The Voice is beyond politics. It’s about reconciliation between two profoundly different cultures and approaches to life. Politics is important. Democracy wouldn’t exist without it. Engaging politically is how we manage a diverse and pluralist society with relative peace and respect. But there are moments in history when we have to go beyond politics. The Continue reading »
Government
Since Australia has mortgaged its future to this nation it is worth debating the matter. The preambles to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as statement of ideals are inspiring but the reality is far from these ideals. It is true that the Americans fought a civil war partly based on abolition of slavery Continue reading »
Having witnessed the last days of my parents and in-laws, I don’t delude myself – as they did – that I’ll be able to avoid being carted off to an old people’s home. Sorry, an aged care residential facility. Actually, I dream of dying in the saddle. My last, half-finished column would be the announcement Continue reading »
Opposition to the AUKUS deal among rank and file Labor supporters and similarly aligned voters is increasing by the day. It’s not simply because AUKUS is a malignant inheritance from the Morrison government that people who voted Labor at the last election are expressing their alarm about it today. On every level it is so obviously Continue reading »
With billions of dollars on the banquet table, Australia should choose its dinner guests wisely. The defence lobbying firm Pyne & Partners – chaired by the former Australian Defence Minister Christopher Pyne – co-hosted an AUKUS reception and dinner in Washington at the swanky Cosmos Club on Embassy Row, with Northrop Grumman Corporation, on 3 April Continue reading »
Since I was elected, I have consistently called for media reform. This is due to my concerns that the absence of media diversity and the resulting concentration of power are leading to a lack of accountability and eroding public trust in the fourth estate. The publication of leaked text messages in relation to the high-profile Continue reading »
There is a widespread misconception that the powers given the Federal Parliament by the Australian Constitution may be altered only by referendum. Section 128 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1901 prescribes the mode of altering the Constitution and is premised on there being a proposed law for the alteration ‘passed by an absolute Continue reading »
The Albanese government’s embrace of the AUKUS security pact faces a second internal rejection in as many weeks, with the Victorian branch of the Labor Party poised to condemn it on multiple fronts, writes Phillip Coorey in the AFR. Two weeks after the Queensland branch of the ALP, at its state conference, refused to support Continue reading »
America is no longer the dominant hegemon in our region. In its place Australia can and should play an important role in establishing a true multipolar system of governance. But that will first require Australia to resolve the present contradiction between our foreign and defence policies. The future US-China relationship The starting point for any Continue reading »
Since a United Nations General Assembly Resolution vote in November 2012, Palestine has had the status of a state within the UN system. It is not a full member state but, like the Holy See, a non-member observer state. Australia – after a heady debate within the Gillard cabinet – abstained on that vote. The State Continue reading »