What people in other forums are saying about public policy The pandemic’s progress Australia – Morrison cannot restore trust in government when his party has spent four decades destroying it If we all understood probability and were rational about risk, we...
Latest Pearls and Irritations – Full Stories
Paranoia over China, government, media, AFP collusion
The High Court’s current deliberations about the legality of warrants issued last year to the AFP to search the home of John Zhang, part-time assistant to NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane, are the tip of a massive iceberg of government abuses of power. John...
The role of the ADF and its proposed business model
The core business of the ADF “will always be the application of lethal violence in the defence of our values, sovereignty and interests”, according to the newly installed Assistant Defence Minister, Andrew Hastie, speaking to military personnel. This statement is...
Look at Morrison and see for yourself
The LNP, led by the mendacious Morrison, is in a bad place. Morally bankrupt, it is destructive, by default and design. Many have followed, both blindly and with intent, and now find themselves equally bereft. Morrison sets the tone. He insisted on getting the Pfizer...
Are we more depressed or more diagnosed?
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5), which finds widespread use in Australia and across the world, by physicians, researchers, courts, and schools, lists more than 300 criteria for depression, which makes the meaning of a diagnosis so...
Northern Ireland deja vu: They’re burning buses again
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I’ll have what Scott’s having, thanks!
It is important that all Australians be vaccinated against Covid-19, but they deserve to be able to choose the vaccine that best suits them. As the federal government’s rollout plan implodes, the good news is that it now seems likely that all Australians who want it...
U.S. Foreign Policy Flow Chart
Here’s a handy U.S. foreign policy flow chart. Share and Enjoy !SHARE TWEET SHARE COPY EMAIL PRINT
War footing groupthink; subsidies and socialism; glasshouses and stones
Upside down, inside out and black is white. Journalists fall over themselves to paint Scott Morrison as a courageous leader, the Financial Review lauds the “very affordable” housing market, in defiance of just about every expert in the country, and Tax...
Peak Sinophobia in Australia?
Sinophobia in Australia, promoted over recent years by naïve MPs, opportunistic academics and jejune journalists, has now entered its neo-McCarthyist phase. One indication of this disturbing trend has been highlighted by Brian Toohey, who notes that last year there...
Australian Medical Association’s aged care money grab
The Australian Medical Association, a lobby group and peak body for doctors, has offered up a thinly disguised money-grab in the form of expert recommendations in response to the Aged Care Royal Commission. Hiding behind an engaging title “Putting the health care back...
Who wants war with Iran? Not Australia
Iran has resented the US ever since the CIA and MI6 overthrew Prime Minister Mossadegh in 1953. For its part, the US has wanted vengeance against Iran ever since the Islamic revolution ousted their ally and Israel’s, Mohammad Reza Shah. Iran is the last of the seven...
Cracks form a year out from South Australian election
One year out from the next South Australian state election and Steven Marshall’s Liberal government is starting to lose its mildly progressive safe covid manager gloss as old and new scandals and blunders start to bite. With one year to go before the March 2022 state...
If Australia needs nukes, who doesn’t?
Sensible people are making the case for a nuclear-armed Australia. Given Australia’s other problems, the ruinous cost, and the dangers of proliferation, this is the last thing we should be considering. Given the number of global problems we currently face, it’s...
Prince Phillip: royalty remains central to Australian identity
With the death of Prince Phillip on Friday the reaction in the Australian media has been immediate and overwhelming. Stories about his humorous, and sometimes offensive, statements have been repeated ad nauseum and the extent of his service to the broader community in...
The capability of the Australian Public Service
The Centre for Policy Development (CPD) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee to assist its inquiry into the current capability of the Australian Public Service (APS). Helping to nurture and grow...
Is Ben Roberts-Smith the Biggest Anzac Story since Gallipoli?
When Brendan (“Biggles”) Nelson, AWM Director at the time, heard about the early allegations againt Robert-Smith and other soldiers, he fumed: “Where is the national interest in tearing down our heroes?” It’s my very strong view that the alleged...
Morrison’s minders at the heart of his doldrums
Perhaps a day will come when the champion rorters, liars, and conscious mis-managers of public resources are before a serious corruption commission and out on their ears. The political and administrative dominance of the Australian government by non-public-service...
Hans Kung: a theologian for everyone
Hans Küng died last Tuesday aged 93. I had the honour of knowing him as a friend. He was a rare breed: a theologian who spoke to people of diverse beliefs and none. It’s not often that you get a chance to improve a world-famous Swiss-German theologian’s English as you...
Housing affordability is a problem. Here’s why super-for-housing isn’t a solution
The idea that young Australians should be able to dip into their super to help buy their first home keeps going round and round. The most recent iteration put forward by the Coalition’s Tim Wilson and a clutch of other backbenchers has the catchy slogan Home First,...
John Menadue. Melissa Parke successfully settles defamation case against pro-Israeli commentator
Melissa Parke has successfully settled defamation legal proceedings with pro-Israeli commentator Colin Rubinstein over his claims that Parke had been anti-Semitic in her remarks on Israeli treatment of Palestinians. The Israeli support lobby in Australia is led by...
WA election: an untold story
Of course, the main story about the WA election is the scale of the Labor victory. However, there is an untold story: the total failure of the “don’t give Labor total control message.” Of course, the dominant story of the recent WA election is the...
Andrew Podger. Response to Brendan Coates on Retirement Income System.
While Brendan Coates makes some valid criticisms of Paul Keating’s recent claims about Australia’s retirement income system, his own claims and assumptions (and those of the Retirement Income Review) are also open to question. First, Coates is right that Keating...
Australian Labor and Palestine in 2021
Are there anyone in the ALP in 2021 who does not hope for the emergence of a Palestinian state? How this outcome might occur is where differences emerge. NSW Upper House MP Shaoquett Moselmane post – Labor’s National Conference reaffirms the Party’s call for...
Ministerial staff can’t be strangled but they can be leashed
It is probably too late to throw partisans out of ministerial offices, or even to strangle the triennial increase in the number of ministerial staff, whether or not they are to be subjected to ordinary rules of civility and respect for each other. But it is not too...
Asylum policy in UK and Australia – a tale of two nations
In these two nations, the backlog of asylum applications and that of refused asylum seekers who have not departed is remarkably similar (see Table 1). But debate on the matter in the two countries is very different. Th UK Government describes its asylum system as...
