February 17, 2025

A five-minute scroll

Bisan Owda shares how Israel is violating the ceasefire from Gaza. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in London, marching for Palestine. Gideon Levy writes in response to Palestinian prisoners on their knees wearing Israeli T-shirts stating “we will not forget nor forgive”. UK Palestine Mental Health Network says there is no PTSD in Gaza, it is ongoing trauma.

November 29, 2024

A five-minute scroll

“This should be frightening for everyone” said Dr. Tanya Haj Hassan in an eye-witness report of the genocide in Gaza at the UN on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on November 26th. In Pakistan, snipers are shooting Imran Khan supporters as they protest. Indigenous people confront settler colonial narrative on Thanksgiving, while the President-elect addresses his message to the radical left. Australia breaks international law in every US war we support.

November 16, 2014

John Menadue. We pass by on the other side.

We are one of the richest and most privileged people in the world but our recent performance on Ebola, foreign aid and refugees tells the world a quite different story.

On Ebola, our response has been grudging and slow. We tendered one excuse after another. We moved quickly however to commit our military to combat again in Iraq and Syria. Our Medical Assistance Teams which we have deployed in humanitarian disasters like the typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines were ready to go to West Africa. They had volunteered and had vaccinations. The AMA urged us to get cracking. After a very lengthy delay the government decided to outsource our assistance. Our tardiness was in stark contrast to the response of countries such as the UK and the US. All the advice from experts was that the best way to address the Ebola outbreak was at its source. We knew that the medical and health facilities and hospitals in Liberia and other countries in the region were closing because the qualified staff were contacting Ebola and dying. Several hospitals were bereft of any staff. Healthcare in West Africa was near collapse but we delayed. Liberia has an income per head of $US454 p.a.; ours is over $US68,000. It is hard to recall a situation where our response has been so miserable.

January 9, 2017

IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 5 How we lost trust in government

We have lost trust in our governments and in mainstream political parties. Politicians, the media and corporate interests have been responsible for alienating governments from the people who elect them, creating fertile ground for populists.

May 2, 2016

Richard Broinowski. Australia's maritime espionage

According to The Australian’s defence editor Brendan Nicholson, an Australian submarine twice penetrated the Cam Ranh Bay naval base in Vietnam in 1985. Nicholson’s claim appeared in an article in the newspaper on 27 April 2016 analysing Canberra’s decision to build French Barracuda submarines in Adelaide. HMAS Orion’s first intrusion resulted in ‘brilliantly clear’ footage of sonar and other hull fittings on a Soviet Charlie-class nuclear submarine. On the second, it shadowed a Soviet Kirov-class nuclear-powered cruiser and monitored its communications.

June 29, 2016

JOHN MENADUE: 'Plan for a strong new economy'

As a voter in the prime ministers electorate of Wentworth, I have received two letterbox drops from Malcolm Turnbull on a 5-point plan for economic growth and jobs.

This 5 point plan is the centre piece of Malcolm Turnbulls national campaign. It is a very flimsy plan which the media has not seriously examined.

March 7, 2015

Alex Wodak. The current imbalance between public and private interests.

The public interest,meaning the welfare or wellbeing of the general public, has always competed with private interests. Furthermore, public and private interests will always be in competition. What is so unusual about the current tension is the extreme imbalance: these days, private interests almost always get what they want. The policy domination by huge companies and extremely wealthy individuals has severe adverse consequences for the community in areas such as health, social cohesion and the economy. The current extreme imbalance between private and public interests is now not merely an Australian phenomenon but is also international. Examples of this policy imbalance abound in Australia and include mining, alcohol, fast food, transport, taxation and gambling.

September 9, 2024

A five-minute scroll

We took a five-minute scroll through X this morning and this is what we saw in relation to issues impacting the world today, in Gaza….

September 27, 2016

ANDREW FARRAN. 'We must get out of Syria'

A comment in support of Richard Woolcotts blog: Australias Shambolic Policy on Syria Up Shiite Creek Without a Paddle. We must get out of Syria

Richard Woolcott has stated with clear reasons why we should get out of the Middle East conflict which threatens to broaden and involve us in an expanded war that is not in our interests. One wonders how any times these points need to be made to the government before it acknowledges the folly of its situation in Iraq/Syria.

June 4, 2014

John Menadue. Have we too many doctors?

There are no international comparisons that I can find that show that we have a shortage of doctors in Australia. In fact, we may be moving into a situation of having a surplus of doctors. In its Health at a glance the OECD found that we are above the average in our supply of doctors. The OECD provided details of practising doctors per 1000 of population in 2011 for over 40 major countries. The OECD average was 3.2 practising doctors per1000 of population. Australia was slightly above the average with3.3 practising doctors per1000 of population. For the Netherlands it was 3.0, for the UK 2.8, for NZ 2.6 and Canada 2.4. The top four countries with over 4 practising doctors per 1000 were Greece, Russia, Austria and Italy. The OECD is quite explicit about trends in Australia It says in several countries (e.g. Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK) the number of medical graduates has risen strongly since 2000 reflecting past decisions to expand training capacityIn Australia the number of medical graduates has increased two and a half times between 1990 and 2010 with most of the growth occurring since 2000

January 9, 2017

IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 6 Who exploited discontent and how

A turning point in Australian political life was the 2013 election when Abbott set about destroying what remained of trust in government and of trust in social and political institutions, including traditions of dispassionate and objective inquiry.

October 1, 2016

NATALIA NIKOLOVA, ROBYN JOHNS, WALTER JARVIS. We need to change more than pay for executives to do better.

The pay of executives of a company, whether in salary, bonuses or other types of remuneration, is usually justified as an incentive to improve the financial performance of a company. This has led to ever more complex performance packages with increasing percentage of variable, performance-based payments.

But what is increasingly evident is that this definition of a role of an executive needs to change, as do the incentives, to act not only in the best financial interests of the company but to focus on how it serves the wider community.

August 23, 2016

PAUL COLLINS. Sniffing the Ecclesiastical Wind

Theres one thing you have to concede to Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane: he can unerringly sniff the direction of the wind in the Vatican; mind you, hes a frequent visitor to Rome. Hes spotted that Pope Francis is big on synods or gatherings of bishops, clergy and laity to set policy for the church, so he told his diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Leader (17 August 2016) that hes persuaded the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference to hold a national synod of the Australian Catholic Church in 2020.

Unlike the Anglican and Protestant churches, Australian Catholicism is not big on synods. The last one was in 1937 and the three before that (1885, 1895 and 1905) were only attended by bishops, senior priests and theologians. The present bishops are not really enthusiastic about a synod either. The danger is you get people together and you never know what might come-up.

June 9, 2016

PAUL BUDDE. Can we please cut out the political NBN noise?

With all the kafuffle around the NBN it is very difficult for most people to see the big picture in all of this. The issue has been so incredibly politicised that it is almost impossible to cut through all the noise.

I will stick to what I believe is at the heart of the issue the future of our national telecommunications infrastructure. We are spending close to $60 billion dollars on our national digital economy infrastructure and we need to do it wisely and effectively.

This has nothing to do with doing things cheaper and faster; as a matter of fact I would argue for slowing it down, to make sure we do it right.

September 1, 2014

Cavan Hogue. Stick versus Carrot in Ukraine?

A major problem with the situation in Ukraine is that you can’t believe anything anyone says because they all have their political agendas to push and don’t hesitate to lie.

Crimea, Odessa and the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine have Russian majorities who would produce a majority for being part of Russia in any free and fair plebiscite. So the issue is one of self-determination versus territorial integrity. There is also the question of Russian minorities elsewhere but only where they occupy a definable territorial area.

May 14, 2013

Does Catholic Health really want to destroy Medicare? John Menadue

In his submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration on February 15, 2013 Martin Laverty, the CEO of Catholic Health wrote. Another option (to achieve a single funder in health) would be to embrace the Medicare Select proposal put forward by the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission. Medicare Select would enable Australians to choose a health and hospital plan best suited to their needs. They would be able to be insured by Medicare or instead opt out to be insured by a private health insurer or one operated by a non-profit organization

April 9, 2014

Michael Kelly SJ. The canonisation of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII - an event of telling significance.

Pope Francis may need some help from Our Lady The Untier Of Knots

On April 27, we will witness an event that will tell us more about what to make of Papa Francesco and what to expect in his papacy. He will canonize on the same day both Popes John Paul II and John XXII. Each represents contrasting styles and records as Bishops of Rome: John XIII who convoked the Vatican Council and opened up the Church; John Paul II who stiffened and straightened the Church when some thought it was out of control.

August 21, 2020

Attorney General Christian Porter breaches law over three years, claims it was a mistake

Since taking the top legal job in Australia in 2017, Christian Porter has been in breach of Commonwealth safeguard legislation by neglecting to table crucial reports documenting his use of secretive national security (NSI) orders. Kieran Adair reports.

June 19, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. The Australian again supports Trump against Turnbull.

Lets face it, it was hardly surprising to find Malcolm Turnbull taking the piss out of Donald Trump. For starters, just about everyone does it indeed, for much of the time The Donald seems to be doing it himself.

January 9, 2017

IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 7 The left went AWOL

Contrary to right-wing conspiracy theories, there is no significant anti-business force in Australia. In fact the left has never been weaker: the traditional unionized left has been weakened by structural change, and the progressive left has dealt itself out of contention by abandoning economics.

September 9, 2015

John Menadue. A one-off increase in the humanitarian program rather than a safe haven is now possible.

In this blog several of us have advocated a safe haven arrangement, as was the case for the Kosovars, to meet the present Syrian refugee crisis. It was then clear that the government was not going to do much at all. That has now changed. The government has been reluctantly dragged along by state premiers, the backbench and the community generally. A part of the change has been the heart-rending photos of the young toddler lying lifeless on a beach in Turkey.

May 27, 2014

Elaine Pearson. Cambodia: A poor choice for Australias refugee resettlement

“It’s not about whether they are poor, its about whether they can be safe,“Australias Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said in defence of Australias plan to resettle refugees currently housed on Nauru to Cambodia. It appears Cambodia and Australia are in the final stages of signing such an agreement.

But is Cambodia a safe place for refugees?

Not if youre from China. In 2009, under pressure from China, Cambodia forcibly deported 20 ethnic Uighurs back to China. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had already issued persons of concern letters to the Uighursmost had fled China for Cambodia after July 2009 protests in Urumqi that the Chinese authorities brutally supressed. We know some of those returned to China have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

December 8, 2018

ABUL RIZVI. Dutton Sets New Asylum Seeker Application Record

Why did 50,000 asylum seekers arriving by boat represent a crisis for our border sovereignty while the arrival of a similar number over the past two and a half years by plane is just ho hum? Peter Dutton in 2017-18 has set a new record for the number of asylum seeker applications received. His record surpasses that set in 2012-13 under the Rudd/Gillard government. This is the result of a crisis in our visa processing system (see here) which is likely to be creating a honeypot for people smugglers. The new record will likely be exceeded in 2018-19 as Home Affairs is reducing frontline staff and IT contractors (see here). Outsourcing visa processing will make the problem worse. Tackling the chaos in our visa processing system will cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly north of a billion dollars and take many years. Is the Governments border protection mantra a diversion from its real border protection failings? (Note: Please print this post to obtain a clearer view of the tables)

July 9, 2014

Elenie Poulos. Morrison's Vision of the 'National Interest' Does Us No Good.

The parable of the Good Samaritan from the Bible (Luke, chapter 10) has become common place and almost clichd in Christian conversations about the current Australian Governments increasingly cold-hearted and abusive responses to asylum seekers. Christian conversations in the public space about this issue matter because the Minister for Immigration has made much of his Christian faith over the years (his first speech to the Parliament is worth a read). The Samaritan, of course, stopped to help a Jewish man (a traditional enemy) who was robbed, beaten and left by the side of the road to die. Two Jewish priests had already crossed the road to avoid the beaten man. We can confidently assume that the priests crossed the road because they deemed it not in their interest to stop and help. It was a foreigner, an outsider, who provided the care that was needed.

March 29, 2018

MICHAEL THORN. Cricket Australia crisis is an opportunity to remove the booze culture.

Australia loves to cut down its tall poppies.

Just a few months ago, Australian cricket captain Steve Smith was being compared with the Don himself, Donald Bradman.

In the aftermath of the weekends ball-tampering controversy in Cape Town, the Australian media were after his head, with a fervour normally reserved for murderers and sex offenders.

And now we have the verdict. Guilty as charged with 12 month sentences for Smith and David Warner, and a nine month sentence for Bancroft.

Unfortunately, any punishment meted out to Smith, Warner and Bancroft, no matter how punitive, would always be futile when the noxious culture that ultimately led to the cheating scandal began not with the players, nor the coach, but is arguably embedded deep within Cricket Australia.

May 28, 2014

John Menadue.The vendetta against the ABC and the cost to Australia

Tony Abbotts vendetta against the ABC is prejudicing Australias regional diplomacy.

The ABC is the most trusted media organisation in the country but Tony Abbott wants to bring it to heel. He has grown used to the fawning Murdoch media.

According to Essential Research, 70% of Australians have a lot of or some trust in ABC TV news and current affairs. For commercial news and current affairs, it is 38%; for news and opinion in daily newspapers it is 48% and for commercial TV news and current affairs it is 41%.

April 4, 2017

BOB BIRRELL and DAVID McCLOSKEY. Sydney and Melbourne's housing affordability crisis: no end in sight.

Our projections show that, on these demographic assumptions, new migrants will add about 64 per cent to the need for extra dwellings in Sydney over the decade 2012 to 2022 and 54 per cent in Melbourne.

March 7, 2025

A five-minute scroll

The Chinese Embassy in the US underlines the country’s differences with the US. Marco Rubio and Boris Johnson refer to the war in Ukraine as a proxy war, while Rubio also reaffirms Trump’s warning to Hamas. Ohad Kozminsky of the Jewish Council of Australia shares his views on Western colonialism and Gaza.

May 21, 2016

EVAN WILLIAMS. 'The Man Who Knew Infinity'. Film Review 4.5 stars.

Here is that rarest of cinematic pleasures a fine story, beautifully told, acted to perfection by a first-rate cast, with a screenplay consisting mainly of intelligent conversation between adults of mature years, and with no recourse to car chases, explosions or gratuitous four-letter words. And with all of coming in at a little over an hour-and-a-half, it isnt a moment too long. I can recommend The Man Who Knew Infinity, a British film written and directed by Matthew Brown, to cinemagoers of all ages as a necessary antidote to the likes of X-Men: Apocalypse and Captain America: Civil War (in 3D).

January 10, 2017

BRUCE THOM. Agonies of an American scientist under Trump.

A truly great nation must be compassionate, loving, kind, rational and celebrate diversity.

February 13, 2019

JOHN MENADUE. Getting behind the lies, fake news and spin on refugees and asylum seekers. (Michael West's blog 13.2.2019)

It is remarkable that mainstream media, without exception, continues to ignore the facts on asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat and air. Michael West has written on the subject today in his blog. See Michael’s article reprinted below.

April 26, 2017

VIVIENNE MILLIGAN and HAL PAWSON. Ready for growth? Has Australia's affordable housing industry got what it takes?

Australia lacks any enumerated and resourced plan for expanding affordable housing. Recent growth opportunities in this industry have largely been small-scale, fragmented and ad hoc. As a result, providers have been highly constrained in their ability to predict and plan for growth. This has disrupted capacity-building and undermined capacity-retention.

May 28, 2014

Gavan Hogue. Quo Vadis Thailand?

Thaksin undoubtedly engaged in some corrupt activities. Whether he was more corrupt than the other mob is hard to say but he did get the numbers by actually doing something for the poor peasants especially in the depressed areas of the north and northeast. His critics accuse him of pork barreling but that is a well established democratic procedure. Whatever his motives, he did actually do something to improve the lives of the poor and they voted for him in droves.

February 14, 2015

Melanie Noden. The Forgotten Children.

Earlier this week, a damning report by the Australian Human Rights Commission into children in detention was tabled, alleging extensive human rights violations. The Report clearly spells out the negative physical and psychological impact that policies of indefinite detention have on children and brings to light the concerns that many people already have about the treatment of asylum seeker children in Australias care.

The Report recommends that a royal commission needs to be established to examine the breach of the Commonwealths duty of care, focussing in particular on the use of force against children in detention, and allegations of sexual assault.

August 8, 2013

One Minus One Equals Nothing - Also True in Journalism. Guest blogger: Walter Hamilton

As an executive journalist at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation I was concerned on a daily basis with balance and fairness in news and current affairs coverage. I often heard it said, if both sides of politics are criticising us, were probably doing a good job, though I never embraced this mantra. In journalism, as in diplomacy, one does not ensure neutrality by being equally offensive to everyone. Similarly the counting of lines of copy and broadcast minutes, which is standard practice at the ABC during election campaigns to give equal time to the opposing political parties, to me smacked of tokenism.

July 23, 2015

Bob Kinnaird. More government dishonesty on China FTA

Now that Federal Labor Leader Bill Shorten has publicly stated his opposition to the China FTA labour mobility provisions, the Coalition is ramping up its attack on union and political critics of the deal.

Trade Minister Robb lead the charge this week, with allegations of union falsehoods and a racist scare campaign over the China FTA that do not stack up (Don’t give credence to union scare campaign, AFR, Letters, 21 July 2015).

December 17, 2013

Archbishop Coleridge and Canon Law: Humpty Dumpty Rules . Guest blogger Kieran Tapsell

When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, It means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.

The question is, said Alice, whether you can make words mean so many things.

The question is, said Humpty Dumpty, which is to be master thats all.

L_ewis Carroll: Alice in the Looking Glass_

Canon law, the law of the Catholic Church, is said to be the oldest continuing system of law in the western world. It is based on Roman law, and differs from our English common law in a number of respects. Both systems have similar rules of interpretation, relying on the proper meaning of words, but in the case of ambiguity they rely on different sources for clarification. The English system relies on court interpretations, while canon law relies on declarations by the legislature (the Holy See) and the opinion of canon law scholars about what the law means. The English system uses judicial precedent, but in canon law a judicial decision only binds the parties to it.

June 24, 2016

DAVID POPE. Medicare - Eaten out from within.

This cartoon byDavid Popewas published inThe Canberra Times.

I posted this cartoon on social media today, with links to your blog article. The cartoon was, in part, inspired by your posts. Too often, a good thousand words is worth more than any picture. Thank you for them. David Pope.

See link to David Pope’s galleryhttp://www.canberratimes.com.au/photogallery/act-news/david-pope-20120214-1t3j0.html.

Warren Buffett described private health insurance in the US as the ’tapeworm in the US health system'.

June 19, 2017

CAVAN HOGUE. Our white mans media.

For our media, the UK and the US are more or less down town.

January 12, 2024

Fears of wider war as US, UK reportedly plot 'imminent' attack on Yemen's Houthis

One prominent critic warned that renewed U.S. strikes on Yemen mean that not only will the Houthi attacks “not be stopped, but the broader war that Biden seeks to prevent will likely become a reality.”

October 7, 2024

A five-minute scroll

We start the week reminded about Gough Whitlam standing up against Israel, protests across Australia and around the world seek ceasefire, Richard Marles on the ABC, A statement from the Jewish Council of Australia, and IDF soldiers reveal their own identities when they post their crimes on social media. Spanish actor Javier Bardem has spoken out against the situation in Gaza and his considered comments are being shared across the world, while Israel continues to bomb Beirut and bombs an orphanage in Gaza.

August 3, 2015

Andrew Pridham. Adam Goodes and Rosa Parks.

Before last weekend’s match between the Sydney Swans and the Adelaide Crows, the Chairman of the Sydney Swans, Andrew Pridham, gave a very challenging speech about Adam Goodes and racism in Australia. He said that recent events are a seminal moment in our history. He commented that Adam Goodes ‘has shaken the nation’s conscience’.

He added ‘Change only occurs when someone takes a stand. Rosa Parks, who in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to stand for a white person in the coloured section of a bus. She was arrested. She was later to become the face of the civil rights movement and heralded for her actions. Despite this, she faced massive discrimination - she was fired from her job, she regularly received threats … media of the day claimed it was her own fault, she was divisive. She was uppity and she was refusing to conform to the good ways of society. Does that sound familiar?It does to me.’

August 23, 2016

'Racists aren't welcome here: how we kicked a racist passenger off the bus.

A nice story from The Guardian ‘Our better angels’ . See link below. John Menadue

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/19/racists-arent-welcome-here-how-we-kicked-a-racist-passenger-off-the-bus?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

May 27, 2014

Caroline Coggins. Art and prayer

What do we pay attention to, what do we look for? It sounds like such an innocent question, yet it is a reflection of who we are, and how we have been shaped.

I went to a Matisse exhibition when I was in London recently. What struck me was a comment the artist made as an older man, with only fourteen years of life left to him, that it was only now that he had tolearnthow to ’ see’. And this seeing would take him on a totally other path, and would revolutionize what was considered art.

April 21, 2015

Bruce Kaye. Corporate Tax and Ethics Dodging

The Senate committee hearings with testimony from high profile executives from some very large corporations have brought to notice the strategies to shift profits in order to avoid paying taxes in Australia. The companies claim that they are acting legally. The counter claim is that such manipulation of the law is unfair it is not ethical.

I am not competent to deal with the all complexities on tax law or the international agreements that are relevant to this problem. But even those who are competent do seem to suggest that there are problems largely arising from the failure of the law to keep up with changing technology in relation to the jurisdictional character of a nation state. Trevor Boucher has provided such a contribution on this blog.

January 9, 2017

IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 8 Dont wait for a leader: we need leadership.

We have many hard issues to confront but our present political elites are adept at avoiding them. Its futile and dangerous to wait for a leader who will solve our problems. The task of leadership is one that falls on anyone who has voice.

September 26, 2016

LINDA JAKOBSON. Beware the China alarmists out there

The quandary over what to do about Peoples Republic of China government influence in Australia has burst on to the political scene. For the past months there has been ongoing media commentary about the consequences of political donations by businessmen with Chinese connections; and a piece in_The Australian Financial Review_claimed that hundreds, if not thousands, of Chinese citizens in Australia are gathering information for Chinese authorities.

These are contentious issues, ones that cause unease within the government, among public servants and citizens at large.

June 20, 2016

SIMON SCHAMA. Brexit vote a choice between the past and the future.

In this article from the Financial Times, Simon Schama (BBC’s ‘A History of Britain’) provides an historical and relevant background as to why the UK should remain as part of Europe. He highlights the narrow mindedness and divisiveness of those who favour leaving the EU. His comments also have relevance for Australia in the divisive and short-sighted debate that we have seen on refugees. See link to article :

https://next.ft.com/content/7c7f2dbe-3474-11e6-bda0-04585c31b153

September 6, 2017

KATHARIN R. LESTARI. Indonesia speaks up as global support for Rohingya grows

The Indonesian government has stepped up its support for ethnic Muslim Rohingyapromising humanitarian aid and a new hospital in their homeland inMyanmar’s Rakhine State as the military continues to torch villages while battlinghomegrown insurgents.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal