There is a sharp contradiction at the heart of the Albanese government’s attempt to stabilise trade with China, whilst at the same time preparing for war with China in support of the United States. Trade Minister Don Farrell has just returned from a visit to China. He described his visit as ‘a step in the process of stabilising Continue reading »
Government
In March 2023, the Australian Defence Department confirmed the arrival of an F/A18G Growler aircraft to replace a similar aircraft which was destroyed in January 2018 while on a training exercise. It had flown less than 120 hours. The aircraft was powered by two General Electric F414-GE-400 turbofan engines. According to the Royal Australian Air Continue reading »
The decision to approve the Isaac coal mine is a betrayal of Australians and indeed people worldwide and as a medical doctor I am justifiably angry. The warning to end all fossil fuel developments recently published in Australian newspapers by 100 prominent Australian scientists and experts was related to the Beetaloo gas development in the Continue reading »
Despite the horrors of conflicts around the globe, the United States and Israel compete for headlines about their latest killing sprees. These close allies have cultivated cultures of violence, have aided one another with weapons, with military mindsets, with a fascination with violence as the way to solve problems and eliminate opponents. Figures show the Continue reading »
A 15% pay rise forms the centrepiece of Labor’s 2023 aged care budget. It is one of three significant aged care reforms that Labor has introduced since coming to office – a new funding model, mandated minimum staffing and now a pay rise for aged care workers. It’s a great start. But there is much Continue reading »
Many Australians might not realise that the 2022 federal election was the first to be accompanied by an independent report on the performance of the outgoing parliament in building a better Australia. The State of Australia 2022, prepared by Australian Community Futures Planning (ACFP), supplied Australians with detailed and summary views of whether during the Continue reading »
A radical approach to building an ecologically sustainable and socially just society. Collectively we are driving Earth and civilisation towards collapse. Human activities have exceeded planetary boundaries. We are changing the climate, losing biodiversity, degrading land, contaminating freshwater, and damaging the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles upon which we all depend. We ask how this could happen. Continue reading »
Joe Biden isn’t coming to Australia. The good news is he hasn’t had a senior moment and forgotten all about an appointment with another interchangeable ‘fella down under’. The bad news is that the United States’ increasingly poisonous domestic politics and crises take priority over everything else, including the long-term security of the Indo-Pacific. To Continue reading »
In the May 2023 Budget, Treasury caused a ‘big Australia’ furore by increasing its net migration forecast for 2022-23 from the 235,000 it published in the October 2022 Budget to 400,000. Net migration is the number of people, irrespective of citizenship or visa status, who arrive in Australia after being outside the country for more Continue reading »
Last Monday, Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek and Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt announced an intended spending of $236 million to upgrade the nation’s flood warning gauge networks. This is welcome news, but it must also be recognised that for flood warning to be truly effective we will need to pay more attention Continue reading »