In creating an integrity commission - the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) - the Albanese government was entrusted to ensure federal integrity. Instead it has wasted a fortune on a body that can’t or won’t do its job. Continue reading »
politics
Two students, including one activist with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, were arrested in front of campus.
The post Columbia Welcomes Students Back to Campus With Arrests appeared first on The Intercept.
Political and economic pressures are rising in Papua New Guinea (PNG), with escalating social tensions suggesting a need for focused regional support. Critics argue that given ongoing civil unrest, political instability with Rainbo Paita’s challenge to Prime Minister James Marape and substantial economic challenges such as a stagnating minimum wage and increasing poverty, financial aid Continue reading »
History didn’t start on 7 October. True that. To get a deeper sense of why the shocking destruction in Gaza is happening, we have to revive the forgotten war that the US waged against North Korea in the 1950s. In many ways, it was the template for all that followed. Gaza is tiny: 365 km². Continue reading »
On 22 August, China commemorated the 120th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s birth. The third Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China in 1978 marked the beginning of China’s reform and opening-up under the leadership of Deng. His reforms transformed China from one of the poorest countries to the world’s second-largest economy. China’s gross domestic Continue reading »
Despite Victoria's announcement to halt native forest logging, controversial 'Forest Gardening' practices continue, raising concerns about the exploitation of Indigenous cultural practices and the environmental impacts of industrial logging under a new guise. Continue reading »
Commissioner Paul Brereton said one thing to his top NACC colleagues and another to the Attorney-General. EXCLUSIVE The head of the National Anti-Corruption Commission Paul Brereton made misleading statements to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus over his management of conflicts of interest regarding the Robodebt referrals. A three-page official letter from Brereton to Dreyfus, released by the Continue reading »
The Chinese in Australia have lost our voice. In contrast, the Jews, not even a tenth of us in numbers, have a very strong voice. They even got six of our ex-PMs to sign a letter condemning the 7 October 2022 HAMAS attack. Is it not time, for Chinese Australians, to find our Voice, in 2024? Continue reading »
The Pearls and Irritations platform, with its commitment to fact-driven critique, exemplifies dissent as a profound act of civic engagement. Immanuel Kant, the renowned Enlightenment philosopher, offered a powerful defence of this kind of loyal, evidence-based dissent. Kant argued that the free public use of reason is essential for societal progress. The mission of Pearls Continue reading »
Public polls and what I have heard of private polls suggest we may be facing a very new political ball game after the next federal election. At the last election, the Albanese Government secured a two-seat majority. The large swing to the ALP in WA was a surprise. And the ‘Chinese vote’ was critical in Continue reading »