Instead of churning more taxpayer money through Private Health Insurance funds to private hospitals, the Commonwealth Government should establish a Hospital Benefits Fund (HBF), similar to the Medical Benefits Fund (MBF), with benefits going directly to patients for payments to a hospital of their choice. Many “private” hospitals are pleading for more government subsidies. In Continue reading »
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An inactive integrity agency is not just a waste of money, it sits as another level of protection for public sector misconduct, writes Geoffrey Watson on the National Anti-Corruption Commission’s (NACC) decision not to hold those responsible for Robodebt to account. We would all agree that there is little purpose to be served by an Continue reading »
If a future Prime Minister Dutton was able to get the fuel for a HALEU power station, would you be absolutely confident that he might not want to also dabble in some nuclear weapons procurement as well? A recent Science paper (7/6) highlights one of the potentially disastrous risks the Dutton nuclear plan raises. Recently Continue reading »
What does it say about a society that mainstreams the killing and silencing of Palestinians? Unless you’ve been away from the internet in the last eight + months, you won’t have missed the litany of Israeli soldiers posting photos and videos celebrating mass destruction, humiliation and death in Gaza and the West Bank. Here’s just Continue reading »
China expertise – including that of our huge Chinese diaspora – has increasingly become a source of suspicion. China scholar Angela Lehmann offers three policy responses to promote Australia’s capability to engage with our biggest trading partner. The visit this week by Chinese Premier Li Qiang is a reminder of an old dilemma at the Continue reading »
The NSW social housing system is in crisis, with more than 58,000 applicants on the waiting list. Another 90,000 households are eligible but have not applied, perhaps because they realise that the prospects of being assisted are slim. Social housing is secure and affordable rental housing for people on low incomes with unmet housing needs. Continue reading »
Daniel Everett Hale killed lots of innocent people. He went to jail, not for killing people – he was paid to do that by the US government – but for revealing the truth behind it. Recently released, he has an astonishing story to tell. Continue reading »
So I guess we should probably talk about the way NATO powers are rapidly escalating toward hot war with Russia at the same time the US is expanding its draft policies to make it easier to force more Americans [to] go and fight in a giant war. In an article titled “NATO: 500,000 Troops on Continue reading »
Watch our discussion on the strategic value of voting.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah publicly reveals the scope of the group's weaponry following an Israeli study detailing potential military scenarios in Lebanon.
The post Israeli Study Reveals Hezbollah’s Military Might; Nasrallah Issues Warning appeared first on MintPress News.
Time will tell but there are some signs that she might not be quite as nuts as the other nuts. We are probably stuck with this 6 vote lunatic Supreme Court majority for some time so it’s more important than ever to keep our eyes on the potentially small changes that might be relevant, whether it’s signs of concern about politics playing a role or actual disagreement among the majority about their judicial philosophies. This article in Politico suggests that there might be a developing schism on the right that could prove to be at least a little bit helpful depending on who joins what side: A rift is emerging among the Supreme Court’s conservatives — and it could thwart the court’s recent march to expand gun rights. On one side is the court’s oldest and most conservative justice, Clarence Thomas. On the other is its youngest member, Amy Coney Barrett. The question at the center of the spat may seem abstract: How should the court use “history and tradition” to decide modern-day legal issues?
As the media provides the Reform Leader with a prominent platform once more during this general election campaign, Peter Jukes considers all the concerning lines of enquiry that journalists never confront him with
Paul Krugman writes: A few days ago Donald Trump floated a truly terrible, indeed unworkable economic proposal. I’m aware that many readers will say, “So what else is new?” But in so doing, you’re letting Trump benefit from the soft bigotry of rock-bottom expectations, not holding him to the standards that should apply to any presidential candidate. A politician shouldn’t be given a pass on nonsense because he talks nonsense all the time. But in a way the most interesting thing about Trump’s latest awful policy idea is the way his party responded, with the kind of obsequiousness and paranoia you normally expect in places like North Korea. What Trump reportedly proposed was an “all tariff policy” in which taxes on imports replace income taxes. Why is that a bad idea? First, the math doesn’t work. Annual income tax receipts are around $2.4 trillion; imports are around $3.9 trillion. On the face of it, this might seem to suggest that Trump’s idea would require an average tariff rate of around 60 percent.
Nigel Farage echoes Trump supporters’ conspiracy theories about electoral fraud in 2020 and makes unevidenced claims of corruption in the UK postal voting system
SCOTUS is stalling The National Review comments on the remaining decisions to come out of the Supreme Court: The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver opinions this Thursday and Friday. There should be 21 opinions remaining because there are 23 cases left, including two pairs (the Chevron challenges and the Florida and Texas social-media laws) that are consolidated and likely to be decided together. We will likely get at least five or six opinions this week, maybe as many as nine. The Court will need to schedule more opinion days next week, probably at least three of them if it intends to wrap up the term by the end of the week; otherwise, it could spill over to July 1 or 2. NR provides a handy chart of what’s left. Notice what’s at the bottom: Leah Litman writes at the New York Times: For those looking for the hidden hand of politics in what the Supreme Court does, there’s plenty of reason for suspicion on Donald Trump’s as-yet-decided immunity case given its urgency. There are, of course, explanations that have nothing to do with politics for why a ruling still hasn’t been issued.