The nation is bracing for austere budgets. Grim foreshadowing has prepared us for a challenging federal budget. The Victorian Premier has warned of “very difficult measures” in his state’s budget, and NSW has delayed its budget while the new cabinet grapples with “tough choices”. Budget expectation management is a perennial rite of autumn. But with Continue reading »
politics
In the Sydney Morning Herald of 2 May, Matthew Knott, foreign affairs and national security writer, has written an alarmist piece on the inability of the Australian defence force to respond to alarming but plausible scenarios such as China establishing a military base in a nearby Pacific nation. Were I reading this on the train going Continue reading »
John Menadue’s article in Pearls and Irritation about Australia being goaded into war with China is a must read for those Australians who desire to live in harmony and leave a legacy for our descendants to live in this lucky country of ours, in peace and prosperity with our neighbours in the Asia Pacific region. Continue reading »
Silences filled with a consensus of propaganda contaminate almost everything we read, see and hear. War by media is now a key task of so-called mainstream journalism. In 1935, the Congress of American Writers was held in New York City, followed by another two years later. They called on “the hundreds of poets, novelists, dramatists, critics, Continue reading »
The US has been increasingly treating Taiwan like a sovereign nation with whom diplomatic relationships and alliances can be formed, in violation of its longstanding One-China policy that has kept the peace for decades. And I just think it’s worth noting that the western media who’ve lately been condoning these moves became outraged at Donald Continue reading »
The 190 page Parkinson Immigration Review provides a very good blueprint for the future, considering the limitations placed on it by its terms of reference and timeline. The government has circulated a “Migration Strategy” document for consultation picking up broad concepts in the review’s recommendations. There is much more work to be done to decide Continue reading »
In three weeks or so, a little after the second Labor budget, the Albanese government will mark its first year in office. It is not just journalistic laziness which marks it as a convenient moment for some report cards, and reviews of how the government is travelling. In straight political terms, of course, it is Continue reading »
In a recent submission to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s (PM&C’s) public service reform team, Paddy Gourley, Helen Williams and I support stronger action to improve the capability of the APS and its standing as an institution, but do not support adding ‘stewardship’ to the APS Values. Stewardship is a responsibility of ministers Continue reading »
The biggest choice facing this country is between poor public services and inadequate government income support or more taxes. Unfortunately, I fear that next week’s Budget will seek to avoid this choice. The purpose of government is to choose, and the best record of those choices and consequently a government’s priorities is its Budget. Service Continue reading »
In 2006, someone supposedly speaking for Generation Y wrote a book addressed to baby Boomers called “Please Just F* Off: It’s Our Turn Now.” The person who wrote that book in 2006 at the age of 25 is now 42. One day we will all be cast as the villains. It’s just a matter of Continue reading »