Pearls and Irritations’ weekly roundup this week commented on the paucity of analysis regarding the House of Representatives Select Committee’s report Rebuilding Employment Services. This is not surprising given the number and complexity of its recommendations. However, it is hard to pin down many specifics in the report other than the current system is useless. Continue reading »
politics
At a minimum Australians expect ministers in the Defence portfolio to display a basic knowledge of defence matters. The Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy’s address to the National Press Club is particularly worrying as justification for “the greatest industrial undertaking Australia has ever attempted”. Conroy’s comments on the AUKUS submarines (SSN-AUKUSs) are simplistic to Continue reading »
For truly effective measures to counter climate change, governments need to break from the ideological clutches of classical free market economics. Systemic change must be led by governments with requisite political power and intent, well-defined objectives, and authority to act without fear. Just a week before Cop28, global “one-day temperatures” breached the 2 degrees Celsius Continue reading »
A visceral emphasis on fear over engagement has marked Australia’s approach to China since 2015. Only 17 Australians graduated with Honours degrees in China Studies between 2017 and 2021 across the entire country. This year no grants were awarded by the Australian Research Council for China-related research or collaborative research involving Chinese institutions. Will the Continue reading »
The nearly unanimous vote in the UN Security Council on Friday calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza is a moment of honour for the United Nations and shame for the United States. By voting to stop Israel’s war on Gaza by a vote of 13 yes, 1 no (US), and 1 abstention (UK), the Continue reading »
The committee is pushing a bill that civil liberties experts say would amount to the largest expansion of domestic surveillance in decades.
The post Trump Allies Are Giddy About House Intelligence Committee’s Surveillance Bill appeared first on The Intercept.
Opposition leader, the Dark Lord Peter Dutton, has told fans/journalists how he longs for a white Christmas, one in which he can deck the halls with boughs of misogyny, err, holly. ”I am an old fashioned type of bloke and... Read More ›
The Biden administration has spent most of its diplomatic energy since the February 24, 2022, [on the] Russian invasion of Ukraine marshalling the world to punish the Russian Federation, to boycott its petroleum and gas, to seize assets even of private citizens in Europe and North America, and to make Russia a pariah. Russia certainly Continue reading »
A recent submission to a Senate inquiry by the Centre for Public Integrity claimed that in the decade to 2023 companies making political donations “were 2.49 times more likely to win procurement contracts than non-donors”, and that the value of contracts won by donor companies was on average 4.4 times the value of contracts won Continue reading »