September 15, 2014

Gavan McCormack. Disturbing trends in Japan (Part 3 of 4)

Abe, the radical

Nominally conservative, Abe’s political career has been devoted to an extraordinarily radical agenda, nothing less than revision of all three of the country’s basic charters: the Constitution (1946), the Fundamental Law of Education (1947) and Ampo (the 1951/1960 security treaty with the United States). He aspires to ‘liquidate the post-war regime’ and replace it with a ‘new’ and ‘beautiful’ Japan.

Abe’s party has from its inception in 1955 been committed to revising the constitution, especially Article 9, the declaration of state pacifism. The current LDP draft constitution (of 2012) widens state prerogatives while narrowing citizen rights and transforms the existing Self-Defense Forces into a ‘national defence army’. But overt revision has never been politically feasible given the strength of public opposition. Abe has chafed especially under the constraint that all previous governments had accepted—that Japan might possess an ‘inherent’ right to collective self-defence, but the constitution ruled out its exercise. On the eve of his Australian visit Abe’s cabinet disposed of this problem by simply adopting a new interpretation, reversing the restrictive interpretation and freeing Japan’s forces for future global missions. The Japan that under its constitution from 1947 to 2014 could not go to war now can.

May 12, 2014

John Menadue. Health Co-payments and $7 for a GP visit!

We do need to take action to curb our visits to the doctor. In 1984-85 we averaged about 7 Medicare services per head. By 2012-13 it had doubled to over 15 Medicare services per head. The increase was across all age groups and not just for the elderly. Bulk billing, fee for service, and the ability of doctors to generate demand for more and more visits, tests and referrals contributed to this dramatic doubling of Medicare services. It must be addressed for both fairness and efficiency reasons.

October 1, 2014

Mike Steketee. Buying favours of politicians.

You might be interested in this repost. John Menadue

If the staggering evidence before the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has taught us anything, then it must surely be to end the charade that democracy can function properly when people are buying favours of politicians, directly or indirectly.

The standard argument that political fund-raising is conducted at arm’s length and that the politicians making decisions are not involved or even aware of who the donors are, no longer has an ounce of credibility. The Chinese wall is rice paper thin.

May 29, 2014

John Menadue. Australia-Japan - friends should be frank.

Tony Abbott is shortly to visit Japan. He should be aware of the serious ultra-nationalist trend in Japan. That ultra-nationalism in the past has brought tragedy to the Japanese people and our region. The chief exponent of this ultra-nationalism in Japan is Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe,who will be his host.

I believe that Japan is at a tipping point in its domestic politics and in its relations particularly with China and the Republic of Korea - countries that it has invaded and colonised in the past.

October 1, 2014

Portraits of Humanity

An exhibition by Wendy Sharpe is planned for February/March next year. See details below and contacts for Wendy Sharpe and Lee Meredith of the Asylum Seekers Centre. JohnMenadue.

Renowned artist, Wendy Sharpe, is developing a portrait exhibition to highlight our common humanity with asylum seekers. A previous Archibald winner and 2014 finalist, Wendy is drawing portraits of 39 refugees and asylum seekers as her contribution to creating public awareness and putting a human face to the issue.

October 2, 2014

John Menadue. Reform of our banking sector.

In my blog of May 30, 2014, ‘Are our bankers listening or caring?’ I drew attention to a conference in London on ‘Inclusive Capitalism’. At that conference the Governor of the Bank of England and the IMF Chief both said that bankers regarded themselves as different and not bound by the need for economic and social inclusion that is essential in a modern society. Both the Governor and the IMF Chief said that the actions of the banks were excluding them from mainstream society.

September 23, 2014

John Menadue. What does Labor stand for? Part 4

Ethical responsibility

Those in prominent office should promote those qualities which draw on the best of our traditions and the noblest of our instincts.

The duty of those with public influence is to encourage hope and redemption rather than despair and condemnation, confidence rather than fear. It is to promote the common good – to encourage us to use our talents. It is to respect truth and strengthen learning to withstand the powers of populism and vested or sectional interests. This would set a tone of public discourse which nurtures public institutions

May 1, 2014

John Menadue. Do our governments spend too much or do they raise too little in taxation?

This a repost and provides a summary of the submission that Ian McAuley, Jennifer Doggett and I made to the Commission of Audit. John Menadue

The Minister for Health, Peter Dutton, has said that we must reduce waste and cut costs in health. (I responded to this in my blog on 3 February “Cutting waste and costs in health”).

The Minister for Social Services, Kevin Andrews, has said that our welfare system is ‘not sustainable’ and that we are headed down the high cost welfare path of European countries. (The ABC examined this assertion and found that it was incorrect. It found that ‘There is nothing to indicate that as the population ages, Australia is headed towards the big welfare spending of some European countries. Treasury projections to 2050 show welfare spending as a proportion of our GDP will remain steady over the next three decades. www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-03/kevin-andrews--makes-unfounded-welfare-claims.)

October 13, 2014

John Menadue. Asylum seekers – institutionalised cruelty, the banality of evil and immorality.

You might be interested in this repost. John Menadue

The recent statement by the Australian Catholic Bishops on asylum seekers says ‘The current policy has about it a cruelty that does no honour to our nation … Enough of this institutionalised cruelty … We call on the nation as a whole to say no to the dark forces which make these policies possible.’

In her book ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem’, published in 1963, Hannah Arendt refers to the ‘banality of evil’. Her thesis is that Eichmann was not a fanatic or sociopath, but an extremely stupid person who relied on cliché rather than thinking for himself and was motivated by professional promotion rather than ideology. She says ‘The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil’.

September 24, 2014

John Menadue. What does Labor stand for? Part 5

Democratic Renewal

At the same time as addressing overarching ‘Labor’ principles that could guide Labor policies and programs, there are two immediate issues which must be given high priority.

The first is democratic renewal in our public institutions, including the ALP

Our democratic systems, almost everywhere, are under great challenge.

We are increasingly alienated from our institutions. This suits the conservatives who implicitly seek to protect private corporate interests from public intervention. Loss of faith in parliament inevitably leads on to denigration and a loss of faith in government. Those that Labor has traditionally represented and the wider community are the losers. In the last parliament the Coalition deliberately set out to destroy faith in our public institutions, public policy and politics. The government was ‘corrupt’ or ‘illegitimate’.

October 3, 2014

Marilyn Lake. fracturing the nation's soul.

You might be interested in this repost. John Menadue.

During World War 1 Australia lost its way. Its enmeshment in the imperial European war fractured the nation’s soul.

Marilyn Lake

World War I had consequences for individuals as well as nations. HB Higgins’s life would be deeply affected by the British decision to invade the Ottoman empire in early 1915. As a member of the new federal parliament in 1901, Higgins had opposed Australian participation in the Boer War, fearing that this would set a terrible precedent for involvement in other imperial wars, whose purpose, goals and strategy would always be determined by other powers. He also doubted the legitimacy of the European war, writing to his friend Felix Frankfurter, Professor in Law at Harvard, ‘What do you think of it? … [T]here are higher ideals than attachment to a country because it is my country. I blame our British jingoes…’ Higgins was deeply troubled when his only child Mervyn elected to join British forces fighting in the Middle East.

May 12, 2014

Ian McAuley. Pay for a GP visit.

The Commission of Audit’s proposal to charge a $5 or $6 fee for “bulk-billed” GP services has little to commend it. But that doesn’t justify knee-jerk outrage from medical and consumer groups, or from the Labor Opposition, for there is no reason why Medicare should not incorporate fixed and limited co-payments.

As it stands the proposal is poor public policy. It bears resemblance to the ideas in a discussion paper prepared by the Australian Centre for Health Research in October, proposing a $6 charge in order to bring price discipline into service use, but which contradicted itself by suggesting those co-payments could be funded through private health insurance (PHI).

April 14, 2014

John Menadue. Using the military for political purposes

In my blog of March 26 (below) ‘Using the military for political purposes’, I drew attention to three instances in which the Australian Defence Forces have been used, apparently willingly, to support the party-political aims of the government.

That political support has now been stepped up several notches by the comments of the Commander of Operation Sovereign Borders, Angus Campbell, on a government television advertisement.

In a series of government advertisements on U-Tube, Angus Campbell, standing next to a sign ‘No way’ says ‘The message is simply, if you come to Australia illegally by boat there is no way you will ever make Australia home.’ Angus Campbell then adds ‘The Australian Government has introduced the toughest border protection measures ever … it is the policy and practice of the Australian Government to intercept any vessel that is seeking to illegally enter Australia and safely remove it beyond our waters.’

September 27, 2014

John Menadue. Why health reform is so hard. It’s about power.

You may be interested in this repost. John Menadue.

I have been actively involved in health policy for over twenty years. Throughout that period Medicare has been the shining light that has well and truly stood the test of time. But necessary health reforms are hard. They are deferred or avoided. Without ministerial leadership there is an enormous lethargy in the health system.

The major reason I suggest for reform being hard is the power of “insiders” and the way they exercise that power. At one level there are those insiders that administer health services. Health is a highly technical, large and complex field that is difficult for outsiders to come to grips with. This gives disproportionate power to health administrators on the inside. Then at another level which is ‘joined at the hip’ with these administrators are the vested interests or rent seekers who batten on the health service and dominate the public debate. It was the same type of vested interests who so selfishly led the opposition to Medicare in 1975. They are still with us today but in a different guise.

September 21, 2014

John Menadue. What does Labor stand for. Part 2

From values to principles

The purpose and role of a Labor Government could be to give expression to the values set out below – to achieve as far as possible the ‘common good’.

Values such as fairness, freedom, citizenship, stewardship and ethical responsibility would be generally accepted by most people. As the values are translated into practices however Labor makes a choice that can be further defined as principles that then lead to policies, e.g. the value of fairness can be expressed in the principle of a stronger link between contribution and reward- a link which has become severed by hugely disproportionate executive pay, high returns to rent seekers and financial speculators and the long head-start of inherited wealth.

June 2, 2014

Kieran Tapsell. The Cunneen Report’s Comments on Canon and Civil Law

On 30 May 2014, the Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Matters relating to the Police Investigation of Certain Child Sexual Abuse Allegations in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland–Newcastle (“Cunneen Report”) was published by the New South Wales Government. The Report rejected allegations by former Detective Inspector Fox that there was an attempt by the NSW Police not to properly investigate cases of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy.

March 26, 2014

John Menadue. Privatising Medibank Pte - who cares?

This is a repost from 28 November 2013. My own view is that all the private health insurance companies, including Medibank Pte are parasitical and undermine Medicare. The only important political issue in my mind is whether the policy holders who have contributed over decades to Medibank Pte should receive appropriate recompense rather than the government taking the money for itself. John Menadue

I won’t lose any sleep if the Abbott Government proceeds to privatise Medibank Pte. It is anticipated that the sale could realise $4 billion. That will go almost half way towards the $8.8 billion that Treasurer Joe Hockey is providing as a reserve fund for the Reserve Bank, even if the Bank didn’t ask for it.

August 15, 2014

John Menadue. Is there light at the end of the dark tunnel?

In my blog of April 17 I outlined ways in which we might find a way out of the refugee quagmire. It is reposted below.

There is speculation that the government may announce an increase in the refugee intake to help the Christians and other minorities suffering dreadful persecution in Iraq and Syria. I hope this turns out to be the case and the beginning of a return to a more humane refugee policy.

June 28, 2014

Repost. Holier than thou ... but with disastrous results. John Menadue

The posturing of the Greens on the two big issues of this election, asylum seekers and climate change has given us two appalling policy outcomes. They sided with Tony Abbott in the Senate on both critical issues to defeat improved policy. The country is now paying a very heavy price. The perfect became the enemy of the good.

The Malaysian Agreement was not ideal and needed improvement but it was an important building block towards a regional arrangement. In opposing the processing of asylum claims in Malaysia the Greens were unremitting in their bashing of Malaysia. The collapse of the Malaysian arrangement gave oxygen to people smugglers in persuading desperate people to take dangerous sea voyages. The evidence is clear. When the High Court rejected the Malaysian Agreement in August 2011 irregular maritime arrivals were running at less than 300 per month. By May2012 they had increased to 1200.They have been rising rapidly ever since, reaching over 14,000 in the six months to June 30 this year The rot set in with the collapse of the Malaysian Agreement. We have been in a downward policy spiral ever since…. Nauru, Manus, PNG, TPV’s, turn backs at sea and even buying clapped out vessels in Indonesia. The madness continues. The Greens cannot wash their hands of the havoc they have wrought. The Government attempted to amend the Migration Act to correct the problems identified by the High Court but the Greens colluded with Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison to block the amending legislation.

April 24, 2014

John Menadue. Anzac and hiding behind the valour of our military.

For those who may have missed this. I have reposted this earlier piece about Anzac and hiding behind our heroes. John Menadue

There is an unfortunate and continuing pattern in our history of going to war- that the more disastrous the war the more politicians and the media hide behind the valour of service men and women. We will see this displayed again on April 25.

The Director of the Australian War Memorial, Brendan Nelson, drew attention to this well-honed way of distorting and excusing our strategic and political mistakes. In the SMH on October 5 last year, he said ‘The more obscene the war, the more inexplicable it seems for us today, the more many [young people] admire those men and women who went in our name’. (See my blog October 11, 2013, ‘The drumbeat grows louder’.)

October 9, 2014

John Menadue. Nelson Mandela's leadership.

You might be interested in this repost. John Menadue.

In all the tributes and stories about Nelson Mandela, there was one that caught my attention. In his book ‘The Long Walk to Freedom’ he said:

‘A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realising that all along they are being directed from behind.’

What I think he was saying is that leadership is a set of activities in which the South African people as a group were persuaded to make necessary but difficult decisions and being courageous enough to pursue them until a resolution was found. It was a collective effort. There was no messiah out in front. They were in it together. Nelson Mandela suffered on Robben Island and the young activists were gunned down by white police in Soweto. The pain was shared.

January 2, 2014

Repost: Co-payments: no rhyme or reason. Guest blogger Jennifer Doggett

This earlier post is reposted as it is relevant to the question of co-payments which a paper submitted to the Commission of Audit has proposed.

Australians are often justifiably proud of Medicare and its role in making health care accessible to all in the community. However, a largely unrecognised threat to Medicare is the increasingly large component of health funding which comes directly out of people’s pockets in the form of out-of-pocket costs or co-payments.

October 7, 2014

John Menadue. Insiders and Outsiders.

You might be interested in this repost. John Menadue.

As social beings, we usually like to be part of the group, an insider. We are cautious about being outsiders, on the periphery. Yet being outsiders has some real advantages.

Growing up in country towns in South Australia, I felt what it was like to be an outsider. As the son of a Methodist manse, I often felt an outsider in the socially conservative country towns of South Australia where we lived. I was able to join the group however through sport. As a university scholarship holder I also felt different to those in the mainstream. I felt I had to work harder so that I wouldn’t lose my scholarship.

January 3, 2014

Repost: Pink Batts - facts and fiction. John Menadue

The following is a repost from July 11, 2013. I wonder if it is necessary for the Abbott Government to rake over the past rather than concentrate on the future!

The fiction is continuing in the uncritical media that only the Commonwealth Government should bear responsibility for the problems of the Home Insulation Scheme. We should consider the facts…

1.1 million Installations were completed under the scheme. There was clearly a rush by the Commonwealth Government to roll out the scheme as part of a successful stimulus plan to provide work as the global financial crisis bore down on us. Because of the stimulus plan Australia avoided most of the disaster that befell many other countries during the GFC. That should be recognized. But mistakes were made
In a column in Crikey of 26 April 2011, there were research findings by blogger Possum Comitatus, which were based on a CSIRO analysis of insulation fires. (It was not about deaths.) Possum Comitatus concluded that ‘the HIS was three times safer than the industry it replaced in terms of the fires experienced within twelve months of getting installed’. He then looked at the rate of fires over the longer term and came to the same conclusion that the industry was safer following the HIS than it was before. He concluded ‘ultimately the HIS … was much safer in terms of the fire rate than what preceded it’.

Certainly the number of fires was up, but that was perhaps not surprising given the major increase in installations. But the rate of fires was down.

December 8, 2025

Marles’ Defence overhaul raises an awkward question: why AUKUS at all?

Australia’s new Defence Delivery Agency may finally expose an uncomfortable truth – that Australia already has formidable deterrent capabilities through the Royal Australian Air Force and emerging drone systems, making the AUKUS submarine commitment both risky and unnecessary.

November 14, 2025

The Whitlam agenda – the one thing we left out

Fifty years ago, the Whitlam Government was swept from power, leaving a policy legacy unmatched by any administration, before or since.

October 25, 2025

Chris Sidoti on the International Court of Justice Gaza ruling

Yuji Iwasawa, president of the UN’s highest court, says international law prohibits the use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare.

October 16, 2025

‘You cease, I fire’: Israel kills at least 9 in Gaza, says it will break truce aid terms

“Israel is working extremely hard to blow up this ceasefire,” said one observer after IDF troops shot dead Palestinians trying to return to their homes in the largely flattened strip.

December 10, 2025

2025 in Review: immigration policy turns back toward dog whistles and drift

2025 marked a turning point in Australian immigration policy, as long-term planning was abandoned and discriminatory rhetoric returned to the political mainstream.

December 2, 2025

Charting Trump's decline

New polling reveals a clear and sustained decline in public approval of Trump and his policies that is already reshaping US electoral prospects, with significant implications for Congress and beyond.

November 3, 2025

A worldwide anti-Israel movement

Catherine Connolly’s rise to the Irish presidency marks a progression in global politics we ought not to miss. A critical mass is gathering against the Zionist state.

November 29, 2025

Indigenous businesses are driving jobs and economic success

A new report shows Indigenous businesses are major employers, highly competitive, and delivering strong outcomes – often without reliance on government procurement.

October 9, 2025

Between two wounds: Gaza confronts Trump's plan to end the war

On a cold morning in central Gaza City, Nevin Al-Barbari, 35, sat in what remained of her family home, watching her two-year-old daughter, Reem, explore the rooms she had only recently come to know.

November 9, 2025

The Dismissal, the role of the CIA, MI6 and Austral Americans

I was familiar with many of the events leading to the Dismissal on 11 November 1975. That knowledge was greatly increased by Professor Jenny Hocking with her long and successful campaign to have the Palace letters released._

November 6, 2025

The Queen’s implausible denial

It beggars belief that the Queen did not know that John Kerr was planning to sack Gough Whitlam. She may not have known the detail of the coup in progress, but she knew the substance. But like Lord Nelson she pretended she did not see anything. Nonsense.

October 21, 2025

After the bombing: The shape of life left by the genocide in Gaza

Since the ceasefire came into effect, I’ve been searching for a way out of all the horrors that surrounded us in Gaza, but I can’t find one.

November 19, 2025

Working with PM Fraser - the changeover - Part 1

John Menadue stayed on as the most senior public servant in the land, after the trauma of the Dismissal. In this 5-part series he details what life was like working with PM Fraser. Given his closeness to Whitlam, some of his conclusions are surprising.

November 28, 2025

Why Labor can’t be bold without confronting tax reform

If the Albanese government wants to deliver lasting reform – in education, healthcare, housing and climate – it will have to confront the hardest political question of all: how to raise the revenue to pay for it.

November 13, 2025

‘Extraordinary and reprehensible circumstances' - Part 4

Malcolm Fraser was a conservative in terms of the constitution. His view was the Senate was “primarily a house of review – and apart from exceptional circumstances should not frustrate, certainly not on a purely obstructionist basis”

October 27, 2025

As Nobel laureates show, the US can’t take tech lead over China for granted

It’s hard to tell who will ultimately win the tech race, but this year’s Nobel economics prize gives us some clues.

November 12, 2025

What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal

The cloud of American involvement in the events of November 1975 is unlikely to ever clear. Especially while US presidential libraries continue to block access to critical documents that might shed light on the shenanigans.

October 23, 2025

Albanese and Rudd sold out freedom of the press this week

Many Australian journalists think Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Ambassador Kevin Rudd did a wonderful job this week in handling the corrupt narcissist who runs the United States, Donald Trump.

October 20, 2025

Gaza has a ceasefire, now Palestine needs self-determination

Whether it’s the Israeli Government, an international peacekeeping force, or a post-conflict reconstruction authority for Gaza chaired (grotesquely) by Donald Trump, the fate of Palestine still rests in the hands of outsiders.

November 25, 2025

Our politicians continue to fail us on immigration policy

As One Nation rises by recycling anti-immigration rhetoric, both major parties are fumbling their response – missing the chance to offer a clear, credible and principled long-term plan.

November 16, 2025

Trump’s ploy at the UN is American imperialism masquerading as a peace process

The Trump administration is pushing an Israeli-crafted resolution at the UN Security Council aimed at eliminating the possibility of a State of Palestine.

October 11, 2025

Celebrate the ceasefire, but don’t forget: Gaza survived on its own

Western leaders now claim credit for “peace”, but Gaza’s survival belongs to its people alone.

December 9, 2025

Australia’s cost-of-living crisis has a housing problem

Cost-of-living pressures dominate political debate, but the sharpest strain is not falling incomes. It is housing costs, particularly for first-home buyers, fuelled by stagnant productivity and chronic undersupply where people want to live.

November 23, 2025

The UN embraces colonialism: the Security Council and the US Gaza plan

The Security Council’s backing of the Trump plan for Gaza ignores international law, punishes the Palestinians, and rewards those responsible for genocide.

November 21, 2025

Working with PM Fraser - a country divided - Part 3

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal

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