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.

June 16, 2014

Bishop Bill Morris' book.

On 17 June in Toowoomba, Bishop Bill Morris’ book ‘Benedict, Me and the Cardinals three’ will be launched. Launches will follow in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne.

Bishop Morris was formerly the Bishop of Toowoomba. In November 2006 he wrote an open letter to his diocese about priest shortages. He discussed the possibility of the ordination of women and married or widowed men. In response, the Vatican set in train a process of meetings and apostolic visits that forced him to resign.

October 15, 2013

What's in it for me? John Menadue

Last year in London Joe Hockey said that we had to break free of our culture of entitlement. He said. “The problem arises…when there is a belief that one person has a right to a good or service that someone else will pay for. It is this sense of entitlement that affects not just individuals but also entire societies. And governments are to blame for portraying taxpayer’s money as something removed from the labour of another person” He repeated much the same last week in his first visit as Treasurer to Washington. He made it clear that all Australians had to make hard choices and that we couldn’t have everything that we wanted.

March 18, 2015

Joseph Stiglitz on the Trans Pacific Partnership.

At a community meeting in New York Joseph Stiglitz drew attention to the risks of TPP. He referred to the secrecy about the whole proposal. He said that TPP ‘is much worse than a blank cheque about trade’. He added that TPP ‘would not only become the law of the land, but every other law would have to adapt to it … and our Congress would have given up all authority in those areas - the environment, worker safety, consumer safety, and even the economy’. For full report of this meeting, see link below. John Menadue

February 27, 2014

Chris Geraghty. The Pell Factor

Sydney is vacant again, and many of the faithful are breathing a huge sigh of relief, though at the back of our minds lurks a suspicion mixed with fear that we will be saddled, for a long time to come, with a little repellent clone of the great man.

George is off to Rome – where he belongs. It’s a move long overdue. Some years ago, perhaps in anticipation of this journey, he built a home for himself close to the Vatican – a suite of rooms in Casa Australiana just waiting for him to appear with his baggage. Rumors have abounded for some years of his imminent appointment to some job or other over there. Now as head of the Vatican Finance Department, a supranational Hockey Joe, he can do little harm, and maybe he can do some good for humanity, for the Church.

April 4, 2016

Cavan Hogue. Malcolm Turnbull, COAG and media confusion.

Turnbull knew what he was doing. The media has turned on Malcolm Turnbull who is accused of ignorance. Media views seem to change even more often than political promises. However,surely the PM knew why he called the meeting with the states. He knew they would reject it which is what he wanted them to do. He now claims the moral high ground in denying their requests for money. Opinions will differ on whether this was a good decision but only time will tell if it worked -whatever the media seesaw comes up with next. Politics has always been a rough business because only people with strong egos go into it so we should not be surprised at the jealousy and infighting that goes on. The electoral mob is fickle but so it would seem is the press and it remains to be seen whose judgment is better.

March 25, 2014

Rod Tiffen. Abbott contempt of court.

After the 2013 election, the ABC satirical program The Hamster Decides responded to an election night comment by the columnist for the Australian Chris Kenny that the ABC’s funding should be cut with an animated version of Kenny having intercourse with a dog. Kenny demanded an apology and then sued for defamation.

It is unusual for satirical programs or cartoons to be the subject of defamation actions, and such cases carry dangers for both sides in any litigation. A jury’s reaction to something that in ordinary discourse would be bad taste or disproportionate is unpredictable.

February 2, 2014

John Menadue. Sharks and asylum seekers

Over the weekend we have seen thousands of people crowding onto our beaches on both sides of the country to protest against the culling of sharks in Western Australia. I happen to think that the protesters are right, that people who swim in dangerous seas know the risks but are prepared to take them. Compared with the carnage on our roads, the number who die from shark attacks is quite minor.

July 31, 2015

Tim Soutphommasane. Adam Goodes has made some people feel uncomfortable.

Racism comes in many forms: overt and covert, crude and subtle. The harms of racism also come in many forms. We know from a large body of research that racism can lead to stress, negative emotions, psychological damage, even physiological effects.

We don’t always focus, however, on racism’s impact on our civic health. What I mean by this is the impact racism can have on the civility and cohesion of our society. Because when someone is subjected to racism, it can have the effect of undermining their standing as a fellow member of our community, and can have a fundamental impact on their freedom.

December 16, 2015

Michael Keating. The Turnbull Government’s Economic Strategy

The Government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) released on Tuesday 15 December outlines the Government’s economic and fiscal strategy and, equally important, what it expects that strategy to achieve. It is especially significant on this occasion, as it represents the first major economic statement by the still relatively new Turnbull Government. As such this statement allows us to put some more content into our assessment of what, in its short life so far, has principally been an “aspirational government”.

September 29, 2016

DYLAN McCONNELL. Was the SA blackout caused by wind or wind turbines?

It has everything to do with wind - because that’s what blew over the transmission lines. But it has nothing to do with South Australia’s wind turbines. Transmission lines are large power lines that take electricity from generators to the smaller distribution lines that bring power to our homes.

South Australia’s energy generation mix is mixture of wind, gas and some solar, and as of this year, zero coal. The state is connected to the rest of eastern Australia’s electricity market through two inter-connectors, one of which is down for service.

May 27, 2016

Obama and the absence of apology in Hiroshima

‘As President of the United States of America, I express my profound apologies for the sufferings inflicted on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the atomic bombings.’ These, of course, are the words that we are not going to hear Barack Obama speak in Hiroshima on 27 May, when he becomes the first sitting US president to visit the city since the atomic bombings in August 1945. It is sad that we will not hear at least a version of these words. A simple but sincere apology might bring some peace of mind to the survivors and their families, and could have a profound effect on Japanese society.

November 26, 2013

Sexual abuse: two Popes late on the scene. Guest blogger: Michael Kelly SJ

Early in the 20th Century, the French Catholic poet and writer Charles Peguy observed that, at the turn of each age, the Catholic Church arrives a little late and a little breathless.

It was not till the 1960s, at Vatican II, that the Church absorbed and authorized the major influence of the French Revolution – that sovereignty inhered in the people rather than the Sovereign – when it declared that the Church was the People of God rather than the aristocracy of the Church (the Pope, bishops and clergy).

March 19, 2016

Cameron Douglas. The Thais do many things well … governance is not on the list.

Thailand is nearing the end of extended efforts to write a national constitution - known as Constitution 20/2, as it is the second shot at putting together the 20th charter since the abolition of absolute monarchy in 1932.

Thais do many things very well – from cuisine to culture to graphic design. Governance is not on the list.

In that same period the country has experienced 21 coups – 12 were successful and nine failed. Thailand has had periods of electoral governance but authoritarian rule is the norm, not an exception.

July 29, 2015

John Tulloh. Goodbye Syria.

THE DEAD-END ROADS TO AND FROM DAMASCUS

Fifteen years ago this month, Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father to become president of Syria. Having spent some years studying and living in France and England, he had hopes of a Western-style liberalisation and development and turning his country into the Switzerland of the Middle East. Those ambitions proved naively fanciful and now he finds himself inextricably wedged, the country under his control shrinking and the outlook hopeless.

April 3, 2014

John Menadue. Citizenship and shared experience.

The recent decision by the NSW Government to evict pensioners and low-income tenants from the Rocks in Sydney highlighted for me the importance of mixed communities and shared experiences.

We all benefit in society when we have shared experiences. We can then get to know other people’s aspirations and their problems. We invariably find that we have much more in common than we think. We benefit both as individuals and as a society.

September 30, 2016

GILES PARKINSON. Dumb politics means we may be stuck with an even dumber grid

It was just six years ago when Malcolm Turnbull, then deposed Liberal Party leader, attended the launch of the Beyond Zero Emissions Zero Carbon plan for 2020, which suggested Australia should and could attain 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020.

Turnbull, by all accounts, was an enthusiastic participant, and was particularly excited by solar towers and molten salt storage. “There is a real opportunity there, with that technology, to generate baseload power from solar energy – something of a holy grail.”

February 7, 2025

Arab organisations slam ABC over refusal to acknowledge Lebanese race

Two organisations representing Arab migrants in Australia have slammed ABC managing director David Anderson over his refusal to acknowledge the existence of a Lebanese race during the ongoing Federal Court trial between broadcaster Antoinette Lattouf and the national broadcaster.

December 19, 2016

MACK WILLIAMS. When and how to say 'no'. Darwin?

We cannot remain oblivious to the fact that the creeping incrementalism, which has characterised the Defence Postures relationship, is likely to slip us into positions from which it would become increasingly difficult to say No. We need a line in the sand now to prevent this happening.

September 9, 2015

Peter McNamara. Are all Australians just 'Bad Samaritans', or is it just the media?

I always thought Australians were good Samaritans, welcoming people from all backgrounds, all races, all religions, to their rich and prosperous nation.

It belies belief to see the media reporting that Australian Christians, including Catholic Archbishop Fisher, say that preference should be given to Christian refugees from war-torn Syria. The Australian does not ring true with its leader: “Fleeing Christians should go to front of queue - archbishop” above Archbishop Fisher’s photo (The Australian online, Sept 8 2015, Tess Livingstone)

June 7, 2016

JOHN AUSTEN and LUKE FRASER. Urbane transport policy. Part 3 of 3

This article is the third in a series about transport. The first two dealt with topics raised by the Prime Minister; mass transit, 30-minute cities etc and noted some challenges for the Commonwealth.[i]

Urbane Transport policy. Part 1 of 3

Urbane transport policy. Part 2 of 3

The articles draw on public information - the basis for the community trust necessary for effective democracy. Unfortunately, some information has reduced trust. Restoring that trust begins with the top tier of Australian government - the Commonwealth - and depends on how a future Government approaches land transport.

June 6, 2013

Doctors scared Maggie Thatcher. John Menadue

Excuse me for dropping names but at a round table discussion with Maggie Thatcher in the late 1980s that I attended in Sydney she was asked “Now that you have fixed the work practices of the miners and the printers in the United Kingdom what are you going to do about the restrictive work practices of the doctors?” She replied. “I will leave that to the last session in my last term as Prime Minister” She never got around to it. And neither have we in Australia.

April 2, 2014

Mack Williams. Abbot's visit to Korea not all about trade!

As Tony Abbott’s first time to South Korea (ROK) as Prime Minister this visit carries much more importance than the mercantilist hype in which it has been cloaked. It will certainly will be seen through a much larger prism by his hosts – and their brothers across the border. The Korean peninsular is of fundamental strategic importance to Australia as the only place in the world where the national interests of the all major powers intersect and the potential for conflict remains so high. The mozaic of all these interests is extremely complex, demanding close and continuing interest of the highest order and very sensitive management on our part - as the Prime Minister and his team should have learned from the instant and robust reaction not only from China but also the ROK to his incautious remarks about Japan being Australia’s best friend in the region. This visit offers him the opportunity to appreciate this kaleidoscope of challenges at first hand.

December 21, 2015

Laurie Patton. Data Retention: How not to introduce complex legislation.

One of my first tasks shortly after joining Internet Australia (nee ISOC-AU) was to front the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS). Our appearance at the hearing into the (Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015) came at the end of a long day of mostly opposing submissions.

With our president and the head of our policy committee sitting beside me I boldly told the committee that the Data Retention Bill was “fundamentally flawed” and had clearly been drafted by lawyers who didn’t understand how the Internet actually works. How prescient those comments have proven to have been.

April 3, 2014

Kieran Tapsell. Facing prejudice.

Piedad Bonnett, El Espectador, Colombia 5 November 2013 http://www.elespectador.com/opinion/una-injusticia-historica-columna-466919

Summary: Alan Turing was responsible for breaking the German enigma code in the Second World War. He was subsequently convicted of the crime of homosexuality, and given a choice of being chemically castrated or imprisoned. He chose the former and then committed suicide. The Queen has recently “pardoned” him posthumously.

When, in 1952, the British mathematician, Alan Turing was threatened with choosing prison or oestrogen treatment to “cure” his homosexuality, the freethinking atheist, who openly admitted his sexual preferences to investigating police, risking public derision, chose what was in effect chemical castration that left him impotent, deformed his body and caused him serious psychiatric problems.

November 21, 2015

John Menadue. Minimising IS will take a while.

We have had a lot of apocalyptic talk about IS – we are at war, it is a death cult, it threatens civilisation. Unfortunately these exaggerations don’t help a measured and holistic response. These exaggerations play into the hands of terrorists who hope for our over-reaction and the promotion of fear.

We know from experience that terrorism ebbs and flows over the years in intensity. We must be ready for the long haul.

April 14, 2014

Simon Rice. Racial vilification, social values and humility

I have spent a professional lifetime trying to get people to know about (let alone respect) anti-discrimination law, and suddenly everyone knows about ‘ section 18C’. For all the wrong reasons.

A right reason for knowing about 18C would be because it is offers guidance on what can fairly be said and done on the basis of race. A wrong reason would be because it is characterised as an unwarranted limit on ‘free speech’.

November 26, 2013

China's new rules. Guest blogger: Walter Hamilton

China’s unilateral declaration of an “air defense identification zone” in the East China Sea is the most serious escalation of its territorial dispute with Japan since the large-scale mob attacks on Japanese property in China just over a year ago.

China’s Ministry of National Defense has declared that as of two days ago new rules govern the entry of aircraft into the vast zone that encompasses the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, with all over-flights now requiring prior notification.

December 21, 2015

Laurie Patton. Malcolm Turnbull: NBN killer?

The ABC Online News headline on the 14th of September 2010 was pretty blunt: “Abbott orders Turnbull to demolish NBN”. In the article itself then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is quoted as saying: “The Government is going to invest $43 billion worth of hard-earned money in what I believe is going to turn out to be a white elephant on a massive scale”.

Fast forward five years and the cost of the Coalition’s NBN is now put at $46-56 billion, with many experts maintaining that this significantly understates the likely real cost. Confusion and disagreement reign as to how long it will take to complete our much needed broadband rollout.

May 28, 2013

Fear and Trust. Guest blogger: Michael Kelly SJ

It was Arthur Augustus Calwell, Federal Leader of the Australian Labor Party before Gough Whitlam, who believed that fear was the most potent political weapon. He ought to know: he lost three elections because of it.

The political correlative to fear is another emotion – the appeal to “trust me”. Creating or eroding trust is the common task and challenge of individuals and institutions in Australia, home to the most testing and suspicious populace in the world.

May 14, 2014

John Menadue. The Budget: Robin Hood in reverse.

There was a real risk that Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey believed their windy rhetoric of the last two years about debt and deficits. Having won the election they have had to face the reality that they have been grossly exaggerating our economic problems.

The real risk was that Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey would act on their own exaggerations and savagely attack the economy. Fortunately, the Budget tells a very different story. In terms of managing the macro-economy, the government has got it about right in the budget. It hasn’t cracked down in the way many feared.

December 19, 2016

ROSS BURNS. After Aleppo.

The international community remains hopelessly divided and in many cases incapable of assessing the real dynamics of the conflict in the face of its gut-wrenching humanitarian dimensions.

September 30, 2016

GILES PARKINSON. Uhlmann’s bizarre prediction of “national blackout” if we pursue wind and solar

The ABC is supposed to have a ban on advertising. But even if it was allowed, money couldn’t buy the sort of advocacy the fossil fuel industry and incumbent energy interests are receiving this week from the network’s chief political correspondent, Chris Uhlmann.

On Thursday, we took Uhlmann to task for the way he reported the blackout event in South Australia, and his suggestion that the state’s large portfolio of wind energy assets were at fault.

Later that day, Uhlmann doubled down, in an article on the ABC website, and then on a major piece to camera on the flagship 7pm TV news. The result, presented as “analysis” and to the layman as a collection of “facts”, was more than the fossil fuel industry could ever wish for.

October 31, 2016

Royal family are even more secretive than MI5.

Jenny Hocking has been researching and publishing some vital information about the dismissal of the Whitlam Government by Sir John Kerr . In that research, she has been denied access to the papers. She is taking legal action in the Federal Court against the National Archives to release correspondence between Sir John Kerr and the Queen. (See ‘ The Palace Letters’)

In The Times, Ben MacIntyre writes about the secretive nature of the British Royal Family. See his article below from The London Times of October 28, 2016. John Menadue.

September 26, 2013

Is it class warfare or an appeal for fairness? John Menadue

It depends on your point of view. Conservatives and the wealthy often see attacks on their privileged position as class war. Others see it as the pursuit of justice and fairness.

Let’s look at some who have recently spoken about class warfare.

Andrew Forrest said that the Mining Super Profits Tax was class warfare.
Christopher Pyne said that asking privately funded schools to reveal financial details was class warfare.
The education activist, Kevin Donnelly said that the Gonski Report was class warfare.
Some business representatives have described the new Fair Work Act as class warfare.
Both Mathias Cormann, and journalist Robert Gottliebsen, described government reforms to reduce tax concessions for high income earners as class warfare.
Peter Dutton, the new Minister for Health said that reducing the tax concessions for high income earners in private health insurance was class warfare.
Piers Akerman said that the government’s attempt to reduce abuse under the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme was class warfare.

But some senior ALP members have also joined in the fray.

July 12, 2013

Tony Abbott - one-liners won't work. John Menadue

Sorry if I keep repeating myself, but Tony Abbott keeps repeating his one-liners about stopping the boats. He provides little explanation about how or why his policies will work today.

He tells us that John Howard’s policy stopped the boats and he will do the same. But John Howard’s approach was over a decade ago. Since then the situation has dramatically changed.

Certainly under John Howard the boats did largely stop, although asylum seekers continued to arrive by air at the rate of about 4,000 persons per annum. Furthermore if we look at the broader picture of asylum seekers around the world at that time we see that the number of asylum seekers fell between 2001 and 2004 as a result of a more peaceful Afghanistan and Iraq. Boat arrivals started arriving again from 2004, mainly because of the state of emergency declared in Sri Lanka and then the withdrawal of the Sri Lankan government from the cease-fire with the Tamil Tigers.

April 19, 2016

Mark Gregory. What the government doesn’t want you to know about the NBN

The Coalition’s National Broadband Network (NBN) plan is in trouble and the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should heed the mounting calls for Coalition NBN plan to be dropped before the nation’s digital future is harmed irreparably.

In June it will be three years since Turnbull, as Minister for Communications, launched the Coalition’s NBN plan, extolled its benefits and introduced the slick, catchy and ultimately misleading slogan “Fast, Affordable and Sooner”.

October 3, 2015

Ranald Macdonald. The ABC and a Call to Arms.

A CALL TO ARMS –Why this Country needs you to act. That is the title to my talk today and my exhortation to you all.

The latest figures show over 400 ABC staff already “removed” from the ABC, as we edge towards its 500 target.

The recent change in Prime Minister-ship has NOT changed expectations at the ABC or at SBS. The situation continues to be dire. I will try and explain why.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal