Readers will recall my article of 16 April, The end of occupation: A state of Palestine at the UN. It advised of an anticipated vote in the Security Council on April 18. The Security Council was sitting in New York. Because of the time difference, that was early in the morning of 19 April in Continue reading »
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Almost unnoticed, the federal government has quietly pushed a Bill into parliament that will transform the NDIS as we know it. Make no mistake – this Bill is about containing costs. And for good reason. The spiralling cost growth of the NDIS – the National Disability Insurance Scheme – threatens its very existence. Doing nothing Continue reading »
The major obstacle to lobbying reform is that for members of parliament, their staff and senior officials, lobbying provides a very lucrative income when they leave parliament, the military or the public service. So they refuse to act on the lobbying scourge. Submission to Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee re Lobbying, February 8, Continue reading »
Recognition of the Palestinian state is an essential step to achieve peace and stability in the world and to bring an end to the Zionist colonial expansionist project in the Middle East. It is time that Australia be on the right side of history, recognise the state of Palestine and stand up in defence of Continue reading »
I support recognition of a Palestinian state, in the UN context, as an affirmation that our values apply in our approach to dealings between states as well as within states. It should be a lower order of priority for Australia than seeking an immediate and durable end to the conflict in Gaza, and the return Continue reading »
The prospects for significant health reform looked good at the end of 2023. A mid-term review of the main Commonwealth-state agreement – the National Health Reform Agreement (NHRA) – had recommended that the focus of a new agreement, due mid-2025, should be broader than public hospital funding. States seemed to be on board and the Continue reading »
Samantha Mostyn will become the next Governor General in July, taking over from outgoing former General David Hurley. I am greatly cheered by this news, not simply because she is only the second woman to hold this office but because I believe she has the capacity to heal this nation at a time of its Continue reading »
How Albanese doesn’t swallow his tongue as he vociferously demands “full accountability” from Israel for the killing of Zomi Frankcom yet remains silent on 32,000 other killings is anybody’s guess. He waved his metaphorical fist at Netanyahu and told of Australia’s “outrage” at Zomi’s death. But Albanese left out the bit about many Australians’ outrage Continue reading »
Hannah Arendt’s BANALITY OF EVIL report on the Eichmann trial failed to adequately address a key question. How could the German people not have known and how could they have let the holocaust happen? Arendt’s observation that the administrative industrialisation of evil led to its banality is most relevant today, but it is enhanced and Continue reading »
Unpacking the care economy, Dr Robbie Lloyd investigates some of the key issues impacting our communities in a series of articles that explore ageing, disability, mental health reform, the challenges of health policy and reform, drugs and alcohol and domestic family violence. (A repost from 2023). Crushing the human connection: Managerialism does not deliver good Continue reading »