Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone? – Joni Mitchell How many times have you seen the life of a great Australian eulogised on page 2 of the New York Times? Perishing few, if any, is my impression. Yet that august American journal took time and Continue reading »
Tributes
Prominent Chinese community leader, Dr Anthony “Tony” Pun died last night in Sydney, aged 77. In 1989 he came to public prominence when he lobbied then prime minister Bob Hawke to allow Chinese students to remain in Australia, in the wake of the crackdown on Chinese student protests that led to the Tiananmen Square incident. Continue reading »
A dear friend, amazing mentor and an invaluable China Matters board director who was instrumental to ensuring independent voices on China issues were still alive in Australia. In the many tributes written about Allan Gyngell over the past two days, he has been hailed as a brilliant mind and an outstanding Australian who made an Continue reading »
Perhaps now – more than ever – is the time when Australia needs outstanding foreign policy thinkers. It has lost one of its best with the death of Allan Gyngell after a short illness. When he relinquished the National Presidency of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) a few months ago, he saw it Continue reading »
The passing of my distinguished predecessor, Sir Leslie Colin Patterson deserves a tribute. Leslie Patterson was one of Australia’s first cultural diplomats, being posted as Cultural Attache to the Far East by the Whitlam government in 1974, having previously served with distinction as Minister for Shark Conservation and Minister for Drought. (This was before he Continue reading »
The ‘Anzac Cloak’ smothering any matter of opinion that does not adorn the ‘Anzac Spirit’ has become pervasive. Too often, this appropriation of one facet of development of a uniquely ‘Australian’ character – rooted by the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia – has at least one of two perverted purposes: political or commercial. The Continue reading »
John Kerin’s contribution to the success of the Hawke-Keating government has been grievously understated and uncelebrated. Given the economic, environmental, managerial and social change it successfully engineered, having someone who could neutralise the farm lobby was a boon to the ALP’s parliamentary machine. It contributed significantly to the material reforms of the Hawke/Keating era. As Continue reading »
Bruce Haigh, who died on April 7, was a diplomat, an adventurer, an artist and writer, a humanist, a romantic and a man with a deep love of his country, who mourned its fading ideals and values. Ominously, Bruce was born in Sydney on 6 August, 1945, the day the Americans dropped the atom bomb Continue reading »
Not long after six am on Monday the third of April news began to flow south from Yolngu heartland. The most significant Aboriginal leader of our generation had passed. His legacy was and will continue to be profound. His passing has weighty implications for our nation and the Gumatj clan he led. It has implications Continue reading »
Failure to appropriately value the work women do perpetuates their subordinate status. As International Women’s Day approaches l’ve been thinking about housework – that mundane but essential stuff mostly done by women. Not long ago keeping a house clean required a woman’s body to power the scrubbing brush, the broom, the mop. I remember it Continue reading »