector to use one common euphemism) . If they grew up any distance from a city they probably didnt have electricity, and the idea of turning on a tap to get hot water was almost beyond imagination.

September 11, 2019

COLIN BROWN. The Indonesia-Australia Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA): A Game Changer? (Australian Outlook, 5 Sep 2019)

Despite their geographical proximity, Australia and Indonesia are minor trading partners. In 2018, Australian merchandise exports to Indonesia were valued at just $6,823 million, and imports from Indonesia $4,996 million. Trade in services was smaller still, as the exports to Indonesia were worth $1,697 and imports were worth $4,068 million. Neither country is in the others top 10 trading partners.

July 3, 2018

DOUG TAYLOR. Kicking goals in the fight against drugs

_The heroics of Cristiano Ronaldo at the World Cup puts Portugal on the world stage._But behind the bright lights of the soccer World Cup, Portugal is leading the world in another arena: its efforts to curb drug abuse.

May 12, 2015

Richard Butler. Foreign Policy. An Independent Australian Foreign Policy

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

Summary:

For fifty years, since Australia entered the war in Vietnam in 1965, Australian foreign policy has been made increasingly subservient to a specific concept of Australias relationship with the United States. That concept, first enunciated by Prime Minister Menzies in 1955, was that for its survival, Australia needed a great and powerful friend. All of our key decisions in foreign policy since then have been shaped by our own construct of what loyalty to the United States and the Alliance demanded. That construct has been to follow the US practice and to identify foreign policy with military and security policy.

November 17, 2015

John Dwyer. Wasting precious health dollars.

In the last eighteen months our coalition government has repeatedly warned that the rate at which we are increasing health related expenditure is unsustainable. The attempt to extract a co-payment from Australians visiting their GP was justified using this concern. However it is the better use of the currently available health dollars that should be given priority rather than asking Australians pay more for a health system that no longer adequately meets contemporary need. It is true that a considerable amount of the cost ineffective expenditure on health is generated by members of my profession with low value and sometimes no value tests and procedures wasting at least 10 billion dollar a year. While there are vested interests hampering necessary reforms, progress is being made as critical pathways, generated from the best available evidence by independent and expert clinicians, are developed centrally for application locally. The Institute for Clinical Excellence in NSW is one organisation facilitating this type of reform which should improve the standardization of evidence based clinical decision making.

January 14, 2015

John Dwyer. Medicare changes - why on earth would a young doctor want to be a GP?

In case you missed it, this is a repost of a blog that I posted on 12 December last year. It is highly relevant to the continuing debate about copayments and general practice. John Menadue.

The most distressing feature of the governments determination to have us pay more for a visit to our GP is its the total lack of vision for the structural reforms we should be discussing to provide Australians with Primary Care services that meet contemporary needs, are equitable and more cost effective. Instead of focussing on new models of care that around the world have been shown to achieve better health outcomes than we enjoy in Australia, the $5 reduction in the remuneration for a standard GP consultation will make matters worse. The logic associated with this latest initiative is seriously flawed. Placing the money saved into a research fund means that the proposed reduction will do nothing for the budgets bottom line, the imperative presented to us in the May budget.

June 4, 2018

MUNGO MacCALLUM. One Nation and the fabled Enterprise Tax Plan

Like the leaves of a diseased and dying tree, the One Nation senators continue to fall.

May 24, 2015

Julianne Schultz. Comparative advantage. Culture, citizenship and soft power

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

ITS TIME TO think much more seriously about culture. For years we bought the Clinton truism, Its the economy, stupid, but this simple binary no longer provides sufficient guidance for the future.

Self-evidently, a successful society must have a robust and innovative economy one that is able to adapt to changing domestic and global circumstances. This process of adaptation and change seems to be one that Australia is ill-equipped to tackle; there is little evidence of big thinking, and a lot of protection of existing interest groups and sectional activities.

August 16, 2015

Peter Day. Sallys worth it.

Harry Anslingers dream to rid the world of drugs was given legs in 1930 when he was appointed the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

He was a brilliant bureaucrat with a grand vision underpinned by prohibition; a man who single-handedly turned a marginalised, underfunded Bureau into an uncompromising and powerful war machine.

But, as Johann Hari reveals in his compelling book Chasing the Scream the first and last days of the war on drugs, Anslinger was also a zealot and racist:

May 28, 2015

Peter Hughes. Citizenship Revocation: a very limited tool in the fight against Jihadists

This is a repost of an article by Peter Hughes which appeared on 20 February 2015. This repost is relevant in light of recent discussion on revocation of citizenship.

Liberal Federal MP, Andrew Nikolic, has put back on the agenda the question of changing the law on Australian Citizenship revocation as part of the fight against Australian Jihadists.[1]

He writes:

“the issue of state citizenship particularly that of dual nationals will be an increasingly important battleground in the continuing War on Terror”

October 1, 2013

Israel's asylum-seeker dilemma. Guest blogger: John Tulloh.

Like Australia, Israel has a major problem of what to do with asylum-seekers. And, like Australia with our proposed Malaysia solution in 2011, Israeli legislation aimed at curbing the influx has been thrown out by the countrys highest court.

Those seeking refuge in Israel did not come by boat. They came across the Sinai from Egypt, many having to pay up to $2000 to Bedouin people smugglers. The majority were Sudanese and Eritreans fleeing abusive regimes. They used to fly to Cairo for refuge until police broke up a peaceful demonstration by Sudanese in 2005 and killed 20 of them.

December 3, 2014

John Menadue. Why the ABC is unique and important.

The BBC is the most successful public broadcaster in the world. It is a good model, not to copy but to adapt to our own needs and circumstances.

Lord Reith who was Director General of the BBC 1927-38 pithily described the BBCs purpose in three words…educate, inform and entertain. He was famously determined that the BBC would provide its audiences with something rather better than they thought they wanted. He said, He who prides himself on giving what he thinks the public wants is often creating a fictitious demand for lower standards which he himself will then satisfy,

June 4, 2018

JOHN MENADUE. Continuing corporate failures.

There is a growing and unfortunate litany of corporate failure in Australia and not just the banks and wage theft on a large scale. One continuing failure has been an unwillingness by our corporate sector to equip itself for the Asian Century and beyond. Instead of addressing their serious failings ,business executives invariably respond by accusing critics of business bashing.

April 22, 2018

RICHARD FLANAGAN. Australians in WWI didn't die for Australia. They died for Britain. (Part 1 of 2)

And so, the Monash Centre, for all its good intentions, for all the honour it does the dead, is at heart a centre for forgetting. It leads us to forget that the 62,000 young men who died in world war one died far from their country in service of one distant empire fighting other distant empires. It leads us to forget that not one of those deaths it commemorates was necessary. Not 62,000. Not even one.

(The following are extracts from Richard Flanagan’s address to the National Press Club on 18 April 2018. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow.)

May 30, 2015

David M. Neuhaus SJ. The Holy See and the State of Palestine.

Current Affairs.

Last weeks headlines about the Vaticans recognition of the State of Palestine dont do justice to the rich and complex history of the Churchs commitment to the Holy Land, its people and places, says David Neuhaus SJ. He describes how the Holy Sees discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has developed over nearly 70 years.

In recent days, Palestine and Palestinians have been very present in the Vatican. On 13 May 2015, the Holy See announced that the comprehensive accords with the State of Palestine were being submitted for ratification to the respective authorities after the bilateral negotiations between the two sides had achieved their goal. On 16 May, President Mahmoud Abbas visited Pope Francis and was received as a head of state. On 17 May, Pope Francis canonised the first two Palestinian saints of modern times, Carmelite Mary of Jesus Crucified (Mariam Bawardi) and Marie-Alphonsine Ghattas, foundress of the Sisters of the Rosary.

July 24, 2018

DUNCAN MACLAREN. Scotland and a Very English Brexit: the looming constitutional crisis

A glance at the increasingly Monty Pythonesque British/English Brexit illustrates the intra-European constitutional crisis of just how difficult it is to leave a multinational partnership of 40 years vintage and how disastrous it will be economically, socially and, since it has a xenophobic tinge in origin, morally. A side effect of Brexit is an internal UK constitutional crisis which, internationally, has thus far concentrated on Northern Irelands desire to maintain the Good Friday Agreement which stipulates regulatory harmonisation between the NI and the Republic. Peace between Orange and Green is predicated on maintaining a seamless border which could be shattered by Brexit, especially, if, as looks increasingly likely, Mays hapless Government ends up with a no deal exit from the EU. Less apparent is the internal constitutional crisis featuring the pesky Scots. Let me spill the beans.

August 21, 2015

John Menadue. The Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.

I have frequently raised my concerns about the ability of the Department of Health and Ageing to develop good health policy and manage health reform. A test of the new Minister is whether she can help facilitate the necessary reform. See below links to two earlier articles I wrote on this problem. The first is a capability review of the Department of Heath and Ageing by the Australian Public Service Commission. The second is a report by the Australian National Audit Office of DHA’s administration of the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement.

September 9, 2019

JACK WATERFORD. Bullshit and hypocrisy cannot hide behind a Secret stamp (Canberra Times 6 Sep 2019)

50 years of public disclosure has never harmed the national security interest

Brian Toohey is a great Australian journalist who, over 50 years, has mostly rated the publics right to know as being more important than what politicians and public servants have thought the national security interests of the state. He has often embarrassed governments with disclosure about what is being secretly said and done on their behalf.

August 17, 2015

Michael Keating. Is there a trade-off between equality and efficiency?

A critical policy issue has always been whether greater equality inevitably comes at a cost to the economic growth. For example, historically economists have typically believed that there is a trade-off between increased equality and efficiency. Even those economists who favour policies to improve equality have generally acknowledged that the transfers involved could reduce incentives and result in some loss of national income with the critical question being by how much? Thus those economists who favour redistribution to lower inequality think that such action comes at little or at least an acceptable cost to economic output. While the counter-argument from conservative economists is that inequality is a necessary evil if we want higher incomes all round.

September 14, 2017

WE ARE ALSO READING ...

Pearls and Irritations provides the following links for weekend reading.

March 13, 2017

CHRIS BONNOR. Selective schools: comprehensively routed?

When you are a school principal there are some days you dont forget. For me it was the day the government ambushed my school by establishing a selective school down the road. No warning, no consultation it just seemed like a good idea at the time. It was argued that it was a good idea for the selected, but even then we knew that it wasnt a good idea for those not similarly blessed. We now know that it has done nothing for overall levels of student achievement.

November 20, 2015

Prince Charles and John Kerr an odd pair

Prince Charles has been mobbed by regal enthusiasts in his recent visit to Australia.

Opinion polls tell us a different story. The latest poll conducted by Essential Research tells us that if Prince Charles became King Charles, 51% would prefer a republic. Only 27% would support King Charles being our head of state.

There seems to be a wide acceptance that the accession of King Charles to the British throne will give a real boost to republicanism in Australia.

January 14, 2014

Sex abuse: the de facto privilege of clergy. Kieran Tapsell

On 29 December 1170, four armed knights from the Court of King Henry II of England entered Canterbury Cathedral. They had previously heard the King complain about the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas aBecket, who was in dispute with Henry over privilege of clergy, the right of clergy to be tried exclusively in Church or canonical courts for any kind of crime. Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest? Henry is reported to have said. Four knights of his Court took the hint, went to Canterbury Cathedral, and sliced the top off aBeckets head.

November 5, 2015

Quentin Dempster. Countering Rupert Murdoch's plan to destroy public broadcasting in Australia.

I regret to report there are forces at work in this country out to destroy public broadcasting the ABC and SBS.

But the fight to protect and enhance a more dynamic public broadcasting sector has just begun.

Tomorrow in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, you will see a half page ad paid for by public broadcasting supporters calling on all Australians to join the Friends of the ABC or Save Our SBS - grass roots audience-focused organisations - to stake a claim on this countrys future as an informed, engaged and cohesive polity. A more professional national campaign organisation has been revitalised with branches in all states. I ask all in this room - and particularly the teachers and parents of Australia beyond this room - to help build our fighting fund and to join the membership drive. We need people power to counter the forces out to undermine and destroy the tangible and intangible benefits to be derived from quality journalism and program making - from news and current affairs, specialisations in science, health, education, climate change, the environment, economics and international affairs, law, media and justice; documentary, satire, drama, curriculum-specific educational programming, music - contemporary, symphonic, jazz, opera, the performing arts, rural and regional engagement, multi-lingual radio and television broadcasting in our now polyglot Australia, entertainment and sport.

November 16, 2014

Ian McAuley. Is capitalism redeemable? Part 5: When finance goes its own way

One of the worlds most useful social institutions is money, but its hard to think of it in its social context.

To understand the social value of money, think of a world without money, or a country where, through recklessness the currency has been debased, as happened in the hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic in the 1920s.

Barter served us well when few articles were traded grinding stones, pituri and ochre in the Australian outback but not in Germany in the 1920s and certainly not now. Complex trades require some agreed currency, not necessarily having any utility in itself, but with an agreed value in exchange. Its that need for agreement, and for trust in those who control the currency, be it obsidian, rare shells, gold, or US Treasury Notes, that gives money that social context.

September 17, 2017

TRAVERS McLEOD. Opportunity for regional leadership on Rohingya refugees.

Australia and Indonesia, the CoChairs of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, have been asked by regional experts to fulfil a promise made after the 2015 Andaman Sea crisis by responding quickly to the refugee crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh. This is an historic opportunity__for the Bali Process to demonstrate its value and the benefit of cooperation problem solving in the region.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal