April 9, 2015

Vicken Babkenian. Gallipolis inconvenient other side.

Leading up to the Gallipoli centenary, a growing trend emerged in Australia of presenting the other side of the story. From popular books, official histories, films and academic conferences, the Turkish perspective of Gallipoli became widely told.[1] According to this perspective, as illustrated in a recent article by Dr Jennifer Lawless, the allied landing at Gallipoli was an invasion of the Turkish homeland and by the end of the campaign, many more Turks (87,000) than Anzacs (8700) died.[2] The campaign is portrayed as an almost wholly Turkish and Australian affair, contributing to the birth of both nations and a symbol of a centenary of friendship.[3] A deeper understanding of the history, however, reveals that many of these narratives are anachronistic interpretations, promoting nationalist agendas with fundamental errors and omissions.

March 31, 2015

David Zyngier. Australia should follow Chile's lead and stop funding private schools.

Australia is one of the very few countries in the OECD that publicly funds private schools. More than 40% of Australian secondary children now attend private schools - either so-called independent or religious schools. Australia has one of the most privatised school systems in the OECD.

Prior to 1972 no private schools received any government funding whatsoever in this country. While most OECD countries have a private school system, very few of them receive public funding. Think about England, the home of the elite private school, and the exclusive private schools in the USA: not one cent of taxpayers money goes into their budgets.

April 9, 2017

PATTY FAWKNER. The pattern of all life.

For 13 billion years, since the Big Bang until now, death has been part of life. We know that, and as Christians we believe that death is the prelude to new life. We call it the Paschal Mystery. But what do these words, Paschal Mystery, mean, asks Good Samaritan Sister Patty Fawkner?

February 8, 2018

Restoring integrity in nature conservation. Part 2 of 2

There is a limit to what laws can achieve, but they are an essential part of any robust system of environmental governance. Environmental laws should effectively enable the protection, conservation, management and, where needed, restoration of our national heritage. The effectiveness of our environmental laws must be founded on the values of integrity, transparency and accountability, in both their formulation and enforcement. These laws must also be kept up to date, so that they continue to reflect our ever-changing environmental, social and political conditions. Our current laws fall short of these standards.

November 10, 2013

Lagging the field on climate change. John Menadue

Across the world there are clear signs that the tide is turning with acceptance of the reality of climate change, that humans are the cause and that we need to address the problem.

But not in Australia. We keep acting like King Canute against the tide.

The Abbott Government is proposing to abolish the carbon tax which is the most credible measure we have in place in Australia to reduce CO2 emissions. The OECD has just released a report Effective Carbon Prices. The report concludes that carbon taxes and emissions trading systems are the most effective way to reduce emissions and should be at the centre of government efforts to tackle climate change.
Years ago Tony Abbott told us that the science of global warming is crap. His mentor, John Howard, continued in the same vein when he told a London group of climate change sceptics only last week that those expressing concern about climate change were alarmist and zealots. He added that one religion is enough. In a remarkable admission he went on to say his dalliance with an emissions trading system (in 2007) was purely political. What!!
Those other political soul mates of Tony Abbott, Rupert Murdoch and Maurice Newman were reported in the AFR of 7 November 2013 as follows: Maurice, Tony Abbotts favourite businessman said that the 17-year stasis on climate change its like a religion. Rupert replied that its more than a religion, its become a cult. Maurice Newman responded that the science is clearly wrong.
In my blog of 6 November, I pointed out that independent research shows that News Limited papers were giving heavily slanted reportage in favour of the climate sceptics.
The UN climate change chief, Christiana Figueres, highlighted a couple of weeks ago the link between climate change and bush fires. Tony Abbott told us that she was talking through her hat.
The government has before it a fig-leaf of a policy called Direct Action, but Tony Abbott has told us that even if the policy does not achieve the 5% emissions reduction in emissions by 2020 that no more money will be forthcoming.
The Campbell Government in Queensland has flagged reductions in coal royalties in the Galilee Basin which could double Australias coal production and dramatically increase global carbon pollution.
The Australian Government has refused to send a minister to the Warsaw Climate Summit this week. This is the first opportunity for the Abbott Government to attend a UN climate change negotiation.

The evidence of climate change scepticism by the Abbott Government and key supporters could not be clearer. But Australia is acting against the overwhelming tide of scientific evidence and action by countries that are now beginning to take seriously the threat of climate change.

February 16, 2017

CHRIS BONNOR. A trans-Tasman story out of school

The Gonski recommendations were our best chance to create something better, but it didnt happen in the way the review envisaged. As one of the Gonski architects puts it, instead we are just on a path to nowhere.

October 11, 2016

TONY SMITH. The US presidential election: no Australian perspective

We can’t get enough of Donald and Hilary!

John Tulloh correctly identifies US influence in the priorities of Australian media. Half a century ago Henry Mayer argued that while media might not influence how we think, they do decide what we think about. This was before television was firmly established, before big conglomerates destroyed diversity and before the 24 hour news cycle shaped politics. Add the immediacy of the internet and social media and the how-what distinction remains a useful theory but hardly describes media influence adequately.

January 5, 2017

TONY SMITH. A nasty government

The compact between government and citizen is being destroyed.

January 2, 2017

RAMESH THAKUR. What a Twitter-Happy Trump Might Mean For Nuclear Diplomacy

Far from making America great again, Trump is more likely to make America grope again in the darkness of the post-nuclear age.

May 29, 2017

ALEX WODAK. How can making drugs easier to access save lives? 10 FAQs about drug law reform. Part 2 of 3.

P_olice, prison officers and politicians are standing side-by-side with drug users to call for law reform. They say the current practice of jailing people for personal use and possession instead of focusing on their health and safety leads to unacceptable outcomes: lives lost and lives ruined.But its hard to get your head around the idea that making drugs more easily available could actually reduce the risks. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about drug law reform._

July 5, 2016

JOHN MENADUE. What the major parties ignored in the election?

The election seemed more about avoiding some key issues than a contest of values and ideas.

Because so many key issues such as refugees were avoided, it is not surprising that so many voters, about one third, turned their backs on the major parties. Some issues like the NBN were widely canvassed in social media but largely ignored in the public campaign.

December 3, 2015

Why we don't want private health insurance for primary care

The worst possible outcome from the current review of Private Health Insurance would be changes that resulted in the best-resourced Primary Care being only available to those who have such insurance.

June 11, 2017

JON STANFORD. Brexit and some lessons from the British election.

Despite recent disruptions in the comfortable world of electoral punditry Brexit, Trump, even Macron when Theresa May called a British general election in April, the only question was how many additional seats the Conservatives would win.

October 10, 2016

JOHN MENADUE. Cars, submarines costs and jobs and a likely disaster.

Last week we saw the end of car manufacturing in Australia by Ford. It was a sad day for many people. Toyota and General Motors will be gone next year.

Joe Hockey goaded our car manufacturers to leave Australia. He obviously thought Australia would be better off without them. Instead this government which claims business and economic expertise has agreed to submarines being built in Australia at horrendous cost, at great risk and with few benefits.

The closing of the three car manufacturers and the much hyped submarine building in South Australia, is an example of flawed industrial policy and outrageous protection.

July 18, 2018

Kim Jong-un says "Me too"

I meant “wouldn’t” denuclearize.

March 17, 2015

Kerry Goulston. Two health reform issues.

Instead of tinkering around the edges of Health Reform in Australia,and dodging meaningful revision of the Medical Benefits and Pharmaceutical Benefits Schemes, all Federal politicians and leading clinicians could be debating two issues which would have significant effects over the next 20 years. Currently thousands of clinicians (doctors, nurses, allied health and other healthcare providers) are despairing of meaningful healthcare and workforce reform by our Federal and State politicians.

Remuneration

January 13, 2015

Charlie Hebdo - Freedom of expression in an imperfect society.

In this article, Paul McGeough in the SMH says ‘Yes, it is utterly inappropriate to go round shooting those who cause offence, but is it appropriate to go round causing offence?’ Paul McGeough also recalled that when Charlie Hebdo republished the controversial Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in 2006, then French President Jacques Chirac issued a swift rebuke. ‘Anything that can hurt the convictions of someone else, in particular religious convictions, should be avoided - freedom of expression should be exercised in a spirit of responsibility’. John Menadue

October 28, 2014

Annabelle Lukin. When governments go to war, the Fourth Estate goes AWOL.

A year after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the University of California, Berkeley, conducted a postmortem of the media coverage of the so-called Iraq war. The conference included academics, journalists, UN weapons inspectors and diplomats.

UC Berkeley also invited Lieutenant Colonel Rick Long, whose job it had been to prepare journalists to be embedded with American forces as they rolled into Iraq. The invasion would soon be described as the greatest strategic disaster in US history, by no less than retired Lieutenant General William Odom, a former senior military and intelligence official in the Carter and Reagan administrations.

March 22, 2017

JOHN DALEY and BRENDAN COATES. The latest ideas to use super to buy homes are still bad ideas.

Treasurer Scott Morrison wants to use the May budget to ease growing community anxiety about housing affordability. Lots of ideas are being thrown about: the test for the Treasurer is to sort the good from the bad. Reports that the government was again considering using superannuation to help first homebuyers wont inspire confidence.

February 17, 2015

Mary Chiarella. Luke Foley - Nurse-led clinics and primary health care.

In 2011 I gave the last Oration for what was originally the NSW College of Nursing in the Great Hall of Sydney University. In it I advocated for nurses to be able to work to full scope of practice, particularly in the area of primary and preventive health care, in order to alleviate demands on our overstretched hospital systems. Given we currently have a significant oversupply of nurses in this country, especially in our new graduate population, this seems like an excellent time to deploy nurses into some of these roles, long overdue in Australia but commonplace in other parts of the world. . The first ever NSW College of Nursing Oration was given on the 15th September 1953 by M.I. Lambie, who was not only the first Orator for the College, but the first woman to give an Oration in the Great Hall of Australias oldest university. Miss Lambie was the New Zealand Nursing Adviser to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Chair of the Expert Nursing Committee of WHO. Let me read to you her introductory words as she talks of the problems in health care in the developed world:

July 21, 2013

Japanese whaling - bad faith, bad science. Guest blogger: Walter Hamilton

Australia and Japan are at loggerheads before the International Court of Justice not because they disagree over whaling but because they disagree and are both members of the International Whaling Commission. What may at first seem a fussy distinction is fundamental and important. It is only because of their mutual commitments under an international convention that the whaling dispute can come before the court in The Hague. In response to Australias complaint that it has been acting in bad faith by cloaking commercial whaling under the lab coat of science, Japan has cited its continuing membership of the IWC as proof of a good faith commitment to multilateralism and consensus building. The accusation of bad faith is one to which Japan has taken particular exception, not assuaged by assurances from Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus that the ICJ case need not harm bilateral relations. In oral arguments before the court, the Japanese legal team has taken aim at Australian bad faith in the presentation of selective and distorted testimony and comments by Mr Dreyfus that, irrespective of the courts decision, the government would continue to oppose Japans whaling program by, among other things, accommodating the activities of the radical Sea Shepherd group.

August 20, 2014

John Menadue. Those pesky nuns.

I was taken with an article by Nicholas Kristof. It was first published in the New York Times and yesterday in the SMH. The link to the article is below.

In this article there is a quote from an American nun “Let me get this straight. Some priests committed sex abuse. Bishops covered it up. And so they are investigating nuns!'.

If only the nuns were running the show, the Catholic Church would be in much better shape.

June 16, 2014

Emily Howie. Australia's dangerously close relationship with Sri Lanka..

In March 2014 the United Nations Human Rights Council established an historic and long-awaited international investigation into war crimes and human rights abuses committed during the final phases of Sri Lankas civil war. The resolution is widely regarded as an important step towards reconciliation and peace. In addition to establishing a mechanism for examining past violations, including the deaths of 40,000 to 70,000 civilians, the resolution establish critical monitoring of the serious ongoing human rights situation in Sri Lanka.

August 25, 2013

Returning home can be the hard part. John Menadue

In my August 1 blog I referred to the failure of many Australian companies to integrate their business and human resource strategies. Too many send executives overseas on an ad hoc basis without planning how that experience gained overseas can be used when they return as a catalyst to change the business culture of the Australian organisation.

Every individual has personality. Every organisation has a culture. The grip of that culture the way we do things without thinking is remarkably powerful. It entrenches status, power, attitudes and values. It is hard to change.

August 4, 2013

The election: economy and deficits. John Menadue

In the run-up to the September 7 elections, we will hear a lot of misleading stories about the economy and deficits.

My contention is that with the good luck of the China boom, the government has managed the Australian economy well. Our economic performance is amongst the best in the world. But the public debate has been side-tracked by nonsense about debt and deficits.

Despite the political rhetoric and the flak from News Limited, the evidence on the economy is very clear.

September 13, 2016

China and the South China Sea

Last weekend Geraldine Doogue interviewed Richard Woolcott and Geoff Raby on the recent controversies about Chinese influence in Australia. Richard Woolcott was formerly Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and President of the UN Security Council. Geoff Raby was formerly Australian Ambassador to China.

In this interview, both Richard Woolcott and Geoff Raby pointed to the need for a more balanced consideration of Chinese growing influence in the world. They highlighted that China is reacting to the declared US ‘pivot to Asia’ and to provocative US naval activities.

January 10, 2017

DENIS FITZGERALD. Non-violence is the key to peace, and it starts at home.

For Pope Francis, peace has been a constant theme, as it was for his name-sake, St Francis of Assisi. His message for 1 January 2017, his fourth such message, draws on the major documents of his pontificate as it focuses on the role of nonviolence in building peace.

October 4, 2017

REBECCA PETERS. Las Vegas and Port Arthur - a tale of two tragedies.

Heres what the Las Vegas massacre has in common with Port Arthur - Las Vegas is the worst mass shooting in modern US history; Port Arthur set the same record for Australia, and in fact for the world at that time. Both massacres occurred at iconic holiday locations, popular with tourists and honeymooners. The victims, survivors and witnesses came from across the country and even overseas. This means the events have personal significance for enormous numbers of people.

December 19, 2016

IAN WEBSTER. Standing up for Medicare.

Fair access to health care is in the zeitgeist of European countries and Australia. The political sensitivities of this issue were demonstrated in the last election with the angst generated by the Labor Partys Mediscare campaign.

July 4, 2016

MUNGO MacCALLUM. This is not the way it was meant to be.

In a singularly petulant and graceless speech in the early hours after election night, Malcolm Turnbull said he thought he would be returned to government.

His surly but defiant supporters those of them who had not already gone home snarled agreement. And for what it is worth, I concur: my fearless prediction is that the coalition will end up with between 76 to 78 seats in the House of Representatives, a thin but decisive majority.

But this is not the way it was meant to be, and it is definitely notas the commentators, the editorialists and the bookmakers confidently forecast. Although the national polls were always close, we were repeatedly reassured that the marginals were holding for the coalition.

January 31, 2017

ALLAN PATIENCE. The End is Nigh! Anticipating a Post-Capitalist World

Capitalism is in crisis. What Marx referred to as its internal contradictions have begun undermining its very foundations. It is time to ask what a post-capitalist world will be like.

September 4, 2013

Asylum seekers are blocking the M4 freeway and clogging up our hospitals! John Menadue

On Monday night on 4 Corners, the Liberal candidate for Lindsay, Fiona Scott, said that asylum seekers cars were blocking the M4 highway. For readers outside Sydney, the M4 is a 40 km expressway connecting Concord and Penrith.

I dont know whether to laugh or cry that such ignorance could be expressed by a candidate who could very well be a member of parliament after next Saturday, if the opinion polls are correct.

May 15, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. And with one bound, our hero was free

Well, perhaps not completely; it will take more than one agile budget to loose Malcolm Turnbull from his self-imposed bondage, He remains chained hand and foot to the right over climate change and same sex marriage, and he cannot remove himself from the Nationals pork barrel of provincial perks in the name of infrastructure.

February 5, 2017

IAN McAULEY. What lies beyond capitalism?

This a review of Wolfgang Streeck’s book ‘How will capitalism end?’.

Communists of the world, relax! Dont spend your efforts trying to bring down capitalism, because its going to bring itself down.

August 31, 2013

We have never had it so good. John Menadue

The election campaign by the Murdoch media and the Coalition suggests that the Australian economy is in a mess. But almost all the facts suggest that we have one of the best performing economies in the world whether we measure it by economic growth, debt, inflation or employment.

Now a survey just released by the University of Canberras highly regarded National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) tells us that Australian households have never been better off. The NATSEM report tells us:

October 8, 2013

Even-handed Tony Abbott. John Menadue

In his toxic language over asylum seekers in the last three years, Tony Abbott has been not only derogatory about vulnerable people fleeing persecution, he has also gone out of his way to insult our neighbours in their handling of asylum seekers. He has shown no favouritism. He has insulted them all.

Within the last two weeks he has offered contrition to three regional leaders for his insulting language about their policies and performance. He has described his insults as really only part of a rather intense party-political discussion in Australia. That is sheer evasion. It has been Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison who have directly and personally led the attack on asylum seekers and our neighbours.

May 29, 2013

Catholic Health still leaves the impression that it wants to destroy Medicare. Joint Blog: John Menadue and Ian McAuley

On Mar 14 John Menadue wrote, on this blog site Does Catholic really want to destroy Medicare. Martin Laverty responded on 29 May.

This is a further response by Ian McAuley and John Menadue. Together we have written many joint articles on health policy. See publish.pearlsandirritations.com.

Catholic Healths response through Martin Laverty identifies two problems with our present health care funding inequities in health delivery and outcomes, and fragmentation of funding and care between Commonwealth and State Governments.

April 23, 2017

MUNGO MacCALLUM. Dog whistling about Australian values.

Housing will not be a centrepiece of the forthcoming budget, our Prime Minister assures us, while remaining vague about what, if anything, will be.

April 29, 2014

Ian McAuley- Picketty and the gap between rich and poor. Inequality of wealth is the problem rather than the inequality of income.

The Observer/Guardian carried a recent story/review about Thomas Pickettys address to the Institute of New Economic Thinking in Toronto. The story was headed Capitalism simply isnt working and here are the reasons why The story draws also on a recently published book by the French economist Picketty Capital in the 21st Century The newspaper story asserted You have to go back to the 1970s and Milton Friedman for a single economist to have such an impact (as Picketty)

August 20, 2017

The Myth About Marriage

Paul Collins’ recent article, An Open Letter to Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher, has attracted record numbers of readers for this blog. The following article by Garry Wills elaborates on the ‘myth about marriage’.

In his article in the New York Review of Books on 9 May 2012, Garry Wills writes:

Why do some people who would recognize gay civil unions oppose gay marriage? Certain religious groups want to deny gays the sacredness of what they take to be a sacrament. But marriage is no sacrament.

March 29, 2017

MAX HAYTON. Kiwibank - lessons for Australia.

Its not unusual for big banks to be accused of greed, unfairness, poor service and corruption. The answer often proposed is to create a government owned bank. This has been suggested as a solution in Australia. New Zealand has already built one, but its experience shows public ownership doesnt necessarily fix all the problems.

April 30, 2014

John Menadue. The Commission of Audit and facing the wrong way.

Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey have been leaking confusing stories in the lead-up to the budget. A consistent theme however is that they must take tough action because of all the problems left by the previous government. They also need to justify the exaggerated rhetoric they used during the election campaign. A lot of it is confected.

The Commission of Audit will add to the confusion in focussing on expenditure when the main problem is declining revenue. The neglected Henry review of taxation will be a better guide for the future than an ideological and partisan Commission of Audit

June 18, 2020

Media in the Asian Century

Its actually less august journos in the Murdoch chain of tabloids that are getting Xi Jinpings goat and setting relations with China into a downward spiral, at some cost to Australian exporters.

February 28, 2017

RAMESH THAKUR. Contrasting US and UN leaders: The brash disruptor vs. the softly softly conciliator

Both UN Secretary-General (SG) Antonio Guterres and US President Donald Trump took office in January. They could not be more different in background, temperament, experience and leadership style. Trump is brash, loud, vulgar, an amateur outsider and the ultimate disruptor, used to bossing everyone else, who does not do sensitivity. Guterres is courteous, sophisticated, cultured, professional, a global insider and the ultimate conciliator who persuades and coaxes colleagues to follow his lead.

November 21, 2016

RICHARD LETTS. National Opera Review: propping up the 19th Century

The National Opera Review has reported. Instigator George Brandis is probably well enough satisfied.

The Terms of Reference are pure Brandis. The name is National Opera Review, the game is a review of the four larger companies funded by the Commonwealth. Excluded are the Victorian Opera and the numerous small companies that are the growing edge of opera in Australia.

January 22, 2016

Robin Room and Michael Livingston. Alcohol companies target the 20% of Australians who drink 75% of the alcohol.

Researchers have known for a long time that alcohol consumption is quite concentrated in a small part of the population. They argue about the exact distribution, but there is substantial agreement that, so long as alcohol sales are not heavily restricted, consumption is distributed in a quite predictable way. That is, there are many light and moderate consumers, along with a long tail of those drinking at heavier levels.

In Australia, the top 20% of the drinking-age population in 2013 consumed around three-quarters of all the alcohol consumed. The top 5% consumed more than a third.

May 3, 2016

Alison Broinowski. Losing 'our' Uruzgan.

Most Australians live in cities where the only newspapers are owned by Murdoch. So unless they found Fairfax on line, they were spared the sorrowful report on 3 May that Afghan government troops have pulled out of more strongholds in Uruzgan province. http://www.smh.com.au/world/australian-troops-fought-and-died-in-uruzgan-now-afghan-troops-are-pulling-back-20160302-gn7z1i.html To the surprise of no-one who read it, Taliban are back.

The withdrawal, Reuters reported mournfully, followed many years of work and much blood shed by Australian troops to maintain peace and stability in the province, before the last Australians left in 2014. After Australians spent thirteen years in Tarin Kowt, 41 died, and many more were injured, the Afghan authorities have made a tactical decision to deploy forces more effectively. So many Afghan soldiers and police have deserted or been killed, they say, that the province is short of its assigned strength. (One thing they appear to have learnt from years of US/NATO training is Western management-speak).

February 12, 2017

EVAN WHITTON. How English law does not try to find the truth.

An Australian judge, Russell Fox, said justice means fairness, and fairness requires a search for the truth otherwise the wrong side may win. English law is the only legal system in the world which does not search for the truth.

December 27, 2016

CHRIS BONNOR. Schools punching above their weight or just punching each other?

Put your hand up if you are participants in the festive season. No, not that Christmas stuff - Im talking about the annual festival of the HSC/VCE or whatever. You must have searched to see where your old school, your kids or grandkids school ranked in the hierarchy. For many people it joins real estate values to sustain endless dinner table conversations.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal