As reported in Pearls and Irritations on 11 November 2024, the ACCC executive members who had accepted membership to the QANTAS Chairman’s lounge should have divested themselves of that benefit before commencing the investigation into QANTAS or resigned. Following on from the ACCC issue, Australia at least at the Federal level, has a very serious Continue reading »
Government
Every time a fascist-flirting regime is defeated in an election, more column inches and podcast minutes are devoted to the sense that the moral arc of the universe bends towards justice. When Trump, Bolsonaro, Sunak’s Tories or the Law and Justice Party in Poland lose elections, the centrist commentariat breathes a sigh of relief, believing Continue reading »
Our challenge now is to detach Australia from the death grip of the United States and to pursue an independent future, which we are quite capable of doing. To do so we will need not only to remove the old sycophantic parties but also to root out the US ‘security’ zealots from our own secretive Continue reading »
Many Australians will be surprised that voters across the US could cast a vote for Donald Trump after a (poorly) attempted coup on January 6, 2021. The only reason we might find this shocking is because we don’t talk about the Dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 as what it really was – a Continue reading »
John Whitbeck’s plea for sanity – UN Membership for Palestine Now, 14 November 2024, should not be put into the too hard basket. At present, of course, the State of Palestine has only non-member observer status, having failed in an application for full member status in 2011. Whitbeck cites only three international instruments in advancing Continue reading »
In this exclusive interview with Alexey Pavlovsky, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Australia since 2019, he shares his insights on the complex dynamics between Russia, Ukraine, and the West, as well as his reflections on Australia’s stance in the ongoing conflict. You have been Ambassador to Australia since 2019. What interested you about Continue reading »
It was supposed to be the Tour Triumphant, showing that Indonesia – the globe’s fourth-most populous nation – has a cosmopolitan new boss who can stride the world stage with panache. But cashiered former general Prabowo Subianto has tripped badly. Indonesia’s eighth President has flunked his first test at high-stakes bargaining in China, while in Continue reading »
How would it be to walk into a general practice with a toothache and be triaged to see the oral health therapist, who assesses and then develops an oral health care plan? They are then qualified to provide dental treatment but may also involve a GP or dentist across the corridor for further assessment. It Continue reading »
This was a mood election; It was not a referendum about Kamala Harris. Nor was it a referendum of Donald Trump’s character. Immediately after an election journalists such as me write analysis and commentary explaining the result and what it says about the mood of the electorate. In many cases, such as Tuesday’s triumph for Continue reading »
The need to restructure energy planning and regulation in Australia has been apparent for over a decade, since households and businesses began rapidly installing solar panels on their roofs, flipping the traditional one-way, large-scale supply of electricity into a two-way, consumer-led transition. There needs to be thorough expert consideration on how best to facilitate this Continue reading »