The increasing number of Grandparents paying private school fees has enabled elite schools to evade Commonwealth parent income tests determining the rate of taxpayer funding that goes to society’s most wealthy and least in need students. Some private schools have acknowledged that many grandparents pay school fees. In effect, this is an admission that they Continue reading »
Government
It is curious that though the Russia-Ukraine conflict is now in its third year, Australian audiences have been only given one side of the picture: that of Ukraine and its Western backers. The commercial outlets, no doubt, have their reasons for acting like Pravda would in Russia and toeing the line of the Australian government Continue reading »
Every element of Australia’s health system is in trouble. But you’d never know it from looking at this year’s budget. Every previous Labor government since the second world war had good reasons to boast of its performance in health policy. The Albanese government, on the evidence, does not. The 2024-25 budget leaves the nation’s crumbling Continue reading »
This past Budget week had the most intense focus on immigration levels that I can remember (and I’ve been watching immigration policy in Budget week for over 35 years). It confirms that immigration levels will be a dominant issue at the next Election. But debates about immigration levels can be a mixture of substance as Continue reading »
In the movie Apocalypse Now, Robert Duval’s character, Colonel Bill Kilgore, reflectively observes that, despite the smell of victory, ‘Someday this war’s gonna end’. So too, the war in Gaza is going to end. The only questions are how and when. Despite growing external pressure, the current Israeli cabinet is only inclined to end the Continue reading »
After considering Opposition criticisms, this article concludes that this Budget reflects Labor’s competent economic management. However, a more ambitious tax reform agenda is needed to adequately provide all the services that Australians expect. Labor’s macroeconomic strategy Essentially Labor faced a difficult balancing act with this budget. The challenge was to improve the cost of living Continue reading »
Under-funding is not the main reason for the crisis in Australia’s public hospitals. A far bigger problem is systemic stupidity. Before the pandemic, Tasmania’s public hospital system was the nation’s standout basket case. But the malaise, rather like a virulent infectious disease, has spread. Now every state has the same scandals: critically ill patients waiting Continue reading »
Jewish students in Western countries are increasingly facing forms of transnational repression from vigilante groups linked to the repressive Israeli state. These groups are allegedly using violence and intimidation on university campuses in coordinated strategies to curtail freedom of speech. The strategy utilised by the Zionist Establishment within Jewish communities and outside these communities, particularly, Continue reading »
In spruiking their coming “Future Made in Australia” policies PM Albanese and Treasurer Chalmers have singled out for a possible government “helping hand” projects designed to promote our role in their hoped-for future renewable, green economy. But if government “helping hands” are thinkable they could be applied in other areas as well. One area crying Continue reading »
It’s said you can tell a government’s true priorities from what it does in its budget. If so, the top priority of Anthony Albanese’s government is not to have any priorities. Rather than focusing on fixing the most pressing of our many problems, his preference is to be seen doing a little to alleviate all Continue reading »