Last month, news bubbled that the Victorian State government had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Israeli Defence Ministry in December 2022. “As Australia’s advanced manufacturing capital, we are always exploring economic and trade opportunities for our state – especially those that create local jobs,” a government spokesperson stated in January. In March Continue reading »
Government
In most democratic western countries, certainly in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, politics manifests as a duopoly. Why is it that in spite of cultural, racial and social divisions the world over, personality takes precedence over policies? Decisions about which party to vote for is more often than not based on the perceived Continue reading »
If anyone ever imagined that commemoration of our war dead was not an opportunity to make political points look no further than the Daily Last Post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial at the recent opening of Federal Parliament. We need to honour any Australian who died in war and remember those who came back Continue reading »
Australia looks set to adopt fuel-efficiency standards after the Albanese government on Sunday revealed options for the long-awaited policy. The government says the reform would lead to more cars that are cheaper to run, eventually saving Australians about A$1,000 per vehicle each year. The announcement comes a decade after the Climate Change Authority first proposed such a standard for Continue reading »
While global governments ponder on how to regulate ever evolving new technologies, it may be useful to draw a parallel view of two crucial developments of the last 130 years: radioactivity and digitalisation. A comparison of the historical applications/consequences of radioactive and digital technologies reveals a common theme that may be important in developing regulatory Continue reading »
There are two things the prime minister needs to get into his head about tax. One is that saying he won’t make any further changes no longer works. The other is that negative gearing doesn’t do much to get people into homes. Anthony Albanese seemed to have taken the first point on board when he Continue reading »
The Albanese Government’s proposed change to the Stage 3 tax cuts is clearly a broken promise; or, put another way, where was the political courage to offer an alternative when Stage 3 was announced (well ahead of the 2022 election)? But for the purposes of this analysis, let’s put those genuine integrity issues aside. While Continue reading »
The covid visa stream of sub-class 408 was introduced during the pandemic when international borders were closed. It enabled temporary entrants who were unable to leave Australia to maintain their lawful status and keep working. They could apply for a 12 month covid stream visa and then apply for another one if they wished. It Continue reading »
If you were running the state suffering the very worst of Australia’s housing disaster, a state where the number of public and community housing dwellings actually went backwards last financial year, you might want to grab any and every opportunity to ease the crisis – but you’re not running New South Wales. Since defeating the Continue reading »
The 26 January findings of the International Court of Justice relating to South Africa’s genocide claim against Israel, do not only have bearing on that state, but they trigger the obligation to prevent genocide required of all 153 state parties to the 1948 Genocide Convention, including Australia. In finding that it’s “plausible” that Israel’s massacre Continue reading »