With former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Varghese undertaking a review of taxpayer dollars spent on strategic policy work, Australia’s China hawks have argued a Canberra-based thinktank, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), cannot be touched. After an employee of the Chinese embassy included funding an “anti-China thinktank” in a Continue reading »
politics
When I asked Jocelyn Chey about her experience at the lunch in Parliament House in honour of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, she said, “I thought the best part of the lunch was Dutton’s speech through gritted teeth about how everyone wants relations with China to improve.” Also, speaking to 2GB, Dutton said, “I’m pro-China and Continue reading »
From air strikes to field executions, Fault Lines investigates the killings of civilians by the Israeli military in Gaza and the role of the United States in the war. As Israel’s bombing campaign continues in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis deepens to catastrophic levels, the Biden administration has not wavered in its support for Israel. Continue reading »
The world’s geopolitical system is not delivering what we want or need. Sustainable development is our declared goal, meaning economic prosperity, social justice, environmental sustainability, and peace. Yet our reality is continued poverty amidst plenty, widening inequalities, deepening environmental crises, and war. To get back on track, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has wisely called Continue reading »
The Opposition’s shadow spokesperson for home and foreign affairs, Barnaby Joyce, has told colleagues of his interest in getting together a working group to explore sex based rorts and the NDIS. ”If there is rorting going on then I want... Read More ›
"This case has … a serious chilling effect on public-interest journalism, and sends a terrifying message to any sources sitting on evidence of abuses by the government and its agencies."
Job cuts continue across the empire as the business model dies a slow death. Few things say “company in decline” louder than the now-annual round of job cuts in the troubled news media segment of global media behemoth News Corp, with last month’s annual budget meeting in Sydney revealing more cuts planned across the next Continue reading »
There is an oft-quoted legal dictum known as “The Rule of Law” that posits that all people are equal before the law regardless of status or standing, and that all must obey the law. How then (one must ask) does such a widely-held principle conform to the recent ruling of the US Supreme Court that Continue reading »
Australia’s drug budget heavily focuses on law enforcement over harm reduction and prevention, underscoring the need for more balanced, effective spending. How much do Australian governments spend on illicit drug issues? Australia’s drug policy spending remains heavily skewed towards law enforcement, raising concerns about priorities and effectiveness. According to a 2021/2022 drug budget report by Continue reading »
Best-selling British writers, George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison, have very recently published “The Invisible Doctrine”, which is a powerful critique of neoliberalism, and the role they believe it is playing in destroying our human future. The authors say that the neoliberalism is the dominant ideology of our time, but many people do not know much Continue reading »