June 19, 2019

ROBERT FISK. Trump's evidence about Iran is 'dodgy' at best. (Counterpunch 18.6.2019)

_The crackpot president of theUnited States of America has so snarled up the gangplank to truth these past 29 months that no matter how much evidence he and his crew produce to prove that the Iranians have been trying to blow up oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman or not quite blow them up the pictures have a kind of mesmeric quality about them.

May 5, 2019

IAN DUNLOP. Modelling Climate Change Minutiae

The hysteria surrounding Brian Fishers economic modelling of Coalition and ALP climate policies typifies the predatory delay which has bedevilled the development of any sensible response to our climate and energy dilemma since Australia signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, namely: The blocking or slowing of needed change, in order to make money off unsustainable, unjust systems in the meantime.

July 16, 2019

JENNIFER DOGGETT. Interpreting Medicare data and bulk billing figures (Croakey)

New Medicare data, released today, has prompted a statement from Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, claiming that nearly nine out of 10 Australians visit their GPs without paying a cent and a media interview where he played down the impact of out-of-pocket costs on consumers, attributing any problems to a small group of specialists explaining that the overwhelming majority of specialists do the right thing, but there are outliers.

July 3, 2019

GEOFF MILLER: Trump in North Asia; policy changes?

A lot of the reactions to President Trumps visits to the G20 in Osaka and to Korea have been scathing, but there are some positive signs in regard to both US-China trade issues and negotiations with North Korea. But having encouraged hard-line one-dimensional attitudes on both issues within the US, Trump may find that maintaining his apparent new-found flexibility runs up against domestic political opposition, including from within his own party.

January 8, 2018

IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 3: Economy and society

Many public debates are framed in terms of compromises or balances between economic and social objectives. Such ordering is confused: economic policies are meaningless unless they serve social ends.

April 16, 2018

STEPHEN LEEDER. Home (not so) sweet home

Medical homes, where you as a patient are known personally by name and history and where a team of health professionals, generally led by a general practitioner, arrange and provide your care, have not taken off as expected. Why?

August 21, 2018

JERRY ROBERTS. Will Turnbull call a snap election and let the people decide?

The 19 August Fairfax-IPSOS poll showed the Coalition with 33 per cent of the primary vote and Labor with 35 per cent. John Menadue added the two figures and deduced that 32 per cent would not have voted for any of the major Parties. The problem for pollsters after the drama of Tuesday morning in Canberra will be knowing what question to ask.

July 29, 2018

MICHAEL PASCOE. Dont believe in climate change? Then come over to Europe.

Just how hot does it have to get before the global frog understands hes cooking?

July 31, 2018

CHRIS BONNOR. Catholic schools funding: here we go again.

I have a great idea to fix the drought. Give farmers drought relief, extend it to better-endowed areas with access to water and continue it long after the rain returns. The farmers I know would be horrified if this happened. But when it comes to school funding the Catholic bishops have no such shame. Every time we roll out needs-based funding we alter it to keep everyone happy and continue it for so long it becomes a permanent part of the school landscape.

August 4, 2019

PETER JOHNSTONE. Archbishop rejects top woman theologian business as usual.

Peter Comensoli, still only 12 months into his new job as Archbishop of Melbourne, seems to have adopted the old ways of Catholic episcopal autocracy. He has unilaterally determined that an internationally acclaimed Catholic theologian, Sister Joan Chittister, be removed from the list of speakers at a conference of Australian educators in September 2020. It seems that Archbishop Comensoli takes decisions without the need for accountability, transparency or inclusiveness, or any regard for the views of the faithful, and is happy to reinforce the dysfunctional governance that was at the heart of the clerical child sexual abuse cover-up business as usual. This does not augur well for the Plenary Council starting October 2020.

October 22, 2017

IAN McAULEY. Turnbulls National Energy Guarantee: can it work?

The Commonwealths proposed National Energy Guarantee is vague and confusing, and is based on dated engineering and economic ideas. But it may allow an economically responsible government, if we elect one, to reshape it into a set of policies that honour our environmental responsibilities and modernise our energy sector.

September 5, 2017

K. HUSSAN ZIA. American Objective in Afghanistan

The Afghans are not a nation as such but a composition of numerous tribes. These form loose groupings based on ethnicity. Individuals owe their allegiance first and foremost to the tribe and after that to the ethnic group. Among the latter, Pashtoons constitute the dominant force and are the main element in the insurgency. They are divided into a number of tribes and sub tribes that have a common code of conduct known as Pakhtoonwali. There are more Pashtoons in Pakistan than in Afghanistan. They have traditionally treated the border between the two countries as informal and interacted with each other freely.

September 23, 2018

ROBERT MANNE. This pains me, but it's time to compromise on Australia's cruel asylum seeker policy (the Guardian, 23.09.18)

In the past 30 years Australia has crafted an almost uniquely cruel asylum seeker policy. Our only competitor is the proudly illiberal Hungary. When Malcolm Turnbull outlined our current policy to Donald Trump in their notorious telephone conversation, the US president was mightily impressed. You are worse than I am. No more evidence about the character of Australias asylum seeker policy is required.

July 11, 2019

SPENCER ZIFCAK. Journalists, media freedom and the law.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) raids on journalists from News Corporation and the ABC have caused very considerable community consternation. The fact that these raids occurred in the immediate aftermath of the recent election and within a day of each other served only to animate public concern. These events have prompted a re-appraisal of the state of media freedom in Australia. The AFP has defended its actions, journalists have been up in arms, medias management has complained of intimidation, and the government has denied any responsibility. In their own way, each has responded understandably. The basic problem does not lie primarily with their actions. Instead, it is the law that is problematic.

September 5, 2018

JOCELYN CHEY. Chung Kuo, Cina: Dj Vu.

The ABC has been off-line in China since 22 August and press reports speculate that the Chinese ban is retaliation for Canberras decision on foreign investment in the telecommunication industry, which effectively bars Chinas telecom giant Huawei from participating in the roll-out of our 5G network. Chinese media did indeed call Canberras move (announced during the Liberal Party leadership crisis) an unfriendly action. There is, however, a back story that indicates a wider problem - Chinas creaking cyberspace interface with the outside world. This is something Xi Jinpings government must fix if the country is truly to take its place in the developed world.

March 11, 2018

PETER SAINSBURY. US Republicans advocate (smoke and black holes) plan on climate change.

Eight prominent US Republicans are advocating that the Republican Party should lead action on climate change by introducing a carbon tax, with distribution of the revenue raised to all Americans (a Carbon Dividend). While this may move the debate forward in the USA, the plan is parochial, blind to the range of environmental issues threatening the world, and seeks to maintain current economic and social power structures in the USA and globally.

October 2, 2017

KELLIE TRANTER. Shortage of information about Iraq airstrikes

In response to criticisms from Amnesty International that the Iraq government and coalition carried out disproportionate and unlawful attacks to take back Mosul, a Senior British Commander, Major Gen Jones, said recently that it is naive to think a city such as Mosul, with a population of 1.75 million, could be liberated without any civilian casualties while fighting an enemy that lacks all humanity. That pragmatic approach is what our government would have us accept in relation to our involvement in Iraq until now.

September 13, 2018

Bishop Long and other religious leaders denounce asylum-seeker policy.

Parramatta Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv. has joined other faith leaders in denouncing Australia’s indefinite detention of refugees and asylum-seekers on Nauru and Manus Island.

November 18, 2018

MUNGO MacCALLUM. China, The US and the Manus Island naval base.

_APEC, Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation, was really Bob Hawkes idea._The Prime Minister of the day envisaged it as a purely economic gathering, a meeting of finance ministers to deal with the growing impact of globalism and ensure dialogue and the rule of law between its diverse participants.

August 22, 2019

Infrastructure Australias believe it or not audit

Last week saw media coverage of Infrastructure Australias 2019 infrastructure audit. The hype was short lived. The audit was another analytically deficient step towards a transport policy abyss into which the infrastructure club wants to throw vast amounts of your money.

June 23, 2019

PAUL COLLINS. A badly governed Church needs a new model. Catholicism continues to wrestle with the unrealized vision of the Second Vatican Council.

It is an understatement to say that Catholicism is in deep trouble. The sexual abuse tragedy and the secrecy and denial surrounding are obvious symptoms. A key element in the broader Church crisis is governance.

April 17, 2018

ROSS BURNS. In Syria, the fog of war

Chemical weapons have been a feature of the Syrian conflict since 2011. Are we any closer to a strategy to deal with their use and with the forces fuelling the wider conflict?

February 9, 2018

GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND ...

Are we heading for another Saturday Night Massacre? - Woodward and Bernstein.

The wall Street correction is a financial phenomenon, only loosely connected to the real economy. As ABC Business Editor Ian Verrender explains, markets and particularly Wall Street disconnected from economic fundamentals years ago. High American share values have been driven by years of easy monetary policy, and more recently by Trumps fiscal recklessness. Mild monetary tightening has caused a panic.

November 13, 2018

GEORGE BROWNING. Nationalism: the worlds greatest threat

We owe President Emmanuel Macron a debt of gratitude for yesterdays speech in Paris. Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism, the French leader said.

In saying Our interests first, whatever happens to the others, you erase the most precious thing a nation can have, that which makes it live, that which causes it to be great and that which is most important: Its moral values.

May 20, 2019

ABUL RIZVI: Morrisons budget plan was far riskier than Shorten's

Bill Shorten and the mainstream media failed to explain that Scott Morrisons alternative tax and budget plan was the far higher risk option. It requires record levels of population growth over the next ten years over 4.5 million more people. But how will this massive increase in population be delivered and when does Morrison intend to explain this to the Australian public?

September 11, 2019

NOEL TURNBULL. Some surprising US news - if you haven't been watching

It is easy to be alternately frightened, appalled and head-shakingly despairing about what comes out of Trumps United States. Officials deleting all references to climate change from official documents; immigration policies that make Peter Dutton look like a raging leftie; ongoing attempts to ban abortion or make them impossible to get; spiralling defence spending compared with poor health and social services; and, increasing inequality.

August 31, 2018

TRISTAN EDIS. Turnbull was knifed by a lie: Renewables are already bringing prices down.

Australia has replaced yet another Prime Minister mid-term via a leadership coup.

May 23, 2019

ALLAN PATIENCE Labor must broaden its base

Like all mainstream, once-reforming parties in the liberal democracies, the ALPs base has shrunk, mainly to inner-city dwellers with progressive views on issues like same-sex marriage and climate change. These people many with university degrees and professional careers incline to supercilious indifference, even hostility, when confronted by the resentful prejudices, religious fundamentalisms, and sense of exclusion of people struggling in industrial suburbs, on the fringes of cities, or in regional areas across the country. The relatively privileged elites have little compassion for, or understanding of, what motivates once rock-solid Labor voters to turn to the likes of Pauline Hanson and Clive Palmer or to the Coalition.

December 26, 2018

BOB BIRRELL AND KATHARINE BETTS. Australian universities' dependence on overseas students: too much of a good thing.

In November 2018 we published an analysis http://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Final-overseas-student-revisited.pdf of the higher education overseas student industry. It was framed around the remarkable growth in the share of commencing overseas university students to all commencing students over the years 2012 to 2016. This share increased from 21.8 % in 2012 to 26.7 % in 2016.Since publication, higher education statistics for 2017 have been released. They show http://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Final-overseas-student-revisited.pdf that the share of commencing overseas students to all commencing students have increased to 28.9 %. In the case of the Group of 8 (Go8) universities, by 2017 this share had reached well over 40 % in the University of Sydney, ANU, and the University of NSW (Table 1).

June 19, 2019

TONY BROE. What do Aboriginal Australians want from their aged care system? Community connection is numberone (The Conversation, 19 June 2019)

The Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is ageing at a much faster rate than the non-Indigenous population.

Aboriginal Australians record high mid-life rates of multiple chronic diseases including heart disease and stroke, lung disease, and type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, for example, is more than twice as common in the Indigenous population than the non-Indigenous population.

June 22, 2018

JOHN MENADUE. The ongoing class warfare .

Pauline Hanson usually votes for the wealthy end of town. She has done it again.

Upper income earners will be the biggest beneficiaries over the next seven years with the recent tax cuts. Average total earnings for employees is about $62,000 a year. Moving to a flat marginal tax rate of 32.5% for incomes from a low $41.000 a year to a high of $200.000 is a massive attack on our progressive taxation system. It decisively favours the wealthy at a time when we are seeing disturbing increases in inequality.

To defend this largesse for the wealthy, Malcolm Turnbull tells us that the Coalition ‘believes in aspiration’. He tells us that the tax changes are ‘good for working families’. That is privilege speaking. It is not good for most families and aspiration is not peculiar to the wealthy friends he serves. We all want to improve and do better. And aspirations are not just about more money. They include relationships and quality of life like clean air,clean water,liveable cities and a healthy planet. They also include aspirations,indeed rights we all have for ourselves and our families for equal access to good education,good health care and good housing. We are citizens , not just taxpayers.

People from privileged backgrounds like Malcolm Turnbull have little appreciation of other people’s aspirations and needs They think every one starts life like themselves on third base. If only lazy people were more aspirational and worked harder.

May 12, 2019

BOB CARR. The China panic and John Fitzgerald.

In a contribution to Pearls and Irritations published on April 16 I took up a point made by Gareth Evans who argued in March that in Australia a new form of Sinophobia is emerging. He said this was one of the reasons Chinese-Australians are underrepresented in senior leadership.

June 9, 2019

MURRAY SAYLE. On Tiananmen Square - June 1989

On May 13, with Gorbachev’s visit imminent, the students began a hunger strike in seven-day relays. How did the regime react? The People’s Liberation Army sent one thousand quilts; the Chinese Red Cross brought water, salt, and sugar for the hunger-strikers; and Mayor Chen’s own Beijing municipality set up portable toilets. Students were taken to state- owned hospitals for treatment, unhindered by the authorities, and none died.

May 22, 2018

WANNING SUN. Is Anti-China Rhetoric Harming Social Cohesion in Australia?

In September 2016, I published a major report on the Chinese-language media in Australia, and one of the points I made there was that the state Chinese media have been making gradual inroads into Australias existing ethnic Chinese newspapers and radio programs. Many commentators have cited this trend as evidence of Chinas influence within our nation.

March 11, 2018

JIM COOMBS. The Italian Election: Traditional Right and Left parties losing out and elsewhere (except perhaps in Britain) What is going on? The people are asking What is government for?

Well, Italy! The usual mess, or something else? Five Star mid 30%, Northern League next, low 30s, with Berlusconi next, but not a sufficient force. 5 Star is nearly anarchist, with direct democracy in its platform, and distinct distrust of the Old System. Northern League a little nostalgic for Mussolini certainty. The vast majority of voters dont trust what has gone before. So what does it all mean?

August 5, 2019

JACK WATERFORD. Half-hearted inquiries into casino crime

Where were the former politicians and apparatchiks who became Packer lobbyists when the spotlight focused on Crown?

August 5, 2015

Focus on tax avoidance, not GST hike.

Michael West, in the SMH continues his many articles on tax avoidance by major international companies who operate in Australia. He mentions many of them, including Big Pharma, Google, Paypal, Newscorp. He comments ‘How long can [these companies] continue to treat Australians as fools. While multinational tax avoidance remains so rife, how can governments possibly claim a democratic licence to his ordinary Australians with a hike in the GST.’ See link to article below:

May 21, 2019

STEPHANIE DOWRICK. What should we do?

In the few days since Election 2019, each time I have walked down the main street of my Sydney suburb I have been stopped by people asking me, What should we do? I wish I could give one simple answer. I cannot. But two things about the question bring hope. First is the use of we: a recognition that positive social change comes when people place at least as much value on their collective interests as their (deceptively) personal/individual concerns. Second is the recognition that this is a time for skilful, thoughtful action, not cynicism or passivity. And certainly not for despair.

December 4, 2017

STEPHEN LEEDER. The double-ended spoon and how to meet our health needs

The Productivity Commission has recognised how joined up care for people with serious and complex illnesses can enhance their quality of life. Opportunities to prevent these problems abound and the time for action is now.

October 29, 2017

JOSEPH CAMILLERI. For our misdeeds in Korea we shall pay dearly

The result of the recent snap election called by Shinzo Abe and Japans steady military build-up are a portent of things to come. The Korean crisis, which owes at least as much to Washingtons flexing of military muscle as to Pyongyangs misguided nuclear antics, holds the key to many of these ominous developments.

September 26, 2018

MICHAEL THORN. Who's in the room? Access and influence in Australian politics. The revolving door.

Those searching for remedies to the parlous state of Australian politics and public policy-making might dwell on this claim by the Grattan Institute: “more than one-quarter of politicians go onto post-politics jobs for special interests, where their relationships can help open doors”. Its a jobs highway.

August 22, 2017

GEORGE BROWNING. Confession and Child Abuse

The Royal Commission has made what most Australians believe to be a very reasonable and overdue request that priests should be obligated to report evidence of child abuse no matter what the circumstance. Resistance from the Church will not be received sympathetically.

August 19, 2018

MICHAEL KEATING. This is what policymakers can and cant do about low wage growth (The Conversation, 17.08.18)

The crisis really is in real wage growth. Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe, 2017

Increased inequality and low wage growth are constraining economic growth. But why is wage growth so low? And how should policymakers respond?

September 23, 2018

TREVOR KENNEDY. Consultants are a blight on government and business.

It is, at the very least, arguable that consultants have become toxic weeds in business and government in Australia.

June 26, 2018

JOCELYN CHEY. Mad, bad and dangerous? Australia in Chinese eyes.

Once upon a time, Chinese people regarded Australia as a friendly, safe, stable country with a beautiful natural environment and reliable system of law and government. No longer. In 2018, Chinese parents prefer Britain or Canada when considering where to send their children for education. Chinese scholars note that Australia has been involved in every war launched by the United States. Since they do not regard Donald Trump as a responsible leader, they think it quite likely that he could launch a military attack on China. In that case, they believe that Australia would side with America.

August 20, 2018

BEVAN RAMSDEN. The Force Posture Agreement between the U.S. and Australian Governments

This Agreement makes Australia a base in the Indo-Pacific-South East Asia for the U.S. military and from which they can parade their strength, intimidate and launch hostile acts against our neighbours.

April 17, 2018

RICHARD BUTLER. Hypocrisy and Sanctimony: a Poisonous Brew.

The arguments advanced to justify the illegal US/French/UK attack upon Syrian CW related facilities incorporated buckets of sanctimony and numbing hypocrisy. There has been no serious discussion of the justification given by the three; because it was known to be patently false. And, worse, by setting themselves above the law, these three permanent members of the UN Security Council, hammered another nail into the now, well advanced, shape of the Security Councils coffin. And, theres been no serious discussion of this dangerous reality.

November 15, 2016

ALLAN PATIENCE. Whats Next After Neo-Liberalism?

The evidence is now irrefutable that the neo-liberal project that has dominated public policy across the major economies for nearly four decades now has been an unmitigated disaster. If nothing else, those who voted for Donald Trump have made that abundantly clear. In Australia neo-liberal (or economic rationalist) policies have resulted in wages stagnation, widespread job insecurity and declining living standards for the majority of the population. Neo-liberal taxation strategies favouring big corporations and the rich are a major cause of the fiscal crises facing governments at all levels across the country. Gold-plated promises that a deregulated economy, freed-up market, and pared-back state would see the majority of Australians benefiting from the trickle-down effects of economic growth have gone up in smoke.

April 23, 2018

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison spins some fairy tales

Last week the Sydney Daily Telegraph spent a couple of days playing silly buggers with our beloved Treasurer Scott Morrison, depicting him first as Santa Claus and then as not.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal