September 11, 2021

Fortress USA: How the September 11 terror attacks produced a military industrial juggernaut

The best chance to reverse the militarisation of the US state is policy guided by the radical proposal that life is indeed precious.

January 30, 2022

Hong Kong's legal system can be judged on its merits

Criticism of the city’s independent and highly professional judiciary is malicious, groundless and often politically motivated.

October 11, 2020

Army and Defence PR - an ungrateful mess

Australian Army PR was once a successful system which benefitted the troops, media and the community. Now it has been subsumed into a bureaucratic corporate brand management system closely controlled by Ministers and their staff.

June 19, 2021

Australian human misery: a dirty dozen cases

The prime minister has an eye for the public relations opportunity. Recently he was quick to be seen at the announcement of the success of an FBI-AFP operation targeting drug traffickers. He condemned criminals for bringing misery to Australia. Regrettably, we have plenty of misery already, thanks to his governments policies.

November 5, 2021

Double standards: The Quads maritime rule of law hypocrisy

If the Quad wants to hold any moral authority on a global level, it should ensure its members observe the rule of law at sea.

March 22, 2021

The alarming unintended consequences of the Online Safety Bill

The Online Safety Bill promises to improve and promote the online safety of Australians. But not for all Australians. The broad-brush approach of the bill goes far beyond what is necessary to achieve its objective, and the Government has ignored community concerns over its many shortcomings.

January 1, 2019

BOB CARR. The Best of 2018: How the Israeli Lobby operates.

The letter was in the bulging file marked Premiers Invites. The invitation was to an annual dinner where a peace prize was presented to a person chosen by the Sydney Peace Foundation at Sydney University. This year they had decided to present the award to Hanan Ashrawi. I knew her from CNN and had been impressed by her dignity.

February 11, 2022

Don't be relieved by that ABC funding promise: it's not what it seems

The Coalition has a demonstrated pattern of dishonouring election promises to the national broadcaster.

January 9, 2018

MARK HARRIS. Sugar tax to tackle obesity: an update.

In 2016 I wrote about the call for a sugar tax, especially on sugar sweetened drinks, to address Australias obesity problem. What has happened since then?

January 28, 2022

From our readers: A more inclusive date to celebrate Australia

In letters to the editor, an alternative to January 26 as Australia Day, Labor’s election strategy, and the environmental cost of selfishness.

June 5, 2021

The French submarine boondoggle is Australias biggest defence blunder. Our tame corporate media hardly noticed.

For the first time in over five years of delay and evasion the Secretary of Defence has at last told us that the Government is looking at an alternative to the French submarine. Our corporate media has failed to hold the government to account in its scandalous handling of the $90 billion French submarine purchase. For five years, the media has failed us. It is now rewarded in the new Media Code with 90% of the tax on Google and Facebook to be handed over to the three failing monopoly media companies.

April 1, 2021

Biden trumps Trumps truculent China Seas policy

Many had hoped that under new US President Joe Biden, the U.S. would moderate its goals and behaviour vis a vis China, especially where they militarily confront each other in the China Seas.But U.S. China policy has so far not only continued that of former President Donald Trump but even trumped its hypocrisy, condescension, confrontation and militarism.

March 22, 2021

Developing a systems approach to enable patient navigation: A path to achieving patient empowerment?

The CSIRO Future of Health Report cites the importance of patient-centred healthcare but the current state is that the Australian healthcare system is cited both nationally and globally as too complex to navigate. Finding the consumer in the current system is likened to a game of Wheres Wally. In the 1990s, patient activism in HIV/AIDS was a driving force of change and political voice in the sector. The pervading mantra was the best way to predict the future is to invent it.

April 17, 2021

Childrens Hospital tragedy casts a shadow over Perth

The death of a seven-year-old girl in the emergency department of Perth Childrens Hospital hangs like a cloud over the city and is bringing forth an outpouring both of grief and of questions about Western Australias health services.

November 19, 2021

In a time of rapid global change, APEC matters more than ever

APEC is a platform for dialogue on complex issues, and its nurturing of regional cooperation and engagement strengthens the rules-based global order.

July 11, 2018

DUNCAN GRAHAM New name, old menu, but hope looms

Fresh news for stay-at-homes: The ABC has abandoned spin to reveal its overseas TV service is not aired to showcase the nation, but amuse expats.

February 6, 2022

US's high Covid death rate mark the dark side of American exceptionalism

The US’s high Covid-19 death rate can be attributed at least in part to structural barriers and a for-profit healthcare system.

March 28, 2021

A tale of two Morrisons

There are two Morrisons who have confronted sexism in their ranks. One, David, showed leadership. The other, Scott, showed the antithesis of leadership.

June 19, 2021

Rogue doctors and the good character test

With the death of former medical practitioner, Geoffrey Edelsten, one can predict that there will be commentators and journalists who will seek to laud him. Here is a different view.

December 30, 2021

Development, sovereignty, ideology and the new Great Power Competition

A speech by one of the most substantial figures in US academia sets out a framework for peaceful co-operation between China and the US this century.

November 22, 2021

Repairing our fractured democracy starts with citizens' assemblies

The notion of government by and for the people is being increasingly eroded in Australia the widespread use of citizens’ assemblies could be the solution.

December 4, 2021

Curing the climate: with 'can-do' capitalism, what possibly can go wrong?

Just 100 corporations account for 70 per cent of global carbon emissions. Time their contribution to the climate crisis was given greater prominence.

March 18, 2021

The Trouble with Men: the reason for March4Justice

This is embarrassing to write as I share the gender and the age demographic of many who are problematic in our society. What is it with some men? What dont we get? Dont we realise we cant and shouldnt treat women the way some of us do?

March 20, 2022

Britain's Londongrad problem and investments in Australian mining companies

_Sanctions imposed on Russias invasion of Ukraine highlights just how interrelated the global economy is and just how difficult they are to impose if the pain is not to be too much of a two way street.

October 12, 2021

The further hollowing out of ethics and education in Australia's universities

Employment issues have now joined many other pathologies and are plaguing the higher education sector according to recent accounts, 40,000 jobs in the university sector have been lost in a year.

September 4, 2021

Catholic reform movement gathers momentum

The movement for reform of the Catholic Church in Australia is gathering momentum with more than 1200 people attending the online forum, hearing powerful Indigenous and international voices.

March 24, 2021

American overreach in Anchorage points to conflict with China

Its fantasy to think that the US can still lay down the law as it attempted to in Alaska. Avoiding a Pacific war will take hard statecraft instead.

March 22, 2021

Harmony Day sweeps racism under the carpet again!

March 21 has been celebrated by Australia as Harmony Day since 1999. No other country does this. Instead, starting in 1979, every other nation observes that day as the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

February 16, 2018

Toxic legacy of US assault on Fallujah 'worse than Hiroshima'

[Reprint of an article in the UK Independent dated 23 July 2010]

Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.In 2004 General Jim Molan was in charge of the Coalition forces attacking Fallujah

March 12, 2022

Ryan King. History tells us that an 'Asian Nato' is destined to fail

The unique situation in which NATO was formed, and the failure to build similar alliances in Asia, suggest that the expansion of the Quad and AUKUS into a formal military alliance is both unlikely to happen and ill-advised.

April 3, 2021

ALP climate policy: from the great moral challenge" to conservative-lite

Deputy ALP leader Richard Marles, seem to studiously avoid any mention of the need for massive action order to avoid a rise towards +4 degree climate warming despite promoting science.

March 7, 2022

Shyam Saran. Implications of the Russia-Ukraine conflict for India

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the continuing war have confronted India with difficult choices given its longstanding and important relationship with Russia.

December 7, 2021

Australia's splintered healthcare system is plagued by inequity

The reforms required to improve health outcomes are not controversial and are proven overseas what is lacking here is the courage to tackle the systemic problems.

December 31, 2018

IAN DUNLOP. The Best of 2018: A Parliament Without Trust or Legitimacy Must Go

The insults hurled by David Leyonhjelm at Sarah Hanson-Young recently put parliamentary discourse in the gutter. Leyonhjelm was roundly condemned, but not by our leaders. A limp slap across the knuckles from Turnbull and Shorten, then on to more pressing matters, hoping it will all go away.

October 3, 2020

Phantom Peril in the Arctic (Foreign Affairs Sep 29, 2020)

Russia Doesnt Threaten the United States in the Far NorthBut Climate Change Does.

December 14, 2021

China's belligerence in the South China Sea is backfiring

Its illegal actions and attempts at intimidation are fostering resentment among South-East Asian nations and playing into the hands of the US.

September 25, 2021

The Plenary Council agenda is not fit for purpose

The approaching Plenary Council agenda have a vision of how the Church can best model and build the Kingdom of God, encourage open, bold, and Spirit-guided discussion and discernment, and lead to consensus decisions on how best to provide for the pastoral needs of the people of God.

December 8, 2021

More winning suggestions for Labor to take on board

Our recent 10-point plan for an ALP victory at the next election prompted a reaction that shows many voters desperately want Labor to stand for something.

December 13, 2021

Assange extradition would have 'dangerous implications' for journalism

The secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders called on the US and UK governments to “stop to this more than decade-long persecution once and for all”.

December 9, 2021

After Trump debacle, it's time for US to review Iran strategy

The Middle East is changing, and it would be the region’s advantage if the US and key Arab players brokered a mature relationship with Iran.

May 22, 2021

The class of 1942: The brilliance behind the Pastoral Strike

The three great figures in 20th Century Australian public life all met their appointments with destiny in 1942 Australias darkest hour. John Curtin was in Canberra. Weary Dunlop was in Singapores Changi Prison. Don McLeod was in Australias north-west, recruited to rescue what he called, with his wicked sense of humour, the black sheep of the family.

March 13, 2022

Measuring the decibels of piety in Indonesia

Visitors to Indonesia beware: Sound off about visual pollution from billboards or trash in rivers or the CO2 assaults on lungs and listeners will nod.

December 18, 2021

Christmas matters, but Christians are really Easter people

Christmas Day is a latecomer to the Christmas party. For Christians, the birth of Jesus is overshadowed by the resurrection of the Saviour.

December 15, 2021

Made in Australia: will Labor get the job done with free TAFE?

Vocational education needs investment and reforms to ensure Australia’s prosperity: Anthony Albanese has revealed how Labor will meet the challenge.

December 11, 2021

Juries and bad forensic science on trial in Victorian child murder case

_A new book asserts that Robert Farquharson, condemned over the deaths of his three sons, was wrongly convicted, writes Kerry Breen.

December 12, 2021

The hypocrisy behind Biden's rallying call for democracy

The US president has urged the “free world” to guard against authoritarian threats to democracy, ignoring America’s own history.

December 6, 2021

Is science a new driver for policy making?

What governments call science is only one part of it. With COVID-19 and climate change, the government picks and chooses which science it listens to.

December 10, 2021

The United States can solve the Ukraine crisis

The US should be able to broker a compromise that recognises Ukraine’s sovereignty while limiting the Western military presence on Russia’s borders.

December 26, 2023

The alternative to the Worship of Death

A central characteristic of narcissistic sadists according to the great psychoanalyst, Erich Fromm, is their desire to reduce all living matter to dead matter. Fromm describes these narcissistic sadists as necrophilious characters.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal