November 2, 2022

Employers say Labors new industrial relations bill threatens the economy. Denmark tells a different story

Labors proposed amendment to the Fair Work Act (subtitled itsSecure Jobs, Better Pay bill) has drawn fire from Australias three leading employer groups:

November 9, 2021

Tragic case of Amber Poon: murdered in Taipei but killer unpunished

A Hong Kong woman’s murder led to controversial extradition law which were withdrawn after subsequent protests so the killer avoided justice.

March 25, 2021

The power of perspective: An insight to the ongoing fractured relationship between Beijing and Hong Kong

Hong Kong exists in two parallel universes; one to escape from because there is no freedom and justice; and one of peace and opportunity.

March 31, 2021

Public Sector Wage Caps Push Wages in Agreements to 30-Year Low

Public sector wage restraint has contributed substantially to the record-low wage growth that was already being experienced throughout Australia, long before coronavirus ever arrived here. Governments at all levels should abandon this misplaced strategy, and allow free collective bargaining once again with public servants especially after their heroic efforts to help Australians through the pandemic.

March 27, 2022

Time to end the party of greed

_When we look at the individual Morrison Government members we see very few who distinguish themselves from their peers. What we see is a collection of odd, socially awkward people, thrown together by a strange ideology which really sets them apart from our society. Birds of a feather really do flock together.

March 16, 2021

Australia has more to lose in a human rights 'face off' with China

China is stepping up human rights accusations against Australia following numerous condemnations Australia has made on the same grounds. Before intensifying criticisms of Chinas human rights, Australia should recognize that this can be a double-edged sword.

March 14, 2021

The long Chinese march into Indonesia with vaccines

Chinese officials in Australia rarely miss an opportunity to chill relations by turning down the thermostat on our democratic values and way of seeing the world. Meanwhile, the Middle Kingdoms men in Jakarta are playing a long and warming game.So far about four million have had their first vaccine shot and around 1.5 million needle two.

December 18, 2018

LESLEY RUSSELL. ACSQHC Third Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation 2018.

The 2018 version of the Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation was released on December 11. This is the third such annual atlas, which examines differences in healthcare use according to where people live within Australia and is produced by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care in partnership with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. This year it looks at healthcare use in four selected clinical areas: paediatric and neonatal health; cardiac tests; thyroid investigations and treatments; gastrointestinal investigations and treatment. Specific recommendations for improvements are made. There are interactive features available_._

May 29, 2021

Everyman as soldier: how men in suits in drawing rooms conned the people and their families into fighting on in WW1.

David Stephens reviews Douglas Newtons Private Ryan and the Lost Peace: A Defiant Soldier and the Struggle against the Great War.

November 3, 2022

Central Asia is crucial in 2022: Is Russia out, and is China (still) in?

The former Soviet states have been in the spotlight of international attention this year starting with the January unrest in Kazakhstan, Russian invasion of Ukraine, renewed hostilities over territory between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and border clashes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Here are the latest developments in a Central Asian region of increasing geostrategic importance.

July 25, 2020

Childcare subsidies. I was wrong - childcare should be subsidised

In a recent post I listed a range of points which had me convinced that childcare should not be subsidised by the community. Christopher Budd (CB) kindly took the time to counter each of my points in turn, and I gratefully acknowledge that he has convinced me I was wrong. This post summarises the arguments which changed my mind.

March 15, 2022

The Ukraine War and the 'Good Refugee'

These people are not people we are used to these people are Europeans. Kiril Petkov, Bulgarian Prime Minister, Associated Press, March 1, 2022

March 28, 2021

As Alaska talks showed, the US attitude to China and the world is outdated.

Americas approach to China is binary, deep-seated and transparently hegemonic. Washington cant seem to see that the world has moved on.

November 7, 2021

Indonesia's Widodo lacks the will, let alone ability, to fight climate change

Our near neighbour faces a colossal task in keeping the lights on while reducing emissions. Even some solutions create problems.

December 20, 2021

More than an acronym: AUKUS must be an election issue in 2022

When the nuclear-powered submarines are delivered they will be expensive white elephants. Theproject will distort defence policy for a generation.

September 25, 2021

The counter-revolution that AFL needs

This weekend’s AFL Grand Final is only the seventh time that the finals series hasn’t included one of the great four: Carlton, Collingwood Richmond and Hawthorn since 1925.

August 28, 2021

Paper, web-page, rock

We are madly digitising all the published materials we can get our hands on, but technophile Geoff Ebbs has an insight into the ephemeral nature of our digital obsession.

December 1, 2021

Our two-party system is corrupt vote for decency instead

_Next year, voters will be able to toss out party politicians and embrace candidates with a record of integrity and commitment to the future.

March 12, 2022

Keith Mitchelson - Reconceiving self-interest to reverse global warming

_Humanity faces a self-interest choice destruction of our economies, societies and environment with unfettered global warming, or a massive transformation that eliminates man-made carbon outputs.

February 15, 2022

Are Ukraine and Taiwan mirror images of each other?

_These words attributed to King Solomon in the Old Testament: All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eyes never have enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun (as cited by Southwell, 2010) underpin the irony of the Taiwan and Ukraine affairs.

October 31, 2021

Nature's right: a world with limits, to fossil fuels and population

The lessons of climate change are in the numbers, but the fundamental lesson is the most difficult one on our human numbers.

July 24, 2021

A drip-feed of scary numbers about the future.

20 years ago, when Peter Costello launched the first Intergenerational Report, he promised that looking four decades ahead would greatly help long-term decision-making and asset allocation. But the aim did not coincide with the reality.

March 10, 2022

Rational despair and with the US almost always at war...

_Its hard to know how to respond to a situation in which you have absolutely no confidence in the intelligence, the motivations or the historical understanding of those who lead us.

March 7, 2022

Presumption of innocence under threat

_A citizen’s inalienable right to her or his day in court has increasingly become seen as a quaint frivolity by some and a waste of time by many more - but the presumption of innocence is coming under some threat in Australia.

January 30, 2022

Australia maintains its star-spangled manner in foreign policy

Australia can end its subservience to the US without jeopardising ties but it needs political courage and better management of the alliance.

October 13, 2021

AUKUS alliance highlights US decline and Australian humiliation

By joining Australia and the UK in the AUKUS agreement, the US has highlighted its decline. And if that decline continues, Australia will find itself increasingly isolated.

August 7, 2021

The face of homelessness in Australia is changing

As house prices soar and wages stagnate, the housing affordability crisis is creeping towards middle Australia. Governments have left housing to the market and the market has failed.

November 21, 2021

The Liberals have undermined democracy and decency do we care?

Despite the Liberal Party’s embrace of corrosive neoliberalism, the party continues to win elections. Australians get the governments they deserve.

January 2, 2019

STEPHANIE DOWRICK. The Best of 2018: Issues of Integrity, Not Sex.

The story of a middle-aged husband and father talking up the failure of his marriage to justify his relationship with a much younger and previously childless woman is too clichd to have much drama. The effect of this on the abandoned wife and, in this case, four daughters, would of course make for a story of genuine poignancy. We may even wonder what caused the younger woman to assume a future with a man who is not only married but an avowed and vocal upholder of traditional family values, whatever they are. (Loyalty, honesty, transparency and kindness could be a start.)

November 30, 2021

Rich countries blamed for 'avoidable' new Covid variant

‘Allowing new variants to emerge and spread, 13 months into the vaccine era, is a policy choice by the rich world.’

March 23, 2021

More talk, no action: Australias approach to trade rules restraining vaccine production

Papua New Guineas COVID-19 outbreak is a portent of the catastrophic moral failure the head of the World Health Organization warned of in January due to poor countries being pushed to the back of the vaccine queue.

March 27, 2022

Why vaping will be accepted as Australia's response to tobacco

Vaping__represents__a historic opportunity to dramatically reduce Australia__s annual loss of 21,000 lives from smoking_. But understandable intense hatred of tobacco companies and a strong preference to eliminate nicotine use has contributed to a hostility to vaping in Australia which is irrational and unsustainable._

October 24, 2021

From zero to acceptable risk: funeral rites for Covid zero

The ambitious target of eradication has been eradicated. In its place, a small target strategy. Authorities are grappling with the new reality.

December 12, 2021

Overhaul the global financial system for the sake of the planet

The current two-tiered global financial system only allows rich countries to borrow on decent market terms so they can tackle problems like climate change.

November 21, 2021

Chinese takeaway from the Xi-Biden summit

The summit between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping taught us that Australian experts have misread the US’s relationship with China.

March 15, 2021

Ignorance and Prejudice on China is now entrenched in Australian media - Part 2

With a mainstream media climate like this on China and dissenting voices being discouraged, it is hard to see any early prospect of easing tensions.

The Australian people have been badly let down on China by our policy elites.

November 3, 2022

The long, indecisive war in Ukraine is reshaping the political world map

The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time,

June 5, 2021

Do free markets still beat central planning?

Institutional arrangements are complex systems, shaped by history, geography, and culture. The objective should not be to identify a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather to devise the combination of characteristics that would deliver the greatest good for the greatest number of people, with the right checks and balances.

March 31, 2021

Beijing -Moscow cooperation against the provocations of the US and its allies

Let me begin by offering my warm congratulations to Messrs Hartcher and Sheridan (columnists for SMH and News Limited) and other rightwing media people around the globe. They have helped achieve what many have long thought was impossible - bringing Moscow and Beijing together in firm anti-Western cooperation.

February 8, 2018

JIM DOWLING. Did Aussies really vote for these sociopaths?

I walked into the kitchen the other day and our illustrious defence industries minister Chris Pyne was on the radio answering a question relating to the recent horrific suicide bombing in Kabul which left 100 dead and 250 wounded. Aussies making more weapons seemed to be the answer!

April 17, 2021

Abuse in Catholic care is worse in New Zealand than Australia

The New Zealand Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions has revealed that the problem of abuse in New Zealands Catholic institutions appears to be much worse than the problem revealed in Australias Catholic institutions.

April 1, 2021

Reflecting on the lead up to Jesus' final week

During Holy Week Christians will experience in their liturgies an intense symbolic overload. In the space of eight days, the unfolding drama of Jesus final days, the confronting brutality he endured and his death by crucifixion give way to the great surprise of the faith, the Resurrection.

March 10, 2021

Climate war's Catch 22: We need targets before we can deploy technology

There is a terrible circularity about saying we will only commit to a target when we know the technological path to reaching it. This is because the development of new technologies and their actual deployment, depends on governments having goals (aka targets) and signalling their firm intention to stick to them.

November 11, 2021

Tough environment policies are good for the economy

Melbourne Institute research found that while there might be a short-term hike in cost, countries whose governments implement strong environmental regulations reap the productivity rewards and economic growth in the long term.

November 2, 2022

Australia must clarify Israels status as an Apartheid state

I refer to my earlier article on Israel and Apartheid. The article made the clear assertion that Israel is an apartheid state and has been found to be such by internationally respected bodies, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International.

July 10, 2021

Su-Lin Tan-China-Australia relations: US coal continues to fill void left by ban on Australian exports, Canberra report says

The United States continued shipping more coal to China in May supporting an upward trend seen in recent months and filling the gap left by Australian coal banned by Chinese authorities, newly released trade data and reports show.

March 16, 2022

Truth is the first victim in war

Don’t believe what you read in the mass media. It is also an instrument of war.

March 30, 2021

Some thoughts during Holy Week

Lent is as we know a time in the life of the Christian community when we focus on the invitation Jesus makes to us to repent to be converted. But what actually does conversion mean? What are the signs we should look for in our conversion? What gifts and graces should we pray for as we seek conversion?

February 12, 2022

The West can accept China's wealth but not its power

China is challenging the fractured world order of the West and the pushback from the imperial powers of yesterday is mired in hypocrisy.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal