October 2, 2019

ALISON BROINOWSKI Iran: Maximum Falsification

Step by predictable step, President Trump has been tempting Iran to come out and fight. Most of the mainstream Western media have obliged him by suggesting that every recent hostile event in the Gulf is Irans doing, and have dismissed protests from Tehran that these reports are lies. But so far, the US hasnt got a coalition.

November 8, 2017

ANDREW GLIKSON. A privileged few ignore scorched Earth in race to Mars

Scientific exploration of the solar system planets constitutes one of the most exciting achievements of the human race. However, the idea of colonizing Mars may prove to be one of the most misleading, creating an impression that an alternative exists to planet Earth, which is a unique haven of life in the solar system, perhaps even in the Milky Way, and which is currently suffering from dangerous heating, rising oceans, extreme weather events, mass extinction of species and a growing risk of a nuclear calamity.

March 30, 2016

Geoff Miller. Managing or containing China.

Australia, China, the South China Sea and the uses of language.

Recent reports published in both Australia and the US—including most notably in our case the Defence White Paper—and a series of visitors to Australia from China, the US and Japan, have increased the already high degree of interest and concern over future strategic dispositions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and over the present state of affairs in the South China Sea.

November 13, 2018

PETER SAINSBURY. IPCCs 1.5oC report makes Paris Agreement redundant.

The report Global Warming of 1.5__o__C was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in October 2018. Although the report does not say so, the evidence it presents renders the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change redundant. It asks the wrong question, and its goals and strategies are now revealed to be completely inadequate for avoiding catastrophic climate change.

September 7, 2018

GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND

A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts covered in other media.

September 10, 2019

YVES TIBERGHIEN. Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong: Toward a BRI 2.0? (Australian Outlook, 5 Sep 2019)

From 11 to 12 September 2019, the fourth Edition of the Hong Kong Belt and Road Summit is due to take place at the Wanchai Convention Center. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is now in its sixth year since its original launch in fall 2013 refers to the massive mobilisation effort led by China to accelerate connectivity and trade in Eurasia, and also in Africa and Latin America through massive infrastructure investment and other exchanges. It is mostly funded by Chinese development and industrial banks.

September 30, 2019

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Julian Assange - Find Justice and Make It Quick' (American Herald Tribune 28-9-19)

With the US on the warpath andAustralia sending military, air, and naval support for American activities in the Gulf, three Australian and British nationals are being made an example of in Iran, where they arein solitary confinement on charges of espionage. British politicians have been quick to accuse Iran of hostage diplomacy, saying the allegations against the academic and two tourists are clearly false. Australia, which still has an Embassy in Tehran, is making representations on their behalf. But Irans response is unlikely to be magnanimous or quick.

August 22, 2019

Forging a national consensus on Australias external security (The Strategist, 19 Aug 2019)

With the federal election out of the way, and some welcome stability in the leadership of the major political parties in prospect, Australia now faces the challenge of forging a national consensus on an external security policy that reflects our self-confidence and maturity as a nation.

October 3, 2018

ROSS GITTINS. Nowhere to hide now for banks. (SMH 3.10.2018)

Last week must have been a terrifying wake-up call for Australias ruling class not just our politicians, but also the chief executives and directors of our big corporations, both publicly and privately owned.

_If theyre half as smart as theyre supposed to be after all, were told they got their jobs on merit their performance of their duties will be much improved going forward.

September 18, 2018

STEPHEN LEEDER. Employing less qualified people in aged care

The Royal Commission announced this week will have a full agenda. If it can help us get aged care back on track we will all be the richer.

June 6, 2019

IAN McAULEY. Dont call economic reform class war

Those who accuse Labor of having engaged in class warfare in its election campaign are trying to stymie economically responsible taxation reform and to deflect attention from the corrupting influence of big money on our democracy.

April 9, 2019

ALBERT VAN DIJK. Australias 2018 environmental scorecard: a dreadful year that demands action (The Conversation).

Environmental news is rarely good. But even by those low standards, 2018 was especially bad. That is the main conclusion from Australias Environment in 2018, the latest in an annual series of environmental condition reports, released today.

Every year, we analyse vast amounts of measurements from satellites and on-ground stations using algorithms and prediction models on a supercomputer. These volumes of data are turned into regional summary accounts that can be explored on our Australian Environment Explorer website. We interpret these data, along with other information from national and international reports, to assess how our environment is tracking.

August 28, 2019

Australia's strategic folly: lessons from Barbara Tuchman

We arein a situation where decisions that seem simple can commit Australia to fundamental errors of strategic judgement. The decision to send a ship and a plane and headquarters staff to a new venture with the United States in the Middle East is foolish. It is described in isolation by the government but is additional to ongoing ADF operations in the Middle East, which have lacked legality since 2003. The late US historian Barbara Tuchman wrote two books of great relevance: about the lack of non-military options in 1914, and the tendency of governments to make decisions contrary to their core strategic interests. The first of those, The Guns of August, saved us from nuclear war in 1962, the second, The March of Folly: from Troy to Vietnam_, is less well known because well, because statesmen are not foolish and dont make mistakes._

January 17, 2019

MICHAEL NIMAN. Five Forces Driving the Rise of Fascism in 2019 (Truthout).

Immigration has become a weapon in the arsenal of fascists who work to sow fear of the “other” in populations they wish to control.There are four other forces behind the rise of fascism

July 22, 2019

MUNGO MacCALLUM. The Coalition's conflict of disloyalties on health.

The private health insurance funds have effectively been on notice for 50 years, since the time of the moon landing.

October 9, 2017

TONY SMITH. Australias worst threat from terrorism lies in the home.

The recent shooting in Las Vegas is a reminder that massacres are not the preserve of international terrorists. While the US Ambassador in Canberra has suggested Australias firearms laws could be a useful model for the USA, we cannot feel complacent while we tolerate domestic violence. Yet, politicians seem not to appreciate that cultural change is needed to address this scourge.

September 16, 2018

Scott Morrison, the 'prosperity gospel' and neoliberalism.

Sounding surprisingly like an evangelical revivalist, Prime Minister Morrison in Albury on 6 September highlighted the need for love in our country, for every Australian, and that this set the value base for his own thinking and presumably for policies of his government. No one in Albury objected to the ideal of love of neighbour, but it sounded a bit odd when people were expecting a significant statement about changed policies of his government after the leadership bloodletting.

August 16, 2018

TIM LINDSEY. Jokowis deputy pick confirms rise of conservative Islam in Indonesia

The selection of the controversial and highly conservative head of the Indonesian Ulama Council as Jokowis vice presidential running mate is disturbing. It reveals Jokowis lack of political authority and is yet another demonstration of increasing intolerance among Indonesian Muslims.

April 4, 2018

JIM COOMBS: The moral crisis in Cricket is a beat up with media frenzy making a mountain out of a molehill.

One would have to assume that all these outraged commentators have never played cricket with anything more substantial than a used tennis ball. For those of us who have played the game with any interest in the techniques and science of the game (alas, I am one such eccentric) know the true facts. The ball used in the big boys game has a leather exterior, and, in the course of play, that exterior, which has two sides, with a seam around the ball where the two sides meet, being leather, is affected by the course of play: being hit by the bat, landing on a rough surface (the pitch) at least once each ball, and rolling on the ground in the outfield, and even striking the boundary fence. This has some effect upon the ball, as a matter of course. Over the years the relative shininess of one side or other of the ball has been found to affect its trajectory through the air. As a player, you are entitled to take that into account.

June 24, 2018

QUENTIN DEMPSTER. The new coalition that is really governing Australia.

Theres a new coalition governing Australia. On Thursday it was personal tax cuts and the contentious elimination of the 37.5 per cent tax bracket from 2024.

April 23, 2019

EVA COX. The trust deficit a seriously neglected election issue

At the forthcoming election the Coalition will be asking Who do you trust, Scott Morrison or Bill Shorten? Morrison repeated it yesterday many times. This seems odd for a leader who most reminds me of another salesman, Donald Trump. But that aside, the issue of trust in our politicians and our political institutions is a major national concern. (John Menadue,’We need a national summit to promote trust in politics’.)

May 6, 2019

RICHARD DAY Pharmacy Guild Out Muscles Government Again

Most medicines on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS) are for chronic, conditions that affect one in two Australians and include conditions such as hypertension, raised cholesterol and type II diabetes. Treatment invariably involves medications, often multiple, adding significant costs to other barriers to obtaining adequate health care, notably for the elderly with multiple health conditions. Fronting up to the pharmacy every month to pick-up repeats and paying a co-payment (up to $6.50 for concessional patients and up to $40.30 for general patients) and a dispensing fee (if a non-concessional patient) might seem more than necessary, especially if there is little if any interaction with the pharmacist.

April 29, 2018

LAURIE PATTON. Vindicated: NBN Co. boss admits multi-technology mix (MTM) flaws.

The departing head of the trouble-plagued NBN, Bill Morrow, has finally come clean. He has finally conceded that reusing Telstras ageing copper wires is creating major problems.

December 31, 2017

American Imperium - Untangling truth and fiction in an age of perpetual war

In this article ANDREW BACEVICH says ‘Republicans and Democrats disagree today on many issues, but they are united in their resolve that the United States must remain the worlds greatest military power. This bipartisan commitment to maintaining American supremacy has become a political signature of our times. In its most benign form, the consensus finds expression in extravagant and unremitting displays of affection for those who wear the uniform. Considerably less benign is a pronounced enthusiasm for putting our soldiers to work keeping America safe. This tendency finds the United States more or less permanently engaged in hostilities abroad, even as presidents from both parties take turns reiterating the nations enduring commitment to peace.’

May 19, 2019

SUSAN RYAN. Older Australians, winners or losers?

In this election , there was an extra 300,000 voters aged over 65 compared with the 2016 election. The parallel increase for young voters was 135,000 , less than half the older voter increase. Did older voters exercise this voting strength in the interest of their age cohort? It seems not. I see more losers than winners among older Australians.

October 3, 2018

NICK BRYANT. How right-wing Scott Morrison became Australias sixth prime minister in 11 years.

Its a measure of how far Australian conservatism has turnedtowards the Trumpian that Morrison was considered the mainstream candidate.

November 13, 2018

An agricultural visa would change Australian society for the worse

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has, for the time being, rejected creation of an agricultural visa in favour of changes to the existing working holiday maker program and the seasonal worker visa (see here). These are unlikely to satisfy demands of the National Farmers Federation (NFF) for an agricultural visa. While most Australians would see this as a marginal issue, they should not. An agricultural visa has the potential to take us down a very slippery slope if the experience of other nations with such visas is any guide.

April 25, 2018

RICHARD BUTLER. Admiral Harris is not coming: does it matter?

The decision by incoming US Secretary of State Pompeo, to withdraw the nomination of Admiral Harry Harris as US Ambassador to Australia, is something within his gift. Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull had fervently welcomed the proposed appointment. Presumably she and Malcolm Turnbull will now formulate ways in which to suggest that its of no particular consequence. Is it or does it reflect what America really thinks of us?

September 7, 2018

GEOFF GALLOP. What does it mean to be educated?

In the Campion Lecture at St Aloysius College, Sydney, on 15 August 2018, Geoff Gallop, former Premier of WA, spoke about the post-truth world and the importance of understanding the role of education in our society. He said in conclusion:

Over the centuries human beings have learnt much about nature and society, how to co-exist with the former and how to humanise the latter. Educated people are those who embrace this progress, act on the basis of the knowledge it creates and who seek even more. It recognises difference and seeks reconciliation rather than division and truth rather than prejudice. As Pope Francis put it: It is not easy to arrive at harmonious composition of the different scientific, productive, ethical, social, economic, and political interests promoting sustainable development. This harmonious composition requires humility, courage, and openness to the comparison between the different positions, in the certainty that the witness given by men of science to truth and the common good contributes to the maturation of social conscience17 To replace this understanding with a value-free and opinion and interest-laden view of the world which sees power not as a means to an end but an end-in-itself, would be a tragedy for humanity. What we have is a culture war that cant be avoided.

January 3, 2019

ABUL RIZVI: Government Continues to Pretend We Have No Air Borders

In an echo of Donald Trump, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Immigration Minister David Coleman continued to pretend yesterday we only have sea borders and we can ignore our air borders. They announced closure of two detention centres (see here) without telling the Australian public that their mismanagement of the visa system will inevitably mean we will need lots of detention space in future if we are to ever regain control of the visa system and deal with the deluge of mainly non-genuine asylum seekers arriving by air (see here).

July 29, 2019

PETER DAVIDSON. Multiplications the name of the game: infrastructure and Newstart trump tax cuts as an economic stimulus

When growth is slowing and interest rates are falling, the evidence indicates that a timely investment in social housing and an increase in Newstart are more likely to boost growth in jobs and incomes and provide better value than tax cuts, especially those going to high income-earners. Every dollar invested in social housing and Newstart not only improves lives, it also increases GDP by $1.20-1.30.

October 1, 2019

MARK BEESON. Morrisons surprising character defects: faith and optimism

Being a leader, even of a lucky country like Australia, isnt getting any easier. To be fair, these are difficult times for any leader, even the most competent ones. Its worth asking how FDR, Churchill or even Bismarck would have coped with todays problems. Even though some of the current crop of international leaders are awful by any standards Donald Trump and Boris Johnson being the quintessential cases in point its far from clear that leaders from any other era would have coped with climate change in all its mind-bending complexity.

June 2, 2019

US Foreign Policy: Preference for Conflict

US foreign and military policy is thoroughly fused. The cliches which assert that: military postures are designed to shore up diplomacy and, the other favourite; articulated by the US in virtually every situation:- “all options are on the table”; do not dilute this fact. The key consequences of this are: the US is always at war; expects this to be the case; favours wars of choice; when needed, constructs the reasons for them. The positive news is that others see this reality, are making their own calculations and, are going their own way. Australia should begin to see it too.

October 29, 2017

LESLEY RUSSELL. How knee replacement surgery highlights issues of access, affordability and best practice in Australias two-tiered healthcare system - Part 1

PART 1 Access and affordability

As the population ages, total knee replacement surgery is becoming commonplace. It is one of the most expensive surgical procedures. Most replacements are performed as elective surgery in private hospitals. Those patients who must rely on the public system are waiting longer than ever.

April 3, 2018

IAN CHUBB. Longing For Leadership -Part 2 of 2

Australia today faces multiple challenges. They include the fact that we are unlike any other continent with species and ecosystems that are found nowhere else. If we dont look after ourselves, who will? There is global warming and climate change, and its impact on so much that we take for granted; an economy heavily reliant on what we dig up and sell, in a world less eager to buy. There is the spread of artificial intelligence and automation, and the impact on work and people; there is the increasing requirement to understand ever more sophisticated data, and its wise use; a growing need to grapple with almost unfathomable technologies rushing fast from the world of research into our lives. There is health care: pandemics, epidemics, complications from the spread of antibiotic resistance to bacteria, and how to keep a growing population in good health.

June 1, 2017

JOHN AUSTEN: The Commonwealth is meddling in NSW rail - at last!

There are indications the Prime Minister wishes to modernise infrastructure policy. Reports regarding rail to Badgerys Creek highlight the discomfort this causes to the NSW Government- and enormous benefits if the Prime Minister gets Commonwealth involvement right.

January 4, 2015

Richard Butler. Russia.

Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop have been playing loosely in our relations with Russia even thought those relations are quite modest, at least as far as the Russians are concerned. Threatening to ‘shirt-front’ President Putin is not a dignified way to behave with a major nuclear power.

Our recent behaviour towards Russia underlines that prejudices and rhetoric should be put aside. We should focus on evidence, principles and interest.

Major European powers being close to Russia and with far deeper experience of Russian behaviour do not afford themselves the luxury of playing politics the way we have been in recent months.

August 2, 2018

VINCENT CHEOK. If spirituality or religion has a bearing on geopolitics then Australia needs to understand what moves the spirit and soul of India and China for our Asian neighbours will be the new global superpowers in a new multipolar multilateral world.

This post is prompted by the release of the final draft of the National Register of Indian Citizens in Assam Province on 30/7/18. This verification exercise was made in accordance with the terms of the Assam Accord of 1985. Not surprisingly more than 4 million did not qualify as they could not prove that they or their ancestors entered the country before midnight on March 24, 1971 the eve of the Bangladesh War. Obviously, most of these are Muslim Bengalis, who or whose ancestors presumably fled overpopulated Bangladesh.

May 16, 2019

JOHN MENADUE. Housing for use value or exchange value

In this election the Coalition and the property industry with the help of the media have obsessed on the financial value of property,property as a commodity and property for wealth creation. Surely housing policy should be about housing as a human right where in homes we raise families, entertain friends and where we can close off from markets and business.

My grand children’s generation is unlikely to have fair access to the housing market unless my generation is prepared to accept, indeed welcome, a steady and substantial reduction in property prices.My wife and I have done nothing to earn or deserve the large increase in the value of our home.

August 3, 2015

Richard Butler. The Cost of Having no Independent Foreign Policy

How is it possible that the Australian people: citizens, elected representatives, media staff, academics, to name just some relevant categories, allow the Abbott government to spend $1 billion this year on Australian participation in war in the Middle East, and accept that there is no need for this to be discussed? *

Prime Minister Abbott considered it enough to announce the commitment of 1000 ADF personnel and 8 military aircraft, immediately before they departed, saying that they were going to take part in the US defined and led fight against ISIS. The full majesty of his understanding of the ISIS phenomenon, the situation in the Middle East, and his assessment of the intellect of the Australian voter, has been displayed in his mantra that ISIS is a death cult, a death cult, which we must fight.

June 28, 2018

IAN McAULEY. How political opportunism and poor journalism brought us a dumbed-down tax debate.

Neither the politicians nor the media are helping the electorate to understand the issues around corporate taxation. Lowering the corporate tax rate for large companies would do hardly anything for Australian investors, but corporate executives, board members and foreign investors would certainly stand to benefit.

May 31, 2018

PETER MARTIN. Awful truth about our super

The industry says we have a world class system but who does it benefit.It treats us with contempt. It has known for decades about the cost of multiple accounts.Heres how you can tell the Productivity Commission was spot-on in its assessment of the superannuation system.

April 4, 2018

PAUL BUDDE. The departure of Bill Morrow whats next?

In the running up of the development of the NBN in the years between 2007 and 2009 some 400 people from the industry were involved in providing input into the design of this new infrastructure, they included senior engineers of all the major telcos as well as experts in e-health, education, smart grids and the digital economy. The outcome was widespread support for a nationwide fiber-to-the-home network which was furthermore supported by between 70-80% of both the voters and the business community. The project showed a vision of the telecoms and digital future for the country and also took the requirements into account of what our children and grandchildren would need.

December 17, 2017

KEVIN PEOPLES. An end of sorts.

There is a time for everything a time to be silent and a time to speakEcclesiastes 3:1-8

Today the Royal Commission came to an end. I feel as if I have lost a friend. It seems somehow improper to say anything. In its place endless prattle, numbers, interviews, politics. Seventeen volumes. I am left numb. There will be a time to read them. But not today.

February 15, 2016

Laurie Patton. Utopia: the professor, the public service, and the need for change.

In an article in The Mandarin former Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Department, Professor Peter Shergold, is quoted urging public servants to adapt and to show courage.

http://www.themandarin.com.au/60090-adapt-die-peter-shergold-manifesto-public-service-transformation

Shergold is spot on. But before things can change weneed to be willing to accept that mistakes are made, even by the best of people.

Last week it was revealed that the team responsible for the Data Retention Act received a Secretary’s Award for “excellence”. To anyone familiar with this fetid exercise that must sound like a scene from the satirical television series Utopia.

October 26, 2018

Louise Adler reviews 'Bibi: The turbulent life and times of Benjamin Netanyahu' by Anshel Pfeffer (the Australian Book Review)

In 1901 the cultural Zionist Israel Zangwill, borrowing a phrase from Lord Shaftesbury, declared, Palestine is a country without a people, the Jews are a people without a country. That clich has continued to influence the impasse in the Middle East for almost a century.

September 16, 2018

GREG BAILEY. Whereto for the LNP and the ALP. Part 1.

Australian politics as judged by the antics of the two major parties over the past three weeks is almost a (hyper-) reality television show, replete with microscopic media coverage of the principal personalities involved. Building up for many years this has implications for the survival of these parties, but disappear they certainly will not. The task for long-term survival is certainly before the LNP, whereas for the ALP the prospects seem brighter.

July 8, 2019

FRANK BRENNAN. Australia and the refugees who come by boat

We have now all endured our third election in a row when boat turnbacks and the punitive treatment of refugees and asylum seekers featured. The overwhelming majority of our politicians and the overwhelming majority of voters are agreed that the boats from Indonesia carrying asylum seekers transiting Indonesia should be stopped, and the refugees and asylum seekers who have been languishing on Nauru and Manus Island should be treated decently and humanely.

September 7, 2018

MARIE SELLSTROM. Rural Australians for Refugees making a statement in rural communities.

There is a growing consciousness in rural and regional Australia..it is centred in NSW and Victoria and is spreading through Queensland to Cairns and moving south through to Tasmania and South Australia and across to Albany. It is the responsiveness of men, women and children in country Australia who support people seeking refuge and asylum on Australian shores and who are raising their voices in anger at the government’s treatment of these men, women and children.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal