July 1, 2019

JENNY HOCKING. The Palace letters case heads to the High Court

Professor Jenny Hockings long-running case against the National Archives of Australia seeking the release of the secret Palace letters about the 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, stepped up again this week with the announcement of a Special Leave hearing in the High Court of Australia on 16 August.

August 30, 2017

JOHN MENADUE. What a post-war contrast Germany and Japan; Angela Merkel and Shinzo Abe.

For all its atrocities in the 1930s and 1940s, Germany has become an exemplar country promoting prosperity and peace. Angela Merkel stands out as a world leader more than any other. By contrast, Japan has again become a divisive country in its region and its Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has been acquiescing and promoting an ultra-nationalist cause. Germany quickly came to terms with its past. Japan has refused to.

April 7, 2016

Paul Budde. NBN company needs support to pursue FTTdp

In his blog of 5 April, Paul Budde suggests that the NBN company needs support to help it overcome the stumbling block of Malcolm Turnbull who seems unwilling to reconsider the mistake he made on the NBN as Communications Minister in the Abbott government. See Paul Budde’s article below. See also link to article http://www.buddeblog.com.au/frompaulsdesk/nbn-company-needs-support-to-pursue-fttdp/

With the election campaign starting to kick in, it is only a matter of time before the Opposition starts talking about the NBN again.

August 6, 2019

MARK BUCKLEY. Buyer Beware - Politicians

_When you buy a television you have an expectation that the thing will work, and that it will fulfil the purpose for which you bought it. In Australia we have a robust Consumer Law, which is quite exemplary, and quite differently from many of our human rights practices, actually elicits praise internationally. There is one product class excluded from its coverage, sadly politicians, and all their works.

September 2, 2019

QUENTIN DEMPSTER. New nuclear arms race brings higher risk of global catastrophe

The world is at its highest risk of a global catastrophe in decades, thanks to an unpredictable resumption in the nuclear arms race.

Veteran defence and security analyst Brian Toohey has warned that talk of war between the West, and China and Russia, along with brinkmanship with North Korea and Iran, has escalated the conditions that can lead to catastrophic accidents and mistakes.

June 29, 2018

DUNCAN GRAHAM. Our failing media again-ignoring an election next door.

The World is a nightly news show on Australia Plus, our overseas TV showcase transmitted to 44 countries in Asia and the Pacific. The one-hour programme pulls together the days global issues, often adding lengthy interviews dissecting international developments.

August 7, 2018

LESLEY HUGHES. Cognitive Dissonance in the Big Dry

Climate change is worsening the drought now affecting huge swathes of the continent, bringing gut-wrenching misery for farmers and the communities they support. And what have some of the parliamentary representatives of those regions been up to? They have been trying to convince the Japanese to invest in more coal-fired power generation in Australia.

June 23, 2019

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Flat earthers and 'The Australian'.

About sixty years ago, as an undergraduate of Sydney University, I met a flat earther on the campus.

March 10, 2019

FRANCIS SULLIVAN. Why stay?

Since the conviction of Cardinal Pell I have been asked why I remain a Catholic.It is an obvious question. The extent of criminal behaviour and the active cover up by bishops and religious leaders of perpetrators has been breath taking. Ordinary Catholics have been played as mugs by the Church leadership. Why stay?

November 29, 2018

JOHN QUIGGIN. Public Private Partnerships. The mirage.

In the UK Budget last week, the Chancellor, Phillip Hammond announced the end of the PF2 scheme, the Conservative government’s replacement for the discredited Public Finance Initiative originally introduced by the Conservatives under John Major, but greatly expanded by Tony Blair’s New Labour. This announcement is less than meets the eye in a couple of respects. Financing under PF2 had already slowed to a trickle.

(The NSW Government should read this to understand what has gone wrong with the PPP venture at the Northern Beaches Hospital…..John Menadue)

September 9, 2019

AMJAD AYMAN YAGHI. The case of Mohammad El Halabi and the rabbit hole of Israeli justice

Its been three years and there have been 119 court appearances. He has been separated from his family and lost his freedom.

Yet even though an Australian government inquiry has found allegations against him baseless, and his charges appear ever more outlandish as more is learned about the case, Mohammad El Halabi languishes in an Israeli prison, charged but not convicted, a Kafkaesque nightmare of the kind in which Israel with its administrative detentions and separate laws for separate peoples has become expert.

August 30, 2018

Taylor confirms no interest in emissions, but says hes no climate skeptic (RenewEconomy, 30.08.18)

New energy minister Angus Taylor has confirmed what was largely expected: that he has no interest in emission reductions under the remit handed him by prime minister Scott Morrison, and that his primary focus will be on reducing prices for consumers.

May 8, 2019

JOHN McCARTHY. Time to Focus on Foreign Policy for the Sake of Australias Future (Asialink).

Australians face a set of decisions in foreign policy arguably more important to us than any national decisions since the Second World War, writes John McCarthy, former ambassador to Washington, Tokyo, Jakarta and New Delhi.How we navigate them could even have existential implications.

October 2, 2017

PAUL MEYER and RAMESH THAKUR. Canada's nuclear diplomacy is make-believe

The late U.S. senator and one-time ambassador to the United Nations, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, famously rebuked a political opponent: You are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.

December 4, 2017

JOHN AUSTEN. The NSW infrastructure mess keeps getting worse

This is an update on Sydneys infrastructure puff piece saga. Previous articles in Pearls and Irritations pointed out that the NSW Government led by the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP does not understand infrastructure. The draft 40-year plans for transport and for the Sydney region are a mess, involve kindergarten errors and contradict each other. It now looks like the wheels are falling off. The Commonwealth must step in if only for its own sake.

December 12, 2017

ANDREW GLIKSON. Parliament and the media cover up the looming climate crisis

Sometimes it is what is not mentioned, or little-mentioned, rather than widely discussed, which tells the story.

August 8, 2019

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Australias AUSMIN invitations: clean the driveway, wash the dishes. Again

In the course of the current AUSMIN talks Australia has once again been invited, by the United States, to assume a role for which it is well, indeed over-qualified for namely to provide janitorial services in the aftermath of a series of strategic debacles by the US itself. Serial prodigality and recklessness are to be rewarded with serial subservience and indulgence. Its a tradition.

March 23, 2018

GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND ...

A conservative commentator revolts against Fox News Max Boot, Washington Post

The monstrous strategic mistake that took Australia to war in Iraq Kevin Rudd, Canberra Times.

A plea to the Queen to disclose the palace letters for the sake of Australian democracy the Guardian.

Suicide note shows Japanese officials fear of being blamed for land sale scandalthe Asahi Shimbun

Cambridge Analytica facebook influenced US election the Guardian.

On Saturday Extra the 24th of March, Geraldine Doogue speaks with SMHs economics editor Peter Martin about the continuing tax discussion; William Davies from the University of London on what the Brexiters really want; Harvard professor of philosophy Michael Sandel talks about his visits to China and the thirst young Chinese have for moral discussions in a GDP driven society; emeritus professor of politics Robert Manne talks about finding his voice after throat cancer and the politics of today; and professor of history Grace Karskens discusses her quest to bring alive the history of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/

September 26, 2019

WILLIAM LANGWIESCHE. What Really Brought Down the Boeing 737 Max?

Malfunctions caused two deadly crashes. But an industry that puts unprepared pilots in the cockpit is just as guilty.

The New York Times investigates.

August 31, 2018

PETER SMALL. National Party and Climate

Why farmers who are at the forefront of the impact from climate change, continue to support the National Party, a party of climate sceptics?

After a week of unfathomable machinations in Canberra, a decade of climate wars and the death of five Prime Ministers we are no nearer to a policy on climate or energy than we were 10 years ago.

As a 77 year old farmer, who has lived amongst Country and then National Party and Liberal supporters all my life, I will try and shed some light on this complex and intriguing issue.

May 18, 2018

GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND ...

Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive. But to be young was very heaven – thats how many older Australians, with the distorted hindsight of nostalgia, look back on the turmoil of 1968. ABC Radio National has devoted a series of its regular programs to the events around 1968. The most concise is a short discussion May 1968 revisited on Geraldine Doogues Saturday Extra. Understandably most are retrospective, but there is also a program about lessons for today for those who seek social change the Gohn Day Memorial Lecture by Mary Frances Berry Lessons from past resistance movements.

April 5, 2018

GEOFF MILLER. Korea: a comprehensive and step-by-step solution?

That is the phrase that senior South Korean officials are using for what they hope to see resulting from coming summits, which they now envisage as involving, after the North Korea-US meeting, a tri-partite summit between the two Koreas and the US, in turn to be followed by a four-party summit of those three plus China. But wheres Japan? And do we really expect North Korea to give up its nuclear missiles, acquired at such a cost in resources? If so, in return for what benefits and assurances? And what would it ask the US to do in the cause of denuclearisation? Even if both the US and North Korea are thinking of a grand bargain, are their concepts of it compatible?

September 17, 2018

DUNCAN GRAHAM. Robbing Roads To Keep Rice Cheap.

Unlike their southern neighbours, Indonesians know when theyll go to the polls - 17 April 2019. That Wednesday will be a public holiday to encourage a big turn out. Voting is not compulsory.

In the 2014 election 135 million electors punched a hole in a ballot paper to make their choice - around 70 per cent of those on the roll - in the worlds third largest democracy.

Next year voters aged over 17 will get the chance to directly elect the president, 580 members of the Peoples Consultative Assembly (known as the DPR) and 128 to the Regional Assembly, (DPD).

Fifteen parties will bid for seats but there are only two rematch contestants for the top job - incumbent Joko Jokowi Widodo, 57, and former general Prabowo Subianto, 67, who lost his 2014 bid by just under seven per cent.

_Though campaigning is not supposed to start till 13 October, jostling is well underway. Now is the time for Australia to keep its head down; if we get dragged into the contest the collateral damag_e to relationships could be lasting.

September 1, 2019

Cardinal Pells guilty verdict is deeply troubling

In 2017, Cardinal George Pell became the highest ranking Catholic Church official to be charged with sex offences as Archbishop of Melbourne (19962001). His first trial produced a 10-2 hung jury in favour of acquittal. In the second trial, on 11 December 2018 he was convicted of five charges of sexually assaulting two boys in a sacristy of St. Pauls Cathedral, Melbourne in 1996 on two separate occasions. On 21 August Victorias Court of Appeal upheld the conviction by a split 2-1 decision.

August 22, 2017

HUGH MACKAY. What the Census really said about religion.

When the 2016 Census results were released, anti-religionists and anti-theists worked themselves into a lather of excitement about the apparent increase in the number of Australians ticking the No religion box. In the five years since 2011, that figure rose from 21.8 to 29.6 percent. Or did it?

October 23, 2017

JOHN AUSTEN. Trouble in infrastructure paradise, NSW Part 1 of 2

_Sydney readers are being subjected to an onslaught of infrastructure puff pieces featuring former Transport Minister now Premier the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP._It coincides with a desire to showcase the Governments infrastructure credentials and raise the Premiers profile. It also coincides with big swings against her Government in by-elections. But the major projects currently underway in Sydney are characterised by poor planning and a failure to link key nodes, lack of cost control, and a loss of interoperability in the rail system.

This is the first of two articles on the matter. The second will deal with the transport and metropolitan plans just released by the Government.

March 6, 2018

ADAM LUCAS. Revealed: the extent of job-swapping between public servants and fossil fuel lobbyists.

Last month Australia slipped further down the rankings in the international corruption index. Among a wide range of factors cited by Transparency International was Australias inappropriate industry lobbying in large-scale projects such as mining, as well as revolving doors and a culture of mateship.

August 1, 2019

DOROTHY HORSFIELD. Measures Short of War. Australian National Universitys Emeritus Professor Hugh Whites Plans for Defending Australia

One response from a colleague to the contentious proposal by Professor Hugh White in his newbook How to Defend Australia that the government should seriously consider adopting a nuclearcapability was the brief Oh, for Gods Sake!. Underpinning such a comment is the prospect of thekind of dystopian nightmare that stalked the Wests Cold War MAD (mutually-assured destruction)containment doctrine. As Russias President Putin, among others, has suggested tersely, in a 21stcentury nuclear war no one would survive.

May 14, 2019

DAVID SOLOMON. Vote earlier.

Am I missing something? Voting early is becoming increasingly popular, yet the politicians are thinking of cutting it back, and/or making it more difficult. I thought politicians were in the business of picking up, or at least reflecting, the public mood. But somehow, they believe they should resist this particular trend - this very strong trend that has gained the approval of more than a third of voters from across the political spectrum.

September 4, 2019

LINDA SIMON. More than a vision is needed for vocational education and training

National Skills Week 2019 recognised that more than just words were needed from Australian governments. The recent COAG meeting produced a vision for the VET sector, and whilst a cohesive vision is important, it means nothing unless backed up with additional funding for a sector that has been undermined for over a decade. Industry groups and companies call out for a revitalisation of training to rebuild our skilled workforce. They need more than a vision to do this.

September 18, 2018

JENNY HOCKING. Bullying, betrayal and backstabbing: Can the Liberal party survive?

Scott Morrison is an unlikely Prime Minister. The day before the latest Liberal leadership change Morrison appeared in a memorable photo, arm casually draped around then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls uncomfortable shoulders, and proclaimed his support; This is my leader. Im ambitious - for him!. Two days later Morrison emerged from a rancorous party meeting, brought on by the failed plotter and would-be Prime Minister Peter Dutton and his vengeful side-kick the deposed Prime Minister Tony Abbott, to become the third Liberal Prime Minister in as many years. The image and its aftermath have defined our 30th Prime Minister as duplicitous, disloyal and clearly ambitious for himself.

August 21, 2018

RAMESH THAKUR. Kofi Annans Achievement

Great chief executives need a guiding vision for the exercise of authority, and all the more so when that authority is international civil authority. As United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan had such a vision and the skills needed to realize it.

March 7, 2018

NIALL McLAREN. ECT (electroconvulsive treatment) as high cost medicine in Australia.

_Recent articles by John Menadue on health costs in Australia have emphasised the high fees charged by private procedural medical specialists. In a paper to be published next month (_McLaren, N., ECT in Context, Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, April 2018), I examine costs associated with the use of ECT (electroconvulsive treatment) in psychiatry. This is a short version of that paper.

September 3, 2019

MIKE SCRAFTON. On the blindness of politicians

The Senates Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee has generated one of the great jargon infested documents of recent times. The introduction to The Inquiry into nationhood, national identity and democracy Discussion paperreveals much about what is wrong with politics in Australia. Like a first year tutorial paper it traverses multiple issues trying to mention everything without analysing anything. This is inquiry is a misguided and futile exercise that is confused about its purpose and will lead to nothing practical or implementable.

August 14, 2019

A nuclear world in disarray. (The Strategist 7.8.2019)

_We are in a uniquely dangerous period in the atomic age. Geopolitical tensions have spiked in Europe, in the Middle East, on the subcontinent and in East Asia. The nuclear arms control architecture is fraying and crumbling, but no negotiations are underway to reduce global nuclear stockpiles.

April 7, 2019

DON AND PATRICIA EDGAR. Universities as Failed Critics

Back in 1997, Mark Davis complained that the Baby Boomers were monopolising public comment and should make way for the next generation meaning him to lead us out of Gangland to a new generationalism. Weve heard little since and the key public intellectuals are still (as in Pearls & Irritations) those cultural elites he bemoaned, from the Baby Boom years. In an era when we have more graduates than ever before, informed social critique is in serious decline.

October 15, 2018

IAN MACPHEE. I plead with the Labor Party to adopt a humane policy regarding asylum.

I plead with the Labor Party to adopt a humane policy regarding asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island. I have no doubt that the majority of Australians feel humiliated by the disgusting treatment that recent governments have given to asylum seekers and especially to those on neighbouring islands. Parts of Queensland might support Hansons racism but most Australians will not. Labor must realise that and adopt our belief in a fair go.

May 6, 2018

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull missed his chance to be his own man.

_Malcolm Turnbull was properly effusive in his meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, but there may also have been more than a touch of envy._In many ways Macron is the leader Turnbull could have been, should have been, and, one suspects in moments of introspection, would like to have been. And on all the evidence the general public would have liked it too.

June 19, 2018

JOHN DWYER. Health care reform - Part 2.

Without acceptance of a ten year plan and the creation of an instrument to implement that plan we will not be able to engineer the evidence based structural reforms to our health care system that will improve quality, equity and cost effectiveness.

September 17, 2018

ROSS GITTINS. Morrison's surplus secret: bracket creep kills the tax cuts. (SMH 15-16.9.2018)

The mystery revealed. Consider this: how does the Morrison government cut income and company taxes and avoid big cuts in government spending, but still project ever-rising budget surpluses and ever-falling net public debt over the next decade?

_With publication of the Parliamentary Budget Officesreporton the May budgets medium-term projections, we now know. Short answer: by assuming loads more bracket creep between now and then.

April 22, 2019

IAN McAULEY. Dont be distracted by the Coalitions promise of a budget surplus

A governments budget surplus or deficit is meaningless unless its carefully interpreted and is seen as only one of many indicators of a governments economic competence. Theres nothing intrinsically good about a budget surplus.

August 11, 2019

PETER RODGERS. Dear Prime Minister - stay firm on Iran, give strong leader wise counsel

Advice for the PM as he prepares to visit America and is honoured by dinner with Donald. Lets hope Morrison can distinguish clearly between US and Australian interests.

March 28, 2018

MICHAEL LAMBERT. An Update on the National Electricity Market and the National Energy Guarantee.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council meets in the second half of April to consider a report from the Energy Security Board on the proposed initial design of the National Energy Guarantee which seeks to address both emissions reductions and improved reliability in the National Electricity Market.

November 21, 2017

JAMES ONEILL. The Syrian Denouement nears despite Australias unwanted and illegal presence

The Australian government is a regular citer of what it calls the rules based international order. When it calls on other countries to desist from behaviour of which it disapproves. The recitation is frequently applied to the South China Sea where the Australian government disapproves of what it calls Chinese assertiveness in the region.

June 25, 2017

OISN SWEENEY & KEVIN EVANS: Coalition governments have abandoned nature. Can we turn this round?

As the Coalitions relentless internal struggles over energy ideology capture media headlines, a dramatic roll-back of protections for nature is underway. At State and Commonwealth levels Coalition governments have defunded environment programs and unpicked key legislation. Even fundamental conservation actions like the creation of protected areas have stalled as governments appear to see protections of nature as impediments to economic progress. But this is a false dichotomy.

May 4, 2018

JIM KABLE. Learning from a Mid-19th Century Japanese Warrior - Lessons for 21st Century Australian Education.

Australia seems to have spiralled over the past 20 or so years into some kind of nightmarish US-like exam-driven educational hell. Directed by those well-known educational experts - politicians. Overseen by test-creator so-called Think Tanks of Expertise akaInstitutes - unrelated to any respectable university. Think of the acronyms and other terms bandied about - NAPLAN (Smoke-and-Mirrors might be a far better term). STEM. Phonics. Discipline. Uniforms. State versus Private. IQ (still a a most imprecise term in common use). Gonski. How can Australia get back its once proudly-assumed reputation for excellent education - for all. What can be gained by examining the philosophy and practice of a 19th century revolutionary and teacher in a relatively back-water feudal domain in the dying years of the Edo (aka Tokugawa) Era (1603-1868)? Well, a great deal, actually. Read on.

November 27, 2018

MICHAEL KEATING. Economic Strategy for the 21st Century

Traditionally economists have tended to ignore distributional issues. These issues were considered to rest on value judgements, and to therefore be outside the purview of orthodox neo-classical economics. To the extent that distribution did enter the economists model, it was often presumed that there was a trade-off between equity and efficiency. However, it is argued here that the economic stagnation experienced over the last decade or more, is reason to reconsider the present economic strategy, which assumes that economic growth is largely driven by supply-side factors. Instead, the stagnation seems to be mainly a result of inadequate demand, and the economic strategy for the future should therefore focus equally on how best to sustain the growth of aggregate demand and how that has been impacted by increasing inequality.

August 9, 2018

NICK BISLEY. Is there a problem with the Quad?

At the sidelines of the 2017 East Asia Summit (EAS) in Manila, senior officials from Australia, India, Japan and the United States respective foreign ministries met under the aegis of the Australia-India-Japan- United States consultations on the Indo-Pacific. This was followed by a stage-managed meeting of the four countries naval chiefs at the Raisina Dialogue, a Track 1.5 process in India. The 2007 still-born Quadrilateral Security Initiative was back.

April 23, 2018

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Anzackery and the preening peloton.

When John Kenneth Galbraith was Kennedys Ambassador to India in the early 1960s, he reported that he had inspected a guard of honour and they seemed to him to be fine. His dry wit was lacking when the Murdoch media reported the safe return from Afghanistan of Pauline Hanson, her colleague Brian Burston and Labors Senator Kimberley Kitching. There they had inspected a Bushmaster MR6 multi-role armoured vehicle (built in Australia by the French company Thales, which makes a counterpart in Canada) and a Chinook helicopter (made in the US by Boeing). They were briefed on the security situation and took a three-day intensive training course, including instruction on how to handle firearms (The Australian, 20 April 2018: 5).

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal