A majority of Australians want a ceasefire in Gaza, but the Australian Parliament seems more preoccupied with political brinkmanship than recognition of this tragedy. The first parliamentary debate occurred immediately after the Hamas attack on Israel when this atrocity was immediately condemned recognising the human impact of this act of terrorism. Yet for the last Continue reading »
Government
Noel Turnbull correctly writes that media coverage of the federal opposition’s nuclear power proposal is superficial. There is a very wide range of as yet unanswered issues. First, who will build and operate the proposed nuclear power stations. Many years ago, when the Commonwealth proposed establishment of a nuclear power station, it settled on Jervis Continue reading »
Why is opposition leader Peter Dutton campaigning on nuclear energy for Australia at this time? Michael Lester discuss with Professor Ian Lowe, Griffith University, with decades of experience in the nuclear industry and in academia, author of the benchmark book ‘long half life: the nuclear industry in Australia (Monash University Publishing). Lester and Lowe talk Continue reading »
The Communist Party of China has said the upcoming Third Plenary Session of its current 20th Central Committee will focus on “deepening comprehensive reform to advance Chinese modernisation.” Based on past practice and some recent public reports, Beijing is drafting its agenda now, but details are hard to come by. To piece together potential changes, Continue reading »
The statement released by the Prime Minister’s office concerning the visit of Chinese Premier Li Qiang notes that there will be a ‘community event to recognise the significant contributions of the over one million members of the Chinese-Australian community to our nation’s multicultural success story’. But what Chinese-Australians truly desire is to be treated as Continue reading »
It is pitiful to think that a Labor Government elected in its own right two years ago might be running scared of a depleted Opposition party and its public relations arm, News Corp, but that is what appears to have been happening on a number of fronts. Disclosure As a voter who lived on the Continue reading »
The Canberra Press Gallery is not a homogenous group although its members do seem to suffer from a fair amount of groupthink; preference for gotchas and speculation about what might happen next in politics; and heavy dependence on leaks and drops for copy. One part of it – the Murdoch part – subsumes this into Continue reading »
When I think of Australia, the first things that pop into my mind are koalas and kangaroos. Those adorable marsupials are wooing travellers worldwide every year to the beautiful land. But travellers can also say hello to Giant Pandas in Australia. It is the only country in the Southern Hemisphere that hosts those cuddly animals Continue reading »
Australia is the only western liberal democracy without a mandated charter of human rights. It’s now closer than at any time in 40 years. There are certain basic rights that are essential in any liberal democracy and, without them, a country is neither liberal nor a democracy. They include habeas corpus, free speech, the right Continue reading »
Primary school students learn in their early days that accountability is a keystone of democracy. Not far into secondary school that reassuring notion is tempered as schoolies get to appreciate that for governments accountability equals political risk. It’s a pain in ministerial necks and should be kept within bounds sufficient to minimise electoral discomfort. These Continue reading »