July 11, 2025

Suggesting a Nobel for Trump is a Netanyahu obscenity

Intent on stroking one another’s outsize egos, two thugs in the White House smirk at the latest ingratiation-beyond-belief feature of their alliance.

December 21, 2018

TED TRAINER. The case for De-growth -- will continue to be ignored.

A De-Growth movement has emerged, mainly in Europe, in response to the fact that global levels of production and consumption are now grossly unsustainable. A vast literature documenting this has accumulated over almost fifty years. But the official world of politicians, governments, economists and media completely ignore it and devote themselves to growing the economy that is, to accelerating us to our doom.

July 26, 2017

Talisman Sabre just confuses strategic thinking for Australia

The recent joint US:Australian Talisman Sabre joint military exercise has added further confusion to the challenge of determining sensible Australian strategic thinking. US talk of a joint expeditionary force to combat IS terrorism in SE Asia camouflages an attempt by senior US military to draw Australia into a much closer US embrace.

July 15, 2025

A warning from the past about the United States of today

The Trump administration’s actions at home and support for horrors abroad raise the question: is America becoming a fascist police state?

July 27, 2017

TED TRAINER. Terrorism and Our Empire: Some Neglected Questions.

There is a very strong tendency to avoid asking some key questions about terrorism, thereby maintaining various myths and delusions that prevent a number of unpleasant realities from being faced up to.

July 25, 2017

LOUIS COOPER. President Trump's 17-page list of changes to the North American Free Trade agreement [NAFTA] are causing some political problems for Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.

NAFTA came into force on January 1 1994. It replaced the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA’s basic premise was to ignore the international borders and reduce or eliminate tariffs for much of the trade between Canada, the United States and Mexico. For the most part, it has been beneficial to the North American economies and the average citizen, but harmful to a small minority of workers in industries exposed to trade competition.

August 3, 2017

DAVID CHARLES. The Australian media's emphasis on the downsides of technological change has implications for innovation, growth and living standards.

There is systematic tendency in Australia compared to many countries in Asia for the mainstream media to place greater emphasis on the potential downsides of technological change rather than the upsides.

August 3, 2017

JULIAN CRIBB: When optimism spells disaster...

One of the most dangerous threats to the human future in this, the Age of Perils, is … optimism.

August 1, 2017

HANS J OHFF. Horse for Courses: Nuclear and Diesel-Electric Submarines

Arguing for a review into nuclear-powered submarines former PM Abbott laments that the RAN will take delivery of a class that will have less power, less range, less speed and less capability and that it will come into service about a decade later than would be optimal at a time when strategic circumstances are changing against us.

August 2, 2017

FRANK BRENNAN. The bi-partisanship shame of refugee policy

What possessed Filippo Grandi, the relatively new United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to go public last week, having a go at Australia for our governments treatment of unvisaed asylum seekers who arrived in Australia by boat? He repeated UNHCRs demand that Australia terminate offshore processing of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island and that we not outsource our responsibilities to others.

July 27, 2017

TIM LINDSEY. Jokowis dilemma: turning Islamists into civil rights heroes?

Indonesias emergency law, enacted in response to the growing disruptive influence of Islamist hard-liners, could be a blow to the open, liberal democracy that Indonesian reformers have been trying to build ever since the fall of Soeharto in 1998. And it has the ironic result of forcing civil society groups that are usually against the hard-liners into their camp.

July 12, 2017

JOHN AUSTEN. Does Infrastructure Australia understand its ideas for public transport franchising?

A recent report by Infrastructure Australia recommends franchising state public transport services, with Commonwealth incentives for so doing. It claimed that this would realise around $16 bn of financial savings, which could be spent on infrastructure. The report assumed there to be inherent but undisclosed inefficiencies in state government services, without providing evidence of such inefficiencies.

July 23, 2017

CESAR JARAMILLO. Canada's opposition to the nuclear weapons ban treaty has degraded its reputation on disarmament, at home and abroad. An open letter to Justin Trudeau on the banning of nuclear weapons

Dear Mr. Trudeau,

You recently dismissed this years multilateral process to negotiate a legal prohibition of nuclear weapons as useless. Im afraid you were misinformed: it was anything but.

July 26, 2017

IAN MCAULEY. Dutton's new super ministry: will it make us safer?

The Governments proposed Home Affairs mega ministry, if it concentrates resources and public attention on Islamic terrorism, could make us less safe from other threats to our public safety.

July 25, 2017

JAMES O'NEILL. Germanys Ostpolitik in the Modern Era

Germany recognises that there is a fundamental shift in the economic, political and military balance of power to the east. It is now flexing its political muscle to match its economic might.

July 24, 2017

RICHARD WOOLCOTT. Government policies have made us less safe.

The establishment of an enlarged Department of Home Affairs under the ministerial control of Peter Dutton is an unnecessary mistaken policy.

July 10, 2017

TONY KEVIN. Hamburg G20 : Much was achieved

Angela Merkels firm and statesmanlike chairmanship steered the Hamburg G20 to a content-rich, global economics and climate change-dominated leaders declaration https://www.g20.org/gipfeldokumente/G20-leaders-declaration.pdf.

July 27, 2017

STEPHEN LEEDER. Comparing health systems in 11 countries

A new report comparing health systems in eleven countries gives Australia a pat on the back but not for equity. Whats going on?

August 3, 2017

JIM COOMBS. What Economic Policy should be about

The idea that government economic policy should only be about making capitalist enterprise easier is just plain wrong. It should be trying to make it better for the nation.

July 11, 2025

The ANU School of Music: Requiem for a Dream?

On 20 September this year, the School of Music at ANU (formally the Canberra School of Music) should be celebrating its 60th anniversary.

August 1, 2017

PAUL BUDDE. Mid-year NBN assessment.

The rollout of the NBN has been gathering pace, but many problems remain. Most of the issues mentioned below have been addressed by me at various Senate Inquiries over the last decade. The fact that they have not been addressed and/or resolved is an indication that politicians have so far failed to deal with them.

August 2, 2017

LINDA SIMON. A crisis approach to reform in the VET sector

M_any of us who write about vocational education and training (VET) are asked not to use the word crisis as it undermines confidence in the system. Unfortunately it will take a lot more than a change of language to restore consumer confidence, as private training providers continue their financial collapse and students are left stranded._

July 16, 2017

PETER DAY. Show me the money!

Crickets two most powerful bodies have reached an impasse over pay. The enmity between the two runs deep blinking first aint an option. Thus, all our elite players (230+) are currently unemployed. HOWZAT for a dilemma?

July 12, 2017

ALLAN PATIENCE. The failure of Australian conservatism.

Tony Abbott has announced his intention to stay in politics in order to protect and promote what he calls liberal conservative values. He claims his values are at the very heart of Liberal Party philosophy. Meanwhile Cory Bernardi seeks to trump this by asserting that his new party is the one true home of Australian conservatism. What this latest ideological imbroglio points to is the fact that the Australian Liberal Party has always been an unconsummated marriage between liberalism and conservatism. Perhaps Liberal Party supporters need reminding that nearly all unconsummated marriages end up in bitter divorce.

July 23, 2017

MARGARET O'CONNOR. Reforming the Catholic Church: it's up to the laity

The task of reform of the Catholic Church has to fall to the Church’s laity. This work is too important to be led by media figures and personalities with their twitter accounts, large public platforms and endless opinions.

July 24, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Greek Wisdom.

The Greeks said it succinctly: the system of tyranny is only as good as the worst man who can become a tyrant. Step forward, Peter Craig Dutton, Master of the Universe.

July 10, 2017

GEOFF MILLER. Kim Jong Un - Forcing the pace, or forging a peace?

Kim Jong Uns continual provocation of the United States can probably be best explained as a considered strategy to bring about negotiations between the two.

July 20, 2017

JIM COOMBS : Bean Counters Stand Up and Be Counted

Budget problems arise for governments who dont control spending. Where are their financial advisers when gross overspending takes place. No business could survive the profligacy of our governments spending.

July 30, 2017

WILLIAM GRIMM. Why have US Catholics turned right? And Paul's epistle to the Fallopians

American Catholics have traditionally supported the Democratic Party, but a combination of episcopal intransigence, Democratic abortion policies and a primitive cast to US society have brought about a change.

August 6, 2017

ANDREW FARRAN. Afghanistan in the wake of the Pakistan Prime Minister's dismissal

President Trump must decide soon whether the US should remain in a holding pattern in Afghanistan. As Trump has little personal skin in the war to this point he may decide that enough is enough leaving everyone to ponder what it was all about. Is the recent dismissal of the Pakistani Prime Minister a further complication?

August 2, 2017

DOUGLAS NEWTON. The Centenary of the Third Battle of Ypres

On 31 July 1917, one hundred years ago, Britain launched the Third Battle of Ypres on the Western Front. It would climax in the Battle of Passchendaele in November. During this centenary, will the Australian people be showered with stories of special valour? Or will there be more clear-eyed commentary? The catastrophe that unfolded in Flanders is an object lesson in what happens when an Australian government allows our Allies to dominate in the high diplomacy of war, exposing our own troops to horrific suffering for dubious goals.

July 25, 2017

JOAN STAPLES. Environmental NGOs, Public Advocacy and Government

Environmental NGOs fear the Federal Government is moving to limit their public advocacy by requiring them to spend 50% of their income on practical environmental tasks such as tree planting.

July 23, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. Rupert Murdoch's abuse of power. (Repost from 7 August 2013)

Controlling 70% of Australias metropolitan newspapers, one would hope that Murdoch would exercise some responsibility in the use of that power. But none of that responsibility for Rupert Murdoch!

July 24, 2017

JOHN MENADUE: Privatisation is costing consumers and damaging economic reform. (Repost from 26 July 2016)

‘Privatisation is costing consumers and damaging economic reform’ said Rod Sims, the Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, recently. He added ‘Poorly regulated privatisations are driving up prices and have little to do with economic reform … this situation is getting worse and as the main concern of governments with privation is maximising proceeds from the sale by fighting against effective regulation. … A sharp uppercut is needed. [Privatisation] is increasing prices. … The whole idea of asset sales is that the private sector can run them more cheaply than the public sector. … Very bad reform implementation [of privatisation] has been a big part of the current backlash against any economic reform’

July 27, 2017

BEN NEWELL, CHRIS DONKIN, DAN NAVARRO. worried about shark attacks or terrorism? (Repost from 21 April 2017)

The world can feel like a scary place. Today, Australias National Terrorism Threat Level is Probable. Shark attacks are on the rise; the number of people attacked by sharks in 2000-2009 has almost doubled since 1990-1999. Travellers are at a high risk of getting the Zika virus in places where the disease is present, such as Brazil and Mexico.

August 9, 2017

RICHARD BUTLER. The Myths of Australian Foreign Policy. (Reposted from 31 March 2017)

The review of Australian foreign policy needs to be freed from the myths of our dependency and take serious account of the current and likely state of US foreign and military policy.

August 3, 2017

RAWDON DALRYMPLE. A personal link to World War One.

All of us who have a stake in understanding the Great War should be grateful to Joan Beaumont for her magisterial history of Australias involvement in that terrible conflict (Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War).

July 31, 2017

JOHN QUIGGIN. People have lost faith in privatisation and it's easy to see why. (Repost from 22 August 2016)

From the viewpoint of ordinary Australians, privatisation is a policy that has consistently failed but is remorselessly pushed by the political elite. It is little surprise that voters are turning to populism in response.

July 25, 2017

JOHN AUSTEN. Road spending incurs billion dollar new debts annually - nobody notices (Repost from 27 June 2016)

Its traditional that election time in Canberra brings out the road lobbies who ask for all that extra cash which governments raise from fuel excise to be put back into our roads. _The problem is that the facts no longer bear this out. Australia is spending more on roads than it collects from fuel excise and vehicle registrations. It is going into more and more debt to build roads._What is worse, it appears that official figures are being fudged to obscure this inconvenient truth from scrutiny lest it get in the way of more promises for more and more multi-billion dollar road projects.

July 20, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. The litany of failed privatisations. (Repost from 20 March 2017)

Ideologues ,the self interested bankers and accountants and lawyers still persist with their fixation with privatisation despite the fact that it is failing in one area after another and the electorate shows very clearly that it does not want it.

July 26, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. Malcolm Turnbull - Mr. 300%. (Repost from 18 November 2016)

Malcolm Turnbull has announced a submarine building program that has an effective rate of protection of 300%. Yes 300%. That is the additional cost we will pay compared with buying at best price in the international market.

August 8, 2017

RICHARD BUTLER. Trump: A Sideshow? (This is a repost from 27 January 2017)

It is not only Trump that has assumed power in the US but also a set of deeply ideological and introverted Republicans. Both will shape US policy and actions. Australia should now review the conduct of its relationship with the US, and develop an independent foreign policy, freed from the dictates of internal US politics.

August 2, 2017

Sabre rattling off the Queensland coast

Exercise Talisman Sabre does not address any of Australia’s main security concerns and sends the wrong messages to Australia’s neighbours. It contributes towards locking Australia into America’s wars, no matter how irrelevant to Australia’s own interests.

August 6, 2017

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Still losing the last Afghan war.

President Trump’s many current distractions did not prevent him telling his military advisers the simple truth about Afghanistan on 19 July: ‘We aren’t winning. We are losing.’

August 1, 2017

IAN MARSH. Australias gridlocked Parliament. (Repost from 9 September 2016)

There is a structural contradiction at the heart of the new parliament. Two diametrically different political systems co-exist. Incentives and expectations are at cross purposes. Until this contradiction is addressed the prospects for major legislative change must be judged slight.

August 7, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. Conservatives set the rules but they keep breaking them. (Repost from 7 February 2017)

Many people around the world are concluding that the system is rigged in favour of powerful insiders who bend the rules. The populists - Trump, Farage, Le Pen and Hanson are adept at tapping into that disempowerment and the sense that the system is rigged against them.

August 10, 2017

DAVID KING AND PETER BROOKS. Coal is the new tobacco.

Coal is the new tobacco in terms of the harms it has on our health. No hospital would think of lending its logo to support the marketing of cigarettes or allowing any of its key decision makers to have strong links to cigarette companies. Yet, such an extraordinary situation has arisen around the Mater Hospital in Brisbane.

August 6, 2017

Chinas Maritime Provocations Are Nothing Next To Americas Adventurism A Century Ago

The message from the U.S. is that China should be more like us. But Americans should be careful what they wish for.

December 14, 2018

GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND

A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal