March 5, 2018

DAVID ZYNGIER. Spending more on private schools doesn't guarantee success!

It is often claimed as fact that private schools outperform public schools. New analysis of MySchool data and 2017 Victorian Certificate of Education year 12 results shows that public schools with similar Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) rankings or Socio-Economic Status have very similar or even better VCE results than private schools. However, these public schools achieve these results with far less funding per student.

October 14, 2013

The eye of the needle, politicians, and Confucius. Guest blogger: Milton Moon

Milton Moon is an eminent Australian potter. A Master of Australian Craft.

My current reading is dominated by the superb collected essays of Simon Leys, under the title The Hall of Uselessness. (An indication of just how small the world has become it was recommended to me by a Jewish friend, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst living in New York who also uses Zen meditation as part of his therapy.)

For those who dont know, Simon Leys is the pen-name of Belgium-born Pierre Ryckmans, a sinologist and long-time resident of Australia. In the 1970s he taught Chinese literature at the Australian National University, and later was Professor of Chinese Studies at Sydney University. He lives in Canberra.)

March 2, 2016

What has gone wrong with Malcolm Turnbull's NBN?

In a column in The Drum on the ABC, Paddy Manning comments that

‘Malcolm Turnbull’s version of the NBN is proving to be much more expensive to deliver than was originally hoped. Remember that the only merit of Turnbull’s “multi-technology mix” (MTM) was that it would be cheaper to build …’

See link to article below:

http://ab.co/1Sef8pS

January 8, 2016

Edmund Campion. Homily for the funeral service of Brian Johns.

Family, friends, colleagues of Brian Johns.

The other morning, after Brian had died, it came to me, so this is the end of a conversation that endured for more than sixty years. Then I recalled that one name had dominated our earliest talks together, all those years ago, the name of Dorothy Day. Dorothy Day? Who was she? She was an American Catholic radical who, when she died in 1980, was given lengthy obituaries in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and all the other leading papers. A significant figure in American culture. I can tell you her life in one sentence: she believed literally in those words of the Lord Jesus I have just read from the 25th chapter of Matthews Gospel: feed the hungry; give a drink to the thirsty; clothe the naked; give the poor a home; visit them when theyre in hospital or prison. Its Christianity in its purest form. So during the Great Depression she did just that; set up houses of hospitality (as she called them) where the poor could find a home and food and drink, houses of hospitality that spread across the United States; she started a monthly paper, The Catholic Worker and a movement around it. She did jail time for protesting against American militarism and promoted an ethic that said everyone was worthwhile. Dorothy Day.

March 2, 2016

Evan Williams. Oscars and other frivolities

My vote for best performance by an actor in this years Oscars goes to Leonardo DiCaprio not for his much-touted appearance in The Revenant, but for his rousing speech at the presentation ceremony. I dont know if he scripted it himself if he did he deserved a screenplay Oscar as well but I rate it the most powerful contribution to the climate debate delivered from a public platform in recent memory. His passionate plea to save the planet drew cheers from the crowd. Yes, I know showbiz luvvies tend to be self-indulgent lefties and climate alarmists, but what an audience he had! By all accounts he was heard by 80 million people around the globe. What politician could wish for more?

September 19, 2013

Frontier War and asylum seekers. John Menadue

Launch of the 2013-14 Catholic Social Justice Statementby John Menadue11 September 2013

This statement follows the proud tradition of the Catholic Church in Australia since 1940 of calling Catholics and all Australians to act for social justice. The 65 statements issued over the years cover a great range of social justice issues poverty, violence, peace, environment, indigenous people, ageing and inequality. Many years ago GK Chesterton referred with admiration to the practice of Australian Catholics in their Justice Sundays and annual statements.

March 2, 2016

John Tulloh. Springtime - the season of alarm and disharmony in Europe.

United in diversity. EUs motto**.**

If ever there were a line in a report to alarm European leaders, it might have been one buried in a 204-page document on the EU economy last November. It predicted that up to three million additional asylum seekers could enter the 28-nation bloc by the end of this year, according to the Washington Post.

If the influx should come to pass, it is about now when the surge will begin. It is springtime in Europe when the Mediterranean and Aegean storms abate and the seas become a tempting risk for those seeking a new and safe home. Already 110,000 have endured a winter crossing to Greece and Italy so far this year. That is 10 times the number for the corresponding period last year. Four hundred of them perished at sea.

December 21, 2016

ROBERT MANNE. Yes Virginia, there is a solution to Australia's asylum-seeker problem.

A new chapter of humanly decent policy with regard to asylum seekers, more reflective of the many fine and generous impulses in our history of welcoming refugees, can at long last be opened. For pity’s sake, let it be.

November 21, 2013

Australia's Foreign Policy Trailing a Leaky Boat. Guest Blogger: Arja Keski-Nummi

Our foreign policy is more than boats or asylum seekers but that is what the Abbott government has reduced it to.

We should all be concerned because what is at stake is much greater than stopping boats it jeopardizes our ability to influence and be taken seriously on issues of greater importance to our long term future and well-being such as cooperation in security related issues, trade and in the longer term building genuine regional cooperation on asylum seekers and displaced people.

November 15, 2015

Cavan Hogue. The Paris attacks.

The Paris attacks are yet another piece of savagery by young alienated Muslims but the question we need to ask is what is the real cause? Should we be searching the Koran or should we be looking at what motivates young idealists to die for a cause and why are these ones doing it? We may not like their cause and we may condemn their cruelty but that is not the point. Should we perhaps be looking at the Red Guards, the IRA, the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge the Holy Inquisition, the young Europeans who fought for the Spanish Republic and hosts of other examples?

July 10, 2024

The bombing of a children's hospital in Kyiv was an act of desperation. Who is most desperate?

Bombing a hospital with children, especially those with cancer, is a desperate act. So, who is most desperate right now? Is Putin desperate? Not really. Are the Americans and Europeans desperate? Yes, they are. Here’s my logic.

October 26, 2014

John Menadue. Winners in the privatisation of Medibank Pte

Many would expect that the 3.8 million members or policy-holders of MBP who are arguably the owners of the company, would be the financial winners in the proposed privatisation.

But not a bit of it. Some of the 3.8 million members will seemingly get some preferential issue of shares. But it will be chicken feed. The two real winners by a country mile will be the numerous advisers to the float, and the senior executives of MBP.

January 20, 2016

Kim Oates. Excuse me doctor, have you washed your hands?

Imagine you are a patient in hospital. The doctor draws back the bed sheet to examine your abdomen. Before you are touched, you say Excuse me doctor, have you washed your hands?

Would you dare? Would you be too embarrassed, awkward or even afraid to ask? Would you worry that it would be rude to ask, or that it could undermine the doctors authority? Would you risk upsetting the person taking care of you if it led to your doctor taking offence? Or you might think its just not your role to ask this type of question.

February 29, 2016

Renee Bittoun. Postcard from Hanoi. Smoking in Vietnam

Unlike Australia today where the prevalence of smoking is about 15%, Vietnam remains a country where smoking is widespread. About 60% of the men smoke and about 5% of women. The burden of diseases related to smoking is therefore extremely high. On visiting a Hanoi hospital respiratory ward last week, most of the 100s of inpatients were patients with acute exacerbations of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), and visiting the cancer hospital also showed that most of the cancers were also smoking related. There are efforts to reduce uptake of smoking however there is little supporting funding.

October 21, 2014

Frank Brennan. My tribute to Gough

Gough Whitlam once asked me why there were so many social reformers to emerge from Queensland in the early 1970s. I told him it was simple. We had someone to whom we could react: Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen; and we had someone to inspire us: him. I have written elsewhere about his contribution to Aboriginal rights, human rights and international law. Here, I reflect on the man who inspired me so affectionately, so supportively, and with such a sense of fun. What he did for me, he did for countless other Australians who dreamt of a better world and a nobler Australia. Even his political opponents are forever in his debt for having elevated the national vision and for having given us a more complete and generous image of ourselves. On Sunday I happened to visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I took the afternoon tour of American art. With pride, our guide ended the tour with Jackson Pollocks painting No 10. I was able to tell her it was not a patch on Blue Poles purchased by a visionary prime minister down under who copped all hell for spending a six figure sum on just one painting. That was our Gough. We are forever in his debt.

October 26, 2014

Race Mathews. Whitlam eyed our conscience, not our wallet.

Gough Whitlam’s objective was equality for all. He believed the proper business of politics was to secure informed public consent for necessary change, through objective information from trusted sources.

He gave back hope to my generation of Labor Party members. Chifley’s “light on the hill” was re-kindled. The party’s electability was restored. His political career invites us to recall the words of Robert F. Kennedy: “Some see things as they are and say ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were and say ‘Why not’?”

February 29, 2016

Ian McAuley. Chris Bowen and 'The Money Men'.

Political disunity comes in two forms. One, which we witnessed in the Rudd-Gillard years, is the subtle attack on the authority of the party leader. The other and more serious form is a conflict about policy.

Once Tony Abbott announced his intention to hang around it was clear that the Turnbull Government would suffer the disunity of the first form. Abbotts ridiculous claim last week that he could have won the coming election is a pretty good indication of why he wants to hang around.

March 21, 2016

Frank Brennan. Deja vu for Timor as Turnbull neglects boundary talks

When Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister six months ago, our Timorese neighbours thought there might be an opportunity to draw a line on the past and to kick start the negotiation of a permanent maritime boundary between Australia and Timor-Leste. For the moment, they find themselves sadly mistaken.

Rui Maria de Araujo, the fairly new prime minister of Timor-Leste, wrote to our very new prime minister Malcolm Turnbull inviting him to turn a new leaf in the Australia-Timor relationship. It was not to be.

April 9, 2016

David Stephens. Bill Shortens Royal Commission proposal.

Labor and the banks go way, way back

Bill Shortens proposal to have a Royal Commission into the banking system is not just good politics. It also taps into a long Labor tradition: banking Royal Commissions and banking policy generally occupy a special corner in Labors history.

We need to see terms of reference for the proposed Royal Commission. The emphasis so far, though, has been on illegal and unethical banking behaviour in the absence of adequate regulation, together leading to damage to consumers of financial advice, loans and life insurance. (The Australian Bankers Association believes a Royal Commission was unnecessary though it conceded that in the past . banks have not always lived up to their own standards, let alone those of their customers.)

October 31, 2015

Michael Keating. The Turnbull Governments Response to the Financial System Inquiry

The Government has adopted 43 of the 44 recommendations of the Financial System Inquiry (FSI). These recommendations had received wide support, and as I said in an earlier blog (21 January), they should be relatively easy for the Government to adopt. Indeed, the surprise would have been if the Government had not been supportive (whoever was Prime Minister and Treasurer).

Overall the net result should:

Strengthen the resilience of the financial system
Lift the value of the superannuation system and retirement incomes
Modestly promote some more competition
Lead to some improvement in customer treatment
Enhance regulator independence and accountability

In this posting I will concentrate on the first two points, which have received most public comment and which are the most significant.

January 1, 2016

John Menadue. The Dismissal Forty years on. A smoking gun

Repost from 27/10/2015

The evidence continues to mount against those who collaborated in the dismissal of the Whitlam government. To obfuscate and cover their tracks, those who collaborated in the dismissal and their establishment friends spare no effort to criticize the performance of the Whitlam government. Those attacks are becoming quite threadbare. It is amazing what people with guilty consciences do to try and justify outrageous behavior or avoid responsibility or change the subject!

November 2, 2015

John Menadue. Abbott lectures London on how to stop the boats.

Tony Abbott has been at it again, this time in London, claiming that he stopped the boats and that Europeans should follow suit. It is an oft repeated untruth that he stopped the boats. His one-liners are not supported by the facts. But the lie is deeply imbedded.

Last month, Peter Hughes and I posted two articles on Slogans vs Facts on boat arrivals. Part 1 was entitled How Tony Abbott helped to keep the door open for people-smugglers. Part 2 was entitled Tony Abbott did not stop the boats

October 21, 2014

John Faulkner. Gough Whitlam - Academy awards and Passiona!

At the ALP Caucus today John Faulkner spoke movingly of Gough Whitlam as a towering figure in the ALP. The link to his speech follows:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/edward-gough-whitlam-labor-party-caucus-condolence-motion-20141021-119b4y.html

John Menadue

October 5, 2015

Spencer Zifcak. Human rights inquiry and a Charter of Rights!

Tony Abbott and George Brandis always used strong rhetoric about the necessity to protect Australians traditional rights and freedoms. The reality under the Abbott government, however, was different. The rights of minority racial, religious, ethnic, refugee and environmental groups were relentlessly pared back. Those who stood up for human rights, like the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, and various UN Human Rights Rapporteurs, were shot when they conveyed their critical message.

November 9, 2015

Tony Kevin. Time for review of our foreign policy.

Why Australia need to get its head around great power multipolarity.

Most Australians think of foreign policy as an esoteric, wonky field. Beyond special-cause activists, few Australians give much thought to our foreign policy choices. One who does is Professor Ramesh Thakurat the Australian National University. He does serious academic work on issues like UN peacekeeping, Security Council powers and responsibilities, the global responsibility to protect human rights , and changing great power balances. His opinion piecewritten a year ago is pertinent to this essay.

January 29, 2015

John Menadue. Murdoch, Abbott and Credlin

In August 2013 I wrote about Rupert Murdochs abuse of power and his intense fascination with party politics. That blog is reproduced below.

Rupert Murdoch is a frustrated politician. He loves the political game. Usually he works indirectly through ultra-loyal and uncritical editors and journalists. But new technology, particularly twitter, allows him to indulge his love of political intrigue more personally. The family must hope that sometime soon he will call it a day, but I think Murdoch will persevere to the end.

July 20, 2014

Walter Hamilton. When Local Becomes Global

Why is Vladimir Putin calling down upon himself the ire of the world by failing to help secure the crash site of MH-17 for international investigators? The answer, I think, is pretty obvious. He does not want to demonstrate how much influence, if not control, Russia has over events in eastern Ukraine. Putins response has been to blame the government in Kiev and hold it responsible for the situation.

Since the fall of the Moscow-backed regime in Kiev, it has been Russian policy to destabilize its neighbour so as to discredit and weaken the pro-Western government that has taken over. It has used existing ethnic and religious divisions in Ukraine to hive off the Crimean peninsula and turn a large swathe of territory in the east into a war zone.

May 10, 2016

Warwick Elsche. If words were deeds.

If words were deeds or even credible policies Malcolm Turnbull might already have joined the company of Australias pre-eminent Prime Ministers.

All three of Malcolms pre-politics callings, journalism, law and banking, have involved the extensive used of the words medium. But none of these also involved the commitment, the enduring exposure, or the threat of damaging public refutation as mere words do, coming at a critical political time, from the countrys most senior political figure.

April 9, 2016

Evan Williams. Rams. Film Review

Rams is a strange and beautiful film from Iceland. And we dont hear much about Iceland these days. As a child, I pictured a place of endless glaciers and permanently frozen lakes, and was surprised to discover that it was also a place of gentle hills and verdant summer grasslands, with streets and houses and a capital city whose name I could never remember. Iceland was in the news the other day when their prime minister, Sigmundur Gumlauigsson, was revealed to have hidden large stacks of money in an overseas tax haven and forced to resign. I was reminded of another prime minister in a similar predicament attacked in parliament for investing a chunk of his personal wealth in a tax-free haven in the Cayman Islands. His name escapes me, but Im pretty sure he hasnt resigned.

September 10, 2013

US complicity in chemical weapons. Guest blogger; Richard Broinowski

In recent days, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have made much of their moral repugnance at alleged chemical warfare attacks by the Syrian regime against rebel groups. Their retaliatory missile strikes, if made, would demonstrate that the use of chemical weapons by_any_force against_any_foe, is completely unacceptable to the worlds community. It was a moral line that, if crossed, would bring condign punishment to the perpetrators.

These US threats lose their moral authority in three respects.

May 26, 2014

Hctor Abad Faciolince: An Idea of Europe

After centuries of war, European unity has been one of the world’s greatest achievements in the second half of the 20th Century. But can it last? The recent European Parliamentary elections have given rise to Euro scepticism and hostility to immigration. It is a testing time for Europe. John Menadue

El Espectador, Colombia, 4 May 2014, http://www.elespectador.com/opinion/una-idea-de-europa-columna-490295

I have just been at Berlins House of the Cultures of the World, as part of a discussion about Europe, and more specifically, about whether some ideas developed in that part of the word can be considered universally valid. One cannot deny that Europe is a special place. To start with, although it is called a continent, it is not even a continent. When we look at a map of the world in real dimensions, and not one designed from the point of view of the European geographers, we can see that Europe is just a small Asian peninsular. It is a corner of the world, squeezed between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and a crossroad in the paths connecting Africa and Asia. This does not detract from Europe, but on the contrary, makes it more extraordinary.

April 9, 2016

Kieran Tapsell. Cardinal Barbarin and accountability.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon is currently being investigated by French police for failing to report sexual offences against children by some of his priests.

It is alleged that he knew about allegations against them in 2007 and 2009.Despite his denials of any wrongdoing, there have been calls for his resignation.

On Good Friday, retired auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson of Sydney, Australia, called on Pope Francis to request the resignation of every bishop who has failed to properly address cases of child sexual abuse.

July 20, 2014

MH 17-Light a candle rather than curse the darkness

In the horror and sense of evil we all feel about the downing of MH17 how should we respond? Perhaps out best response is summed up in the above exhortation which is attributed to Peter Benenson the founder of Amnesty International. The candle cycled by barb wire has become the emblem of Amnesty. The quote was also used by Adlai Stevenson in a speech in the UN in tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt

June 4, 2013

Walter Hamilton. Australia - still a colonial relic in Japan.

The two greatest calamities to befall the people of Tokyo in modern times were the September 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and the March 1945 firebombing by American B-29s. In each case, many tens of thousands perished within a matter of hours.

In Sumida ward, a working class area in the east of the city that suffered grievously on both occasions, a large Buddhist-style memorial hall, the Tokyo Irei-do (erected in 1930; rebuilt in 1951), links these two events as though the whirlwind reaped by Japan in the Second World War was itself an act of God.

June 21, 2013

Beware the debt and deficit trap and the European mistake. John Menadue

The Europeans may at last be breaking free of the debt and deficit trap that has caused so much social and economic damage across Europe. Even the IMF is at last challenging the austerity mindset that took hold in Europe. There is a lesson for Australia in this.

The Australian Government has allowed itself to be manipulated into a debt and deficit trap set by the Coalition. To head off Coalition and media criticism, it foolishly decided that it must get the budget into surplus this financial year. It succumbed to this pressure despite the fact that Australia does not have a serious debt and deficit problem.

October 8, 2014

Edmund Campion. Australian Catholic Lives.

Fr Edmund Campion has just published a new book. A book review and information about the book can be found on the following link. John Menadue.

http://tintean.org.au/2014/10/06/australian-catholics-lives-by-edmund-campion

April 20, 2018

GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND ...

Australia gets a mention in The Atlantic, but probably not the kind we wanted. Its a review of the work of Terry Hughes (of James Cook University) and others who have had a paper published in Nature on the effect of global warning on the Great Barrier Reef. Atlantic staff writer Robinson Meyer writes: The Great Barrier Reef will continue to collapse and die until humanity stabilizes the amount of greenhouse-gas pollution in the air. But fixing that problem will require remaking the energy system, moving away from oil and gas and to solar, wind, and other renewable sources.

February 20, 2019

ANDREW FARRAN. The UK will make Brexit on 29th March

The UK will make Brexit on 29th March if the government is to avoid a huge humiliation and unforgivable damage to its economy, not to mention the nations future diplomatic standing and credibility.

This appears to have got through to Theresa May, the UK PM, as the civil service is working day and night to prepare hundreds of statutory instruments and other measures to prevent a legislative vacuum on withdrawal. Preparations to prevent chaos for trade and transport systems are not as well advanced which gives a further clue to future intentions.

To extend the negotiating period for any time under Article 50 of the EU Treaty is not an option. The public is sick and tired of the whole business. Agitation in the streets is growing, and the credibility of the political class is crumbling.

June 30, 2014

Walter Hamilton. A Death in Tokyo

A bespectacled, middle-aged man wearing a suit and tie climbed onto the steel rafters above a footbridge in Tokyos busy Shinjuku district and, using a megaphone, began to address passers-by below. According to witnesses, he spoke out against the Japanese Governments impending decision to embrace the right of collective defense, which until now has been considered outside the bounds of the nations pacifist constitution.

After squatting on the steel girder speaking undisturbed for almost an hour, the man poured accelerant over his body and set himself alight.

May 21, 2019

DUNCAN GRAHAM Hungry for a result in the Indonesian election?

The differences are stark. When Labor lost Bill Shorten quit and said: Now that the contest is over, all of us have a responsibility to respect the result, respect the wishes of the Australian people and to bring our nation together.

In Indonesia police are preparing for mass protests when the official results of the Presidential contest are announced on Wednesday. Foreign embassies have warned their nationals to stay indoors. Bomb plans have allegedly been uncovered.

July 30, 2016

JIM COOMBS. Circle Incarceration

After the revelations this week, it is trite to say that the criminal justice system is failing the Aboriginal people of Australia. One significant reason for this is the exclusion of the Aboriginal community from the process. One reform in the process over the last decade or so is circle sentencing which allows a small panel of community elders to assist magistrates in the process of sentencing, after the offender has pleaded guilty.

Given that the incarceration of Aboriginals is 23 times the rate for white offenders (compared with 5-7 times for African-Americans in the USA), it is clear that we have failed quite badly.

July 22, 2016

IAN WEBSTER. Health care for aged people is increasingly complex.

From his experience in intensive care in one of Australias busiest intensive care units at Liverpool Hospital in Southwest Sydney, Professor Ken Hillman describes the failure of specialised, super-specialised, medicine to deal appropriately and humanely with seriously ill aged persons and those whose life has run its course. (Ageing and end-of-life issues, posted 9/7/2016 in Pearls and Irritations)

Ockhams Razor (1) is wielded inappropriately when there is not a single biological breakdown but many breakdowns. Ageing causes progressive erosion of the reserve capacity in all body systems; and chronic disease impairs the function of many organs. The aims in preventive medicine and successful ageing are to protect and preserve the function of body systems with advancing age and to prevent the onset and progression of chronic disease.

July 16, 2016

JOHN MENADUE. The Philippines President Duterte, the crack down on crime and the dispute with China over the South China Sea.

I asked a colleague with years of experience dealing with and observing the Philippines about the new President and the maritime dispute with China.

He said that President Duterte revels in the unpredictable and is determined to try to root out crime and corruption in the country as he did so well in winning the slums of Davao 25 years ago against the communist insurgents the NPA - by vicious vigilante squads. He is already bragging about how many drug dealers have been killed. He has also invited the NPA to hunt down drug dealers and criminals!

Duterte is now equally committed to cutting a deal with the NPA to end their insurgency - through some former NPA and sympathisers in his Cabinet and one of the exiled leaders who taught him at university. The insurgency has been fairly quiet for some years since the US bases (the NPA’s principal target) were closed. This will have serious implications for any moves to bring back significant US military presence in the Philippines. This in turn could pose a few issues for US/Philippines cooperation in the South China Sea.

July 30, 2016

DEAN ASHENDEN. State aide, the ALP and the 'needs policy'.

When Labor decided to support public funding of non-government schools fifty years ago, it created a legacy that is still misunderstood.

July 25, 2016

GREG WOOD. Only a fool Australia, Iraq, and other such wars.

The Chilcot report in the UK has renewed calls for an examination of Australias intelligence system in the lead up to the Iraq war. Far less subject to scrutiny, but arguably more important still than the accuracy of the intelligence, was the nature of the advice provided to the Howard government by policy departments on the implications and long term consequences of military action. Even if weapons of mass destruction had been there, its not an ipso facto case justifying invasion. However, without question, Iraq was in Paul Kellys word, a leadership driven war. Its the statements, judgements and actions of Australias leaders, and those of the other countries who chose to be in (or out) of the coalition of the willing, that warrant serious analysis, even now.

June 16, 2016

IAN McAULEY. A Royal Commission into banking and the private health insurance industry.

In this election campaign the issue that triggered a double dissolution restoration of the Australian Building and Construction Commission has hardly scored a mention.

That contrasts with the 1974 double dissolution election, called by the Whitlam Government in response to the Coalitions use of its Senate power to thwart the governments most important pieces of legislation.

The establishment of Medibank the forerunner of Medicare was the main issue in that election. Labors vision was for a publicly-funded single health insurer, while the Coalition fought tooth and nail to defend the privileged position of private health insurance (PHI).

The struggle continued in subsequent elections. Between 1975 and 1983 the Fraser Government gutted Medibank, but the Hawke Government resurrected it as Medicare, and over the years of the Hawke-Keating Government, as Medicare grew in popularity, membership of PHI steadily fell to around 30 percent of the population. Then in 1986 the newly-elected Howard Government introduced a set of generous subsidies for PHI, resulting in its coverage rising back to a little over 50 per cent of the population.

August 21, 2013

Jesuit students rebuke Tony Abbott and other old boys. John Menadue

For many years, I have been concerned that the Jesuits at St Ignatius College Sydney seem to be producing mainly conservative politicians and merchant bankers. I don’t think St Ignatius would have expected that.

My confidence in the Jesuits at St Ignatius has been at least partially restored by action by senior students at St Ignatius to rebuke Tony Abbott and others for ‘betraying moral values on asylum seekers’. See the report of their action from the SMH below.

June 5, 2013

How about it Gina and Twiggy? John Menadue

Since 1904 the brightest and best of young Australians have been winning Rhodes Scholarships to study at Oxford. Winners have included prime ministers, political leaders, a governor general, a Nobel Prize winner and high court judges.

How about funding a substantial foundation to provide for the brightest and best of young Australians to study at the best universities in Asia Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere.

Your companies have been very profitable in exporting Australian owned ores to Asia. Your business futures and indeed Australias future is tied to Asia. But we lack the skills and understanding for the future in our region. Rhodes-type scholarships for our region would be an enormous step forward.

March 2, 2016

David Stephens. Malcolm Turnbull's post-Anzac pitch to the Australian Defence Force

Tony Abbott admired soldiers. He liked to be around them, to talk about the fortunes of war (shit happens, as he memorably muttered to troops in Afghanistan). He quoted Samuel Johnson about how men despise themselves if they have never been a soldier. His Anzac Day Dawn Service speech last year at Gallipoli portrayed the men of Anzac as sacred role models for us today. He tried to con New Zealand’s John Key into a Sons of Anzac commemoration force to take on Islamic State.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal