Letters to the Editor
Time for Albo to move into his $4000000 house
October 25, 2024
Perhaps the purchase of a new home is an indicator that Agreeable Albo has realised his own limitations and realised it’s time to move on. After all the only innovative thing his Labor govt has done is a minor adjustment to stage three tax policy which may well be credited to his Treasurer.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: ACT Labor holds on, but are wheels coming off the Albanese re-election campaign?
Endless war as foreign policy
October 25, 2024
The reality is that USA is after weapons production and sales $, and weapons are only needed when wars are created. It’s not about winning war as much as continued forever war..in Foreign Policy places…far from USA, and resources are also sourced. Just study the war in Vietnam, it exposes how much the war was created and we lost, but it was a “Foreign Policy” war venue for weapons manufacturers and shareholder profits. France had lost its colonial control of Vietnam and wanted it back, USA was after a new war zone. The reds under the bed...
J Hunt from Northern NSW
In response to: China unveiled: how moving East shattered my Western illusions
Fighting for peace
October 25, 2024
It's not silence, but naming Palestinians 'terrorists' that kills, in that it justifies Israel's claims that it faces an existential threat - a postulation without credible underpinning. Yes, Palestinians issue threats. IT'S WHAT PRISONERS AND THE PERSECUTED DO! The opposite is Stockholm Syndrome. If Palestine were any sort of realistic threat, the Nakba wouldn't have happened. Palestinians would never have lost their homes, crops, olive trees. No barbaric soldier doing wheelies in a wheat field would have got away with it. Foreign humanitarian agencies would not have been needed to escort Palestinian children to school safely. Israel couldn't...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: It’s the silence that kills
Australia's climate action should be acknowledged
October 25, 2024
Thanks Julian Cribb for alerting readers to the 2024 State of the Climate Report. The author biography is an impressive read and we should do all we can to publicise and share it with our politicians and their advisers. The report concludes, “Despite six IPCC reports, 28 COP meetings, hundreds of other reports, and tens of thousands of scientific papers, the world has made only very minor headway on climate change, in part because of stiff resistance from those benefiting financially from the current fossil-fuel based system.” While the latter is true of Australia, a petrostate suffering from...
Ray Peck from Hawthorn
In response to: The deafening silence in the eye of the hurricane
The Thorn and the Carnation may hold the clue
October 25, 2024
I grew up reading Leon Uris’ book Exodus, but what may be a counter narrative has now emerged. The PM has described Yahya al-Sinwar as a terrorist, rather than a freedom fighter. So it would be useful to understand what makes a person, in the PM’s terms, a terrorist. Perhaps a reading of al-Sinwar’s book The Thorn and the Carnation might make that clear.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: More authoritarian crackdowns on speech that’s critical of Israel
Global climate disaster, COP and Cribb's solutions
October 25, 2024
We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster, (William Ripple et al, 2024 State of the Climate Report). But our federal government continues to approve new coal projects. It is our military who now warn the government that climate is the biggest security risk. Science also states that the next five years of this decade is critical for our and the world's climate-environmental actions. Therefore Peter Dutton's later nuclear idea is inept and useless. Instead, Albanese and others must educate colleagues and voters with climate solutions and develop a mandate for the next government. The...
Barbara Fraser from Burwood, Vic
In response to: The deafening silence in the eye of the hurricane
The storm of climate chaos
October 25, 2024
The article, In the Eye of the Hurricane (19/10/24), captures the dire reality of our climate crisis with chilling accuracy. The world stands at a critical juncture, where political indifference and short-term economic interests are accelerating an irreversible disaster. Despite clear warnings from scientists and security experts, governments, including Australia, continue to prioritise fossil fuel expansion over the survival of their people and ecosystems. Beyond feeling disheartened by the data on mounting climate disasters, I felt deeply betrayed by those in power. Achieving global cooperation feels distant when national governments fail their own people. Without immediate, transformative action, we...
Julia Paxino from BEAUMARIS
In response to: In the Eye of the Hurricane
Sinwar
October 25, 2024
Unsurprising to notice that only by looking on the Al Jazeera website did I learn that Yahya Sinwar was born in a refugee camp in Gaza, as the result of the displacement, dispossession and expulsion from the homelands of his family. The non-contextualised celebration of his elimination in most western media can only seem to anticipate continuation of the atrocities of asymmetric warfare and asymmetric propaganda..
Don Hird from Moonah, Tasmania
In response to: Letters
Sovereignty
October 25, 2024
Duggan's case is an outrage exposed only by Collaery and P&I. The US extradition case against Assange was similarly flawed and was equally subject to court backflips to bow to US unjust influence. Of huge concern to me in these actions is that the good guys are forced onto the defence against unsupported allegations. Collaery is one who well understands, from being victim in personal experience, that it is the rule of law itself which is at stake, that justice is no longer blind in US, UK and Australia. It is ludicrous that Duggan's extradition is now...
Glen Davis from California
In response to: “US influenced Sinophobia”: The incarceration of Australian citizen Daniel Duggan
Another perspective on end-of-life
October 22, 2024
I appreciated recent articles by Ian Chubb and Ken Hillman on end-of-life issues. Ian’s analysis of his wife’ dementia pathway and Ken’s analysis of ‘conveyor belt’ hospital systems were brilliant, but in my humble opinion, failed to address the problem effectively. I believe there are more responsible options. In my late 20s I was given a few months to live after six bouts of hepatitis and trigeminal neuralgia. A friend dragged me off to a naturopath. In desperation I fasted on water only for 13 days, reached natural hunger and have never suffered from either of those diseases again....
Brian Polkinghorne from Gawler, S.A. 5118
In response to: Given the choice, would my wife have chosen to 'let dementia take its course'?
It's the little things ....
October 18, 2024
So much head-nodding in agreement while reading Sawsan Madina's A year of .... (08 Oct.) But why is it the little things that pull you up short? For me ... It was the year when ... ... I bought a kaffiyeh. .... still struggling to wear it nonchalantly. ... I made new Jewish friends at the pro-Palestine weekly rallies. .... or Muslim ones - being invited to help support the giant flag in the procession, asking for translation of chants because my only Arabic is 'As-salam alaykum' and 'Shukran', and talking about the beautiful children, of course....
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: A year of erasing a people
The Referendum 12 Months On
October 18, 2024
The Referendum 12 months on may as well be lightyears away. In reality, the Referendum was a top-down neoliberal concept (stunt) that would never have worked, not in a million years! In April 2023 I wrote: Story of Our Age Join the party centre stage To unite and engage Come ‘n’ share your rage It’s the story of our age We’ll vote on the voice The people will have a choice They’ll proceed to vote it down You get what comes around It was an observation of the public in general, of the racism, the bigotry,...
John Bentley from Tongala
In response to: Myths of the Referendum
Shame indeed!
October 18, 2024
Thank you Margaret Reynolds, Alison Broinowski and others for writing what desperately needs to be said to the United Nations and to the world as a whole, on behalf of so many of us who live in Australia and long for a more compassionate and principled government!
Janet Grevillea from New South Wales
In response to: Australia’s shame
Are we mature enough to hear?
October 18, 2024
In 1968 Professor Stanner lamented the 'cult of forgetfulness’ dominating the Australian attitude to the indigenous peoples of this land. The 2023 Referendum has been the latest instance of such forgetfulness. No First Nations voice was considered when the Constitutional conventions of the late 19th century guided the Colonial Governments as they began crafting a Constitution “up” for a Federal Commonwealth. It would have been a sign of our Commonwealth’s subsequent 122 year-old maturity had the referendum been presented to electors by the Federal Parliament as a wholly appropriate response of a matured suggestion from First Nations leaders...
Bruce Wearne from BALLARAT CENTRAL
In response to: What will follow the referendum?
Get the baseball bats out
October 18, 2024
The recently opened Queens Wharf integrated resort development, which is never called a casino by any cabinet ministers is also a millstone around the neck of the ALP. If I may paraphrase the late Wayne Goss, it should come as no surprise that the Queensland electorate will be sitting on their verandas wielding baseball bats come the evening of 26/10/2024.
Bernard Corden from Spring Hill, Brisbane
In response to: The forthcoming Queensland state election
Are we inching inexorably towards WWIII?
October 18, 2024
This Scroll contained an excellent speech by Nada Tarbush of Palestine at the UN. I am still in shock from the picture of dead children in Southwest Palestine. In an earlier scroll this week. Department of state spokesperson Miller cut off a reporter who wanted an end to BS, but the US now unashamedly supports Israel whatever it does and has done away with the mask of condemning its tactics and doing anything to stop the fuse of a World War burning further. No matter attacks on expatriates in Lebanon, or on UNIFIL. Joe congratulated Xi on the...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: A five minute scroll
The right or otherwise of Israel to defend itself
October 18, 2024
The default mantra of those supporting the past and current military actions by Israel is that Israel has a right to defend itself. This is sometimes posed as a question but more often as an assertion. I am suggesting that there is a prior and more fundamental question needing to be asked and answered before the above mantra can be considered. Is the current government in historic Palestine a legitimate government?
Hal Duell from ALICE SPRINGS
In response to: Israel does not have a right to defend itself, as our PM keeps saying
Is China our biggest threat?
October 18, 2024
.... the very idea of finding security in Asia is hopelessly naive and made redundant by the authoritarian character and, it is asserted, the expansionist ambitions of China. Really? Is not our fear of China an artificial US construct? Such fear is born out of the US's loss of power and prestige as it fails as a nation while China grows. The US falls back on its usual answer to everything - guns and war. We don't have to be part of that. If Australia is to be afraid of another nation, it's biggest threat is the US...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn
In response to: The unresolved tension at the core of Australia’s strategic policy
Abandon sovereignty!
October 18, 2024
Regular readers of P&I basically know the details and agree with the argument of Vince Scappatura's article Australia’s evolving nuclear posture: avoiding a fait accompli (Part 1 of 2) The problem is, how do we get the misguided and uninformed, the partakers of the MSM or no news at all, to realise the mortal danger we have been placed in by such underwhelming political 'intellectuals' as Morrison, Marles and Albanese? And how do we get that translated into a vote that tells politicians of whatever party or calibre that they will never again be able to hand our sovereignty...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: Australia’s evolving nuclear posture: avoiding a fait accompli (Part 1 of 2)
Comfortable middle classes must do more
October 11, 2024
Do the dire predictions of a heated world outlined by David Spratt make any impact on governments? For them it is a cynical choice, as Starmer exemplified, to ignore climate change in favour of their own popularity. No leader of a wealthy nation has the fortitude to do their job, which they constantly tell us is their first priority: keeping us safe. This hasn’t hugely impacted (yet) on their ‘popularity’. In fact, the now-ascendant climate change denying elements of Dutton’s Coalition could be gaining momentum. Such is the power of the far-right, conspiracy-laden, Trumpist ideology in which climate concerns...
Fiona Colin from Melbourne
In response to: Entering an age of social and security consequences
"Is there an honest Australian news source"?
October 11, 2024
Dear Editor, I had entirely given up on Australian newspapers, television, and radio and in recent times and (for the last year) have only listened to, read, or watched Al Jazeera. Today I googled is there an honest Australian news source or words to that effect and was amazed to find Pearls And Irritations; Australian news that I can stand to read. Thank you very very much.
John Twigden from Campsie, 2194
In response to: Pearls & Irritations
Thoughts and prayers
October 11, 2024
As 7th October 2024 draws to a close I reflect on all the outpourings of grief and sympathy for Israel, Israelis and all Jewish people on this anniversary day. I hear the calls for everyone to lay down their arms, for peace. And I think .... oh, the hypocrisy, as useful as US Americans sending thoughts and prayers. I hear Let there be Israel and a new country is set upon Palestinian land with no reference to, consideration of, consultation with or protection for Palestinians. Just Begone! This is our land now. Today, there is no context....
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: For those with eyes to see
Why I grieve for our grandchildren’s futures
October 11, 2024
I have had a fortunate life. Born in 1950, in England, my teens coincided with the Beatles-led music revolution. I’ve not had to go to war. I am now 74, and thus unlikely to experience the climate horrors which are brought ever-nearer by the greed and manipulation of the fossil fuel industry, and by populist politicians more concerned with their own political survival than with providing the leadership needed to secure a sustainable environment. Anthony Albanese has become the poster-boy for political timidity. Peter Dutton rages with apparent power, but dances to the fossil fuel industry’s tune. The...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: Is Arctic methane stoking the climate crisis?
Ignorance trumps racism - mostly.
October 11, 2024
Some politicians will undoubtedly get an election surprise but will they realise it's on account of their passivity or active support for Israel? If they don't read comments on their social media posts they won't know that, besides the usual ratbags, an increasing tip-of-the-iceberg number of moderate voices are commenting, sadly, “This is wrong or not good enough. You've lost my vote.” “Is it racism that guides these politicians?” Ali Kazak asks. That seems to be true of Peter Dutton and his fellow travellers. The Jewish Council of Australia has emerged to decry Israel's role in Palestine...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn, VIC 3122
In response to: On election day, accountability takes centre stage
ABC - disgraceful partisanship
October 11, 2024
I have turned off coverage by the MSM on these issues. The ABC seems to preface its one-sided coverage with discussion of the brutal Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 with all the subsequent loss of life in Gaza and the conflict growing into Lebanon. Lebanese and Palestinian lives mean nothing to our national broadcaster. Absolutely disgraceful partisanship.
K Ma from Australia
In response to: The context for October 7 is wilfully and deliberately ignored and Lebanese and
‘Provocation’
October 11, 2024
A year ago, Peter Dutton described the Hamas attack on Israel ‘unprovoked’. I assume he has had now had sufficient time to learn about international relations, human nature and Palestine’s sad, painful history that he would avoid using such an inappropriate descriptor again. Unless, of course, it gave him a quick domestic political advantage.
Richard Manderson from Canberra
In response to: The context for October 7 is wilfully and deliberately ignored
RESPONSE TO KELTY ON THE ALP
October 11, 2024
I wouldn't be holding Kelty, one of the architects of the Accord, up as a model of how a Labor pollie or unionist should be. He sets out a centrist agenda but criticises the current centrists for doing it their way. He says We need a Labor Party agenda in which the big issues are confronted. Nice , but the devil is in the detail. No mention of a wages policy except in the context of a bargaining framework that is about training, productivity and fairness. Hmmmm I wonder if that would have broken through the...
Jennifer Haines from Glossodia
In response to: The Labor Party has lost its way
“How high should we jump?” - Canberra
October 11, 2024
Further to Stuart Rees’ article, our Foreign Affairs Minister, instead of calling in the Israeli ambassador to protest at the harrying, and forced displacement from their homes, of thousands of Australian citizens in Lebanon, can only seemingly manage to say: “get on a plane”.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Lebanese and Palestinian lives mean nothing to western politicians
We must get serious about climate change action
October 11, 2024
Bill Kelty writes, “We need a Labor Party agenda in which the big issues are confronted.” He points to the environment, climate change and indigenous rights as examples. Kelty refreshingly suggests that climate change “is more important than party politics,” but this is easy to say when out of it. The climate wars were fired up again when Dutton went all out for nuclear and proposed to abandon Australia’s 2030 emissions target. The government wants to co-host COP31 with Pacific Island nations but makes them angry with fossil fuel approvals. The least Australia could do is support the thirteen...
Ray Peck from Hawthorn
In response to: The Labor Party has lost its way
David McBride and the AMC
October 10, 2024
The fact that Australian Army war crimes whistleblower David McBride has been granted a chance to appeal against his five years and eight months sentence at the dreadful Alexander Maconochie Centre federal prison in Canberra is long overdue. It is important to understand that this occurred partly because of the tireless efforts of Professor Ross Fitzgerald and other key supporters who continued to reveal the inhumane conditions that Mr McBride was facing. In a number of articles, Prof Fitzgerald also documented in detail, with first person corroboration, deeply disturbing revelations about the terrible treatment of other prisoners at the...
Andrew William Hopkins from Galston NSW
In response to: David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra
How to survive on an isolated planet
October 4, 2024
We inhabit an isolated planet with finite resources and a robust, but not indestructible, environment. The fact that our environment continues to support life today does not mean that it always will. The Potsdam Institute’s latest Planetary Health Check confirms we are endangering our survival with our disregard for our warming climate, for the mass extinction of animals and plants, for our continued degradation of the natural environment and freshwater cycles, and for the chemical pollution from soil-killing fertilisers and industrial process effluents. Of the nine measures that the Potsdam Institute tracks, only two remain within the ‘safe’ zone:...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: The Earth is sick – and getting sicker
Universities as a place of higher learning? YES
October 4, 2024
As a 72 year old retired I like to think successful Tradie I have had a front row seat of the mess that is our education system has become. I went to a Technical school because I wasn’t smart enough to go to a High school. Then they closed technical schools. Did an apprentice at a specific Trade school, Trade schools were integrated / lost to the TAFE system. I watched as HR employed apprentices base on their academic score not their trade aptitude, the beginning of the shortage of tradies. I listened as my school teacher...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: Do we need universities?
"Merely academic"
October 4, 2024
Our gad-fly, Clover Leaf group, had gained audience with the Vice-Chancellor and President of Monash Inc. That was a few months before the merger - Chisholm was not to be amalgamated with Monash; this was to a merger. This was the politically correct term for this flagship initiative of the Dawkins reforms. Once more our hypothesis was confirmed. Within Chisholm IT itself, and before 1982 within Caulfield IT: the economic rationalist ideology that drove the David Syme Business School was driving not only Chisholm but also the merger. We had previously invited to the Head of the Federal Department...
Bruce Wearne from BALLARAT CENTRAL
In response to: Do we need universities?
The mask is off
October 4, 2024
Susan Dirgham brings together a number of opinions very well. We are now in a near regency in the US, with the duumvirate of Blinken and Austin III, with supporting parts from Miller, Hochstein, and Sullivan. Still it was actually Biden who announced active US military support for the Israeli attack on Lebanon which threatens the lives of many people, including thousands of Australians and Americans. And yet at almost the same time it was Blinken saying China couldn't help broker a Ukraine peace deal because it was allegedly arming Russia. So how would the US be any...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: How should Australia respond as Israel provokes war?
Advanced Care Directives and Living Wills
October 4, 2024
Ken Hillman as a long term and esteemed medical practitioner in Intensive Care recognises as many do who work in this area that there is overtreatment of terminally ill persons. States and Territories in Australia now have End of Life legislation that empowers people to express their wishes for end of life care in Advanced Care Directives and Living Wills. Not enough people know about this option and take advantage of it. As an old Intensive Care Nurse of at least 20 years I agree with Ken, but I encourage all people approaching older age to take...
Jennifer Haines from Glossodia
In response to: The conveyor belt for terminally ill older people Ken Hillman
The Albanese Enigma
October 4, 2024
Anthony Albanese won his party leadership not as the victor of an open, contested party election, but through backroom negotiations. He brought to the leadership no sense of being the champion who had best fought for Labor values and won the party’s affection. Albanese seems more negotiator than leader, so he appears as a man without uncompromising commitment to any particular cause. His stance is appropriate for much government business: politics – ‘the art of the possible’ - requires flexibility. But voters have to know that that flexibility does not compromise their leader’s core values for critical causes. A...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: Dutton is unacceptable, but Labor under Albanese doesn’t deserve to be re-electe
It's all in the wording
October 4, 2024
This is exactly what needs to be asked. Perhaps I can give one of the reasons why it's been so hard for this question to be asked. Even a more 'reasonable' source of information about what is going on with this 'war' is using biased language. This is a short piece from the Guardian: 'About 60,000 Israelis have fled their homes in northern Israel due to continual fighting between Israel, Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli forces based in Lebanon. On the Lebanese side of the UN-drawn blue line that separates the two countries, tens of thousands of Lebanese have also...
Marguerite Bunce from France
In response to: Letter: Why shouldn't we support Hamas?
The Zionist Lobby Marches Onwards
October 4, 2024
In his article posted in P&I on 27 September, Scott Burchill argues convincingly that it is primarily US policy, not the pro-Zionist lobby, that is driving Australia’s pathetic and shambolic failure to actively support peace in Palestine. I agree completely with his summation that: ‘… the uglier truth is that in Australia the Israel lobby doesn’t need to work very hard to secure its political objectives. For the most part, they are pushing at an open door. ‘ There is a continual tsunami of diatribe, accusations of anti-Semitism, bullying and threats/ legal action against any proposal of just...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale NSW
In response to: US, not Israel lobby, driving Albanese Government’s Gaza policy
AMC Canberra
October 3, 2024
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky
Bernard Corden from Spring Hill, Brisbane
In response to: David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra
'David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Prison in Canberra' should be distributed far and wide
October 3, 2024
Prof Ross Fitzgerald's October 1 exposé David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Prison in Canberra should be distributed far and wide. Most Australians, in fact all good people around the world would be appalled to hear that an honest, military lawyer is being cruelly incarcerated for reporting war crimes. While the people responsible for those crimes walk free. Even more shocking, is the Judge, who proclaimed that McBride’s “duty”, was to the King and not to the Australian people. The Judge declared that there will be no public interest defence allowed in evidence, and no provision for a...
Anthony Charles Wakeham from Redfern, NSW
In response to: David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra
Retributive justice is no justice
October 3, 2024
I am writing in response to the article entitled David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra by Ross Fitzgerald. I believe that you can judge a society on how it treats its most vulnerable - and in turn a government on how it treats its detractors. The appalling conditions in which David McBride is kept say more than enough about the modern Australian government. The Media's lack of interest in the very real plight of a man whose primary crime is taking action in the public interest (regardless of what the government exclaims) says much about modern...
Eamonn O’Hanlon from Sydney
In response to: David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra
David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre
October 2, 2024
Prof Fitzgerald's disturbing revelations about conditions endured by military whistleblower, David McBride & other inmates at the AMC in Canberra ought be taken seriously by governmental authorities and by the Australian media.
Andrew Hopkins from Canberra
In response to: David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra
A pathetic picture of Australian justice
October 2, 2024
I am writing in response to Ross Fitzgerald's piece regarding the appalling conditions in the Alexander Maconochie centre and the mistreatment of David McBride. Whilst the reality of prison can not be expected to be pleasant, there are basic standards of human dignity that have been established for good reason, and the idea that a federal facility should not uphold such standards is frankly shocking, shameful, and unacceptable. I have known people who have experienced incarceration in NSW facilities, and while the experiences have differed person to person and institution to institution, the reality is that the opportunity for...
Thom Muir from Canberra
In response to: David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra
Reply to Mark Diesendorf's letter of 20 September
September 26, 2024
Dr Diesendorf: I did not deliberately ignore your critiques, I wasn’t aware of them. I happened to notice the three recent articles that I referred to and saw that they all carried misconceptions about nuclear energy safety. As to your contention that nuclear energy is too dangerous, you need to explain why it will be too dangerous in the future when the record shows that it has been the least dangerous form of energy in the past. It is likely to have at least some role to play in the energy transition. Note for example Microsoft’s decision to get...
Michael Edesess from Funchal
In response to: The mistaken conventional wisdom about nuclear energy
Why shouldn't we support Hamas?
September 23, 2024
... wrongly conflates opposition to Israel’s slaughter with support for Hamas. I am increasingly questioning why we cannot support Hamas. Where is our opposition to Israel’s slaughter if we do not support the only defence force Palestinians have? We take it as a given that we cannot support a terrorist organisation so we designate Palestine's only fighting force as a terrorist force. That leaves Palestinians with what protection? We designate 7 October as terrorism. But what have Israel and its predecessor gangs been doing for a century? Why is the unequal fight for Palestinian survival called terrorism,...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn, 3122
In response to: Invisible Israeli influences tip the balance
Actually doing something to aid Palestine
September 20, 2024
It seems that our objection to the UN General Assembly vote on the resolution proposed by Palestine this week centred on the part that required actions by member countries such as us to enforce it. Nevertheless the resolution was accepted by an overwhelming majority. Although it is not binding, it is still morally incumbent on member states like us to now start those actions.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: United Nations General Assembly votes to demand Israel ends Palestinian occupati
Nuclear energy
September 20, 2024
Dr Michael Edesess’s article is part of the standard pro-nuclear argument that claims that the anti-nuclear case is “conventional” ignorance and is allegedly based on “irrational” fears of ionising radiation. To the contrary, the case against nuclear energy is based on expert knowledge and is manifold. In a nutshell, nuclear energy is too dangerous, too slow to build to be useful for climate mitigation, too expensive, and too inflexible in operation to be a good partner for wind and solar. The “too dangerous” point has three components: the contribution of nuclear energy to the proliferation of nuclear weapons;...
Mark Diesendorf from Berowra Heights
In response to: The mistaken conventional wisdom about nuclear energy
Coalition reactors coincide with fault lines
September 20, 2024
Thomas Wellock’s warnings, quoted in Fiona Colin’s letter (17/9), about the likelihood of the next major nuclear accident must be heeded. The map showing Australia's active fault lines would surprise most Australians because they are located where most of us live, along the coast. And several of the Coalition’s recently announced nuclear power plants are located on, or near, several of these fault lines. Indeed, in one recent two-week period, one such site, Muswellbrook in NSW, experienced three earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 and above. And Geoscience Australia mapping data shows several significant fault lines in the Latrobe Valley, another...
Ray Peck from Hawthorn
In response to: The risks of nuclear power
When does it become treason?
September 19, 2024
In reply to Peter Henning, when does shifting us to vassal status become treason?
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Australia a very fine example of the ultimate vassal state
Where will the nuclear waste be stored?
September 19, 2024
There is rarely any mention that a (temporary) nuclear waste storage facility will be required in both WA and SA shipyards which are located close to well-populated areas. The people of SA and WA didn’t get to vote for that. Given the secrecy and imbalance surrounding the deal and the fact that the US and UK are having difficulty storing their own nuclear waste, how long will it be before a secret storage facility is built on one of the increasing number of US-owned bases in Australia? My guess is that it’s only a signature on the official...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: independence-too-big-a-price-for-aukus-fantasy/
Australian targets from AUKUS participation
September 19, 2024
In Gareth Evans' article, he posits: The conversion of Stirling into a major base for a US Indian Ocean fleet will mean Perth now joining Pine Gap and the North West Cape, and probably the B-52 base at Tindal, as a potential nuclear target. In the early-mid 1970s, I studied the strategic situation of potential nuclear conflict, with occasional guest tutorials given by Des Ball, an acknowledged world expert on the subject – his analysis is credited with the (nearly!) deceased POTUS Jimmy Carter as having prevented WWIII. At one stage, he asked the tutorial class: What is the...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale NSW
In response to: Independence too big a price for AUKUS fantasy
A climate tipping point is not a game on TV
September 19, 2024
The Earth has enjoyed 12,000 years of uniquely stable climate. It has arrived at this after aeons of instability; climate volatility is the norm. That exceptional stability has given us the ability to establish agriculture and civilisation. These are now, within the foreseeable future, coming under threat. By continuing to pump carbon into the atmosphere we are hastening Earth’s return to climate instability. The risks we face have been characterised as tipping points. As Peter Sainsbury observes, a tipping point occurs when natural processes begin to exacerbate problems previously caused by human activity. Once these natural processes start, they...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: Environment: Earth system tipping points threaten our stable environment
The Russia-Ukraine war and NATO
September 18, 2024
Graeme Gill continues his diatribe against NATO. For him, NATO was the real villain behind the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He, and other P&I contributors, seem to have little regard for the Ukrainians killed and wounded in the Russian invasion. There is no mention of the true character and origins of Vladimir Putin’s autocratic, oligarchical crony regime. Jeffrey Sachs' role is shown in his early support for this regime as an adviser for Boris Yeltsin’s shock therapy on Russia’s post-Soviet peoples, evidenced in Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: Gorbachev's eclipse by Yeltsin, and the consequent history is a story...
Andrew Mack from SURRY HILLS
In response to: The Russia-Ukraine war and NATOBy Graeme GillSep 18, 2024
Pacta sunt servanda
September 18, 2024
Yes, well said former minister for foreign affairs. However the mention of ANZUS does raise an historical question. Since when has NZ been put back into that post-WWII agreement? If they are back, why haven't we been told? It was the ridiculous cooperative action of the Australian and US Governments to kick New Zealand out of ANZUS on the spurious flapdoodle that David Lange's Government had violated the agreement. No, and in fact New Zealand's ban of nuclear ship in response to the clear wish of the New Zealand electorate, actually anticipated the end of the Cold War. It'd...
Bruce Wearne from BALLARAT CENTRAL
In response to: Independence too big a price for AUKUS fantasy
The risks of nuclear power
September 17, 2024
Michael Edesess questions the “mistaken conventional wisdom about nuclear energy”, arguing that nuclear is pretty safe. In 2021, Thomas Wellock, historian of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, produced Safe Enough? A History of Nuclear Power and Accident Risk, the sixth in a series of authorised volumes. The historian/journalist Daniel Ford, reviewing Wellock’s work, writes: “In 1982, I wrote… about the risk of another major accident following the one at Three Mile Island… The numbers suggested that another major nuclear accident would come due in about three years. The Chernobyl disaster occurred roughly on schedule, four years later, in 1986....
Fiona Colin from Melbourne
In response to: The mistaken conventional wisdom about nuclear energy
A debate that could really matter
September 16, 2024
Imagine juxtaposing two of the five items in this week’s scroll. I suppose in the current circumstances it would be political death for Kamala Harris to do anything but strongly back Israel. Still just imagine if someone in the world’s press could bring about a face-to-face discussion between Kamala and the young woman in another of the five videos, Razan Ahmad AlRifi from El Tuffah in northeast Gaza. She has just lost her sister, nephew and brother to US-Israeli bombing policy. What would Kamala say to her? .
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: A five-minute scroll - Pearls and Irritations
Putin's real intentions
September 16, 2024
Percy Allan, like all commentators, has read Vladimir's Putin’s intentions in Ukraine wrong. NATO’s eastward expansion was a useful pretext because it draws attention to American lies about NATO expansion. But, given the expansion already undertaken — eg Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — that buffer had already been lost. Putin’s nostalgic musing about Russia’s former glory fed into the deception that he wants Ukraine. America’s coup and breaches of the Minsk agreements, causing the deaths of around 14,000 in ethnically Russian eastern Ukraine, adds to the pretext for war. At the start of the conflict, Russia made a...
Warren Kennedy from Mullumbimby, NSW
In response to: Are America’s right and left converging on foreign policy?
All things being equal when you add profit
September 16, 2024
How to define equal should be the role of an elected government and it should change with public circumstances. At present, we don’t live in a democracy, we live in a capitalist society because the link between private and public is too blurred. Consider the results of privatisation of our state-owned banks. Consider the topics of today (interest rates, public housing, bank closure, housing affordability etc). With a state-owned bank in the market place as a defacto regulator of credit card interest rates, housing loans and bank closures etc with public good as its mandate, the other banks would...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: population-growth-capitalism-the-environment-and-context
US foreign policy
September 12, 2024
It is well worth reiterating the comments from Al Haig, a former American Secretary of State, during the US acquisition of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago: You just give me the word and I'll turn that fucking little island into a parking lot. More recently, the late British playwright, Harold Pinter best described US foreign policy as Kiss my arse or I'll kick your head in.
Bernard Corden from Spring Hill Brisbane
In response to: Nelson Mandela warned us that ‘the US has committed unspeakable atrocities in th
Subscribing to the absurd
September 12, 2024
The natural end point of those who accept the IHRA definition of antisemitism is believing that Israel is beyond criticism. Yet that is absurd. No nation on earth is perfect, all could, and should, do better. But Julian Leeser MP, in proposing his Private Member’s Bill to establish a judicial inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities, clearly subscribes to that absurdity. He fails to distinguish between antisemitism and criticism of Israeli genocide. Perhaps he is incapable of making that distinction. Many are ... because of the IHRA's nonsensical definition. What Leeser and those who think like him, both Jewish...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn
In response to: Sanctioning universities for failing to address antisemitism
The truth at last about the record of the US
September 10, 2024
I have always remained an admirer of John's willingness to speak truth to power. This article confirms my belief.
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: Nelson Mandela warned us that ‘the US has committed unspeakable atrocities in th
Rebranding logging undermines true custodianship
September 10, 2024
Thank you for highlighting yet another attempt to undermine the true custodianship of our lands and waterways. It is deeply disappointing that industrial logging continues under the guise of “forest gardening,” despite the Victorian Government’s claims that it has ended. These logging operations, even when rebranded, continue to damage forests, destroy habitats, and contribute to climate risks. Such practices only undermine efforts to restore the natural environment. True restoration can only be achieved by empowering First Nations peoples to lead through their Traditional Knowledge. They have sustainably managed these lands for millennia, and it is time to let...
julia Paxino from BEAUMARIS, VICTORIA
In response to: Logging by another name – ‘Forest Gardening’
Climate science education can inform us all
September 9, 2024
Australia's federal election is within the next eight months and voters should understand the major issues including the climate emergency. Climate advocate Ken Russell is concerned that the main problem is lack of knowledge in the community about the climate problem. So Russell urges creation of an expert group to drive the communications campaign. In view of the popularity of Peter Dutton's nuclear idea, it does seem that we need to educate the public and also MPs about the science. Fortunately, our nation has at least four climate experts who would qualify for such a group: Tim Flannery...
Barbara Fraser from Burwood, Vic
In response to: Scientists must participate in the climate debate
Albanese's old boys club needs a Kamala injection
September 9, 2024
Anthony Albanese’s focus seems to be less on delivering societal reforms in the spirit of the Labor movement than in working to keep government in the hands of Labor and the Coalition, and minimise the influence of Independents and the Greens. In the name of bipartisan agreement he is creating a political “old boys’ club”, negotiating legislation in agreement with the Coalition – the secretive NACC, modified Stage 3 tax cuts, AUKUS. Albanese’s justification may be that he wants his legislation to endure, but kow-towing to the Coalition now provides no guarantee of this. It looks more likely that...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills
In response to: A minority Labor Government is likely after the next election
Mike Lyons' article of 6 September on China
September 6, 2024
Perhaps more pieces like the Mike Lyons P&I one of 6 September, as powerfully informed and as unapologetically free of the genetics of American-led political and evangelical bias as it is, could help us break through the dominant news-for-profit Western media. Access to a less cowardly political platform in Australia would help, but ....
howard debenham from Maroochydore
In response to: From Deng to Xi, the China miracle
Garland lengthens the road to peace in Palestine
September 6, 2024
I commend Mahir Ali for reminding us of the historic context of the present war in Palestine. However, US Attorney-General Merrick Garland does absolutely nothing to advance the cause of a peace agreement by now lodging an extra-territorial charge against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: The Gaza conflict: nothing comes out of the blue
Lacking the ability to think
September 4, 2024
Be it propaganda, capitalism, politics, social media, media in general, advertising or religion, the issue is not what we are being told, but our ability to think logically. If we take the time to think logically, the above have minimal influence on the way we behave or what we believe. Take you pick: it’s your local politician spouting forth the party line on climate change, war, China, renewable energy or EVs. Or it could be the politicians who run the US, the man out the front at your chosen religion or the games that your local supermarket and their...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: censorship-on-media-bias-and-the-war-in-ukra
What market forces are driving the war against EVs?
September 4, 2024
The war on EVs is driven by the fossil fuel industry which includes car manufacturers. On every level, if you consider the complexity of manufacturing an electric motor and variable speed drive to a piston engine and gear box, the electrical components are far less complex. They take up far less space, have by far less moving parts and are far more efficient, both in manufacturing and operation. Yet because the benchmark price is set by the traditional car manufacturers, the cost of EVs are similar to petrol, diesel and, in particular, hybrid vehicles. The tariffs will need to...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: burning-the-ev-bridges-with-china-is-risky/
China and Taiwan
September 3, 2024
Jerry Grey's article is excellent. I have just one addendum: It is recorded in Chiang Kai-shek's diaries that at the time of the Nixon negotiations, he indicated that he was open to a two-state solution for China, along the lines of North and South Korea. China, at that time, was much smaller than it is today, in economic terms. So yes, the decision to opt for a one-state solution was made in Washington, no doubt with input from boardrooms in the US from corporations eager to get their hands on the China market.
David Holm from Taipei
In response to: Rewriting history will not serve Australia well
Deaths in Gaza
September 3, 2024
The Australian Government, and the parliament as a whole, has failed to loudly and clearly condemn the “indiscriminate retaliatory behaviour of the Israel Defence Force”. It has also “failed to make any statement..about the deaths of 40,000 Palestinians”. A recent study reported in The Lancet did not arrive at a precise figure for Gaza, but estimates “around 186,000 deaths were attributable to Israeli actions since October 2023, and “most of these were not attributable to bombardment or execution”. The Lancet authors based their figures on indirect deaths observed in other conflict zones: “In recent conflicts, such indirect...
Fiona Colin from Melbourne
In response to: Albanese ignores humanitarian disaster in Gaza
Eckersley urges revolt against corporate power
September 3, 2024
Richard Eckersley accuses governments of shocking irrelevance in view of the cascading global challenges of climate extremes, especially rising heat, and huge consequences including crop failures and rising seas. After decades of worldwide procrastination, Eckersley now considers that humanity urgently needs an all-out revolt against the power of corporations, some of whom should be charged legally with crimes against humanity. Yes, corporations do need to become aware and socially responsible. Also, it is promising that soon the world has important UN and other international meetings; national elections such as ours; and ongoing efforts to stop wars and instead...
Barbara Fraser from Burwood, Vic
In response to: Fiddling while the world teeters on the brink
Peter Dutton and nuclear power
September 3, 2024
This letter is principally for Jim Coombs, author of the above article. Peter Dutton doesn't really want nuclear power for Australia. It's just another wedge for Anthony Albanese, like Scott Morrison's original AUKUS deal. Dutton wants to keep coal-fired power stations operating as long as possible, kowtowing to the coal industry and his Coalition climate change ignorants But he has to be seen to be on board with renewables and non-polluting electricity generation to win any support from the electorate. One of his advisers must have said, what about nuclear Dutto; ticks all your boxes; Albo couldn't be...
Keith Simpson from Canberra ACT
In response to: Dutton’s nuclear vision is distorted by ignorance (or worse)Gaza genocide protes
The sisterhood reads Pearls and Irritations
September 3, 2024
In my article published last week I referred to my tram-driver grandfather and my home duties grandmother, but instead P&I amended it to read my tram-driving grandfather and my grandmother who did not work. Nothing could be further from the truth. My second wave feminist friends and I were incensed and rightfully so. My grandmother did work, but not in the paid workforce; she, like her contemporaries, was described as Home Duties in the print and electronic media, on electoral rolls and other public documents. This is a lesson for young editors.
Jane Timbrell from Canberra ACT
In response to: Retirement villages: are they really a safe haven for retirees?By Jane Timbrel
Private hospital care
September 3, 2024
I read with interest Peter Breadon's recent article on private hospitals. He doesn't go nearly far enough – we need radical change and pronto! As a recently retired health professional who worked in both the public (mostly) and the private sector, I can suggest a solution to the problems associated with private hospital and health care – just get rid of it completely! Nationalise it – lock, stock and barrel. The private health insurance industry is a parasitic blight and private hospitals are no better. Government funding already massively subsidises these rorters. I have been paying huge premiums forever...
Royce BENNETT from Baxter, Victoria
In response to: End the private hospital blame game by exposing the cost of careBy Peter Bread
Omar Khayyam’s guide to the climate crisis
September 2, 2024
“Lo, the moving finger writes and, having writ, moves on …”. The climatic warning signs grow ever more critical. Our politicians take some steps to address them, but always with an eye back to those whose interests that action might compromise. Fossil fuel industry lobbyists keep that retrospective eye focused on their industry’s interests. Our governments seem to succumb to this, or else, as Mark Beeson observes, “…they are incapable of grasping the immediacy of the problem or the scale of the necessary response needed to avoid catastrophe. This inadequacy of government response gives a Khayyamian inevitability to...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: There are alternatives to Anglo-American capitalism, however unlikely they may s
A chance for a new PMA
September 2, 2024
Madeleine King recently had a chance to retain for the people a fair share of our mineral wealth. (Path not taken: the Petroleum and Minerals Authority at fifty) The Australian Government could have partnered with Equinor, the 67% Norwegian Government-owned oil and gas company, to develop our potential Southern Ocean oil and gas fields. Instead, they have been auctioned off to private companies.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Path not taken: the Petroleum and Minerals Authority at fifty
Acclaimed journalist charged with ‘anti-semitism'
September 2, 2024
That is a good think. She and others who have these views are not above the law. Let's see what the Australian courts decide.
Mike Lyons from Sydney
In response to: Acclaimed journalist charged with ‘anti-semitism’
Lucky you didn't bet the farm on it, Malcolm
September 2, 2024
Malcolm Fraser stepped on a rainbow a while ago, but this reminder of his faith in the US' honesty with its allies is both quaint and germane to the whole AUKUS idiocy. At the AWM, I occasionally chatted with some of the chiefs of each branch of the ADF. During one such chat, a chief (who shall remain nameless) confided in me that shortly after being promoted to that position, he randomly, and without prior warning, would visit the various establishments under his command. On one visit to a base situated in the numerically lower latitudes of Australia,...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale NSW
In response to: ‘They will tell me.’ Malcolm Fraser’s Cold War nuclear heterodoxy
Flattening moral distinctions
September 2, 2024
The moral distinction between liberal democracies and dictatorships is being flattened by the carnage in Gaza. (Suhas Chakma) Apologies to the peoples of Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya. You have to wait for Gaza for the moral distinction to be flattened.
MAX LE BLOND from BALGOWLAH HEIGHTS
In response to: How human rights are disappearing before our eyes
Grate unexpectations
August 27, 2024
Given this morning's (27 August) release of polling figures showing Albanese at -10% approval and extremely likely to plunge headlong far further, Jack Waterford's article is totally apposite. I will be concise. When we elected the Albanese Government, we did not expect Albanese to be another Gough Whitlam (for whom I voted). Gough had a statesman's vision. But we did not expect Albanese to have no breadth nor depth of vision beyond getting elected again. We did not expect Albanese, and much less Richard Marles, Pat Conroy and Matt Keogh to be defence strategy policy nerds, but...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale NSW
In response to: Labor on the AUKUS battleground
Attack dog Chalmers runs rings around Dutton
August 27, 2024
Jim Chalmers on ABC AM this (27 August) morning, sounding very prime ministerial, should at least take on the role as attack dog if Anthony Albanese is to remain prime minister for stability's sake.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: Labor-on-the-aukus-battleground
Careful with That Axe Eugene
August 26, 2024
Borrowing the title of a Pink Floyd number, in whichever way you interpret the track, it may just about represent the predicament of how Australians and New Zealanders face in having to divorce from the West. We are, however, eastern countries and it's high time we faced that fact!
John Bentley from Tongala
In response to: Exiting Pax Americana could save our bacon
The Americans now have the Country Liberal Party
August 26, 2024
The Americans will be happy that the Country Liberal Party has won in the NT. Very convenient if they wish to use their military base in Darwin to threaten China. The Americans cannot move more of their military out of the Middle East until they get the Saudis to sign a normalisation agreement with Israel and an AUKUS-type agreement with the US, something the Saudis seems to be resisting doing. Everyone is waiting to see the election results in the US in November, but I am sure that it will be a win for Kamala Harris and Tim...
Louise O'Brien from Wollstonecraft
In response to: Accusations of US regime-change operations in Pakistan and Bangladesh warrant UN
Mismanagement of Australia's monetary system
August 26, 2024
The Commonwealth Government should manage the complex levers of the economy, and can do so, given our laws. and the RBA currently does not suck money from the economy, nor pump it in directly. The Commonwealth, by law, could control the monetary levers just as it does control the fiscal levers; in the past this was done, but was abandoned decades ago. As the recent action by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia reducing mortgage rates for new borrowers shows very clearly, the RBA cash rate does not determine mortgage rates. Will that now cause our experts to...
John Kampert from Waikiki WA 6169
In response to: Managing the economy: sharpening a blunt instrument
ABC laying responsibility for any war on Iran
August 26, 2024
The ABC seems to be in full-on propaganda mode, following the Israeli 100-jet strike on southern Lebanon, saying that responsibility for any ensuing war rests with Iran. Joe Biden, Anthony Blinken, and Lloyd Austin are responsible for what happens to Israel, Palestine and Lebanon, and for the response that has happened there since October.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Middle East accountability
One way or the other, we're facing a reality check
August 23, 2024
Over the years since 1945 there has been a marked decline in religious belief in developed countries as our standards of living have risen. For many, now there is no need to wait for the next life to realise heavenly benefits; Heaven has arrived on Earth. Our planet is on the cusp of environmental collapse, as Ted Trainer observes, from our blind obsession with affluence and growth from over-consumption and over-production. We need major changes to global environmental management, and drastic lifestyle changes, to avoid the catastrophic crises foretold. The World Call to Action from the Club of...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: A critique of ‘a world call to action’ on the multiple crises now enfolding huma
The elephant in the room
August 23, 2024
Ted Trainer, in his critique of the report of the Roundtable on the Human Future's report, manages to overlook the mainspring of the human emergency: overpopulation. Global material consumption is currently about 110 billion tonnes/year, on track to reach 170 billion tonnes by 2050. This is 5 to 10 times what the Earth can sustain, long-term, as numerous scholars have pointed out. Even if everybody on Earth could be persuaded to halve their material consumption — a doubtful contention — civilisation would still be headed for collapse. While human numbers remain impossibly high, so too will over-production, over-consumption and...
Julian Cribb from Canberra, ACT
In response to: A critique of ‘a world call to action’
Just how badly can Australian politics be driven?
August 23, 2024
It is a sad indictment on the Liberal Party and Australian politics in general that this process should be driven by comments by Peter Dutton, a man whom one would not trust to drive a police paddy wagon on a dirt road.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: dutton-gaza-and-why-we-need-an-emergency-protection-fram
National security?
August 22, 2024
Just how much is hidden behind “national security”? (The military Americanisation of Northern Australia) Very little actual information is released for the voters to make an informed decision on national security. We are pawns in expensive political gamesmanship. How many billions of dollars have been wasted on national security? Hardly a month goes by without talk of another failed defence contract which the voters have no say in because of national security. Even with the secrecy of national security and the poor quality of mainstream media, any thinking person must question the rationale behind AUKUS / U-SUKA (M Brune...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: The-military-americanisation-of-northern-australia/
The economy
August 22, 2024
Chris Mills’ take on the economy is comparable to most in that it tinkers at the edges of Australia’s economy. The COALition in its time in office took the economy from the gutter into the sewer. Labor has been doing its utmost to lower it even further. Ten years of abstemious economic activity on top of a dig-it-up-and-flog mentality have left Australia reeling, with all tax-paying Australians feeling the pinch. All social indicators are on the back foot as our quality of life deteriorates. Equality has gone out the back door as Australia’s young are left holding the can....
John Bentley from Tongala
In response to: Managing the economy: sharpening a blunt instrument
Not listening?
August 22, 2024
When I got to the final sentences of Henry Reynolds' pertinent explanation, I felt a chill similar to what I experienced hearing the advice offered by Eyre-Crowe (PA to the British Foreign Secretary) to his boss as the THIRTY-SEVEN DAYS rolled on to the outbreak of WWI. Crowe confided something like the following to Grey: But Foreign Secretary, can we be sure Ambassador Prince Lichnowski is even being listened to in Berlin? It would be nice and reassuring to think that Richard Marles and Penny Wong would take note of this article by an eminent public intellectual who has...
Bruce Wearne from BALLARAT CENTRAL
In response to: The military Americanisation of Northern Australia
Would MSO have cancelled Yehudi Menuhin?
August 20, 2024
Yehudi Menuhin, when receiving the Wolf Prize some years ago, addressed the Knesset saying: The wasteful governing by fear by this Government, by its contempt for the basic needs of life, the steady asphyxiation of a dependent people, should be the very last means to be adopted by those who know only too well, the awful significance, the unforgivable suffering of such an existence. It is unworthy of my great people, the Jews, who have striven to abide by a code of moral rectitude for some 5,000 years.” I wonder whether the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra would ever have considered...
Richard Manderson from Canberra
In response to: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra strikes the wrong note on Gaza
Self-funding Universal Basic Income
August 20, 2024
I congratulate Michael Lester and Bronwyn Kelly for their Universal Basic Income proposal and wish to suggest a politically compelling way for its introduction. The idea is a counter-intuitive self-financing tax incentive. Shareholders who change the constitutions of their corporations obtain bigger, quicker and less risky profits. But, on condition, they endow a small fraction of their equity each year by a book entry to a Stakeholder Equity account. Corporations then create Stakeholder shares, which they only endow to citizens, who can vote for the politicians who can vote for the tax incentive. Non-self-funding tax incentives are used...
Shann Turnbull from Paddington
In response to: How to fix poverty? Universal basic income
Teals show the way to revive conviction democracy
August 20, 2024
Les MacDonald’s hope that democracy may finally be returning to its roots, where strength of conviction shapes policy, is personified by the parliamentary influx of Teals. These intelligent, capable individuals came to parliament holding a few conviction policies in common – strong action on climate, a strong NACC, a better, and safer world for women – and continue to operate, independently, through extensive, regular community consultation to understand and reflect the views of their communities in other matters. Regrettably, the major parties seem to be closing ranks against this democratic revival. Labor’s proposed reforms to political donation laws, while...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: Returning to a democracy where strength of conviction shapes policy
AUKUS turnabout
August 19, 2024
The acronym was obviously carefully conceived, because the alternative sends a very clear message to Australia. If the proper order of country importance was followed, it would actually be: USUKA pronounced U-SUKA. I didn't think of this, a friend of mine did, and once he said it, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Would it help our understanding of the special arrangement if we used this version in future?
Marguerite Bunce from France
In response to: America is the most violent, aggressive country in the world
The Americanization of Australia — observations
August 19, 2024
I lived in the US from 1977 to 2010, a total of 33 years, and returned looking for Australia. I think Australia then was in a twilight of the 20th century. I went to the US because the dismissal had left me very bitter and angry. I decided to find out why Australia chose to be obedient to the US. Thirty-three years in the US makes you think like an American if you are going to survive there. Returning the last of Australia’s sense of self was in retirement mode. Kerry O’Brien’s last years at the ABC and Quentin Dempster...
David Nicholas from Umina Beach, Central Coast NSW
In response to: The Americanisation of Australia: how we’re rapidly losing our cultural sovereig
The definition of civilised
August 19, 2024
The conqueror is always more civilised than native inhabitants! The British in Australia encountered a peoples perceived as primitive because the accepted definition of civilised is based on the demonstrated ability to maim, kill, rape and enslave (physically or economically) on a large scale. The Australian First Nations people and the inhabitants of most colonised nations could not do that, hence minimum respect for their cultures. Jimmy Carter once observed that for about 15 years in its history the US had not been involved in a war somewhere on the planet. It has exceptional abilities to kill on a...
Adrian Potter from Adelaide
In response to: Our Other Face
Opposing anything, everything, almost everybody
August 19, 2024
I have never been able to understand the concept of an elected “Opposition” . What company would employ up to 49% of its employees to “oppose“ everything the other 51+% are trying to achieve? Who do Opposition Parliamentarians actually represent when they are opposing everything that the actual government are trying to achieve? I have been voting for some 50-odd years and I don’t recall it always being like this . In opposing anything and everything Tony Abbott wrote the LNP playbook, a playbook that was used very effectively to depose a succession of prime ministers, leaders of the oppositions...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: Has-australia-turned-its-back-on-assisting-people-fleein
Spaceship Earth
August 16, 2024
Excellent analogy of our planet as a spaceship by Mark Beeson (“Spaceship Earth is experiencing turbulence” Pearls and Irritations, 6/8). Indeed, all passengers aboard spaceship earth are in for an increasingly rough ride, with the vast majority sadly set to experience more tough turbulence than others. Beeson’s suggestions of how we might collectively steady the ship are excellent. In this era of misinformation, disinformation and constant distraction, however, how we “make the stability of the Earth and the environment upon which we all depend the single most important goal of everyone on board” is anyone’s guess. I, for one,...
Amy Hiller from Kew, Victoria
In response to: “Spaceship Earth is experiencing turbulence”
How many "worst" leaders can we have?
August 16, 2024
The shortest answer to Abul Rizvi's question is YES! Anthony Albanese's approach to Gaza is, as with just about everything else, limp. Some might say spineless. Must we forever wait for the US and follow if not actually do as we're told? But in Peter Dutton we have found another worst at the bottom of the barrel. We thought Howard was bad. But Abbott was something else. And then - surely it must stop with Morrison? But no, in his own way, Dutton is an equal worst. His attitude to asylum seekers was unbelievable but now ....There has...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: Has Australia turned its back on assisting people fleeing war/conflict?