November 17, 2015

Richard Butler. After Paris

The attacks in Paris were textbook in terms of the philosophy of terrorism: hit publicly, indiscriminately, affecting as large a group of innocent people as possible, attract maximum publicity, generate widespread fear. They also represented a continuation of terrorist actions within metropolitan Europe: Madrid 2004, 191 dead; London 2005, 56 dead; Paris January 2015, 17 dead; and now November 2015 128 dead and still counting. Naturally, statements characterizing this latest outrage have been flowing. It has been described as “France’s September 11”, and according to President Hollande, as constituting a declaration of war on France. IS has claimed responsibility for the attacks and it seems there is now independent evidence that it directed them.

January 5, 2015

Mary Chiarella. Co-payments, general practice and workforce reform.

If there’s a problem in primary health care then nurses are (and always have been) the solution.

Susan Sontag wrote in 1978 “Illness is the night side of life: a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and the kingdom of the sick”. I was working in palliative care nursing when I first read this and it struck me that, continuing the metaphor, nurses were therefore like tour guides for those negotiating these health care kingdoms of both the well and the sick. We provide the translator services (“what did they say nurse?”), the coordination of meetings and events (“I need an appointment to see…”); the advice on what to do and how to do it (“I don’t know how to work this spacer thing”), and always, always, always the assistance to do whatever needs to be done when people lack “the necessary strength, will or knowledge” (Henderson, 1966) to do it themselves.

May 12, 2017

NICK DEANE. Keep Australia out of US wars

In the event of war between the USA and any other nation in our region, Australia could not avoid involvement, because of its alliance with the USA. That is the reality we need to address. To avoid the possibility of war, an independent foreign policy for Australia is urgently required. Mr Trump’s presidency only adds to the urgency.

February 5, 2025

Trump floats US takeover of Gaza – after ethnically cleansing Palestinians

Standing beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said that “the US will take over the Gaza Strip,” which would be emptied of Palestinians.

December 3, 2016

JOHN MENADUE. The National Party is silent on rural poverty and poor rural health.

Country electorates have the most disadvantaged people, the poorest health and inferior health services. But the National Party does very little about it.

December 11, 2016

RICHARD BUTLER. New series: We can say 'no' to the Americans.

Australian Foreign Policy; We can say “No” to the US.

We must end the interpretation of the ANZUS Alliance which leads us to accompany the US in whatever interventions it mounts in international affairs, and we must stop misleading the Australian people on the nature of the Alliance.

June 6, 2016

MUNGO MacCALLUM. A jaded slogan: economic plan for jobs and growth.

Malcolm Turnbull’s supporters have been praising him for keeping on his message, which at least has the virtue of simplicity: my government has a national economic plan for jobs and growth.

Beauty is truth, truth beauty, and this is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know, as John Keats more elegantly put it.

March 26, 2015

Andrew Wilson. More hospitals, more hospitals, more hospitals.

As Andrew Wilson points out, all major parties are obsessed with hospitals as the answer to our health problems. The three major shortcomings in health in Australia are mental health, indigenous health and rural health. These problems are best addressed outside hospitals. But ministers, the media and the community seldom think beyond hospitals. For ministers they have an iconic status. Ministers can put their name on the plaque for a new wing or refurbishment. The media thinks that health and hospitals are the same thing. They are not. Reform of our health system must focus on primary care and not on hospitals. The community and the taxpayer would be better served if we can avoid people needing to go to hospital.

September 17, 2013

Julie Bishop fails Economics I. Guest blogger Ian McAuley

In justifying the Coalition’s cuts in foreign aid, Julie Bishop said that borrowing from overseas only to hand it back overseas was unsustainable in light of our mounting debt.

That statement has glib appeal, but it’s a serious misrepresentation.

For a start the Government does not borrow from overseas. Rather, almost all the Commonwealth’s revenue is sourced from taxation and other charges. The balance, used to finance counter-cyclical deficit spending or to make funds available for capital projects, is funded by Commonwealth bonds issued on the domestic market.

March 11, 2015

Peter Cosier. A healthy environment and a productive economy

Over the next 12 months, the Commonwealth is going to lead discussion on two major areas of reform: to the roles and responsibilities of the Commonwealth and states in the Australian Federation, and reforms to the Australian taxation system.

At the same time we have an adversarial battle raging across Australia between the environment and the economy. Despite the significant advances in environmental policy of recent decades - national water reform, land clearing controls, a price on carbon - the public dialogue in recent years has increasingly shifted to a position that we must now sacrifice the environment to pursue a growing economy.

March 7, 2016

Paul Collins. With “leaders” like these … !

For a committed Catholic George Pell’s evidence to the Royal Commission was excruciating to watch. It wasn’t just Pell himself with his turgid, wooden responses and lack of interest in appalling crimes against those whom Jesus called “the little ones.” It was also the kind of church his evidence laid bare where all responsibility was upward and accountability to the most vulnerable was non-existent. Here was a divine right, monarchical structure totally out of place in a modern democracy, an institution where everyone colluded to bestow an undeserved “sacred” status on the ordained.

December 3, 2016

MICHAEL KELLY SJ. Understanding challenges the church in Asia faces.

The Church in Asia can absorb and replicate its hierarchical, tiered cultural surrounds, or leave behind the clericalist conception of the Church, as a tightly run top-down organisation.

It lies at the intersection of local hierarchical cultures and the culture of the church fostered by Rome before Vatican II.

The calm confidence of Cardinal Oswald Gracias that the church in Asia will avoid or at least manage a Left-Right divide in the church’s hierarchy is an optimistic political review of our prospects.

November 21, 2016

ROBERT MICKENS. Ugliness has trumped decency, kindness and goodwill

Pundits have failed or refused to acknowledge the chief motive for Trump’s victory – the deep and visceral hatred so many Americans have for the Clintons, particularly towards Hillary Clinton

December 11, 2016

CAVAN HOGUE. New series: We can say 'no' to the Americans?

Of all American allies Australia is the most subservient. A problem is that we have harped on the loyal little ally theme to the Americans so much that they take us for granted but we have not always toed the line. Admittedly, Gough Whitlams’ relative independence caused ructions in Washington but there were special circumstances. In that case, the CIA apparently considered action but nothing was done.

January 31, 2025

A five-minute scroll

Devastation across Gaza as Palestinians return to rebuild makeshift homes. Craig Murray witnesses devastation in Lebanon that shows Israel plans to make more land inhabitable. Owen Jones points out that the world is turned on its head. At home, Peter Cronau calls for interrupters to scrutinise the platforms of Peter Dutton.

August 11, 2013

Foxing with the News, Japan style. Guest blogger: Walter Hamilton

On Wednesday 7 August 2013, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged that the clean up of the devastated Fukushima nuclear power reactors was beyond the capacity of the operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). It followed the revelation that heavily contaminated groundwater is flowing into the Pacific Ocean at an estimated rate of 300 tonnes a day because of the failure of a perimeter barrier installed by TEPCO. By any measure this was a major news story. So where did it run in that night’s one hour, mid-evening news on the national broadcaster NHK? Buried 40 minutes down in the program as a brief RVO (reader voiceover). Had the story broken a year ago, during the tenure of the former government, I have no doubt it would have led the program – accompanied by complaints of incompetence. If there had been any doubt that Abe was receiving a dream run from Japan’s mainstream media, this episode laid it to rest.

March 25, 2013

Judge Murphy and Sexual Abuse in Ireland. John Menadue

The Australian Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse commences its hearings in Melbourne on April 3. If the experience of the four enquiries in Ireland is any guide individuals and intuitions in Australia face ordeals.

Judge Murphy headed the ‘Commission of Investigation’ into sexual abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. Her report was released in 2009. Only a few months earlier, the Ryan Report was released which dealt with abuse in industrial schools controlled by Roman Catholic religious institutions in Ireland.

October 18, 2013

Why Iranians join the refugee queue. Guest Iranian correspondent Nadia S Fosoul

In my country Iran, many dads take two jobs. They work hard so that their kids can check more items off their wish list. Moms like other moms in the world sacrifice their comforts for the sake of their children. Despite this, according to UNHCR data (immigrationinformation.org) the number of Iranian youth seeking asylum around the world has more than doubled since 2007. In 2012 nearly 20,000 Iranian sought asylum. Iran has thus, laid claim to producing one of the highest rates of brain drain in the world. Simultaneously Iran is one of the world’s largest refugee havens, mainly for Afghans and Iraqis.

May 10, 2014

Michael Kelly SJ. A powerful minority or an elected majority!

In a process that shows no sign of ending soon, Thailand’s unstable governance has reached another crisis.

The Acting Prime Minister has been tipped out only to be replaced by an Acting Acting Prime Minister who is himself to face judgment for his part in the failed scheme to stabilize the price of rice.

These judicial decisions - seen by many to be actions of courts tainted by their association with the anti – Shinawatra, Royal establishment - are now the trigger needed to bring the opposition back onto the streets of Bangkok. However, more prosecutions to come will now follow these latest incidents. Ousted Acting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is to face proceedings over up to another dozen alleged misdeeds.

September 16, 2019

MACK WILLIAMS. Attacks on Saudi Oil Facilities: Trump “Locked and Loaded”?

Whatever the real story behind the damaging attacks on the Saudi oil facilities, tensions in the Gulf and Middle East more widely have been significantly elevated. US attempts to engage the Iranians in direct and secret dialogue to try to wind back the US “extreme pressures” on Iran which Trump had claimed were underway when questioned about French President Macron’s attempt at mediation are clearly in jeopardy. Whether Trump’s tweeted threat that the US was “locked and loaded” to respond militarily to the attacks heightens concerns about further escalation in the Gulf area have yet to be seen.

October 31, 2015

John Menadue. Malcolm Turnbull and rebuilding the ABC

Our new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull has a chance to repair the damage that was done to the ABC when he was the minister in charge. Malcolm Turnbull was unable to stop Tony Abbott’s cultural war on the ABC which was aided and abetted by Rupert Murdoch.

Today, Friends of the ABC published an advertisement in The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald calling on the public to ‘support the rebuilding of the ABC (and protect SBS)’. This advertisement highlights the recent damage that has been done to the ABC

June 16, 2019

Sunday environmental round up, 16 June 2019

A strong emphasis on economic, ethical and equity issues associated with climate change this week. Global warming has increased inequalities between rich and poor nations; tackling climate change and reducing inequalities must occur simultaneously but only rich and powerful nations and individuals have the resources required to do it; even low emitting nations have a responsibility to contribute to global efforts to fight climate change; and action on climate change makes economic sense but we should do it even if it didn’t. Is Theresa May’s commitment to reach zero emissions in Britain by 2050 all it seems? And to lighten the load, watch nesting White-bellied Sea Eagles live.

March 7, 2016

John Menadue. Japanese royal family resists war revisionism.

After WWII many people, including me, believed that Emperor Hirohito should bear considerable blame for his complicity in Japan’s wars of the 1930s in China and in the Pacific in the 1940s.

There is no doubt that the late Emperor Hirohito was traumatized, as was his nation, by the disasters of WWII. But perhaps that experience of war is the reason why Emperor Hirohito, his son the current Emperor Akihito and his grandson, Crown Prince Naruhito are standing as firm bulwarks against the revisionist tide of history in Japan.

August 17, 2014

Jennifer Chesters. Private schools, fees and longer term payoffs.

In a recent article published by The__Conversation, Barbara Preston examined the link between type of school attended and progress at university. Barbara concluded that after controlling for tertiary entrance score, university students from government schools outperformed students from private schools. This finding suggests that paying for an expensive private school education may not be the best preparation for university study. If this is the case, perhaps parents paying private school fees are looking for longer term pay-offs for their investment.

January 30, 2025

A five-minute scroll

The West Bank attacks continue since the Gaza ceasefire. In India, poor Muslim’s shops are being bulldozed. In the US, Caroline Kennedy speaks of her concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr leading the HHS.

May 20, 2016

WAYNE McMILLAN. Is there any difference between Labor or Liberal coalition governments when it comes to economic management?

There is much political rhetoric spouted by both sides of Australian politics when it comes to economic management and the truth generally lies somewhere in between the myths and the half-truths. To make matters even worse, so-called economic experts from the financial and business sectors, shock jocks and news media outlets tend to centre discussion narrowly on surpluses, deficits and government debt taken out of any meaningful, economic context. The language or terms used in the news and in political debate, often gives an inaccurate or incorrect picture of what is really happening. The political pundits and the commentariat tend to give the impression that the process of preparing budgets and guiding an economy to prosperity is a simple, straightforward process and only requires a good measure of common sense.

March 1, 2016

John Menadue. Canada's response puts us to shame.

In this blog on 4 February, I mentioned the failure of the Australian government to adequately respond to the Syrian refugee crisis. I pointed out that at that time only ten refugees had arrived from Syria out of a promised intake of 12,000. I mentioned three factors for this delay. The first was political will. The second was the failure of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection which has become focused on control and border protection at the expense of settlement. The third was the inordinate delays resulting from ASIO security checks.

November 19, 2015

Peter Day. Hatred won't stop me patting the dog.

Hatred won’t stop me patting the dog

By Peter Day

New York, London, Bali, Madrid, Israel, Beirut, Egypt, Nigeria, Sydney, Paris: on and on it goes, the list of nations and cities left bereft after yet another act of terror.

It puts one’s inner-being out of whack; could even threaten to derail one’s sense of humanity.

Where to from here in the face of such deep seated hatred and barbarity?

March 8, 2015

Michael Keating. The 2015 Intergenerational Report

Purpose of the Intergenerational Report

The Intergenerational Report (IGR) should be an important document. It purports to tell us what the Australian population, economy and Budget could look like in forty years time.

Of course no-one really knows what the economy will look like in forty years time. Instead the IGR tells us how fast the economy could grow over the next four years if the drivers of economic growth – population, participation and productivity – continue to have the same future impact as in the past. So despite the declared optimism of the Treasurer about our economic future, and how much better off we will be, as far as the IGR is concerned that future has been established by definition and is certainly not proven.

March 18, 2024

Visit to Australia by Chinese Foreign Minister HE Wang Yi

The Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr Wang Yi, is in Australia this week to participate in the China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with his Australian counterpart, Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

December 3, 2016

Aung San Suu Kyi's government appears unable - or unwilling - to halt what some describe as 'ethnic cleansing'.

The Rohingya in Myanmar are facing increasing attacks and harassment. Australia and the region must be prepared to respond.

July 17, 2014

Refugee success

In recent years we have been getting a diet designed to diminish, denigrate and demonise asylum-seekers and refugees.

We have lost a sense of proportion and the enormous contribution which refugees have made to this country.

I have set out below links to information and articles which describe the remarkable way in which we have accepted refugees in the past and the way that they have helped build Australia. It is a thrilling story. These links are provided courtesy of the Refugee Council of Australia. Some of the information may be a few years old but the stories are current. John Menadue

March 9, 2014

Walter Hamilton. Calling a spade a spade in Ukraine.

Ukraine, the U.N., the European Union and the U.S. have nine days in which to influence the tide of events in Crimea or witness the second (after the excision from Georgia of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008) expansion of Russia’s military and political control beyond its post-Soviet borders. Nine days. That’s how long the Sochi Paralympics will run - during which the prestige-conscious Vladimir Putin is unlikely to declare ‘Full Ahead’.

June 13, 2014

John Tulloh. Misery accomplished in Iraq as disintegration threatens.

Perhaps dictators have their place after all. Saddam Hussein presided over Iraq for 24 years. While he was cruel and vainglorious, he generally succeeded in ensuring Iraqis stayed in line and kept the peace. He was toppled in 2003 when the U.S., with the support of Australia and other allies, invaded the country with the aim of introducing democracy and an altogether more acceptable way of life. Today his country is unravelling with astonishing speed as a small Islamic extremist group takes control of large areas with impunity. Iraq could be even on the verge of disintegration.

September 18, 2016

RICHARD RIGBY. Japan steps up military activity in the South China Sea.

The announcement in Washington, in the context of last week’s visit by Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada, of stepped up Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force activities in the South China Sea, including exercises with the US Navy, has to be one of the more ill-judged decisions taken regarding this contested area in recent times. It will do nothing to alter China’s claims or diminish its presence, but will provide oxygen to precisely those forces in China who see it being subjected to a campaign of encirclement and containment. It will further fire nationalist extremism, and not only add to existing tensions in the South China Sea, but almost inevitably lead to China escalating its activities in the East China Sea around the Diaoyu/Senkakus. (We’d better get used to not calling them islands, if we follow the logic of the Hague Tribunal concerning the nature of Taiping Island/Itu Aba. The latter clearly has more of the features necessary to be classified as an island than Diaoyu/Senkaku and yet was denied this status by the Tribunal. Still less can Japan’s absurd claims regarding Okinotori-shima (shima-island) be given any credence.)

December 11, 2016

MARK BEESON. New series: We can say 'no' to the Americans?

Getting to ‘no’

Ideas have their moments. The way we think about the world is partly a reflection of who ‘we’ are and partly a consequence of the times we live in. One of the biggest ideas that has informed Australian foreign policy since it became formally independent is that we live in an especially insecure apart of the world, a long way from our natural allies.

January 13, 2014

Journalists are not welcome in Nauru. Elaine Pearson

Dramatically increasing the cost of visas to enter Nauru places severe restrictions from the ability of journalists and others to let us know the truth about asylum seekers being held there. John Menadue

Here’s an innovative way to discourage foreign media scrutiny of a touchy human rights issue: jack-up the cost of a journalist visa 40-fold, from A$200 to A$8000 (US$178 to US$7108). That’s precisely what the government of the small Pacific nation of Nauru has done, dressing up that skyrocketing increase as a means to “ increase revenue.” The fee is non-refundable even if the visa application is rejected.

October 27, 2014

Adam Kamradt-Scott. Mining companies must dig deep in the fight against Ebola.

The current outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa shows no signs of halting. More than4,500 people have died and many thousands more are infected. Despite the creation of a new United Nations mission to tackle Ebola and commitments of thousands of western military personnel to help combat the disease, the virus is still “ winning the race”.

In September, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to donate US$1 billion to help fight Ebola. Yet one month later, despite dire predictions that we could see 10,000 cases a week by December and 1.4 million cases by January 2015, the UN has received less than 40% of the funds needed.

May 31, 2015

Frank Brennan SJ. 'Amplifying That Still Small Voice'. Book Launch.

‘Amplifying That Still Small Voice’ A collection of essays by Frank Brennan SJ Book Launch.

Dates and times of the 2015 Book launches of Fr Frank Brennan’s latest book, ‘Amplifying That Still, Small Voice’:

1. Tuesday 2 June North Sydney Catholic Parish Hall, 7.30 pm.

2. Wednesday 3 June Hobart Town Hall, 6.15 pm.

3. Friday 5 June, Newman College, Melbourne, 5.00 pm.

4.Monday 8 June, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Canberra, 7.30 pm.

May 7, 2016

Kerry Murphy. Blaming refugees.

Blaming instances of self-harm by refugees and asylum seekers on ‘refugee advocates’ or the undeserving asylum seekers is not a new political tactic. Back in 2001 then Minister Ruddock was interviewed by Four Corners about the problems of self-harm by asylum seekers in detention, especially in Curtain, Woomera and Port Hedland detention centres. Journalist Debbie Whitmont asked the Minister Philip Ruddock how he explained the number of cases of self-mutilation in Australian detention centres.

October 24, 2015

Richard Letts. Mitch Fifield should dump it while he can.

In a Senate Estimates hearing this week, the new Arts Minister Mitch Fifield was gently questioned for ten minutes by Senator Scott Ludlam about his intentions with regard to the future of arts support: in particular, did he intend to implement the plan of his displaced predecessor, Senator George Brandis, to use funds taken from the budget of the Australia Council to set up a new fund under direct Ministerial control. This scheme created open warfare between Brandis and his arts constituency and doubtless was the reason for his removal from the post in PM Turnbull’s ministry reshuffle.

October 18, 2015

Michael Kelly SJ. George Pell's own goal.

A Catholic friend of mine who spent his professional life as a journalist at what was the then rather WASPISH Melbourne Age told me in the 1980s that two sports dominated that paper’s pages – Australian Rules football and Catholic fights.

Cardinal George Pell should have stuck to playing Ozzie Rules. In that game, shirt fronting is the common tactic used to eliminate opponents. It comes down to knocking out an opposing player usually with a side-on, full body smash that leaves the opponent flat on his back.

February 27, 2015

Stuart Harris. China is not seeking to break the rules of global order.

Australia’s foreign policy, and notably its relations with the US and China, has been a mix of positives and negatives under the Coalition government, as was true of the previous Labor government.

This reflects the lack of a broad strategic vision of Australia’s geographic realities and the evolving relationships involved.

Former prime ministers, Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke recognised the need for Australia to think strategically about future regional developments, and John Howard‘s thinking gradually moved in that direction. Such long term strategic thinking is more urgently needed today.

March 8, 2013

Let them Work. John Menadue

Last month, Bruce Kaye (guest blogger) and I wrote articles about the need for a change of government policy to allow asylum seekers to work. This is important for their dignity and self-respect and their integration into the Australian community. It would also be less costly to the Australian taxpayer and the Australian community.

Today the Asylum Seekers Centre, Sydney, and fifty other organisations have joined together to call on the Australian Government to allow all asylum seekers to work, whether they came by air or boat.

February 19, 2013

Work rights for asylum seekers. Guest blogger: Bruce Kaye

Having had direct experience of asylum seeker hosting it has become obvious at the ground level that the ‘no work’ policy introduced in August last year by the Federal Government is creating confusion and misery for the asylum seekers and frustration and despair for those involved in hosting.

As citizens, my wife and I are happy to continue to provide this hospitality. These people are in great need. However it seems to us that the Government’s policy of not allowing these people to work simply makes it impossibly hard for them to live in the community at the end of their six weeks of homestay hospitality. Not able to work they are driven into poverty, or the black economy. In any case dependence on Government resources is perpetuated instead of wages being earned and taxes paid.

August 17, 2014

Saree Makdisi. The catastrophe inflicted on Gaza - and the costs to Israel's standing.

The Israeli public relations is almost as powerful as the Israeli military machine. An alternative view is expressed below by Saree Makdisi, a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA, and the author of ‘Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation’. This article was published in ‘Mondoweiss’ which describes itself as ‘a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective’. John Menadue

March 20, 2025

A five-minute scroll

How long will the Australian Government ignore the murders in Palestine? Michele O’Neil asks who can think this is an act of defence. Francesca Albanese wants the conversation to be about international law, not what indicted leaders say. A US journalist asks the Deputy Secretary of DHS, referring to Mohammad Khalil, whether protesting is a deportable offence.

December 28, 2013

A letter to Pope Francis

The Australian Catholic Coalition for Church Renewal has called for structural amd cultural change in the governance of the Catholic Church

The letter can be found on my web site.Go to top left hand of the home page and click on John Menadue web site.

John Menadue

October 19, 2015

John Menadue. Is Malcolm Turnbull sacrificing his principles?

The polls show most Australian voters have welcomed Malcolm Turnbull’s election as Prime Minister. I did.

It is very early days, but I am concerned by signs that he is bowing very much to the right wing of his own party and former Abbott supporters rather than spelling out clearly his own policies that we heard about for years. He told the Parliament today ‘Can I simply say the government’s policies are unchanged’

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal