April 2, 2014

Kerry Murphy. To Kill a Mockingbird and 2014.

Mark Twain is quoted as saying that history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. I was reminded of this when seeing the excellent production of To Kill a Mockingbird at the New Theatre in Newtown, Sydney last week. Good literature manages to make us reflect on our own times, and challenges us to think about how we might act in difficult times.

Harper Lee’s 1960 novel is well known and is a modern classic. The seemingly simple story of young Scout and her brother Jem, and their widower lawyer father in 1935 Alabama still resonates with an Australian audience in 2014.

June 16, 2016

IAN McAULEY. The difference in the economic policies of the major parties.

In the din of distractions about political trivia, many in the media have lost sight of, or fail to understand, fundamental differences in the economic policies of the two main parties.

That is their approach to distribution, or redistribution.

Although politicians may accuse one another of heartlessness or of ignoring the poor, almost all politicians believe that the benefits of economic activity should be distributed fairly (even though what they see as constituting “fairness” may differ).

April 7, 2016

Kieran Tapsell. Bishop Ronald Mulkearns: Blaming the Foot Soldier

The “Nuremberg defence” takes its name from the claim by Nazi officials at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal that they should be acquitted because they were following “superior orders”. In one of the most significant judgments in international law, the Nuremberg Tribunal held that following superior orders in the case of crimes against humanity is no defence, although it may be a factor in determining the appropriate punishment.

Justice Robert Jackson, the chief prosecutor, wanted to make heads of state accountable for the orders they gave, and for what they allowed to happen under their watch. Historically, he pointed out, accountability had been the least where responsibility had been the greatest. Jackson accepted that responsibility was greatest where the power was strongest, and this is the stance now taken by the International Criminal Court.

June 22, 2024

UN Human Rights Commission: Israel’s is among the most criminal armies in the world. Chris Sidoti

Palestinians have experienced 70 or 80 years of dispossession, occupation, and human rights violations.

July 23, 2016

DAVID STEPHENS. Is this the most sycophantic speech by an Australian prime minister? Julia Gillard’s address to the United States Congress, March 2011

‘All the way with LBJ’ has become the cliche that associates Conservative dependence on the US alliance. But Julia Gillard’s address to the US Congress is hard to beat! John Menadue.

September 17, 2016

GRAHAM FREUDENBERG: On the Irish and other undesirables.

Australia sometimes seems to suffer a mysterious case of multiple-amnesia over immigration.

We are a nation built on migrants, but we have forgotten that almost every new wave of immigrants has been resented and resisted by those already here, especially those who were migrants themselves. It started around the 1820s when the convicts hated the first free settlers ‘taking our jobs’. We have forgotten that, without exception, each wave of immigrants has been successfully absorbed to national and individual benefit. We have forgotten that particular groups aroused special animosity, yet integrated so completely in one generation that it would scarcely occur to them to regard themselves as being of migrant origin. Such is Australia’s perhaps unique capacity to integrate and be enriched.

March 17, 2016

Greg Barton. Out of the ashes of Afghanistan and Iraq: the rise and rise of Islamic State.

Since announcing its arrival as a global force in June 2014 with the declaration of a caliphate on territory captured in Iraq and Syria, the jihadist group Islamic State has shocked the world with its brutality.

Its seemingly sudden prominence has led to much speculation about the group’s origins: how do we account for forces and events that paved the way for the emergence of Islamic State? In the final article of our series examining this question, Greg Barton shows the role recent Western intervention in the Middle East played in the group’s inexorable rise.

June 13, 2016

ROD TUCKER. How do Labor and the Coalition differ on NBN policy?

As hinted in earlier announcements by Shadow Communications Minister, Jason Clare, Labor’s much-anticipated policy for the National Broadband Network released Monday commits the party – if elected – to move away from the Coalition’s fibre to the node (FTTN) network and transition back to a roll-out of fibre to the premises (FTTP). This was the central pillar of Labor’s original NBN.

The FTTN roll-out will be phased out as soon as current design and construction contracts are completed.

January 26, 2014

Stephen FitzGerald. Abbott's relations with China.

Can you believe the Abbott government has any idea where it’s headed on relations with China? Whatever you think of China’s politics, you can’t just take sides against China or meddle in the tense and volatile issue of China-Japan relations without there being some consequence for our bilateral relations. But the government doesn’t seem to care. From what you can divine from the little it says publicly, it thinks the Chinese will back down under Australia’s glare, and “get over it”. Like the Indonesians will get over it. But the Indonesians, whose thinking we know more clearly, aren’t going to get over it. Abbott and Morrison are so untutored in foreign relations and diplomacy, or so deaf, or both, that they don’t understand something has snapped in Jakarta. It’s not about our policies it’s about the language the Abbott government uses and the lecturing, patronising and racist attitudes they convey. A strong, independent, democratic and regionally influential Indonesia is not going to put up with that any longer and relations are never going back to the way they were before.

July 21, 2016

TONY KEVIN. South China Sea dispute: a furious China challenges the high priests of international law

One privilege of being retired that one can watch ABC News24 daytime television while others are hard at work. On Wednesday 13 July around midday, I was treated to a dramatic spectacle: a Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister in an hour-long international media conference in Beijing fiercely denouncing, as a ‘scrap of waste-paper fit only for the rubbish bin’, a Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Award (ruling) made by the South China Sea Arbitration Tribunal the day before, 12 July.[1] I watched fascinated as the Minister criticised the ruling with great force, even challenging the legitimacy of the Tribunal’s selection and membership. A Chinese White Paper was issued on the same day detailing why China rejected the ruling.[2]

September 12, 2015

John Menadue. Refugees, the community and civil society

It has been thrilling to see the warm response of many people, and particularly the Germans, to refugees fleeing from war-torn Syria and other countries. Over ten million people have been forced to flee their homes in Syria.

Pope Francis has appealed to every Catholic parish, religious community or sanctuary in Europe to take in a family of refugees, saying that he would set the example by hosting two families in parishes inside the Vatican. With 20,000 or more Catholic ‘places’ in Europe, that could provide sanctuary for 200,000 refugees on the basis of 10 Syrians per parish.

June 16, 2016

RICHARD WOOLCOTT. In the general election, do you think the government's and the ALP's foreign policies are sound?

This was a question asked of me by the Australian Institute of International Affairs. My answer is ‘No’ for the following reasons.

September 22, 2013

How the Australian media frames North Korea and impedes constructive relations. Guest blogger: Dr Bronwen Dalton

An analysis of the last three years of coverage of North Korea in the Australian media shows a tendency in Australian coverage to uncritically reproduce certain metaphors that linguistically frame North Korea in ways that imply North Korea is dangerous and provocative; irrational; secretive; impoverished and totalitarian. This frame acts to delegitimize, marginalise and demonise North Korea and close off possibilities for more constructive engagement. In the event of tensions, such a widespread group think around North Korea could mean such tensions could quickly and dramatically escalate.

July 30, 2016

ANN TULLOH. Terrorism in France and a sense of hopelessness by many young people.

I was brought up on the ABC news coming from the sitting room loud enough to cover the house as Dad got himself going every morning. This was in the 50s and any terrible overseas news was so far away that I didn’t feel concerned. (I much preferred a programme around 8am when songs were played at our request and Charles Trenet’s “La Mer” was sometimes heard. A nearby town, Salon, has a cultural centre named after him. A coincidence or part of a master plan?!)

April 19, 2013

The blame game over schools: a way through the impasse. John Menadue

The Commonwealth and the States will blame each other for failure to agree on Gonski ‘light’. It is a pattern we have seen so often over many years, particularly in health.

Federalism is just not working for us. It has become an obstacle to good government. The Commonwealth financial dominance will continue. The States are poor but proud and reluctant to concede jurisdiction.

Kevin Rudd threatened to hold a referendum in association with the 2010 election to give the Commonwealth power to fund and run State public hospitals. But he was persuaded not to persist as it was very likely that a referendum would fail. The Government’s health ‘reforms’ have since turned out to be a continuation of the muddle or a ‘dog’s breakfast’ as Tony Abbott used to describe divided responsibility and the blame game in health.

September 24, 2014

Kieran Tapsell: Lawyers under the Spotlight at the Royal Commission

The John Ellis Case Study (No 8) at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse concerned the experience of John Ellis with the Towards Healing protocol in dealing with his complaint about being sexually abused by Fr Aidan Duggan. The case was unusual for its revelations about the relationship between Cardinal Pell as head of the Archdiocese of Sydney and his lawyers, Corrs, Chambers Westgarth, its senior partner Paul McCann and his assistant, John Dalzell. Such communications rarely come to light even in Royal Commissions because the Royal Commissions Act 1902 respects legal professional privilege where it exists. However, there is a long line of authority for the proposition that where clients make allegations of misconduct, professional negligence or breach of retainer against their lawyers, such privilege is waived. Cardinal Pell alleged that he was not properly informed about offers of settlement by his legal team in the Ellis case.

July 19, 2016

STUART HARRIS. What Australia's foreign policy should look like. (Repost from Policy Series)

The focus in Australia’s foreign policy has shifted back and forth between the global and the regional, and between multilateralism and bilateralism in economic and political relationships, due only in part to party political differences. While some policies, such as immigration, refugees and to a degree defence, are widely debated in Australia, many are not. Moreover, foreign policies are often not just linked to domestic interests but become part of domestic electoral politics – whether as photo ops with foreign leaders, muscularly assertive security stances or support for influential domestic pressure groups. This often leads to opportunistic political decisions lacking long-term vision and analysis.

November 19, 2014

Ian McAuley. Is capitalism redeemable? Part 8: Inequality’s downward economic spiral

Let’s start with what looks like a self-evident proposition. “Countries with right-wing or neoliberal governments spend less on social security than countries with more left-inclined governments.”

It’s a proposition university lecturers put to students of public economics, and the smarter students usually recognize that there’s a trick in it.

Harvard economists Dani Rodrik and Alberto Alesina studied the impact of neoliberal policies such as those pursued by Britain’s Thatcher Government, and found that those policies, because they resulted in widening inequality, actually increased the demand for social security payments.

June 27, 2013

Never underestimate a survivor. John Menadue

It is surprising to see that the Foreign Minister Bob Carr suggests that we need to be much tougher in refugee determination as many claimants for refugee status are really economic refugees.

Some claimants will undoubtedly be economic migrants posing as refugees. But the refugee determination process which we and others have developed over decades is designed to sort this out and reject those who claim our protection if they are not genuine refugees.

May 29, 2015

Alex Wodak. How should medicinal cannabis be provided lawfully in Australia?

Current Affairs

Ms Sussan Ley, the Federal Health Minister, recently acknowledged that medicinal cannabis was likely to proceed in Australia but advocated proceeding cautiously. A Private Members Bill is under consideration and seems to have strong support including backing from both sides of the aisle. So the question is now increasingly moving from ‘whether’ to ‘how’ to proceed with medicinal cannabis.

Hippocrates said that doctors should ‘cure sometimes, treat often, and comfort always’. Medicinal cannabis is about the need for the health care system to try to ‘comfort always’. What should the lawful provision of medicinal cannabis in Australia hope to achieve?

September 9, 2015

Peter Hughes. Designing a more generous Australian response to the Syrian crisis

The Australian government announcement of 12,000 additional permanent places for Syrian refugees is a reasonable scale of response, if implemented the right way.

Taken together with the existing program of 13,750 refugees, the new program constitutes a manageable 13% of the planned 2015–16 migration intake of 193,485 permanent visas. It is only 4% of the 632,000 people already in the country temporarily with work rights.

The fact that the places are permanent is essential. There is no reason to believe that Syrian refugees will be able to return to their home country in the foreseeable future.

May 28, 2015

Peter Day. It's hard being a Catholic today.

The gut-wrenching accounts coming out of Ballarat this past couple of weeks are enough to bring a man to his knees: stories of young people crippled by sexual abuse; stories of utter betrayal; stories we would rather not hear - stories we must hear.

It is hard being a Catholic today.

It is hard being a Catholic priest today.

Our collective shame is deep, for some, even overwhelming, because good people are being condemned by association. But we must not fall prey to self-pity because as hard as it is for us, we are not nearly as innocent, or as damaged, as the children who are only now being given a voice.

November 5, 2014

Graham Freudenberg AM. Tribute to Gough Whitlam.

The Honourable (Edward) Gough Whitlam, AC QC

State Memorial Service

Graham Freudenberg AM

Sydney Town Hall

5 November 2014

This is the greatest privilege of my very privileged life. And I thank the Whitlam Family for it.

Gough Whitlam sets Time itself at defiance. Can it really be 45 years ago, he stood right here to open his epic campaign in 1969? Is it really 42 years since it was time at Blacktown in 1972 – making anew and forever his own, John Curtin’s clarion call to the men and women of Australia?

November 23, 2014

John Menadue. Murdoch and Abbott vs ABC.

This is a repost of a blog which I initially posted on December 19 last year.

Tony Abbott has a debt to repay to Rupert Murdoch for the extremely biased support he received in the last election.

With the help of Senator Cory Bernadi, Tony Abbott is now following the Murdoch Media line in attacking the ABC. He is also following in the steps of the Howard Government that attempted, unsuccessfully, to bring the ABC to heel. During the Howard Government, Minister Richard Alston and Senator Santo Santoro led a concerted campaign against the ABC to force political compliance.

September 8, 2015

A Clash between Church and State in Australia?

The recent appearance by retired Bishop Geoffrey Robinson at the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has raised the possibility of a clash between Australia and the Vatican along similar lines to what occurred in Ireland in 2011 after the publication of the Murphy Commission’s Cloyne Report.

September 8, 2013

Facing the future. Guest blogger: Prof. Stephen Leeder

Facing the future in a world where black swan events change everything.

When considering what we may be facing with a new federal government in Australia, a wise starting point would be a conversation with Nassim Nicholas Taleb, he of the Black Swan theory.

Taleb has written extensively, using the discovery of black swans in a world that did not believe they existed as his metaphor, about the impact of unpredictable game-changing events. Such events (9/11, the tsunami that led to the Fukushima catastrophe, the internet) change the course of history but we do not see them coming.

July 30, 2013

A regional refugee instrument. John Menadue

Forgive me for repeating myself, but you might be interested in a presentation I gave on this subject in February 2012 (see below).

We have talked a lot about the need for regional arrangements, but progress has been extremely slow. Our political system based on ministerial and departmental responsibility has failed us badly on refugee issues. A new approach involving civil society - NGOs, academics and others is necessary to help us break out of the awful situation into which we have spiralled.

January 24, 2016

The Frontier Wars

The following extract ‘The Frontier War’ was part of an address I gave in September 2013 for the launch of the Catholic Social Justice Statement. It was carried on this blog at the time. It was one of many blogs I have posted concerning the Frontier War and also the Maori Wars. Our military association with New Zealand did not begin in 1915 at Gallipoli. It began when we sent ships and troops to fight against the Maori people in New Zealand in the mid 19th Century.

January 16, 2024

Coronations: how do they do it?

September 2, 2013

From one Catholic to another. Guest blogger: Bishop Hurley, Darwin.

The Catholic Bishop of Darwin has expressed concern to Tony Abbott about the Coalition’s policies towards asylum-seekers and people in detention. His letter to Tony Abbott follows:

Bishop Hurley letter to Tony Abbott

The Leader of the Opposition The Hon. Tony Abbott MHR Parliament House RG109 CANBERRA ACT 2600 16 August 2013

Dear Mr. Abbott,

I have just returned to my office from the Wickham Point and the Blaydin detention centres here in Darwin.

August 22, 2015

John Tulloh. Syria; a step too far for Tony Abbott.

It was said that in World War One the British Army laced the tea of its soldiers with bromide in order to curb their sexual impulses and concentrate on the matter at hand. It would be useful if something could be found to put in Tony Abbott’s morning cuppa to inhibit his desires for military adventures. He is like a corporal trying to please a general.

Media reports suggest he wants to oblige an American request for the RAAF to extend its Iraqi operation to Syria to combat ISIS or Daesh, as the Prime Minister calls it. At the same time, he acts like the national town crier, drawing constant attention to the threat to domestic security posed by Islamic extremists in Australia, jihadists and impressionable young Moslems who have been radicalised.

June 11, 2013

Asylum policies leading nowhere. Joint blog: John Menadue and Arja Keski-Nummi

This piece was published in Crikey 11 June 2013.

The destructive and divisive debate about various asylum policies is designed to scare us. The most shameful manifestation of this in the past week has been the alleged “terrorist” in community detention.

A person sought asylum in Australia. He was given an adverse security assessment . He was then held in community detention with his family. He was subject to reporting and monitoring. The authorities knew where he was at all times. Given these facts we were probably safer from him (if indeed he was a danger to the security of Australia) than the mindless violence that seems to happen on our streets with depressing regularity. We should not hide behind an ASIO assessment as a way to whip up community fear and insecurity, and in the process destroy a family.

August 5, 2016

MERVYN KING. Which Europe Now?

In this article ‘ Which Europe now?' in the New York Review of Books, Mervyn King says

Our political class would do well to recall the words of Confucius:

Three things are necessary for government: weapons, food and trust. If a ruler cannot hold on to all three, he should give up weapons first and food next. Trust should be guarded to the end: without trust we cannot stand.

June 26, 2013

Taiwan shows the way in health insurance. John Menadue

I have spoken and written many times about the inefficiency and inequity of the taxpayer subsidy of $3.5 billion annually to the private health insurance funds in Australia. These funds favour the wealthy; enable some people to jump to the top of the hospital queue; they have administrative costs three times those of Medicare; they weaken Medicare’s ability to control costs and through gap insurance they have facilitated the largest increase in specialists’ fees in a quarter of a century in Australia.

August 24, 2014

John Menadue. Keep trucking!

At the hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne last week, Cardinal George Pell is reported as saying that if the driver of a (trucking company) sexually assaulted a passenger they picked up along the way ‘I don’t think that it is appropriate for the .. leadership of that company be held responsible’.

As a citizen I was angered as most people were by these comments. As a Catholic I was ashamed.

June 27, 2013

Japanese Pacifist Constitution in Danger. Guest blogger: John Woodward

The Japanese pacifist constitution prohibits Japan from waging war. This restriction will be removed if the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has his way. And he is likely to succeed come the 21 July national election for the Upper House of the Japanese Diet (parliament).

Abe’s government is riding high in polls since his Liberal Democratic Party election win in late December 2012. His government now controls more than 2/3rds of the lower house. After 21 July elections he is likely to have 2/3rds support in the Upper House. On a 2/3rds majority vote in each house the constitution can be amended in the Diet. A majority vote of the Japanese people in a referendum is also required. But the crucial first step for Abe is amending the constitution in the Diet.

July 19, 2016

JOHN MENADUE. It is becoming much easier to go to war.

In a post on 18 July 2016 I drew attention to the inter-twining of the Australian and US Defence and Intelligence establishments.The problem however goes much deeper than the current ‘dangerous alliance’ between Australia and the US. As Henry Reynolds has pointed out, we continually go off to fight wars in foreign lands in service of the imperial enterprises of the UK and the US. It is a deeply embedded problem that keeps us repeating the mistakes of the past. From John Dunmore Lang to Malcolm Fraser, we have been warned about the risks of going off to war for imperial powers.

December 13, 2015

Michael Keating. The Key Options for Tax Reform

One useful outcome from the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on 11 December, was its acknowledgement of the “emerging budgetary pressures across all levels of government, particularly in the health sector.” This acknowledgement must be the critical starting point for any serious consideration of tax reform.

Quite naturally it was equally acknowledged that government expenditures must be efficient. However, the understandings reached at both the Treasurers’ meeting and at COAG, seemed to be that action on the revenue side of government budgets could also not be avoided.

February 22, 2013

What the Subtitles Say. Guest blogger Greg from Cottesloe

Here’s a popular generalisation. Subtitles or dubbing? Americans prefer dubbing of foreign films because it demonstrates that even Shaolin monks can speak English with a Bronx accent if they try hard enough. The fact that the lips keep on moving seconds after the voice stops merely adds to the mystery and allure of these foreigners. The smart set however likes subtitles because they add to the je ne sais quoi of the foreign experience of going to a film festival at the Cinema Paradiso.

July 18, 2016

RICHARD BUTLER. Interesting Times

The so-called Chinese Curse: “ May you live in interesting times”, is apparently not of Chinese origin, but certainly apocryphal and wonderfully ironic.

I think it is hard to recall more “interesting times” than those in which the world finds itself today, nor a time fraught with more danger, since the sleepwalking towards World War I.

Here’s a list of today’s main issues in international politics, 15 of them.

By way of necessary preface, I caution that this will almost certainly be found to be incomplete, and that it refers almost exclusively to politics.

May 19, 2016

CARMEN LAWRENCE. When in doubt, rewind to the politics of fear.

Peter Dutton now makes no distinction between asylum seekers and refugees who come through regular or irregular channels. He now demonises all refugees. John Menadue.

It has been an article of faith for the Coalition that “real” refugees from UNHCR camps dotted around the globe deserve our compassionate support while the “illegal” asylum seekers who try to arrive by boat are little more than cashed up opportunists who deserve to be exiled in remote camps; object lessons to other would-be intruders.

August 5, 2016

LINDA SIMON. Australian VET in crisis! Are there lessons to be learned from the UK?

For some the crisis in vocational education and training (VET) and the fate of TAFE was a critical issue in the recent Australian Federal elections. For others it hardly made the radar. Unfortunately a number of those others included members of the re-elected Federal Government. Karen Andrews is now the fifth Minister or Assistant Minister responsible for VET since September 2013, bringing another new face to the sector.

April 7, 2014

Michael Sainsbury. Tables have turned on China’s ex-security chief

The imminent purge of Zhou Yongkang, China’s security chief from 2007 to 2012, brings to mind that wonderful Chinese expression: “The fish rots from the head down”.

Since the major clearout after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, Zhou is now the most senior Communist Party official to be fingered by its internal affairs division, the Central Discipline Committee. He is the first former member of the elite Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) to be cast out by the Party. His case has implicated a reported 300 allies and relatives with total assets of US$14.5 billion.

June 16, 2013

What is powering Japan's foreign policy? Guest blogger Walter Hamilton

Could it be they are handing out “macho pills” at the Japanese Foreign Ministry? Has it become de rigueur for the country’s diplomats to browbeat international forums? Are internal divisions within the ministry about to break out into open policy warfare?

There are at present enough straws in the wind to invite these questions.

The metaphoric “macho pills” might explain the extraordinary outburst by Japan’s Human Rights Ambassador (and former Ambassador to Australia), Hideaki Ueda, during a recent UN committee hearing. He was responding to an African delegate’s criticism of Japan for not allowing lawyers to be present during police interrogations of suspects. As Ueda attempted to explain how his country was among the “most advanced” in this field, there were audible sniggers from unidentified attendees. “Don’t laugh! Why are you laughing?” protested Ueda. “Shut up! Shut up!” (The rant is viewable on YouTube.) Although one may make allowances for the wear-and-tear of spending too much time at UN talkfests, this was an ugly face to bring to a discussion on human rights. It might be best if Mr. Ueda goes off the pills.

June 25, 2013

Julia Gillard's greatest failure. John Menadue

The Prime Minister’s greatest failure is her refusal to lead the reform of the structure of the ALP.

That structure is controlled by a handful of faction and union bosses like Paul Howes. In return for protecting their positions, they are now repaying their debt to her by shoring up her precarious position.

The last ALP federal conference considered a report by Steve Bracks, John Faulkner and Bob Carr for modest party reform. Julia Gillard failed to provide leadership on these reforms and the ALP is now paying a very heavy price.

May 11, 2016

Chris Bonnor. My Gonski is bigger than yours

We should have known it would come to this. For years both Labor and the Coalition have ducked and weaved while the education sector battled to ensure that at least the Gonski funding hope was kept alive. Labor recast Gonski’s recommendations into a form that the Gonski panel would hardly recognize, and the Coalition was never committed – in fact it is only a few months since they announced that extra Gonski funding wasn’t going to happen.

August 3, 2016

CHRIS BONNOR & BERNIE SHEPHERD. It’s NAPLAN time again!

August is when the NAPLAN test results come out to schools and parents. It isn’t as exciting as the annual release of Year 12 results, but it is developing a life of its own. We are bombarded with media releases, claims and counter claims about schools and results. Cheer squads or jeer squads form up, the occasional moral panic revived, along with the usual exhortations to do better next year.

March 8, 2017

IAN McAULEY. South Australia’s Electricity Problems: Jay Weatherill Should Follow The Coalition’s Example

Spare a thought for the people of South Australia. Large parts of Adelaide blacked out for up to 18 hours without notice. Trams stopped in their tracks across busy intersections. A bitter and partisan debate in state parliament about responsibility for the chaos – the electricity supplier, the federal government, other states putting their own energy needs ahead of South Australia’s? A heated argument about energy sources – coal or alternatives? Firms threatening to shift to other states because of unreliable electricity supply. Bitter complaints from consumers and businesses about electricity prices.

July 18, 2016

STEVE GEORGAKIS. Sport is only sport if you participate; otherwise it is a spectacle

The highpoint of sport occurred more than 2,000 years ago when the ancient Greeks established an education system which placed a significant emphasis on the playing of sport and in particular the educational value of participation in sport. The central role of sport in the education system coincided with the flourishing of Greek culture which included democracy, philosophy, architecture and law. That is the Greeks had developed a sports system from the grassroots to the elite level and what characterised this system was the emphasis placed on participation. Subsequently the Greek world was overrun by the Romans who dismantled this participationary system and replaced it with spectacles. For the conquering Romans, sport became something you watched in arenas and hippodromes and usually involved some form of brutality. For the ruling Roman classes it became a way of controlling the masses and from this emerged, ‘Bread and Spectacles’.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal