September 29, 2016

China's deepening engagement in Australian society: is it a concern?

The PRC government’s influence in domestic Australia - long active but not altogether visible or much remarked - is now emerging as a big, contentious and potentially disruptive issue in the relationship, and a thorny one for policy-makers. In some respects, it may be more challenging and more pressing than other more prominent issues like the South China Sea. Unlike PRC actions in the South China Sea it is difficult to ascertain what precise actions the PRC is taking within Australia and what influence these actions are having.

April 30, 2025

Human rights abuses by Israel – Amnesty report

Israel is perpetrating a “live-streamed genocide” in Gaza, committing illegal acts with the “specific intent” of wiping out Palestinians, Amnesty International said in their annual report released on Monday.

July 2, 2014

Pearls and Irritations –over 2,100 daily readers

This blog was launched in January 2013.

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John Menadue

September 21, 2014

Will we ever learn?

In an article in the Washington Post - see link below - Katrina vanden Heuvel says

‘Our interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan should have made one thing clear: we have neither the patience, the resources nor the willingness to wreak the violence needed to suppress the regional sectarian conflicts. For more than a decade, we have spent trillions, sacrificed lives and rained bombs on assorted targets from Pakistan to Libya. And the civil wars, tribal rivalries and sectarian violence have only increased.’

June 2, 2013

Was the 'hung parliament' all that bad? John Menadue

We have been told many times since the 2010 election that the hung parliament was an abomination, it wouldn’t work and that it wouldn’t last. Denied government after the last election, the Coalition tried to make the government as well as the parliament as unworkable as possible. Paul Keating put it more colourfully “If Tony Abbott doesn’t get his way, he sets about wrecking the joint”.

But here we are almost three years later with the parliament seeing out its full term.

June 15, 2014

Walter Hamilton. Fractured News from Fukushima.

It’s raining in Fukushima.

Since radioactive contamination from the crippled nuclear power plant is spread mainly by introduced water, even a routine weather bulletin has more-than-usual significance. The annual tsuyu, or rainy season, is in full swing in Japan. Fukushima prefecture normally receives 250 millimetres of rain in June-July, and every drop adds to the burden of the disaster.

More than three years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, it is difficult to form a reliable overview of how the nuclear accident is unfolding, its long-term effects on public health, and progress in making the site and surrounding areas safe. Information is released piecemeal fashion from various sources: Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO); national government agencies; separate local authorities; regulators; and non-government monitors. There is no single, unbiased source plotting progress comprehensively against consistent terms of reference and using plain language. The mainstream media also seem incapable of addressing the information gaps and unanswered questions. What follows, therefore, is necessarily a partial impression.

November 10, 2016

ROBERT MANNE. It’s Time

The Turnbull government has recently introduced new asylum seeker legislation into parliament. It has two parts. The first part aims to prevent any asylum seeker who tried to reach Australia after July 19 2013, including those who have been found to be genuine refugees, from ever being allowed to settle in Australia. The second part aims at banning the adults in this cohort settled in another country from ever visiting Australia even on a tourist or a business visa.

The first part of this proposal writes into law what has previously been a bipartisan political agreement. Turning this consensus into legislation has however three implications.

May 16, 2016

EVAN WILLIAMS. Who do you trust to speak plain English?

“Who do you trust to keep the economy strong and protect family living standards? Who do you trust to keep interest rates low? Who do you trust in the fight against international terrorism?”

Familiar words? Malcolm Turnbull’s opening pitch for the July 2 election? Actually, no. These were John Howard’s words, launching his campaign against the hapless Mark Latham in 2004. By my count, Howard used the mantra “Who do you trust?” more than a dozen times. (An old-fashioned pedant like me might have asked: Whom do you trust to use good English grammar? But let’s not quibble over trifles.)

May 8, 2015

Philip Clarke. Pharmacy sector in dire need of reform.

Among the most significant reforms proposed by recently released Harper Competition Policy Review is the removal of regulatory restrictions that greatly limit competition in the community pharmacy sector. But implementing the recommendation will require politicians who are up for a real challenge.

Any changes to how the pharmacy sector works involves taking on what has been described as “ the most powerful lobby group you’ve never heard of.” The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, which represents the interest of pharmacy owners, is widely perceived as one of the most influential lobby groups in Australia.

October 13, 2025

Episode 1 - The 50th anniversary of the Whitlam government

We kick off with a topic close to our hearts, the 50th anniversary of the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government.

December 20, 2013

New Vatican Committee on Sexual Abuse - What the Pope and the Bishops should do. Guest blogger: Bishop Geoffrey Robinson

Pope Francis has announced that he is setting up a committee to advise him on how to respond to sexual abuse within the Church. There is a large amount of scepticism in many quarters about such a move, for there have been so many other meetings before this and they have produced so little. So why should one more committee make any difference?

I am more hopeful than the sceptics because I think there is a new factor here, and that new factor is Pope Francis himself. He has shown a willingness to face unpleasant aspects of the Church and a determination to change what needs to be changed that I have not seen since Pope John XXIII. So I am more than happy to work with his initiative and to support him in any way I can. Under his leadership I would far rather give wholehearted support to an initiative that may produce nothing than not give support to a movement that might seriously and genuinely confront all aspects of abuse.

July 31, 2014

John Menadue. Overplaying one’s hand.

With the benefits that governments get with incumbency, presidents and prime ministers need to be careful not to overstate their case or overplay their hands. The temptation is great, particularly when there are national outpourings of grief and when a global stage awaits.

Tony Abbott was certainly on the world stage over MH370. On 21 March in PNG he announced that “satellite footage showed what could be debris from the missing airline’s flight MH370”. Then he added, ‘now it could just be a container that fell off a ship … we just don’t know … we owe it to [families and friends] to give them information as soon as it is to hand’.

July 18, 2014

Bugger the planet, ignore our children and trash our reputation.

The repeal of the carbon tax is a political victory for Tony Abbott but it is hard to imagine a worse combination of poor reasoning and bad policy making. It shows little appreciation of economics. It will increase the budget deficit. It shows a mistrust of the market. Tony Abbott’s political legacy will be defined by the repeal of the carbon tax. It is one of the worst examples of policy vandalism in our history.

November 17, 2018

ROGER SCOTT. All creatures great and small: parity or esteem?

The festive campaigning season is upon us and the federal Minister for Education wishes to bring gifts to those small tertiary institutions located in sensitive rural constituencies. Unfortunately for those who live in the greater (ie research-intensive) metropolitan institutions the Minister seems to have been told that the load capacity of Santa’s sleigh is finite. The university system as a whole does not rank high enough politically to get a bigger slice of the Christmas pie so the elves need to help the Minister make do with what he has.

February 3, 2014

John Dwyer. Cutting waste and costs in health.

Tactics and strategies for a six year journey to sustainable, equitable excellence

(1) Move to a single funder for our national health scheme (The Commonwealth). The funder would contract with States and other potential providers to deliver integrated patient focused care. The health bureaucracy would be reduced by 80% with greater efficiency, better outcomes and less duplication saving at least $ 4 billion per year. (2) Remove Tax-payer support for Private Health insurance. Health Insurers are making large profits. Australians will retain their PHI as other sticks make that a certainty. The introduction of the subsidy saw PHI increase by only 2%. (3) Introduce peer and craft approved critical pathways to see more evidence based decision making re tests and procedures . Savings $20 billion per year. (4) Focus on reducing avoidable expensive hospital admissions ( more than 600,000 per year) through cheaper and better timely community interventions. Requires the introduction of Integrated Primary Care teams. Will need to broaden Medicare funding to cover health professionals other than doctors but net savings anticipated at least $7 billon per year.(5) Introduce slowly but steadily capitated funding for the management of"chronic and complex"diseases with mandatory reporting of health outcomes.

February 1, 2015

Clive Kessler. A rage against history.

The Ottawa parliament, Café Lindt, Charlie Hebdo and so many others too: these are all separate incidents. But they are all part of the same global phenomenon.

They are all expressions of a rage against history that lurks within modern Islam and animates Muslim militants worldwide today.

It is a rage that has its source within the wounded soul of contemporary Islamic civilisation, of the modern Muslim world generally.

The Islamic religion and its social world are an intensely political tradition.

April 30, 2025

Firefighters fight Dutton’s nuclear plan

The United Firefighters Union of Australia has launched a last-minute campaign warning Australians of the risks associated with the Coalition’s plan to build seven nuclear power plants in five states.

March 20, 2013

Does Australia care about what happens on its doorstep in Sabah? Guest blogger: El Tee Kay

Almost a month ago two hundred of the self styled Royal Sulu Army, some heavily armed, landed in a small coastal village in Sabah, Malaysia. They came from the nearby Tawi Tawi islands in the southern Philippines. Their objective was to “persuade” the Malaysian Government to recognize their “hereditary” claim to Sabah for the Sulu Sultanate.

The Suluk or Tausag tribes have traversed this narrow stretch of water as traders and pirates for centuries and many settled along the East coast of Sabah. The influx increased during the Moro uprising in the southern Philippines. This most recent invasion, it seems, has all to do with the Philippine claim to Sabah and reminiscent of President Marcos’s “Operation Merdeka” which was an attempt to launch 160 army trained Muslim youth from Sulu and Tawi Tawi to foment an uprising in Sabah in 1967. This plot went horribly wrong when this commando unit called the Jabidah found out they were to kill fellow Suluks. They mutinied and were apparently eliminated by their handlers. Coincidentally, Benigno Aquino Jr the father of the current Philippines President blew the cover of this covert operation and massacre.

March 13, 2024

Labor must freeze all AUKUS payments underwriting US Navy shipyards with taxpayer money

ALP rank-and-file activist group, Labor Against War, has called on the Albanese government to immediately freeze all planned AUKUS payments earmarked to underwrite the US Navy industrial shipyards.

July 8, 2016

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Bush ‘s poodles

There is a sense in Britain that its very foundations are shaking. Just weeks since the Brexit decision, the prospect of recession is real, the value of the pound and the price of real estate have dropped out of sight, credible leaders are lacking, and uncertainty threatens the future of Great Britain itself. Piled on top, now, is the Chilcot report on the war in Iraq. Its revelations about the moral failures of government in the UK are so serious that some feel they could bring the whole edifice crashing down.

How has it come to this and what does Chilcot mean for Australia?

November 30, 2015

Travers McLeod. Unusual suspects challenging usual thinking on climate change.

“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

Twenty years ago Kevin Spacey uttered this famous line about his alter ego, Keyser Söz, in The Usual Suspects. Keyser Söz isn’t climate change, but he might as well be.

Since the film was released an inordinate amount of money has been spent to trick the world that human-induced climate change doesn’t exist.

Recent data from the CSIRO suggests the ’trick’ is yet to be completely foiled in Australia. Although almost 80 percent of people believe climate change is occurring, every second person routinely changes their mind and there is considerable divergence on whether human activity is a causal factor.

January 11, 2016

John Menadue. Australians who fight in overseas wars.

Repost from 02/03/2015

The government has been concerned, as many of us are, about Australians fighting for IS in Syria and Iraq. The government is threatening to revoke the Australian citizenship of dual nationals who involve themselves in this war.

Whether this will be successful is a very moot point. It is asserted by many that prosecution under our existing laws would be much more effective. But a government in trouble about its own security has to be seen to be ‘doing something’, e.g. revoking citizenship.

February 18, 2016

John Menadue. Regional cooperation on refugees, Bali and a Track II Dialogue.

I attended a Track II Dialogue in Bangkok recently to try to help develop a framework of shared responsibility to manage in a humane and efficient manner, displaced people movements in the region.

There is concern that the Track I Regional Dialogue at government level has not been particularly fruitful. So much of the response to asylum seekers, refugees and displaced people in the region has been ad hoc, fragmented and political.

December 15, 2014

Helena Britt. General Practice and value for money.

Last year taxpayers spent A$6.3 billion on GP services through Medicare, about 6% of the total government health expenditure. This was a 50% increase (A$2.1 billion) in today’s dollars over the past decade and equates to about A$60 more per person in real terms.

Health Minister Peter Dutton says this growth is “unsustainable”. He plans to introduce a GP co-payment in hope of reducing the number of times Australians visit a GP and to ensure users foot some of the bill.

August 23, 2014

Richard Woolcott. Indonesia under President Widodo.

Australia will be dealing with a new Indonesian government in just two months. This will involve challenges and opportunities for both countries.

The Constitutional Court in Jakarta has now confirmed the election of Joko Widodo as President-elect with 53.15% of the eligible vote. The Court’s decision is not appealable and he will be sworn in as President on the 20th of October.

All Australians, especially our political leaders and senior officials, should be in no doubt that no bilateral relationship will be more important in the future than that with Indonesia.

February 22, 2017

HAROLD LEVIEN. Solving our Housing Problem.

Housing investors have largely crowded out first-home-buyers from the Sydney and Melbourne housing markets. The Coalition Government has not simply failed to address this problem; its policies have been the principal cause.

March 2, 2015

Stephen Leeder. Telling the story of mental health.

It is unusual for Foreign Affairs, a magazine published by the United States Council on Foreign Relations in New York, to contain articles on health, but the first issue of 2015 carries an essay (Darkness invisible: the hidden global costs of mental illness) by three distinguished scientists from the National Institute of Mental Health about the hidden costs of mental health. 1 Based on evidence from a 2010 Harvard University study on the current and future burden of disease, 2 they state that “the direct economic effects of mental illness (such as spending on care) and the indirect effects (such as lost productivity) already cost the global economy around $2.5 trillion a year”, an amount projected to rise by 2030 “to around $6 trillion, in constant dollars — more than heart disease and more than cancer, diabetes, and respiratory diseases combined”. 1

June 15, 2014

Frank Brennan SJ. Homily for Trinity Sunday with the Royal Commission in town.

On Friday afternoon, I called into the Canberra Magistrates’ Court to watch an hour or two of proceedings at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The court was packed with lawyers. These are shameful times for us Australians as we realise how great has been the problem of child sexual abuse in our society, and presumably still is. They have been especially shameful times for us Catholics as we realise what a problem this has been in our schools, welfare institutions and parishes. Thank God, we have the help of the State to investigate matters thoroughly and transparently. We know that no royal commission can solve all the problems. No royal commission ever has. Think just of the royal commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody which promised so much. The Aboriginal imprisonment rate is higher now than it was before the Commission was held. But hopefully with this royal commission, there can be new laws, new rules, and new protocols which can help to reduce the incidence of child abuse in all our social institutions, especially those which work most closely with vulnerable children. These new laws, new rules, and new protocols will apply just as much to our church organisations as to any other social organisations.

February 20, 2015

Tony Kevin, Tony Abbott’s crassness could cost the Bali duo their lives.

Let me first declare my biases. I believe that I honour and respect Indonesia’s values and culture. I oppose the death penalty in general. In this case, I would welcome an outcome that saved the lives of the last two members of the Bali Nine who now face execution In Indonesia, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, for the offence of smuggling drugs out of Indonesia in 2005. I believe every life saved from deliberate violent death affirms and enriches our collective humanity; and that the quest for consistency of action is the enemy of mercy. I also believe the murky AFP role in the history of the Bali Nine’s arrest as they were leaving Indonesia imposes a special moral obligation on Australia to do everything possible to try to save these two men’s’ lives now.

March 12, 2013

Asylum Seekers and Paedophiles. John Menadue

In my blog of March 5 I spoke about the demonization of asylum seekers by Scott Morrison. He has variously alleged that they bring disease, wads of cash and jewellery. He has also called for the registration of asylum seekers moving into a residential area.

But Senator Abetz has gone even further.

He made it very clear that we should draw the inference that just as the public wanted paedophiles registered when they moved into a community, so there should be registration of asylum seekers. He was not rebuked by Tony Abbott.

February 10, 2015

Michael Sainsbury. FIRB credibility shot with execution of Chinese gangster.

Liu Han, the Chinese criminal whose billion dollar bid for Australian mining company Sundance Resources sailed through the Foreign Investment Review Board with barely the bat of an eyelid has been executed along with his brother, Liu Wei once one of China’s ten most wanted murderers.

So endeth one of the most embarrassing episodes in recent Australian corporate history that exposed the incompetence not just of FIRB but of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission as well.

July 28, 2014

Michael Kelly SJ. Today’s Totalitarianism’s Powerful Forms.

Australian eyes are focused on the unspeakable brutality and pointlessness of the downing of MH 17. But alongside this event, Australian minds and hearts are assailed daily by barbarism across the Middle East and in different parts of Asia.

It’s the paradox of liberalism that pluralistic secular democracies like Australia afford citizens far greater freedoms than some of its citizens would be ready to concede if they were in charge. Australian authorities readily approve the right of Muslims to build mosques, get government subsidies for their schools and dress as they wish.

February 3, 2014

Ian McAuley. Cutting waste and costs in health.

There are three areas of saving to be made in health care – real savings rather than movement of costs from public budgets to consumers.

There can be savings in technical efficiency – savings any engineer or cost-conscious manager seeks in a workplace. A strong example is making better use of information technology.

There can be savings in purchasing. Australia used to negotiate some of the world’s lowest pharmaceutical prices. We now pay high prices.

March 6, 2014

John Menadue. Conservatives, conventions and traditions.

Conservatives extoll the importance of conventions, traditions, and respect for established institutions. But it seems to be only when it suits them.

They lecture us and others about democracy, free elections, the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary. Colloquially they sum it up ‘If it is not broken, don’t try to fix it’.

There is an important convention on Cabinet papers. But the Abbott Government has decided breach that convention and hand over Cabinet papers concerning pink batts to a Royal Commission examining that issue. This is despite the clear Westminster convention as set out in my blog of February 10. The Cabinet Handbook is quite explicit.

May 27, 2016

ALISON BROINOWSKI; Wisdom in hindsight.

Leaders who have presided over policy disasters typically respond in one of three ways. Some of them leave office and retire to their well-feathered nests, where they hibernate in silence. Others spray the blame around, including at those who advised them against the original folly, refusing to admit responsibility for it, and yet still claiming that the outcome was better than if they had not committed it, and claiming that now, things have changed. Others again adhere to the ‘never apologise, never explain’ school of public policy, refusing to admit they were wrong, and suggesting they would do the same again, given the opportunity.

April 29, 2014

Penne Mathew and Tristan Harley…Regional Cooperation on refugees

In November last year Penne Mathew and Tristan Harley of the Australian National University undertook field work in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to examine the treatment of refugees in those countries and to discuss the possibilities of improved regional cooperation amongst themselves and also with resettlement countries such as Australia. I am strongly of the view that shared responsibility and cooperation is essential

The Indonesian Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa recently put the case succinctly. “For Indonesia, the message is crystal clear: the cross border and complex nature of irregular movements of persons defies national solutions…There is no other recourse but to take a comprehensive and coordinated approach…a sense of burden sharing and common responsibility should be the basis for our cooperation.

September 4, 2013

Chemical warfare and Syria. Guest blogger: Marcus Einfeld

I never thought I would ever agree with Glenn Beck, the US shock jock from the extreme right of the political spectrum. I think he is right about the US not intervening in the Middle East again. Difficult as it is to say, President Putin is also right even if his reasons are not pure.

The Americans [Administrations, not the very many brilliant and informed Americans who know better] never seem to understand the “enemy”, invariably miscalculate the consequences of their actions and never have an exit strategy. This time they do not even have an entry strategy. The US military top brass do not have the best record in assessing outcomes of their escapades. The jingoisms that punctuated the evidence given this week to the Senate Foreign Relations and Defence Committee by the Secretaries of State and Defence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must have horrified US thinkers and intelligentsia, not to mention the public at large.

April 4, 2016

John Menadue. The fake discussion about state taxes.

Malcolm Turnbull’s ruse is obvious. He wants us to forget all about deficits and debt and the need for budget repair. To avoid these issues, he now tells us that if we want improved health and education services, we cannot have them because the states have refused his offer on state taxes and he will not increase commonwealth taxes.

But we know that large increases in commonwealth government revenue are possible without any increase in income tax rates.

October 12, 2015

Good Samaritans in Greece

We have been told in Australia that asylum-seekers are so inhuman, that they would even throw their children overboard; that they are all ‘illegals’ and akin to criminals; and that they bring disease and wads of cash.

Fortunately, helpers in Greece have taken no notice of this characterisation of asylum seekers. See the link below of Samaritan’s Purse helping asylum seekers arriving by boat in Greece. John Menadue

http://video.samaritanspurse.org/the-rising-tide/

December 19, 2016

JOANNE WALLIS. Hollow hegemon: Australia’s declining influence in the Pacific

Australia has vital strategic interests in the Pacific but comparatively less influence with which to pursue them. Pacific states are largely unwilling to accept Australian leadership.

May 8, 2016

Evan Williams. Will the real Malcolm Turnbull please stand up?

My friend Evan Hughes, art historian and former law student is standing for Parliament at the next election. And in many ways he’s the model of a modern Labor candidate – clean-cut good looks, easy charm, natural speaking skills and a first-rate mind vouchsafed by a Cambridge University degree. At a fund-raising dinner in Sydney the other night he was doing the rounds of the room with his baby son cradled in his arms. Great photo ops for the local paper. In any marginal seat you’d have to say Evan was a shoo-in. But there’s a problem: his opponent in the blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Wentworth is none other than Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. And as we all know from experience, Malcolm’s no slouch himself when it comes to intelligence and charm.

February 14, 2013

Corporate bullies

Public debate and the development of good policy are being steadily corrupted by the success of powerful lobby groups to quickly close down debate and force retreat by the government. This tactic is assisted by a timid government and a media that has little understanding of policy issues, and is only too prepared to recycle the handouts from powerful groups.

Last week we saw this bullying in full view. The government floated the suggestion that the concessions handed out to wealthy retirees in tax concessions by Peter Costello in 2007 should be reconsidered. The superannuation lobby went into immediate attack. Pauline Vamos, the CE of the Association of Superannuation Funds in Australia said that for people to have a really comfortable standard of living throughout their retirement, they should have at least $2.5 million as the balance in their superannuation account. Ian McAuley has estimated that this would give the retiree a tax-free pension of about $160,000 p.a. Such a retiree would normally not have a home mortgage and the cost of raising children and their education. In the face of this nonsense by Pauline Vamos and others, the government quickly retreated and said that it had no intention of taxing any capital sums in superannuation. Tax avoidance won the day, quickly and comprehensively.

July 5, 2013

Asylum seekers. Don't let us be diverted from regional arrangements. John Menadue

Foreign Minister Carr is focusing on whether some asylum seekers are refugees or economic migrants. This is symptomatic of a government that is continually in crisis mode over boat arrivals. It should focus on the strategic issues such as orderly departure arrangements in source countries like Afghanistan and regional agreements with Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

In my blog of July 1 I expressed doubt about the arguments of Foreign Minister Carr that we needed to have a ‘tougher and more hard-edged assessment’ of asylum seekers. Understandably officials of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship don’t like their preliminary decisions on refugee status being overturned by the Refugee Review Tribunal.

November 25, 2015

Rob Nicholls. Ziggy’s stardust: The NBN, net neutrality and competitive neutrality

The sound of an incumbent lobbying has the grating element of petulant mewling. When the incumbent is a state owned enterprise that is evoking arguments about net neutrality, then it’s time to ask the “cui bono?” or “to whose profit?” question. After all, the term “network neutrality” can be best summed up as a line of argument use by large businesses in their lobbying.

In this case, it was the chair of the National Broadband Network Company, a business that likes to be known by its lower case initials nbn, that was flying the net neutrality kite. Ziggy Switkowski argued that it might be time to think about who should bear the cost of transporting streaming video from companies such as Netflix, Presto and Stan. Specifically, should the internet service provider (ISP) be able to charge Netflix and others for some of the carriage costs that it incurs? Ziggy also mentioned that access to nbn’s network might be more expensive to smaller ISPs.

September 29, 2016

GILES PARKINSON. Coalition launches fierce attack against wind and solar after blackout.

The Coalition government launched a ferocious attack against wind and solar energy after the major South Australian blackout, even though energy minister Josh Frydenberg and the grid operators admit that the source of energy had nothing to do with catastrophic outage.

Frydenberg, however, lined up with prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, independent Senator Nick Xenophon and a host of conservative commentators, including Andrew Bolt, Alan Moran, the ABC’s Chris Ullmann, and Fairfax’ Brian Robins to exploit the blackout to question the use of renewable energy.

Frydenberg used the blackout to continue his persistent campaign against the renewable energy targets of state Labor governments in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, saying that the blackout was proof that these targets were “unrealistic.”

May 6, 2014

John Menadue. The cost of abolishing the Mining Tax

Just when the mining tax looks like raising some worthwhile revenue, the Coalition proposes to abolish the tax.

The Rudd Government made a mess of the Resources Super Profits Tax (RSPT). We know from the Henry Tax Review and other commentators that such well-designed rent-based taxes are likely to be more efficient and even out the effects of volatile mineral prices. We also know that such taxes are superior to state government royalties.

February 9, 2015

Greece didn't fail, but the EU's debt moralising did.

It is often said that if you owe the bank $1 million you have a problem. But if you owe the bank $1 billion, the bank has a problem! The EU has that sort of problem with Greece. Joseph Stiglitz, in a recent article (see link below) sets out the problems which the EU now faces. This article was originally published in AlterNet. John Menadue

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/468065/greece-didn-t-fail-but-the-eu-debt-moralising-did

October 31, 2016

JOHN NIEUWENHUYSEN. How Australian Political Leaders Can Abandon and Mistreat Asylum Seekers

Living as a White youth in apartheid South Africa in the 1950’s, I often wondered how it was possible for a small minority to dominate and oppress the large majority of the population who were denied the vote because of the colour of their skins.

Much of the answer lay, I believed, in the capacity of the apartheid system to separate the lives of the different racial groups and to ensure that when people met, it was always in the context of White master-Non-White servant relationships. Members of the different defined racial groups were thus hardly ever able to converse ordinarily and to learn of the lives and aspirations of their fellow South Africans of different skin colours.

August 4, 2014

Michael Keating. Australia's productivity performance.

For most of our history too much of Australian business was focussed on rent seeking, rather than the creation of wealth. Manipulating government to obtain protection, or other forms of favoured treatment by way of regulation or taxation, was far too often pursued as the easiest way to increase profitability. While the economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s put an end to much of this behaviour by denying many of the opportunities for rent seeking, business is still too inclined to look to government; hence the cacophony of calls for government to introduce further ‘reforms’, when much more of the responsibility for improving Australia’s economic performance should lie with business itself.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal