The arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9th sent shockwaves throughout Pakistan, igniting widespread and violent protests across the nation. The unprecedented backlash against the military establishment unfolded in a series of alarming images that flooded the internet. Imran’s supporters from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party stormed the General Headquarters, wreaking havoc Continue reading »
Government
The aged care payment system currently requires providers wishing to make a profit to do so by skimping on care and services. A new payment structure is needed to reverse the incentives, and link higher profits to better care. In several recent articles in The Guardian Henry Belot has highlighted the alleged practice of the Continue reading »
Obviously if the Hon. Peter Dutton were to change his mind and offer bipartisan support for the “Voice” Referendum, its prospects would be immensely improved. The history of successful referendums tells us this. The current conflicted public discourse tells us that if both leaders were from now on, seen together, warmly and thoughtfully supporting the Continue reading »
It was a shock but no real surprise to read that the multi-national company Inspired Education, which owns Reddam House school in the Sydney’s eastern suburbs, now plans to set up more fully for-profit schools in other areas (Sydney Morning Herald, 27/5). Who thought it would come to this? Where the inexorable march of the Continue reading »
This is a brief, unhappy yarn about the struggle for accountability and integrity in a Commonwealth government organisation. The yarn’s principal character is the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), now headed by Dr Glyn Davis, the de facto leader of the Australian Public Service (APS). The Department is at the forefront of Continue reading »
At his valedictory event, former APS Commissioner, Peter Woolcott, suggested that the Government and APS leadership were now pursuing ‘Thodey on steroids’. Some have endorsed that view referring to the partnership between Glyn David and Gordon de Brouwer as the ‘dream team’, now further consolidated by de Brouwer’s appointment as the new APS Commissioner. So Continue reading »
On 30 January 2023, the Albanese Government released its new national cultural policy, REVIVE: a five-year plan to revive the arts in Australia. There was widespread pleasure that after a decade of neglect of cultural matters, attention was being given again to this important aspect of Australian life. There was, however, some dismay at the Continue reading »
We now have a Defence Strategic Review. But where is the National Risk Assessment, the National Security Strategy, and the Plan? A failure to resource the DSR changes adequately could mean that our deployable military operational capability will in reality be less at the end of this decade than it is today. On the 24th Continue reading »
The housing problem is huge and complex but the plight of the homeless is growing and must be addressed urgently. To solve the problem, what are the practicalities of manufactured housing and their financing? One of the hallmarks of a fair society is said to be how individuals, communities and governments treat, value and support Continue reading »
Exploitation of migrant workers in Australia is rife, a new Grattan Institute report has found. The report, Short-changed: How to stop the exploitation of migrant workers in Australia, shows that recent migrants are twice as likely as long-term residents to be underpaid, and up to 16 per cent of recent migrants are paid less than Continue reading »