The Labor victory in NSW this weekend has put the Liberal Party on notice. While many local issues were in play, the increasing radicalisation of the party at federal and state levels is making it unelectable. The usual drongos’ voices cry, “Liberals must go further right to win,” but Australia’s superior electoral system will make Continue reading »
Government
Labor talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk. Last week’s ‘‘final warning’’ from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – and the Albanese government’s refusal to be moved by it – should be a gamechanger in our assessment of Labor’s willingness to do what must be done. The IPCC’s message – driven home by Continue reading »
The AUKUS nuclear submarine deal presents New Zealand with a difficult dilemma. On one hand old allies are forming a military alliance to confront an emergent China, ramping up their AUKUS relationship and their rhetoric magnifying China’s threat. On the other hand is New Zealand’s long standing carefully nurtured relationship with its major trading partner. Continue reading »
The uniformly negative reaction of the national press gallery to former PM Paul Keating’s views on Australia’s security raises questions not just of its intellectual adequacy but of whether the media has been captured by and is knowingly serving the United States at Australia’s expense. How might one distinguish commentary which knowingly favours US objectives Continue reading »
At least until the 1964 Freedom Rides, Australia had a Jim Crow system every bit as bad as in the American South. Modern Anglo-Australians sometimes congratulate themselves about that moment in white Australia’s progress to semi-civilisation 56 years ago when Australian voters acknowledged Australia’s original inhabitants, and grudgingly allowed that they could be numbered among Continue reading »
The last few months, culminating in the announcement about the AUKUS agreement and the release of the 2023 IPCC Synthesis Report, have probably crystallised for many Australians a realisation that they are headed towards a future that is truly frightening. Australia along with the rest of the world is facing the prospect of self-harm or Continue reading »
India holds this year’s presidency of the Group of 20 and has boldly stated its vision as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One Earth, One Family, One Future). This is a departure from the previous (and often dry) themes of the G20 which are dominated by geopolitical issues and economic priorities of Western powers. India’s tagline demonstrates the Continue reading »
The criticisms of the AUKUS arrangements announced by the government are entirely warranted, as is the outrage that has accompanied them, but, strangely, they miss a point which should have preceded them. And that has to do with the political complexion of the United States itself; in brief, it faces the world as a troubled Continue reading »
Recently, Australia’s Defence Minister, Richard Marles said “Our alliance with the United States is completely central to our national security and to our worldview”. This raises three questions: 1. Does our relationship with the US enhance Australia’s sovereignty? 2. Does Australia share US values? 3. Does Australia face a “China threat”? The Australian government gives Continue reading »
Dear Labor MPs, I write to convey my deep disappointment in the Labor Government, of which you are part, specifically in relation to the AuKUS submarine deal but more generally in relation to military strategy and foreign policy. The United States’ China containment strategy is designed to shore up US economic hegemony but being sold Continue reading »