The Australian Public Service Commission released the second capability review of the Department of Health and Aged Care on 18 August. While the review is not as scathing as the first review in 2014, it still sets out a challenging internal reform agenda for new Secretary Blair Comley. The 2014 capability review was highly critical Continue reading »
Government
UWA Defence and Security Institute’s Masterclass Series AUKUS: Pillar 1 provided an illuminating insight into what some of our brightest and best think about national security and how to achieve it. The net effect was profoundly depressing and unsettling. The AUKUS agreement has some powerful and ardent admirers. I have never shared a room with Continue reading »
How did the National Archives of Australia, whose core function is to ‘collect, preserve, manage and make public Australia’s most significant historical records, become instead an obstacle to public access and a barrier to knowledge of our own history? Minister for the Arts Tony Burke must act to reverse the Morrison government’s attack on the Continue reading »
The Australian Government’s public analysis of climate risk, our greatest threat, is dangerously misleading. The Intergenerational Report 2023 (IGR) is a prime example. By dumbing down the implications of climate change with simplified economic models, the IGR and similar reports are institutionalising the global failure to face climate reality. The US inquiry into the 9/11 Continue reading »
The US government secretly told TikTok that it would not be banned in the country – if it allowed American agents access to the records of TikTok users, Forbes reported. TikTok has a billion users worldwide, with 150 million in the United States. Earlier, US politicians accused the company of being a Chinese “Trojan horse” Continue reading »
The truth is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people successfully governed themselves for over 60,000 years and Australia need only get out of the way so they can continue. Promoting self-determination is an ongoing process of choice usually reserved for Government, but this year the Voice referendum means Australians will be asked to promote Continue reading »
The unplumbed depths of Peter Dutton cynical politics should be a matter of deep concern to genuine political conservatives across Australia. Whoever those people are (at present they appear to be in hiding), it’s time they distanced themselves from what the Liberal Party is becoming under Dutton’s leadership. What should a genuinely conservative political party Continue reading »
With the increase in the number of BRICS countries, this emerging international order dominated by the countries of the Global South will ultimately become the primary international order in the world, gradually replacing the fading international order dominated by the US and the West. The 15th meeting of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Continue reading »
Wednesday’s National Cabinet meeting set itself a huge task: to fix Australia’s rental crisis. Thankfully, given rents are rising at their fastest rate in decades, the plan it produced just might do the trick. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it’s the most significant housing reform in a generation. If the states and territories deliver on their commitments, Continue reading »
Long departed architects of media laws have left a lasting stain on the media landscape and the intellectual and cultural milieu of Australia. In Battlestar Galactica there is a memorable line that should be etched on the political tombstone of every Australian politician who has been responsible for the media portfolio. ‘All of this has Continue reading »