In the last three months, processing of primary level asylum seeker applications increased from 1,002 in December 2023; to 1,479 in January 2024 and 2,037 in February 2024 (see Chart 1). Applications processed exceeded new applications lodged in February 2024 for the first time since early 2022 when international borders re-opened and new applications again Continue reading »
politics
Recently, a former Prime Minister (who also once served as Health Minister) was quoted as declaring “the Morrison government’s Covid response as a ‘grotesque overreaction’ to a ‘relatively mild pandemic’”. Presuming the quotation is accurate, this incorrect and irresponsible comment needs to be debunked by some facts. These facts derive from World Health Organisation statistics Continue reading »
On February 28, 2022, four days after Russia had attacked into Ukraine, Moscow and Kiev began peace talks. The Russian attack had aimed to force Kiev to promise neutrality – i.e. not to join NATO. It also aimed to put an end to eight years of neo-NAZI and other militant bombing of the two Russian-speaking Continue reading »
The continuing horror in Gaza touches us all deeply, even if only vicariously. It leads us ineluctably to the question, often asked in exasperation: Is there no solution? But we’ve been here before and some point to the 1998 Belfast Good Friday Agreement (BGFA), which ended the Troubles in Northern Ireland, as a possible model Continue reading »
Society as a whole has a critical interest in the direction of technological innovation. This cannot be left uniquely to a limited group of capitalist bosses. Consultation with all the key interest groups and government regulation have a critical role to play in ensuring future economic growth and a fair go for all. This article Continue reading »
The neo-traditionalists have been sent a clear message by Pope Francis that their dismissal of synodality, and their disruptive behaviour do violence to the very nature of the Church itself and thereby damage the Reign of God. For Pope Francis, synodality is ‘one of the most precious legacies of the Second Vatican Council’ and the Continue reading »
The global movement towards authoritarianism took a step forward this week, and faced an experiment in checking its infiltration. In America, a frightening move towards crushing protest was made when the Supreme Court refused to hear the Mckesson v Doe case on liability accruing to protest organisers. In Europe, an international gathering of far right Continue reading »
It is time for Israel to recognize the force of the rapidly growing international movement to recognize Palestinian statehood, not as the final outcome of a political settlement but as a path to achieving it. Were Israel to get serious again about pursuing a two-state solution would not be to reward Hamas, but benefiting itself. Continue reading »
Australia’s carbon offset scheme costs a lot and captures almost no carbon but provides a fig leaf for continuing emissions. Technology-based Carbon Dioxide Removal is still a distant dream. Distributed energy resources can be the Swiss Army knife of the electricity system. Australia’s carbon offset scheme exposed as a scam Over the last decade the Continue reading »
The Government’s foreshadowed bill for a “Future Made in Australia” has been met with two very different kinds of response, one positive, welcoming the prospect of initiatives from the Government to support and promote investment in forward-leaning projects and the “industries of the future”, the other negative, saying that governments should stay out of private Continue reading »