Journalism and other writing
THE Australian Constitution is silent on citizenship. It gives the Commonwealth Parliament the power to make laws with respect to “immigration and emigration” and with respect to “naturalization and aliens”.
But there is no specific power over “citizenship”. Continue reading “Govt may not have power over citizenship”
MAO said, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” But for terrorist groups in the Middle East, power grows out of a barrel of oil. Western nations should heed this lesson if they ever hope to put an end to the so-called war on terror. Continue reading “Terrorists’ power comes through a barrel of oil”
THE Infrastructure Australia Audit issued a week ago would be laughable if it were not so depressing.
So here is the laughable bit – a script I have crafted for John Clarke and Brian Dawe. Continue reading “Population growth cost billions just to keep up”
THE question of recognition of Indigenous Australians in the Constitution has had a fair airing this week. And that should tell us a few things.
It is 48 years since the 1967 referendum. That referendum removed Section 127 which said: “In reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives shall not be counted.” It also removed the words “other than the aboriginal race in any State” from Section 51 of the Constitution which sets out the Commonwealth Parliament’s power, one of which was to make laws with respect to “The people of any race, other than the aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws.” Continue reading “Complete the job on Indigenous recognition”
LAST year’s Budget was flop; this year’s Budget is flip. How is it that Britain’s and New Zealand’s conservative governments have done so well both economically and with the voters, yet Australia’s conservative government is doing so badly with both? Continue reading “Grown up UK and NZ make Abbott look undergraduate”
WHAT follows is a quite radical idea following Carrie Bickmore’s Logie-award plea for more money for brain cancer research. Cancer research consumes a huge amount of money but we are going to have to raise it if we are to get better results. One way is to see if spending in other health areas can be reduced, to free up money for research. Continue reading “Up here for brains down there for kidneys”
A NEW “fightback” is emerging in Australia. The publication of two books in Australia yesterday exemplify the trend.
IT HAS been a week of government and communal effort to come to the rescue of people and private property affected by storms and floods. Continue reading “Government cannot refreeze the Greenland icesheet”
OH THE rank hypocrisy of Saint Peter of the Three Smirks. It was he who betrayed the creed of budget prudence by cutting capital gains tax in half; by cutting tax on superannuation for those over 60; and by squandering the fruits of the mining boom on tax cuts for the rich. Continue reading “St Peter of the three smirks betrays Budget purity”
THE legal system has rarely been able to keep up with technology. And so it has been with the question of the illegal downloading of music and movies from the internet. This week much has been made of the legal victory of the copyright owners of the Dallas Buyers Club in the Federal Court. They successfully sought an order for six internet services providers to disclose the names and addresses of people suspected of illegal downloading. But this was more a technological victory than a legal one. Continue reading “Legal system too slow for copyright solution”