Ill winds are blowing in from the United States of America. In the times ahead we will be tested in Australia, across the spectrum, as to whether we adopt a similar approach to our politics. The early signs aren’t good. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has tailored Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” to the more Continue reading »
Government
Australia’s new job classification system, OSCA, replaces ANZSCO with little fanfare. Its streamlined approach raises questions about workforce planning, transparency, and the evolving definition of work. Governments have long classified jobs to track employment trends, inform workforce planning, and shape policy decisions. A well-structured system helps determine migration eligibility, identify skills shortages, and guide education Continue reading »
Right now, the prospect of much improvement in being able to afford a home of your own isn’t bright. We don’t look like solving the problem any time soon. But I’ve been watching and writing about the steady worsening in housing affordability for the best part of 50 years, and I’m more optimistic today than Continue reading »
Never has there been a greater need for Australia to turn away from its military alliance with the United States and forge an independent and peaceful foreign policy. This would necessarily mean an alternative self-reliant defence policy and the forging of friendly and mutually beneficial relations with the fraternity of non-aligned/neutral nations. Even before the Continue reading »
The Gaza ceasefire (if you can even call it that) is already in grave peril. Hamas has announced that it will be postponing the release of any more Israeli hostages in response to repeated ceasefire violations by Israel and consistent failure to meet its terms of the agreement. The IDF has been routinely killing Palestinians Continue reading »
Last week, the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW) wrote to Foreign Minister Wong expressing shock and outrage that Australia had not openly protested US President Trump’s 4 February statement of intent to erase Gaza. Despite the plan being illegal and inhumane in the extreme, threatening to grossly destabilise further a whole region, and Continue reading »
Health outcomes are about more than access to healthcare services: they are highly dependent on the social and economic determinants of health. Despite lip service to the importance of these factors and preventive health actions, the Australian healthcare system is relentlessly focused on treating sick people, with subsequent economic and social costs incurred by governments, Continue reading »
Australian citizens and residents who originally came to this country seeking asylum, as they are clearly entitled to do under international law, have been in the news recently, through no fault of their own and not in a good way. Sections of the media and some politicians have attacked them for doing what all citizens Continue reading »
The catastrophic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians (the present “ceasefire” notwithstanding) has done nothing to relieve the centuries-old contradictions that exist between and within our three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Mysteriously, God’s role in these ongoing horrors is seldom seriously discussed by our political leaders, the media or even religious leaders. In Continue reading »
History did exist before 7 October 2023. It existed before 1948 and 1929 and goes back millennia. Archaeological evidence shows the geographic region was known as Palestine as far back as 4000BCE and had a Jewish presence dating from 3800 BCE. In contemporary politics, 7 October 2023 represents a decisive shift in the Middle East Continue reading »