August 9, 2016

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull and indigenous affairs.

If Malcolm Turnbull did not know it before, he certainly should now: before you stomp your way into Aboriginal politics, it is wise to first don the emu-feather sandals of a trained Kadaitcha man.

The area is fraught with uncertainty and sensitivities which are not always apparent to the outsider; whitefella politics are relatively straightforward compared to the Indigenous version.

June 27, 2013

Back from the brink of disaster. John Menadue

Many people and particularly women will be disappointed that our first female Prime Minister has been forced out. She has been most unfairly treated by the media. Things have been said about her by Tony Abbott and others that would not be said about a male Prime Minister.

But my view is that a change to Kevin Rudd was desirable for several reasons.

Under Julia Gillard’s leadership the electoral prospects for the ALP were catastrophic. Tony Abbott’s majority could have been so large that it would take two and possibly three terms to turn it around.
The Australian public had stopped listening to Julia Gillard. Even excellent policy was not getting a hearing.
There will now be a real choice at the next election that will reassure many people who are genuinely concerned about the prospects of Tony Abbott as our next Prime Minister.
Kevin Rudd will be a much more effective opponent of Tony Abbott.

I said in a blog recently that the ALP was increasingly looking like a suicide cult rather than the most successful political party in Australia’s history. The ALP has turned back from the brink. The ALP caucus has behaved rationally in forcing a change. The 11th hour changes will at least minimize the government’s losses at the next election.

August 1, 2016

MUNGO MacCALLUM. So much for Team Australia!

The term was always a bit suss – indeed, when Tony Abbott coined it to claim solidarity against the war against terror, it quickly became obvious that membership of his side was to be strictly limited. Team Australia meant, in effect, Team Abbott: its participants were to be Captain’s picks, loyal not to the country but to the right wing causes he himself would select.

And it was perhaps prescient that one of his immediate s decisions was to barrack for team New Zealand – he enthusiastically endorsed the former Kiwi prime minister Helen Clark as his choice for secretary-general of the United Nations over the former Oz prime minister Kevin Rudd. The precedent was set: the national interest would be disposable where party politics were concerned.

July 21, 2017

BRUCE DUNCAN. Curious Vatican article challenges right-wing US Catholics

Was Pope Francis aware that the Jesuit periodical, La Civita Cattolica was strongly attacking right-wing US Catholics for abandoning Church social teaching by political alliances with very fundamentalist Christian groups?

September 13, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. Are we stopping the boats to save lives at sea?

To justify its harsh refugee policies, the government has been telling us that its policies are designed to save lives at sea. The ALP also joins in this shabby chorus

August 9, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull and Eric Abetz in furious agreement on same sex marriage.

The recalcitrants will call it a backdown and it will certainly be a change: but, as John Maynard Keynes memorably said: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” But then, for much of his life Keynes was gay. Abetz can and will ignore that kind of dangerous advice.

June 13, 2013

Are we serious about Asia? Guest blogger: Steve FitzGerald

In my blog ‘On smoko’ of 2 April 2013 I again raised the issue of Australia’s continuing failure to equip itself for our future in Asia. I asked whether we would go on smoko again, as we had following the Garnaut Report of 1989. Professor Steve FitzGerald responded to this blog with some comments. I thought it would be useful to highlight again what he has said about the recently announced Asian Century Strategic Advisory Board. Incidentally, I was in touch with the Implementation Secretariat of the Asian Century Strategic Advisory Board on 5 April 2013. I asked how many of the Advisory Board can fluently speak an Asian language and their names. I am still waiting for a reply. Steve FitzGerald who was previously Australian Ambassador to China, wrote as follows:

January 11, 2018

MICHAEL SAINSBURY AND THOMAS ORA. Timor-Leste's young government teeters on collapse

Asia’s most Catholic country faces the prospect of a second election inside nine months after government fractures

July 14, 2017

JOHN TULLOH. Fear, paranoia and anxiety in Turkey one year on from the failed coup attempt.

As one opposition MP noted: ‘Turkey has been wrapped in a cloak of fear and anxiety’. Paranoia as well, he might have added.

November 7, 2021

China/US sign a mega LNG deal at Australia's expense.

What a relief to know that the US has our back in our trade dispute with China! First it was agricultural products, Now LNG.

Our great “mate” is stealing our lunch again. The Chinese and Americans must be both laughing at us.

August 1, 2016

DALLY MESSENGER. A letter to Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten concerning refugees.

There is some talk of cooperation so, living in hope, I am emboldened to write to both of you. Only by you both working together can this criminal behaviour cease. There are far better ways to stop people smuggling than imprisoning people in third world jails without charge or trial.

November 29, 2018

WILL WILKINSON. Can Democrats Drain Trump’s Gilded Swamp? (New York Times, 27 November 2018)

Democrats are now preparing to assume control of the House. This offers many possibilities for oversight and investigation. For one, the House Ways and Means Committee has the right to inspect the president’s tax returns, and Democrats are sure to swiftly call on the Treasury to hand over President Trump’s tax records.

March 1, 2018

MARC HUDSON. The Nationals have changed their leader but kept the same climate story

After Barnaby Joyce’s demise as Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader, and his replacement by Michael McCormack, we might wonder what the junior Coalition partner’s leadership change means for Australia’s climate policy.

July 14, 2017

IAN McAULEY. Australia’s economy: she’ll be right mate – or will she?

A few good economic indicators and Coalition disunity are distracting us from fundamental structural weaknesses in the Australian economy.

January 10, 2018

JOHN LEE. The rise of China's tech sector: the making of an internet empire.

Part one of this two-part series looks at the rise of China’s digital economy, the champion firms that dominate it, and their relationship with the Chinese state.

The Chinese government’s online censorship and alleged cyber espionage activities have long been a focus for international media. But while Beijing’s heavy hand on the internet deserves attention, it is China’s agile private sector that is generating advances truly felt beyond the country’s borders. Backed by state industrial policy under the rubrics of Internet Plus, Made in China 2025 and the National IT Development Strategy, China’s internet/tech sector is leveraging the country’s fast-growing markets to build market power and drive innovations with global reach.

August 1, 2016

ALISON BROINOWSKI. What Chilcot doesn't say.

Comprehensive though the Chilcot report is, and 12 volumes long, its promised revelations about how Britain went to war in Iraq and the lessons to be learnt are incomplete. What’s missing is particularly important for Australia, which has yet to hold such an inquiry, and where public pressure for one is mounting.

July 14, 2017

DAVID MACILWAIN. Truth buried is truth denied.

Seymour Hersh’s latest revelations, that US intelligence knew Assad didn’t use chemical weapons in Khan Shaikoun in April are earth-shattering, and of crucial relevance to Australia and our military commitment in the war on Syria. We cannot allow them to be buried.

October 31, 2021

Lessons from progressive Catholics for the Plenary Council

Historically, the Church has thrived on the margins. Today, that potential continues to beckon.

March 1, 2018

ANDREW GLIKSON. The ABC and the climate impasse.

“Half-truth is much worse than a whole lie because it makes it even harder to tell the difference between the two.” (Gene Ruyle)

For many weeks the Australian parliament, paralyzed by the antiquated legalistic of Section 44 and pre-occupied with the marriage equality issue and the hounding of top politicians, remained oblivious to the existential risks to life on Earth, expressed by extreme weather events including powerful cyclones and extensive wildfires, engulfing large parts of the globe, and to the rising threat of nuclear annihilation. Nor does the majority of the Fourth Estate appear to be too concerned, preoccupied as they are in the chase of ratings and profits. But while it is “normal” for commercial channels to pander to their readers through the hour by hour reporting of salacious titbits, the ABC, the supposed guardian of the public good, appears to be living in fear of external pressures.

July 14, 2017

KELLIE TRANTER. Different country, different rules

Leaked reports of clandestine operations by our elite special forces in Afghanistan have given us some insight of the way a protracted war affects all involved – soldiers and civilians. By keeping us in blissful ignorance of the cold hard facts about deaths and injuries in our military campaigns our government avoids the soul searching we should be going through.

August 7, 2017

MICHAEL KEATING. Electricity Prices.

Electricity prices are a hot topic at present. Amidst the welter of claim and counter-claim as to what is the cause of higher electricity prices, there has been remarkably little use of the available evidence.

March 10, 2021

The rules of the West dominate the 'rules based order'. That has to change

We need to rethink the rules of international relations and the supporting institutions. However we need to make the rules more democratic, transparent and inclusive.

August 11, 2017

Australia’s Desperate Refugee Obstinacy

[An article by Roger Cohen reposted from the New York Times]

BYRON BAY, Australia — Now we know how desperate Australia is to close the shameful chapter in its history that has seen about 2,000 asylum-seekers and refugees — some now dead, most suffering from depressive disorders — dumped on two remote Pacific islands for four years.

August 10, 2017

MICHAEL LIFFMAN. Is it time for National Civic Youth Service Program?

Perhaps the time has come to consider a notion, at which most progressives’ immediate reaction is to recoil, that a compulsory non-military youth civic service program be introduced in Australia?

August 9, 2017

LAURIE PATTON. The broadband debacle: NBN Co needs to eat its own dog food.

Whoever is in office three years from now will have the biggest ever infrastructure debacle on their hands if we don’t do something soon, writes Internet Australia’s Laurie Patton.

August 8, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. A $30 million gift to the great rent seeker, News Corp.

Inevitably a scandal over $30 million of taxpayers money to Foxtel tended to get lost in the rush. But it remains a scandal nonetheless, especially when the government admits – no, boasts – that there is no record of the transaction; apparently the cash was simply handed over in a brown paper bag with a wink and a nudge.

February 8, 2018

PETER DRYSDALE AND JOHN DENTON. Australia must move beyond Cold War thinking

Searching for evidence of ‘Chinese influence’ in Australia? Look no further than the census. Around 1.2 million people declared themselves of Chinese heritage. About 600,000 were born in mainland China. And while recent coverage of alleged Chinese ‘influence’ in Australian politics might suggest otherwise, the Australian-Chinese community is not a dagger pointed at the heart of Australian democracy — it is a diverse community with every right to participate in the political process.

July 12, 2017

Japan on the wrong side of nuclear weapons ban treaty

Many nations that previously championed their nuclear disarmament credentials have now been outed as part of the problem

July 14, 2017

TONY KEVIN. Australia has been enlisted by Trump’s Washington opponents

Australia has now been enlisted in Trump’s war against the Washington elite. There are costs and risks to Australia in this development.

January 26, 2019

JOHN CARMODY. Rethinking the basis for the Australia Day holiday.

January 26 continues to be a nettlesome date for the official celebration of the Australian nation and as a commemoration of our colonial foundation. Apart from the significant nuisance that it falls so close to the end of the holiday season, when our minds and emotions are trying to deal with seemingly more pressing obligations, its continued existence really asks a serious philosophical and moral question about not just about the date but also whether it should be celebrated at all.

July 12, 2017

MUNGO MACCALLUM. No holiday for Tony Abbott

Malcolm Turnbull was off in Hamburg, schmoozing his fellow leaders in the hope of getting something – anything – done about North Korea, terrorism, trade, Donald Trump – something – anything.

July 12, 2017

RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Matching Colonial Wars

The record of British colonial history proves that what occurred to Aboriginal Australian communities at the hands of white settlers and British military forces was not a unique event. The same thing occurred with as much inhumanity and ferocity in other parts of the Empire, notably in South Africa against the Khoi, the Xhosa and the Zulus. The difference is that the Xhosa and the Zulus, if not the Khoi, had a fierce warrior-like mentality and were able not only to defend themselves effectively, but frequently to invade white settler areas, torching their farms and killing their inhabitants. Hence eight very bloody frontier wars followed between 1779 and 1853. If Australians were more aware of the similarities, denialist Australian academics like Keith Windshuttle would not be able to get away with his white-wash of Australian settler history as easily as they do.

June 17, 2013

The Vatican appeals in vain for decency towards refugees. John Menadue

On June 6, the Vatican emphasized that governments protect refugees. It said that the world’s governments must give ‘absolute priority’ to the fundamental rights of refugees.

Cardinal Veglio who heads the Pontifical Council for Migrants said:

‘Protection must be guaranteed to all who live under conditions of forced migration, taking into account their specific means, which can vary from a residency permit for victims of human trafficking to the possibility of being granted citizenship for those who are stateless.’ He added that policies in this area must be ‘guided by the principle of the centrality and dignity of every human person’.

January 18, 2018

PETER BROOKS. Movement on out of pocket expenses.

Over the last few years much as been written on the issue of out of pocket (OOPs) medical expenses in Australia including a number of contributions in this newsletter. There has been a Senate enquiry and much coverage in the media. The issue of out of pocket expenses is not new – the Grattan Institute conducted a review last year pointing out their rapid increase and that they were impacting on the most vulnerable in society . While a recent OECD Report ( https://www.oecd.org/…/Health-at-a-Glance-2015-Key-Findings-AUSTRALIA.pdf) showed that in Australia OOPs account for 20% of expenditure on health care , slightly higher than the OECD average of 19%. By contrast, out-of-pocket costs account for only 10% of health spending in the United Kingdom, 13% in New Zealand and 14% in Canada, which have similar government funded health systems. Out-of-pocket costs also comprise a low proportion of health spending in France (7%), whose health system is largely funded by social security.

July 14, 2017

ANDREW FARRAN. Apparently all not well among our elite Forces

It appears that all is not well between and among our elite military forces, and between them and their hierarchies above, possibly right up to the government itself. After all it is the government that has committed these elites into battle situations leading to allegations of unlawful killings of civilians, in this case in Afghanistan (vide: _http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-11/killings-of-unarmed-afghans-by-australian-special-forces/8466642__)_

February 6, 2018

JOHN MENADUE Talking free trade and practising protection.

Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop often talk about the importance of free trade and what they have done in numerous free trade agreements. The benefits of these have been exaggerated, but there have been some marginal benefits. But the continual habit of rent seekers who seek protection tells a different story-such as the second-hand car sector.

July 12, 2017

FR. MICHAEL KELLY. Christianity isn’t the answer

Paul Kelly named what is the biggest untreated socially communicated disease in the Western world: narcissism (The Australian, 8/07/2017). He’s not alone of course and quotes several other commentators who believe the same thing, among them David Brooks.

August 7, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. Australian business in Asia - ‘pale, male and stale’. (Repost from 8 August 2016)

A recent report on ‘ Australia’s Diaspora Advantage: Realising the potential for building transnational business networks with Asia’ reveals that social class and racism, either conscious or unconscious, still excludes many Australians of Asian origin from many Australian institutions and particularly business institutions. The bamboo ceiling is still in place. It limits opportunities for people in Australia with Asian ’talent’. It also limits the effectiveness of Australian business in Asia.

February 6, 2018

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Is militarism in Australia's DNA?

Australians who don’t live in other countries don’t realise how our self-image differs from the perception, particularly in Asia, that we were militarists from the start. Australia’s tendency to resort to force is hard-wired, hard to eliminate, and goes back a long way.

July 12, 2017

IAN MCAULEY. Comrade Abbott – Comrade who?

It is understandable that members of the Parliamentary Liberal Party are furious with Tony Abbott. But they fail to realise that his behaviour is a manifestation – admittedly a stark one – of traits that are embedded in the Liberal Party.

February 7, 2018

GEOFF DAVIES. Australian politics is a culture of untruths.

The Turnbull Cabinet is upset because some of its secrets are outed through incompetence. The filing cabinet papers so far reveal some hypocrisy and the untruths of Government Ministers past and present.

July 20, 2017

LOUIS COOPER. A Canadian’s mistreatment at Guantanamo Bay leads to a no-win for the Trudeau Government

Public debate over federal government’s $CA10.5 million payout to former “child terrorist” has tarnished Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.

July 12, 2017

CHARLES LIVINGSTON. Victorian pokies "reforms" may impose big costs on population

The Victorian Government has announced that it will extend existing poker machine licences until 2042, freezing the total number of machines available in pubs and clubs at 27,342 (there are another 2,658 at Crown Casino). The Minister made much of this in her announcement, lauding this as a ‘harm minimisation’ measure. Yet these ‘reforms’ may impose significant opportunity costs on the Victorian population.

September 16, 2014

John Tulloh. Islamic State - The Saudi Connection.

How ironic it was that last week Saudi Arabia should host a meeting between the foreign ministers of the Arab League and U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, to discuss what to do about the growing crisis about Islamic State (IS). The fact is that IS is inspired by Salafism, a small branch of Islam sponsored by Saudi Arabia. What’s more, it is said to have got plenty of its money from Saudi supporters. Salafism represents only about three percent of the world’s Moslems. It eschews modern morality and the accepted ways of 21st century life. It wants what it regards as a pure form of Islam which is really what applied in medieval times. It supports sharia laws long abandoned by most Moslems. Within the space of a fortnight last month in Saudi Arabia 19 people were beheaded, nearly half of them for non-violent crimes. That may be why IS adherents apparently regard this as the norm and acceptable practice.

March 21, 2021

Vital Signs: timing of Yallourn’s closure shows it’s high time for a carbon price

If you ever doubted the price of renewable energy was falling so rapidly it would eventually replace fossil fuels, the expedited closure of the Yallourn coal-fired power plant should change that.

February 15, 2018

Closing the gap between the science and politics of progress (Part 2 of 2)

Global politics is based on an outmoded and increasingly destructive model of human progress and development. In the second of two parts, RICHARD ECKERSLEY examines the critical nexus between science and politics in redefining progress.

August 8, 2017

KIM OATES. The health gap.

“The problem is ………. that we have been pursuing economic policy that benefits the one per cent. Trickle-down economics is defunct and does not work”.

“Politics quickly departs from evidence into the realm of ideology ….. But evidence must be a key part of the conversation.”

“One senior Conservative politician in Britain put it to me that my agenda is closer to Social Democrat than to Conservative thinking …… I make my case on the evidence, not on prior political beliefs.”

These quotes are from Michael Marmot’s book, The Health Gap. Some may find them controversial, or at least provocative.

August 9, 2017

IAN VERRENDER. How the Commonwealth Bank laid the groundwork for a royal commission

Where do you start? A total clean-out of the board and management of the Commonwealth Bank, a complete rethink of the role of our financial institutions, or a subjective investigation on the impact of new technology and whether it can replace human involvement?

August 4, 2021

Australia and the White Man’s Media. A repost from 2015

I have said many times that a person from Mars who read and listened to Australian media would conclude that we are an island parked off London or New York with little relationship to Asia. Our news and media coverage is so derivative, relying heavily on the BBC, CNN and other news and entertainment houses in the UK and the US. We are recyclers. Tony Abbott delights in our being part of this Anglosphere with its British monarchy, Sirs and Dames.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal