September 25, 2021

Prospects for Palestinian recovery

Large and unprecedented protests in support of the Palestinian cause this year have led to developments which should enable Palestinians to expand their freedoms.

February 11, 2022

How to protect Ukraine, reassure Russia and keep the peace

All antagonists should recognise mutual security interests. That implies a settlement in which Ukraine secures its sovereignty through neutrality. _

April 1, 2021

Big opportunities for newly appointed Home Affairs Minister

The National Council of the St Vincent de Paul Society has welcomed the appointment of Karen Andrews to the Home Affairs portfolio, calling on her to release the Sri Lankan family from detention on Christmas Island as a matter of urgency.

March 9, 2021

The Iraq war, the Murdoch war and media culpability

The media here thought the terrorism in Australia fell from the deep blue sky and had no relationship to the help John Howard gave to George Bush in the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. The Australian media continue to fail us badly over its coverage of the Middle East wars, terrorism and the continuing human disaster and political and sectarian confusion.

March 26, 2022

Amnesty International: Israel is committing apartheid

The Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories(OPT), Michael Lynk, has submitted a reportto the Human Rights Council, concluding that the situation in the OPT amounts to apartheid.

October 10, 2021

The unrecognised challenge on the left of successfully addressing global warming

Despite the focus on events like COP26 to put pressure on governments, the critical point of leverage in the political domain to adopt the policies needed for a new era will remain at the national level.

April 10, 2021

Washingtons Delusion of Endless World Dominion

Empires live and die by their illusions. Visions of empowerment can inspire nations to scale the heights of global hegemony. Similarly, however, illusions of omnipotence can send fading empires crashing into oblivion. So it was with Great Britain in the 1950s and so it may be with the United States today.

March 17, 2021

It took an accounting book to teach me the importance of Indigenous peoples' connection to 'Country'

It is said that Einsteins Theory of Relativity came to him as he was leisurely riding a bike. Christopher Stones inspiration to write a potentially world-changing paper came to him as a result of a flippant question he posed to a law class he was teaching in 1972: Should trees have rights? Both changed the way planet earth should logically be viewed.

January 16, 2019

JOANNE SIMON-DAVIES. Community attitudes towards violence against women. (Commonwealth Parliamentary Blog 5.12.2018)

_The National Community Attitudes toward Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) is the worlds longest-running survey of community attitudes towards violence against women. Results from thelatest surveyare mixed; levels of awareness have generally risen but there are still areas of concern.

March 28, 2021

Richard Boyle: The overtaxed whitstleblower

It’s hard to believe this email started a war.

March 9, 2021

What happens after JobKeeper ends?

While the labour market has almost completely rebounded, the employments prospects for some groups of workers are much bleaker than before the pandemic hit, while several industries are also lagging in regaining the lost jobs. These situations require a specific policy solution, not just on the basis of equity but also efficiency.

November 19, 2021

It will take more than a Green New Deal to save a planet in peril

As the climate crisis worsens, some progressives have seized on a way to save capitalism from itself. But that task is impossible.

January 29, 2022

Our obsession with economic growth will destroy us

Capitalist societies refuse to recognise there are limits to growth, resulting in inequality and ecological destruction it will lead to collapse.

February 20, 2018

Indigenous education: closing - and opening - the gaps

The reports and narratives around the strategy to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians are quite well-known, if only because they dont change much from year to year. With the possible exception of education, not many targets are being reached.The gains in education in numeracy, reading and school retention will be welcomed by schools more used to wearing all the blame for deficiencies in student achievement. We seem to be closing the gaps that we measure, but a new report from the Centre for Policy Development shows that we risk widening the gaps that we choose to ignore especially those created by where indigenous students go to school.

June 26, 2021

Letting the Liberals off the Barnaby Joyce hook

The return of Barnaby Joyce to the leadership of the National Party and the Deputy Prime Ministership has been somewhat awkward for the Liberal Party. It is puzzling however that the Labor Opposition has not managed to make the Coalition Government more uncomfortable.

May 22, 2021

The Budget falsely claims to make health insurance cheaper through lower premium rebates

The Ministry of Truth has apparently taken over the preparation of Department of Health Budget fact" sheets. A decision which will increase the cost of private health insurance for thousands of Australians is presented as making private health insurance simpler and more affordable.

March 28, 2021

The unfortunate reality for private health insurance premiums

On 21 December last year, Health Minister Greg Hunt announced the lowest annual average [private health insurance] premium change for consumers since 2001. However, the affordability of private health insurance for many consumers continues to decline and is likely to get worse.

September 18, 2021

Kim Chen: Catholic leaders' 'irresponsible' vaccine statements put vulnerable at risk

_The Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform is very concerned at the confusing vaccination leadership from the Catholic Church in Australia.

February 6, 2022

Is corruption on the rise in Australia? That's the perception

Australia has fallen out of the top 10 list of least corrupt nations this reflects the diminishing integrity and accountability displayed by government.

January 15, 2022

AUKUS an unwelcome guest at the table of nuclear disarmament

Despite many shortcomings, the Non-Proliferation Treaty remains a symbol of an inconsistent effort to ensure a world without threats of nuclear war.

October 4, 2021

Catholic Plenary Council: What hope for success?

The fifth Plenary Council of Australia opened on Sunday with a solemn Mass and mixed expectations. For over it hangs a critical question: can it deliver the much-needed renewal of a drifting and wounded Church gone off mission?

August 7, 2021

Hong Kong can borrow from foreign security laws including Australia to combat foreign interference.

_The US government had invested lots of resources in building up an espionage base in Hong Kong, and made tremendous efforts to recruit their anti-China agents here and provided them with training and resources, hoping that they could successfully mount the 2019 riots to seize control over Hong Kong to hurt the central government in Beijing.

March 29, 2021

The curious case of the new airports metro

Infrastructure Australia recently announced its refusal to include the proposed Western Sydney Airport Metro in its lists. That apparently reasonable result is surrounded by a range of murky matters.

July 10, 2021

Kishore Mahbubani: Can America lose to China?

The real danger of the demonization of China is that it leads even thoughtful Americans to believe that an open society like America has many natural advantages over a closed autocratic system like Chinas. By framing it in this way, Americans cannot even conceive of the possibility of losing out to China.

January 7, 2024

Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai called on US to impose very draconian sanctions against Beijing, court hears in moguls past interviews

Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying urged the US to use its moral authority to impose very draconian sanctions on mainland China, prosecutors told the court on Tuesday, as they played footage from the publishers past media interviews.

March 20, 2021

Sunday environmental round up, 21 March 2021

Last chance to have a say on the review of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. Increasing temperatures are changing the climate-defining currents of the Atlantic Ocean. Forests being lost to provide wood to burn for electricity and land for agriculture. Hotchpotch of rules govern single-use plastics across Australia.

February 4, 2022

Militarism outguns democracy in Okinawa politics

The construction of a US military base in the prefecture, driven by the national government, ignores strong opposition to the project among locals.

April 3, 2021

To err (and shame) is human, to forgive is divine

Somethings happening to western civilisation. A paradigm shift: a movement away from the Judeo-Christian Guilt/Righteousness (Redemption) Culture to a Shame/Honour (Exclusion) Culture and there are significant consequences. First, some distinctions:

March 16, 2021

Can soft power contain China?

The Quad had its origins in efforts to deal collectively with the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, an effective use of soft power. Since then the Quad has grown haphazardly into a regional vehicle for the United States, Japan, India and Australia to make common cause against China.

January 20, 2021

Sheldon Adelson's fortune helped turn the GOP into the party of Israeli apartheid

With Donald Trumps help, Adelson spent the last years of his life helping to make the dreams of the Israeli right a reality.

March 9, 2021

Fairy Tales: Google Australias claims eclipse even News Corp and Nine

Google Australia pays pitifully tiny tax for its size just $100 million last year despite booking$4.8 billion locallyin advertising revenue. Yet now Google claims that its value to Australia is more than $50 billion and it is responsible for 280,000 jobs although it merely employs 1800 people. In an excoriating paper, a senior research fellow at the Australia Institute, David Richardson, has torn apart Google Australia for vastly overstating the importance of Google Australia.

April 10, 2022

The cry of refugees

The Coalition remains committed to detaining asylum seekers in Australia if they have arrived by boat without a visa. The Labor Party has not made any commitment to cease such detention.

March 15, 2021

Why aren't work health and safety laws used to confront Parliament's 'sexual abuse with impunity' culture?

The review into parliament, following allegations of sexual assault, has not specifically highlighted the most important piece of legislation for ensuring the safety of Parliament workers, the Work Health and SafetyAct. Without the act’s enforcement, Parliament will remain unsafe and its workers vulnerable.

February 7, 2018

JONATHAN GREEN. Media complicit in the rise of political trolls

There’s an arresting moment early in Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury in which Steve Bannon explains the mechanics of alt-right politics.

December 9, 2021

Opposing AUKUS is a start. Now it's time to reject US empire

It’s time for the people to speak up against the US empire as well as the AUKUS alliance and nuclear submarine deal.

March 15, 2021

What was QUAD about?

China is a challenge that must be met, but not with Trumpian belligerence. By setting up working groups in areas such as innovation, climate change and health, Biden is obviously prepared to pay a high price in both time and effort to convince Beijing that he is serious about challenging and competing with China while avoiding confrontation.

April 3, 2021

Malign or benign? ChinaUS strategic competition under Biden

In late 2017 ChinaUS relations shifted dramatically when the Trump administration officially labelled China astrategic competitor. For various reasons the Democrats seem to have accepted this label. Many believe strategic competition will continue to define the relationship under the Biden administration, though its understanding of strategic competition may be quite different from the Trump administrations.

December 23, 2021

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.

December 5, 2021

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.

December 14, 2021

Australia maintains its sanctimonious stance on human rights

The diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics is just the latest example of Australia’s rank hypocrisy in criticising rights abuses by other nations.

December 6, 2021

Hawkish US Global Posture Review speaks obscurely and carries a big stick

The US’s national defence strategy calls for regional policing in the Indo-Pacific. The fixation is on China and the spotlight is on Australia.

March 6, 2021

Sunday environmental round up, 7 March 2021

UKs and Canadas Powering Past Coal promises look hollow, as do many companies net zero commitments. Ecosystems already collapsing globally and in Australia. EVs and loose leaf tea are better for the environment. And a historical quiz.

December 15, 2021

Climate of betrayal: fossil fuel subsidies cost $5.9 trillion in 2020

Despite promises of tackling climate change, governments around the world are still allowing new oil, gas and coal mines.

December 11, 2021

Catholic leaders should not fear 'doing a new thing'

The disregard shown to the hopes of lay people at the first general assembly of the Catholic Church’s Fifth Plenary Council should not be repeated.

July 17, 2021

Qui custodiet ipsos custodes? Counting down to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics

In April 1949 Chifley agreed to host the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, the first time they were held in the southern hemisphere. Six months later, within days of returning to office as Prime Minister, Menzies agreed in principle to UK atomic weapons testing in Australia. Thirty kilotons were detonated at Maralinga in the three months before the Games opened. How was that allowed to happen?

December 7, 2021

Its time for Australia to be a smart power country

Australia has paid scant attention to the exercise of ‘soft’ power in recent years, but its effective use is a matter of national interest.

December 8, 2021

The West helped create the conditions that force asylum seekers to cross the Channel

Economic sanctions on Middle Eastern countries targets civilians and turns them into refugees and they head for Europe, not the US.

February 4, 2018

SUE WAREHAM. PM Turnbull's 'jobs' argument for war profiteering is a sham.

PM Turnbulls push to make Australia a major weapons exporter puts paid to any pretence we might have of being a peace-loving nation. And his claim that its all about jobs is a sham. War profiteering is one of the least effective ways to create jobs.

December 16, 2021

'Genocide' finding over treatment of Uyghurs is overreach

The independent Uyghur tribunal has no legal standing, and its findings are not as strong as the Western media has made out.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal