IF YOU cannot fulfill the voters’ hopes you end up having to pander to their fears. Malcolm Turnbull, barrister tactician to the end, failed because almost from Day One his political strategy was wrong. Continue reading “Turnbull: great tactician, poor strategist”
Month: August 2018
MyHealth: everybody should be in
THE furore in the past fortnight over whether MyHealth should be opt-in or opt-out misses the point. Once the security concerns are fixed, there should be no “opt” at all. Everyone who uses Medicare or the PBS should be in MyHealth whether they like it or not. Continue reading “MyHealth: everybody should be in”
Dog-whistlers making it easier for population profiteers
THE big business lobbies must be licking their lips over the out-pouring of racially motivated calls for lower immigration – in the very week that Australia’s population hit 25 million. It means that sensible people arguing for lower immigration on economic and environmental grounds will now also have to run the gauntlet of being branded as racist. Continue reading “Dog-whistlers making it easier for population profiteers”
We are appeasing the new elected autocrats
IN 1938 “appeasement” was not dirty word. It was regarded as a legitimate response to Adolf Hitler’s increasingly menacing actions towards his neighbours. Today one could ask whether liberal democracies are similarly appeasing authoritarian regimes. The situations are different, but there are similarities. It would be folly to suggest a pre-emptive war against any one or all of the authoritarian regimes around the world. But a little bit of deterrence would not go amiss. Continue reading “We are appeasing the new elected autocrats”