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Housing politics dominated by the interests of the already-housed
The housing market is not effectively closed to most young women and men by accident. House prices keep growing not so much by excess demand but because of the rewards we give investor buyers, the advantages in place for those already in the market and the tax and other advantages of owning a house, whether Continue reading »
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Breaking up ABC HQ suits its competitors, not the ABC
Of all the Sydney-centric notions, the idea that the ABC would better represent Australia if it moved its programmakers from Ultimo in Sydney to Parramatta in Sydney is about as Sydney-centric as you can get. Continue reading »
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G7: Australia on the world stage for the wrong reasons
In summits, those involved never get everything they want. The trick is to persuade your audience – particularly your domestic one – that you have got most of it. Continue reading »
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Adventures in incompetence – Witness K sentenced
This whole farce is more about protecting the real criminals in the case, those politicians and public servants who devised and planned, enabled and financed the shameful act of spying on the Timorese people. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up, 20 June 2021
The harmful health effects of climate change are under-recognised. Calls for a socio-ecological approach to tackling climate change and biodiversity loss together. Trends in the reporting of climate science. ‘Zombie’ fires in northern boreal forests, and LGBQTI+ activists stand up for climate change and human rights. Continue reading »
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Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy Continue reading »
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Australian Media in the Asian Century
Scott Morrison calling. It’s been another fortnight of triumph in world forums for Scott Morrison, if you’ve read the headlines and lead paragraphs in The Australian and the Australian Financial Review. Continue reading »
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As Biden inflicts a new cold war, his acolyte Morrison shows he has learned nothing from his blunders on China
Morrison’s first trip overseas since COVID has shown him as one-eyed, unfair and unwise in his attempt to push his anti-China agenda on the world stage. He has succeeded in making a bad situation even worse. His worship-America policy has helped Biden into a new cold war, this time aimed against China. Continue reading »
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Blink and the boats will restart the Government says, but that is nonsense
The Government excuses its cruelty to the Biloela family by wrongly asserting that the boats bringing asylum seekers will start again . Over the past 6-7 years, the Government has presided over the biggest labour trafficking scam and abuse of Australia’s asylum system in our history. As a result of that scam of asylum seekers Continue reading »
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What actually is the G7? Is it a Western Club?
Climate change was a major theme and Australia was the shag on this rock. Morrison trotted out his usual line about doing what was in Australian interests which will not impress anyone outside of the naysayers back home. Continue reading »
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Australia’s facile immigration policy debate
Australia’s immigration policy debates over the past 30 years have largely consisted of the usual suspects trotting out the usual lines. Continue reading »
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G7 support for pharma monopolies is putting millions of lives at risk
The self-interest of G7 countries is the biggest obstacle to ending the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of campaigning organizations said today. Ahead of the G7 Leaders’ Summit, the People’s Vaccine Alliance warned that G7 promises to vaccinate the world by 2022 will be impossible to fulfill, if governments continue blocking proposals to waive patents and share life-saving Continue reading »
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Ageism and the secret to living a long life.
The Archibald is 100 and Peter Wegner has won the 2021 prize for his portrait of 100-year-old artist Guy Warren who commented, “One hundred years is a hell of a lot of experience. I’ve survived the Great Depression, a war, I’ve survived serious medical difficulties and I’ve survived COVID – touch wood. The secret to Continue reading »
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The value pack relationship with China
Relations with China are increasingly discussed in terms of values. “Liberal values” featured in the Prime Minister’s speech in Perth this week. I propose the need to define the term and to rectify the name, as Confucius said, and to consider how and where it is applied. Then, and only then, can we bring such dialogue Continue reading »
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Jobs versus climate
A debate between having a job and acting on climate change is painful for everyone involved and will not end well. Yet the absence of a clear narrative from our political leaders to clarify the issue is leaving many Australian communities in exactly that position. Continue reading »
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The ABC does not have an “editor-in-chief”
Reporters continue to refer to the managing director of the ABC, David Anderson, as the “editor-in-chief”. There is no such office in the ABC. Continue reading »
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Government rorting is now the Australian way of doing business
Australia has moved to a deeply corrupted system of doling out consultancy contracts to mates by pure discretion, in circumstances which in the classic Morrison style are compulsively secretive, and vague in sums and contract terms. Continue reading »
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The Stench of COVID Coverups.
Most of us who read Pearls and Irritations are not virologists, mainstream media journalists, Americans, or Chinese. As the nasty details about the pandemic emerge, that’s just as well, if we want the truth. Continue reading »
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Australian barriers to electric vehicles and batteries
There are two significant barriers to the take-up of electric vehicles (EVs) in Australia – publicly accessible charging infrastructure suitable for a large country, and Scott Morrison. Continue reading »
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Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy Continue reading »
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Who just gives away billions? Is this what the Collaery case is all about?
Many of us have heard about the prosecution of Bernard Collaery on the say-so of Christian Porter. But very few know much more than that it is an almost secret trial against the former ACT Attorney-General. Unfortunately, John le Carré is no longer with us to tell this intriguing tale. Continue reading »
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Public servants as courtiers rather than stewards
Phil Gaetjens, former Treasury official, former boss of Scott Morrison’s private office and now head of the Prime Minister’s Department is an unusual public servant who seems to have accepted that he is never going to be regarded as any sort of detached public servant independent of the government of the day. Continue reading »
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Glaring omission in the budget. Funding for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission.
There is much in the 2021-22 federal budget that will deliver positive outcomes for many Australians. This warrants acknowledgement, even by those who find it difficult to concede the benefits particular policies will deliver to many in the Australian community. In several areas, the public interest has taken precedence over party-driven ideological preferences. This indicates Continue reading »
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Mice and men: the mouse plague and aggressive land clearing
Over the years, Australian authorities have made many poor decisions about allowing the introduction of biocidal agents into the environment. In most cases, such decisions have been based on the demands of powerful minorities with no responsibility to the general community. The Berejiklian-Barilaro government looks set to outdo them all by authorising the use of Continue reading »
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The rich are getting richer and richer – what is Labor planning to do about it?
While Federal Labor is disappearing into a fearful huddle desperate to avoid any suggestion it would ever try to make Australia a more equitable place, the rich are getting richer and richer. Continue reading »
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Sunday environmental round up.
Only a quarter of Earth’s land was ‘wild’ 12,000 years ago. Tropical deforestation increases despite international agreements to stop it by 2030. Plans to save Australia’s 50 most threatened plants, six unburnt forests on the east coast, and WA’s native vegetation. Continue reading »
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Our democracy is broken – but it can be fixed
Democracy is broken. Or at least, gutter politics has dragged it off its pedestal. And certainly, if our quality of life is any measure, democracy is failing the majority of Australians. But there are solutions if the will is there. Continue reading »
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Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy. Continue reading »
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‘Gas-led recovery’: methane and the risk of mass extinction
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum” – Noam Chomsky (1998). Continue reading »
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Should Labor oppose the Government’s Stage 3 Income Tax Cuts?
Australia faces a choice between demands for lower taxes, and raising the revenue needed to fund essential services. This article suggests how a plan to increase taxation revenue could be presented at the next election, starting with ditching the Government’s Stage 3 income tax cuts. Continue reading »