7 May 2020. For weeks now, Covid-19 has dominated the world’s media. We’ve had endless facts, advice, and commentary on the virus itself, the number of deaths and infections, the level of testing, the dos and don’ts of hygiene and social distancing, the flattening of the curve, and much else. But, on the underlying significance […]
Peter Whiting Posted 7 April 2020 It has all happened so quickly that it’s difficult to take it all in. The changes to our lives wrought by COVID-19 are dramatic, personal, and wide-ranging. Personally, I am filled with a sense of being transplanted into some sort of parallel universe. In just a few short weeks, […]
The real story behind the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Posted 7 April 2020. In response to the suicide attacks on the Twin Towers on 11 September 2001, the US issued an ultimatum to Afghanistan’s Taliban regime to hand over Osama bin Laden and the other Al Qaeda leaders or else the US would invade the […]
Tony Wood Posted 10 March 2020 Opposition leader Anthony Albanese sought to claim the climate policy high ground last week with his commitment to a net-zero emissions target by 2050. But figures on Australia’s emissions from the Department of the Environment and Energy help frame the political debate, and put the policies of both Labor […]
Luke Michael. Posted 28 November 2019. It wasn’t meant to be this way. Newstart was meant to be, if not a panacea, then at least a new start for tackling entrenched disadvantage in Australia. The unemployment benefit (or dole) had been in effect since its introduction in 1945, when World War II and memories of […]
Peter Whiting. Posted 28 November 2019. Many readers will remember the catchy 1972 theme ‘It’s Time’, which thrust Gough Whitlam into government. It focused on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative government, and was underpinned by a raft of major policy proposals. The contributors to this month’s newsletter are each in […]
Paul Barratt. Posted 28 November 2019. Where we are today is that the practice of the last twenty years has purportedly taken away the power to send Australia to war from the Governor-General, and placed it at the disposal of junior ministers in the Defence portfolio. This cannot be allowed to stand. The war powers […]
Lionel Orchard. Posted 28 November 2019. The foundations of a balanced and equitable housing system in Australia have been corroding for some time to a point at which ways forward are becoming increasingly vexed. Questions about how to respond are difficult, because of the legacy of neglect over recent times, and changing economic and social […]
Bruce Duncan. How will the Morrison government respond to the desperate plight of some 65 women and children detained in a camp in Syria? Relatives are pleading with our government to bring their family members safely home, but it appears immobilised by fear of a political reaction. How good is that? Some 65 Australian women […]
Michael Keating. By any standard, Scott Morrison’s Government has a very threadbare policy agenda. Furthermore, the Government seems resistant to new ideas, whether from its backbench or from the public service. According to Scott Morrison, the role of the public service is limited to implementing government policy. This may help explain the thinness of his […]
As the ‘miracle’ Morrison government settles into its new term of office, Australians are expecting significant developments in public policy. As Michael Keating writes in his review of the Australian National Outlook Report for 2019 by the CSIRO and its partners, the Coalition was re-elected ‘with almost no policies’, except for inequitable tax cuts and […]
