With Japan’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, assassinated, Japan’s current prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has been saying he wants direct talks with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un -a reversal of Abe’s position. February reports said Kishida was willing for the talks to be without conditions. On this basis, Kim Yo Jong -Kim Jong Un’s Continue reading »
politics
This week Prabowo Subianto has been in Beijing at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. It’s the Indonesian president-elect’s first major overseas trip after winning the 14 February election. No come-soon card yet from Washington, so China’s getting in first. Should we be worried? Duncan Graham reports: China already has our near neighbour in a Continue reading »
In a recent interview on Perth radio, Opposition Spokesman on Immigration, Dan Tehan, asserted: “I’ve been saying now for well over 18 months, it’s [meaning immigration] too high”. I have been unable to find any public statement by Tehan 18 months ago that immigration levels were too high. But his leader, Peter Dutton, publicly said 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 »
The world today is disastrously misgoverned by a paranoid generation of ageing political leaders. There’s not a statesman among them, let alone a stateswoman. Meanwhile, the once dominant mainstream political parties are retreating into their bunkers, fearful of the exposure of corruption that has remained hidden in their ranks, terrified of malevolent media moguls, and 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 »
Yesterday, Part 1 of this article discussed the decline in housing affordability and the consequent increase in wealth inequality. Today, Part 2 will discuss possible policies to restore housing affordability in the interests of a more equal and cohesive society. Policies to improve housing affordability and thus increase home ownership have traditionally focussed on reducing 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 »
India has ordered YouTube to take down two ABC reports on Sikh separatism and not allow them to be viewed within the country, a demand with which Google, the owner of YouTube, has complied. One of the stories, titled Sikhs, Spies and Murder: Investigating India’s alleged hit on foreign soil, was aired on the ABC’s Continue reading »
I congratulate Samantha Mostyn on her appointment as Governor-General. Such an appointment is a great honour. Ms Mostyn has given much service to public life as she has to both community and business life. This service marked her out as a distinguished communitarian with a complex range of interests. And with those interests, experience. Accordingly, Continue reading »