February 19, 2018

Has the ABC buckled to PM Malcolm Turnbull by removing critical ‘analysis’ of the claimed benefits of corporate tax cuts?

The ABC’s chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici stands by her ‘analysis’. Significantly the ABC, through Ms Alberici’s editorial superiors Gaven Morris, the director of ABC News, and Alan Sunderland, director of editorial policies, do not.In a promoted article posted on February 14 after the broadcast of an ABC News item reporting that many Australian companies did not pay any tax, Ms Alberici intro-ed her analysis with this sentence: “There is no compelling evidence that giving the country’s biggest companies a tax cut sees that money passed on to workers in the form of higher wages.”

April 25, 2019

What we forget on Anzac Day

On the first Anzac Day, 25 April 1915, the Australian Imperial and New Zealand Expeditionary Forces landed at Gallipoli. On Anzac Day 2019, Anzac forces are again in the Middle East – and Afghanistan – this time 16 years after their initial deployments at the beginning of the Iraq War.

October 30, 2018

ROMAIN FATHI World War 1: The blood-bath in vain (the Conversation, 03.09.18)

But politicians and military leaders had to justify the dead and the enormous sacrifices they had demanded from their people. Thinking back, the most chilling part of the vain bloodbath is that the citizens of the belligerent nations did support the war and its sacrifices for years, some until the breaking point of revolt.

December 5, 2017

MICHAEL PASCOE. What’s the story behind the Dastyari story?

What do leaking spooks, a dashed Dastyari and a dubious donor say about our most important trade partner?

May 15, 2018

LUKE FRASER. Rail manufacturing reform and the political shot clock.

One of the things that makes basketball so dynamic is the ‘shot clock’: once a team takes possession, they have 24 seconds to make a realistic shot - otherwise they turn the ball over to the opponents. This speeds up the game and discourages defensive play.

In politics there is also a shot clock; a government which hasn’t done much risks being thrown out at the ballot box. Even so, few governments seem to appreciate how little time they have to effect reform. In the two decades since the governments which many would argue understood best their brevity of tenure - the Hawke-Keating administrations - another problem has emerged: an advisory deficit in the senior public service, which as many contributors to Pearls have noted, has now grown so deep that new governments can be lulled into thinking that standard bureaucratic processes will get their agenda delivered.

August 7, 2019

The Ultimate Gouge: why Australia, the world’s #1 exporter, now imports gas (Michael West)

What an outrage it is that the Northern Territory doesn’t lift its grape production, instead of importing wine from South Australia! And what about those lazy Tasmanians; rather than growing their own mangoes and pineapples they import them from Queensland! Michael West reports on the bizarre claims of the gas lobby.

September 6, 2017

RAMESH THAKUR. In the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, the US Military Presence Is on Life Support

As a private citizen, Donald Trump advocated for full US withdrawal. As president, he has chosen to perpetuate, prolong and expand the war, at further cost to US treasure and lives.

May 18, 2018

STUART KENNEDY. Gloves are off: R&D tax debate

Australia’s science and innovation community has been dudded by the Coalition’s 2018 budget reform of the R&D Tax Incentive scheme, with much less direct, targeted funding going back in than was pulled out of the tax incentive.

August 19, 2019

A conference of moaners in Sydney

The Conservative Political Action Conference held in Sydney last weekend should not be dismissed lightly. It must be dismissed heavily, so here goes.

The elite reactionaries gathered in their luxury hotel not to celebrate, but to moan. The parade of paranoid plutocrats complained that their traditional privileges were being challenged – their hitherto untrammelled power was under threat.

July 24, 2018

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Interminable campaign comes to climax

At last the fateful day is looming – the interminable campaign for the five by elections no-one wanted (except, of course, the media) is finally coming to a climax.

September 28, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. The submarine mess that Pearls and Irritations has high lighted for 18 months.

At the National Press Club yesterday Mike Keating and Hugh White again drew attention to the very serious problems of our proposed submarine purchases. We will be following their addresses further.

The following is a repost from December 16 last year.

For eight months in Pearls & Irritations, Jon Stanford, Michael Keating, myself and others, have drawn attention to major problems with the proposed build of the Shortfin Barracuda submarine in Adelaide by the French company, DCNS. _With the exception of Brian Toohey and Michael Pascoe. I cannot recall one journalist who has seriously examined the problems of our future submarines. Yet those problems are screaming out for careful analysis._This post highlights the background to the submarine decision and the serious lack of public debate.

August 12, 2019

Indigenous leaders draw line in sand

In the far north east of Arnhem land, a line has been drawn in the sand.

As part of the great Garma festival, two of the most important and revered leaders of Indigenous Australia have made it clear that the Uluru Statement from the Heart is not negotiable.

August 5, 2019

MICHAEL WEST. Big Four audit firm bust-up (Michael West, 18 May 2018)

“Is it possible to amend the rules to stop giving (government) work to tax haven connections?” MP Julian Hill posing a question to public service chiefs at a parliamentary hearing into the cost of government.

This post by Michael West over twelve months ago is still very relevant.(John Menadue)

May 13, 2019

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Those who work for Murdoch know exactly what is expected of them.

It was in 1975 that the Murdoch bias finally pushed the dictatorial mogul’s journalists jacked up, and went on strike.

December 19, 2018

Hugh White: The New East Asian Jigsaw (The Straits Times (Singapore), Caixin Global (Beijing), 18.12.2018)

If 2018 was the year of unscrambling, the next year will offer a clearer picture of how the U.S.-China power struggle has reshaped the region, with Taiwan being a potential flashpoint

In 2018 all the big pieces in the East Asian international order were thrown up in the air. The U.S.-China economic relationship was transformed by a trade war, their strategic relationship became one of open and declared rivalry; Korean affairs took off on a new and quite unpredictable trajectory; Taiwan edged back towards a central place in regional geopolitics; and countries throughout Asia found themselves facing tougher and tougher choices between Washington and Beijing.

September 10, 2018

IAN WEBSTER: Preventing suicide

The 10th September is recognised as World Suicide Prevention Day.

“The burden of suicide does not weigh solely on the health sector; it has multiple impacts on many sectors and on society as a whole. Thus, to start a successful journey towards the prevention of suicide, countries should employ a multisectoral approach that addresses suicide in a comprehensive manner, bringing together the different sectors and stakeholders most relevant to each context”. Director-General, WHO Preventing Suicide: A global imperative, 2014.

May 30, 2019

IAN McAULEY. It’s not about “left-right”: it’s the economy

Some see Australia’s election from a traditional “left-right” perspective, but that frame is meaningless. Labor should be guided by principles of good economic policy, in contrast to the Coalition’s policy of thwarting necessary economic adjustment.

September 26, 2018

BRUCE KAYE. The Prime Minister’s Pentecostal Christianity and neo liberalism.

Will Scott Morrison really be able to exercise the office of Prime Minister properly while belonging to a Pentecostal church that is said to have a prosperity gospel that promises wealth and health to believers? Guilt by association is always a bad place to start. Nothing is wrong with facts that are relevant. Actually, this is an issue for us all about the freedoms and constraints by which we live in this nation.

February 2, 2015

John Menadue. Freedom of speech and Charlie Hebdo

The attacks on journalists and others at Charlie Hebdo have quite rightly attracted a great deal of attention. But Charlie Hebdo can be outrageously provocative. See below this ‘Merry Christmas’ greeting which Charlie Hebdo published in its last edition of 2014.

It says:

Shit in the creches Finish off the handicapped Shoot all military personnel Strangle the priests Make mincemeat of the cops Burn down the banks.

hebdo I say no more! John Menadue

December 5, 2015

Tony Smith. There is a hole in my heart where NITV News used to be

There are times when the rhetoric about ‘closing the gap’ between Indigenous Australians and the rest of the population sticks in the throat. This week I turned on my preferred television news source – the 5.30 bulletin on National Indigenous TeleVision (SBS4) – and found that it had disappeared.

The ‘gap’ refers to the statistics showing the disadvantages suffered by the Indigenous peoples relative to other Australians. In fact, there are numerous gaps, in almost every social indicator: employment, income, housing, incarceration, violence, kidney and heart disease, literacy, education, infant mortality and life expectancy. At times, governments seem committed to finding solutions to these problems. At others, they seem to do little more than go through the motions while tacitly endorsing processes of assimilation. But any realistic solutions must acknowledge the ravages of dispossession and make urgent attempts to allow Indigenous people to regain their unique identities, something they will surely do if the broader Australian society avoids the kind of discrimination we have hitherto practised.

September 11, 2019

DOMINIC O'SULLIVAN. Indigenous people no longer have the legal right to say no to the Adani mine - here’s what it means for equality (The Conversation, 5 Sep 2019)

Last week, the Queensland government extinguished native title over tracts of land in the Galilee Basin so the Adani coal mine could proceed.

September 20, 2019

BRET STEPHENS. Blessed Are the Refugees (The New York Times 13-9-19)

Under Donald Trump, America is ceasing to be the last best hope.

May 20, 2019

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Scott Morrison, the opportunist.

History, declared Henry Ford, is bunk. And last Saturday, the Australian electorate agreed.

Rather than punishing the coalition punishment for nearly six years of civil war, policy inertia, dysfunction and backstabbing, the voters rewarded them.

September 25, 2018

QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Was there a political motivation behind ABC’s Michelle Guthrie sacking?

The unexpected sacking of ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie has raised one big question, among the many.

August 5, 2019

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Gambling stench hits nostrils.

Shock, horror – there is a suspicion that Australia’s biggest and most profitable casinos may not be squeaky clean. And by the way, there have been reports that the pope is a catholic and that two plus two makes four.

May 6, 2019

DAVID SOLOMON. Rubbishing the electorate.

A golfing friend told me this week that he had been door-knocked during the campaign – ‘by Peter Dutton himself’. He wondered why the sitting MP would visit him, but quickly worked it out. He had filled in a form for a postal vote – a form sent out by, and then returned to, the Liberal National Party.

October 11, 2017

SUSAN RYAN. Postcard from Ireland, a resilient democracy

It is heartening to see Ireland, so recently condemned as an economic basket case with social attitudes belonging in the middle ages effectively renew and redirect its democracy

October 4, 2018

Overreaction in the South China Sea when US influence is waning and Chinese influence is rising

The present and recent Australian Governments seem to have become victims of their own China and Russia phobias.

September 21, 2018

JOHN MENADUE How Kerr, Fraser and Murdoch engineered the dismissal of the Whitlam Government. A slightly edited repost from 27 October 2015

Rupert Murdoch has form in conniving to get rid of Prime Ministers from 1975 to 2018

June 11, 2019

BOB CARR. Making a multilateral Belt and Road (East Asia Forum)

Between 2012 and 2030, China will add 850 million people to its middle class. This is unprecedented in human history, even exceeding the numbers of the European, North American and Japanese industrial revolutions. It is the biggest rolling back of poverty within any nation. China deserves to be taken seriously and have its international personality assessed on available evidence, not framed in advance as something inherently disruptive.

January 26, 2017

John Menadue. What does it mean to be an Australian? Are we still the land of the second chance?

The Macquarie legacy is still with us. It underpins our best instincts to give all residents in this country, whether Australian born, migrants or refugees an equal opportunity in life, a second chance. That ethos of redemption is a core part of our history.

August 17, 2018

ABUL RIZVI: Will the number of temporary entrants continue to grow?

Apart from Senator Anning’s appalling speech, the other big immigration news this week was that the stock of temporary entrants in Australia was over 2 million as at 30 June 2018. Since 2012, the stock has grown by over 400,000. This has been a long-term trend since the recession of the early 1990s. But is it inevitable this trend will continue, and if so, is that a good idea?

May 1, 2018

MUNGO MacCALLUM.

Correlation is not causation. The scientific method instructs us that events which may often occur simultaneously or in close succession are not necessarily connected, let alone actually resulting in one another.

October 24, 2017

IAN VERRENDER. The case for an east coast gas reservation policy

A little over a decade ago, then-West Australian premier Alan Carpenter had his back against the wall with threats from the gas and oil companies.. But he insisted on a gas reservation policy for WA. Exxon quickly came to heel.

November 14, 2017

FRANK BRENNAN. Same sex marriage and freedom of religion

On Wednesday, the ABS will announce the results of the survey on same sex marriage. The return rate on the survey is a very credible 78.5 per cent. In Ireland only 60.5 per cent of eligible voters turned out.

July 29, 2019

ALLAN PATIENCE. How to advance Australia.

In his important new book How to Defend Australia, Hugh White has placed before us a very clear picture of the contemporary security challenges now confronting Australia. First and foremost is China’s re-emergence as a (or maybe the) major power in the Western Pacific. This challenge for Australia is heightened by the Trump administration’s confusing responses to Beijing’s assertiveness across the region. Moreover, the United States may not be all that interested in guaranteeing Australia’s security into the next three or four decades. And even if it were so inclined, will its military capabilities be able to easily counter those of a risen China?

April 8, 2019

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison reverses gratuitous cruelty.

There was at least one moment of relief after the election spiel masquerading as a budget; the decision exclude the energy supplement hand out from the New Start allowance was reversed in less than twelve hours.

July 15, 2019

MELISSA CONLEY TYLER. Will Hugh White Change How We Defend Australia?

Australia’s options for defending itself are in the news with the release of Hugh White’s How to Defend Australia_._ Will it shake up thinking? Or is it too hard to change the way we do Australia’s defence because there is no appetite for change?

August 17, 2017

MICHAEL KEATING. Is it legitimate to pay for a postal plebiscite using the Advance to the Minister of Finance?

This article questions the legitimacy of by-passing the need for Parliament’s approval by using the Advance to the Minister of Finance to pay for the Government’s postal plebiscite regarding attitudes to marriage equality for same-sex couples.

July 23, 2019

FINTAN O'TOOLE. Boris Johnson. The Ham of Fate (New York Review of Books, 17.7.2019)

When things are too serious to be contemplated in sobriety, send in the clown.

May 27, 2019

MICHAEL KEATING Labor and the economy: Future policy choices?

Labor went into the recent election with a comprehensive economic plan. Many commentators have blamed Labor’s election loss on this plan, and its support for modest redistribution, thus raising the question of where does Labor go from here?…Labor needs to sell the message that redistribution is essential to sustain economic growth.

September 2, 2019

ALLAN PATIENCE. American realism versus Australian independence.

During his recent visit to Australia, the American International Relations scholar, Professor John Mearsheimer, warned his Australian hosts that the United States superpower would not tolerate any serious deviation by Canberra away from the ANZUS alliance – for example, by aligning with China against the USA. He was echoing George W. Bush’s warning that “you’re either with us [the USA], or against us.” Mearsheimer’s message was brutally clear: Australia has no choice other than to remain a loyal ally of the USA, come what may, even in the Trump era. His policy prescriptions were absurdly simplistic and morally repugnant.

May 23, 2019

PAUL BARRY. With pollsters and pundits getting the election result so wrong, how fair and balanced was Australia’s media this election? (Media Watch ABC 20.5.2019)

So how did the Coalition make it happen? And what effect if any did a partisan media have on the result? News Corp’s army of right-wing commentators barracked tirelessly for the Coalition throughout the campaign, warning the nation would be destroyed if Labor won. News Corp’s news, meanwhile — meant to be opinion free — was often as one-sided. (ABC Transcript)

May 18, 2018

JOSE BELO and MICHAEL SAINSBURY. Timor-Leste's new leaders warn president

Former presidents Xanana Gusmao and Tuar Matan Ruak scotch unity government talk

Overwhelmingly Catholic Timor-Leste could be heading for more political strife despite a coalition headed by independence hero Xanana Gusmao having a clear win in May 12 elections.

July 24, 2018

The future of Chinese economic growth

At any level of development in any country, but especially from upper-middle incomes, growth momentum can be broken by adverse developments of several kinds.

December 27, 2017

LINDSAY MURDOCH and KATE GERAGHTY. A REPOST-The little girl in the pretty dress.

In Pearls and Irritations we have posted reports of ghastly experiences of the Rohingya people fleeing genocide, rape, starvation and displacement. Lindsay Murdoch and Kate Geraghty of the Fairfax Press, who have visited the camps in Bangladesh, have prepared a vivid recount of refugees’ experiences. This is one small extract, “The little girl in the pretty dress” (reproduced with permission).

August 22, 2018

Turnbull survives as puppet of right wing, as Australia burns (RenewEconomy, 21.08.18)

At least in 2009, Turnbull left his job as then Opposition leader with his dignity intact.But not now.

October 25, 2017

ERIC HODGENS. What Makes Australia’s Catholic Bishops Tick?

The Catholic Church is a clerical institution. Bishops are the top rung of the clergy. Where do they come from? What are they like? What is their future?

May 9, 2019

STEPHANIE DOWRICK. Selling a PM - or just trashing the alternative

With only days to go, it’s clear the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, is running his campaign not just as a Lone Ranger but as a Marketing Man. Despite his striking lack of past success (“Where the bloody hell are you?”) and the core fallacy that we are yet “Back in the Black” (slogan and image lifted in its entirety from John Key’s election push in New Zealand), this is a race for a Coalition re-election based almost entirely on claims and slogans that bear no close examination and are virtually unprecedented in their mind-numbing banality. So how should we respond? Or act? The choices will be ours.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal