Category: Independent Commentary
Recent Independent Commentary
Philippines: Left prepares for ‘long fight’ against Duterte following stolen election
The election of 12 new senators was proclaimed on May 22 by the Philippines electoral commission (COMELEC) following mid-term elections on May 13. All were from the grouping endorsed by authoritarian President Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte is best known internationally for his “war on drugs”. In reality this is a war
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Bungled books and matters of fact
In a week littered with literary inaccuracies, the question needs to be asked: why are so many authors getting away with sloppy research?
The post Bungled books and matters of
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What to watch for in Scott Morrison’s new ministry
We’ve picked out the most interesting (and confusing) parts of Morrison’s appointments.
The post What to watch for in Scott Morrison’s new ministry appeared first on Crikey.
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LIONEL ORCHARD. Centre Left Strategy in the face of Election 2019
The debate about the reasons for the result of election 2019 covers many issues including the coherence or otherwise of the Labor strategy. For social democrats, a key question is where to now. Third way thinking about wealth generation before redistribution threatens a return. A stronger social democratic response will
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CAVAN HOGUE. Business as Usual in the World.
Australia’s vote in the UN on the Diego Garcia issue suggests there will be no change in our Government’s approach to foreign policy.
One of the messages coming out of the elections is that Australian voters don’t like complex policies that they find hard to understand and the other is
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Abbott waits for next ride on gravy train.
With his political death, Tony Abbott achieved something he had never managed or even attempted in his political life: bipartisanship.
Only at the fringes was there wailing and gnashing of teeth. For the extreme right, their Captain Catholic will forever be their martyred saint, treacherously brought down by the Turnbull
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ALLAN PATIENCE Are we seeing the beginning of America’s fragmentation.
In his 2014 book Dangerous Allies, Malcolm Fraser issued Australians with a timely warning. He pointed out that the America with which Australia had signed the ANZUS treaty way back in 1951 is a very different country to the “great and powerful friend” we imagined it to be at
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RICHARD BUTLER The Ostrich in the Room: The Alliance
The ostrich buries its head in the sand in the belief that what it can’t see isn’t there; won’t harm it. If perception is everything, the Ostrich has a point. But it isn’t and, the wilful exclusion from our recent election campaign of any debate about Australian foreign policy, especially
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MICHAEL KEATING Labor and the economy: Future policy choices?
Labor went into the recent election with a comprehensive economic plan. Many commentators have blamed Labor’s election loss on this plan, and its support for modest redistribution, thus raising the question of where does Labor go from here?…Labor needs to sell the message that redistribution is essential to sustain
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Victoria’s public housing investment is bleak and getting worse
State government investment in public housing has fallen, and Victoria and NSW are underperforming compared to small states.
The post Victoria’s public housing investment is bleak and getting worse appeared
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Australia just had its first social media election
Targeted misinformation and a quiet undercurrent of anti-immigration and anti-refugee sentiment — social media allowed the real election campaign to fly under the radar.
The post Australia just had
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Browsing the Coalition’s history on digital rights
Global trends point towards increased surveillance and censorship. Australia is no different.
The post Browsing the Coalition’s history on digital rights appeared first on Crikey.
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Emotion and ideology: Liberal strategies and Labor responses
The Conservatives won the recent election in Australia largely because ‘they pushed all the most effective emotional buttons’ ; and had the ‘Power Resources’ to do so most thoroughly. Labor had comprehensive, rational policies in the economic interests of a clear majority of Australians. And yet still Labor lost.
In order to
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Morrison’s munificence starts early
Several political commentators – the ones who failed to hold the government to account and who failed to see where that would lead – have opined that Scott Morrison’s victory will give him the ability to bestow positions on merit, choosing the best person for the job.
Except that’s not how
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How social housing providers can work with government to achieve success
While the issue of social housing has long been a challenging hurdle for both governments and private providers alike, growing political turmoil both at home and abroad has raised the need for new solutions.
With political challenges affecting several countries worldwide including mounting refugee crises, the possibility of a tumultuous
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Both main parties are now in crisis
These results are dire for both main parties. The Tories are fifth and Labour third. But some of the sting has been taken out of the Tory humiliation by Theresa May’s resignation. Jeremy Corbyn, though, finds his leadership under more pressure than it has been since the 2017 general election
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Brexit party leads – as Labour and Tories punished by voters
The EU election results have started to trickle in and so far it’s bad news for both of the main parties. Labour and the Tories are draining support with the pro-EU Liberal Democrats making significant gains (party sources are jubilant and expect at least ten seats overall). However, the big
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Who won what why: now for the battle for the election narrative
The election victory was clearly a triumph for both the style and substance of Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
But the most important post-election issue now is the battle to control the narrative surrounding the causes and meaning of the result.
The advantages the PM enjoyed over his opponent are now
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Award-winning innovation: Fleet Manager of the Year saves lives, $1m a year
If thinking about the exciting world of fleet management doesn’t curl your toes, maybe a million dollars for the whole state will.
That’s how much the New South Wales Department of Industry is saving taxpayers every year through clever coordination of its cars, while also reducing the number of road
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NSW student wellbeing surveys going well, Mark Scott assures auditor-general
The New South Wales Department of Education has told the auditor-general it will be able to report on its efforts to improve student wellbeing in secondary schools, but not until a year from now, while secretary Mark Scott assures her its “Tell them from me” student surveys have been “extremely
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Torres Strait Islanders ask UN to hold Australia to account on climate ‘human rights abuses’
Climate change threatens Australia in many different ways, and can devastate rural and urban communities alike. For Torres Strait Islanders, it’s a crisis that’s washing away their homes, infrastructure and even cemeteries.
The failure to take action on this crisis has led a group of Torres Strait Islanders to
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How might Labor win in 2022? The answers can all be found in the lessons of 2019
If Anthony Albanese wants to lead Labor to victory in 2022, he’ll need to grasp the full suite of lessons from 2019’s shock loss. AAP/Joel Carrett
The high tide of analysis concerning the Australian Labor Party’s shock 2019 federal election loss has been reached. It looks like so much flotsam and
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Comic: how to have better arguments about the environment (or anything else)
Conflict can make us lose sight of common goals and interests. Darren Fisher, CC BY-ND
From climate change to armed conflict, our world is struggling with urgent global issues. But disagreements about how to solve them can spiral out of control.
The only way to resolve intractable conflicts is to overcome
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Some public schools get nearly 6 times as much funding, thanks to parents
Despite attempts to the contrary, government schools are far from equal. from shutterstock.com
More advantaged public secondary schools across Australia generate nearly six times the amount of funding contributions from parents than less advantaged schools receive.
Our study, published in The Australian Educational Researcher journal, examined private levels of funding in
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A long time ago… why prequels are taking us back to the future in popular film
An upcoming film will explore the origins of the Joker, last seen in the Batman franchise. But prequels are often poorly received – perhaps with good reason. DC Comics/IMDB
Last month, audiences got their first glimpse of the trailer for the upcoming film, Joker, which explores the origins of its iconic
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Why Aboriginal voices need to be front and centre in the disability Royal Commission
Australia sees higher rates of disability in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population than the non-Indigenous population. From shutterstock.com
We welcome the recently announced Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.
At the same time, the enquiry must consider certain issues in its
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Knowledge sharing between policy makers and academics
Policy makers are increasingly drawing on knowledge outside the public service to deal with the complexity of public policy. Academic research is one source of external expertise that can contribute to robust policy development. However there are significant barriers to meaningful knowledge exchange.
A project between academics and a policy
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The big Tory leadership question: what happens on All Saints Day?
If the EU is unable to make a Brexit offer that is acceptable to Parliament by the Brexit deadline on 31 October, what then? This is the big question in the Tory leadership contest and – slowly – we’re getting answers.
1. No deal back on the table, an extension not
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View from The Hill: Morrison rewards friends, avoids making enemies and announces new ambassadors
Scott Morrison’s new ministry mixes stability with dashes of innovation, box ticking, and the rewarding of friends.
The Prime Minister has maintained his record number of women (seven) in cabinet, and created a new entry to the history books by appointing the first indigenous cabinet minister, Ken Wyatt, who will
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What the hell are you doing, Labor?
As a smirking Scott Morrison prances about the country being hailed by the media and his party as the Messiah who performs miracles, claiming a mandate for anything he chooses to do, Labor seems not to have learned anything from their failure to sell themselves at the last election.
One
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New cabinet, machinery of government changes: Second Morrison Ministry
Agriculture, Communications, Environment, Human Services, Indigenous Affairs and Social Services portfolios will have new federal ministers sworn in on Wednesday, May 29, after Australia’s Morrison government was re-elected to power.
Meanwhile, public servants in Energy, Environment, Home Affairs, Human Services, Indigenous Affairs, Industrial Relations all appear to be set for
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CBD: and now for the AA meetings
Our peeved yet perspicacious political insider writes exclusively:
Excessive self-medication in the wake, if not at the wake, of the election result has CBD contemplating professional assistance. Having to drop BS in favour of AA (Anthony Albanese) has a respectable (albeit self help) ring about it. Telling fellow GULAG supporters
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Democracy Isn’t The Problem, Ignorance Is!
This is not some sour grapes whinge from a rusted on Labor or Greens supporter. I’m trying to look dispassionately at some of the problems that have emerged since the election. I’m not even trying to argue that Scott Morrison doesn’t now have a mandate for whatever torture he wants
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Ammonia Utopia Or Nuclear Nirvana: Digging Ourselves Out Of A Climate Disaster
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The ‘next big thing’ in the environmental movement appears to be ammonia, or rather a more efficient way to make it. Geoff Russell crunches the numbers, and they’re not particularly encouraging.
During the recent election
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Fresh miracles in Galilee – the Galilee Basin, that is
The proposed Adani mine has been wading through a green swamp of political obstacles for nine long years. Other coal optimists have struggled to develop coal in the Galilee Basin for over 40 years. Federal Labor, state Labor and the Greens have taken turns to man the anti-coal barricades.
In
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Soaking Seniors, One Treasurer at a Time
Giving wrinklies a kick is their schtick. Are sociopathic treasurers, actual and wannabe, a modern-day phenomenon? I am not an historian so will leave the question hanging.
My tale begins with Hockey, an amiable-looking cigar-chomping chap. Beneath, a dark heart pumped. Let’s progressively lower the living standards of old-age
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This Election saw the revival of white supremacy, nationalism and exclusion
The plethora of racist, white supremacist and Islamophobic parties and candidates rolling up for the May 2019 Federal Election, all directing their preferences to the Liberal-National Coalition, suggested a yearning amongst very vocal fringe elements for the past certainties of Australian society. read now…
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