AUSTRALIA is now on the receiving end of one of the great ironies of recent Chinese history. The Chinese regime is desperate to stay in power and to do that it needs to keep control and avoid unrest, turbulence and uncertainty. Continue reading “Australia hit by China’s lack of rule of law”
Category: Uncategorized
Forget a double dissolution
THE constitutional timing, the numbers and the politics, among other things, are all wrong for a double dissolution. Small wonder Prime Minister Kevin Rudd could say at the weekend he had no intention of calling one. Continue reading “Forget a double dissolution”
This is the media, not a court
OPPOSITION Leader Malcolm Turnbull’s performance on the 7.30 Report this week was like one of the great constitutional fights in the High Court in the 1980s – as so many of his media appearances are. Continue reading “This is the media, not a court”
Getting better for world’s poorest
SIMON Moss, the general manager of the Global Poverty Project, asked a simple question at a lecture theatre at the University of Canberra this week. “Do you think that global poverty has got worse or better in the past two decades?” he asked an audience of mainly students. Continue reading “Getting better for world’s poorest”
Court makes Rudd health options harder
IT WOULD would take just one word – “health”.
If that word were added to the list of Commonwealth powers in Section 51 of the Constitution, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would have the chance to change Australia’s health system along the lines suggested in this week’s report by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. Continue reading “Court makes Rudd health options harder”
Put Telstra out of its misery
SOMETIMES it takes a long time for politicians to grasp the obvious.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said this week that the Government would be open to changing Telstra’s ownership structure, including separating its retail and wholesale (infrastructure) businesses. Continue reading “Put Telstra out of its misery”
Freeways just get clogged
THE time for public submissions into the environmental impact of the Majura Parkway expired this week.
But the trouble with the parkway is not environmental – it goes through a bit of clapped out kangaroo and cattle country. The problem is more an economic one and one of federal-territory relations. Continue reading “Freeways just get clogged”
Relieving tax-return burden
About 12 million Australians, from this week, will begin doing tax returns.
It is a massive amount of paperwork even with the Australian Tax Office’s splendid e-tax system. And most of it is utterly unnecessary. Continue reading “Relieving tax-return burden”
Logic of newspapers’ survival
THE news about news came right from the very top.
The chief executive of News Ltd, Australia’s largest newspaper company, John Hartigan, told us that newspapers in Australia are not dying in the face of the internet. Continue reading “Logic of newspapers’ survival”
Questioning Opposition judgment
JUST like the rest of us, Members of Parliament have to question how they come to conclusions about the world and people around them.
It requires judgment to assess the degree of proof needed before coming to a conclusion and it requires character and courage to admit when you are wrong. Continue reading “Questioning Opposition judgment”