The headline in the Weekend Australian said it all: NT Bases Key to American War Plans. Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, the Chair of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Australian, after a ten day visit to Australia that our geography offered key advantages to the US “as it sought to deter Chinese Continue reading »
Government
A number of new studies highlight an embarrassing fact: Australia is playing a not insubstantial and growing role in slowing the reduction of global carbon emissions. By diligently increasing the development of unwanted new gas and coal fields we are only adding to Trump’s exhortation ‘drill baby drill’ with ‘drill mate drill’. Reversing these policies Continue reading »
One of the first things Tony Abbott did soon after becoming Prime Minister of Australia in 2013 was to abandon the fibre-to-the-premises model that had been the hallmark of the previous Rudd Government’s National Broadband Network rollout. Shortage of labour and supplies had bedevilled the rollout under Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, but it promised a Continue reading »
History has too stately a progress to be the guide to tactics. But those who make history that does not fit logically into a pattern of principle, consistency and good judgment are doomed to stumble in the short term and earn the contempt of its core followers. The size of the gambling industry, and its Continue reading »
While Western nations often celebrate private ownership as a driver of innovation, China’s traditional focus has been on how intellectual property can best serve the collective needs of the nation, particularly in economic development and technological self-reliance. In recent decades, however, China’s approach has undergone a significant transformation. It has shifted from imitation and adaptation Continue reading »
When the former Prime Minister, Paul Keating, recently claimed that Australia was losing its “strategic autonomy” and turning into “the 51st State of the United States”, the current Prime Minister froze in the headlights. Possibly caught before his staff could give him a few dot points, Albanese said “Paul was a great Prime Minister – Continue reading »
I do not expect that there would be an outbreak of existential angst, despair, or deep public sullenness, even among committed Labor voters, if Anthony Albanese were to fail to win the next election. Traditional supporters, even true believers, would be sad and shake their heads. But they would not consider the outcome as their Continue reading »
Gathering in New York in September 2024, the world’s nations will be challenged to ‘end the scourge of war’, before it’s too late. All of them know that a nuclear cataclysm has never been so close. Continue reading »
The new school funding agreement between the Commonwealth and Northern Territory governments brings a much needed boost to public schools funding. However, the claims by the Federal Education Minister, the NT Chief Minister and the NT Education Minister that Territory public schools will be fully funded by 2029 is a deliberate falsehood, that is, a Continue reading »
Has the ALP read the Voice referendum loss as indicating limited voter support for First Nations rights, with an election soon? The Voice Referendum failed, and with that failure First Nations Australians lost the hopes embodied in their proposed plans to add them to the constitution with power to develop policies that dealt with issues Continue reading »