By Jack Waterford with Pearls and Irritations One would have to go back to the 1970s to find the nation so ill-served. All the more so as politicians have politicised national security, and reverted to 1960s games of gathering and… Continue Reading →
By Julian Savulescu, University of Oxford Melbourne’s lockdown has been described as one of the harshest in the world. And jurisdictions outside Australia have taken other measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 once case numbers have eased. So, in… Continue Reading →
By Paul Collits Politicians are said to love “killer facts”. And to want to “follow the science”. Sadly, those running our Covid policy responses seem not to want to do either. An old boss of mine, an estimable Director General… Continue Reading →
By Dr Sarah Russell with Michael West Media Hiring properly qualified staff, staff-resident ratios and a commitment to be transparent and accountable for the $13 billion in annual taxpayer funding would help private providers of aged care “change the conversation”… Continue Reading →
By Laurie Patton A rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases being reported in Victoria and New South Wales. China re-instating restrictions as it sees infections return. Our chief medical officer says his greatest fear is a second wave, and there’s the likelihood the coronavirus will linger… Continue Reading →
By Allan Behm with Michael West Media Instead of crafting policies to tackle causes rather than symptoms, Australian leaders have used terror laws to turn social and national problems into security issues that demand a military response. Allan Behm investigates. In 1933,… Continue Reading →
By Michael West, founder of Michael West Media Paul Keating seized on a huge jump in productivity in this week’s horrific GDP release but the effect of the pandemic will profoundly change the structure of Australia’s economy for good. Michael West reports…. Continue Reading →
By Paul Collits Victoria’s police are very concerned about “optics”. Like all corporate institutions these days. Well, it hasn’t been a good week for Australia’s police state. A clever marketing person – no, not that one; he isn’t that clever… Continue Reading →
By Fergus Ryan, Audrey Fritz and Daria Impiombato While most major international social media networks remain banned from the Chinese market in the People’s Republic of China, Chinese social media companies are expanding overseas and building up large global audiences…. Continue Reading →
By Alan Austin with Independent Australia These times are financially stressful for many Australians, but not everyone. Alan Austin examines indicators showing the sectors still dining out. AUSTRALIA’S TREASURER Josh Frydenberg conceded glumly to the Canberra press club last month that “this is a difficult… Continue Reading →
By TOTT News Elon Musk’s controversial ‘brain chip’ might be coming sooner than first thought, with the technology entrepreneur revealing new advancements in a demonstration this weekend. Just when you thought the year 2020 couldn’t get much weirder, the billionaire… Continue Reading →
By Maria O’Sullivan, Monash University The Victorian government is taking a hard line against protests as it tries to get COVID-19 under control. As Premier Daniel Andrews said on Thursday, it’s not the time to protest […] regardless of what… Continue Reading →
By Sonia Hickey and Ugur Nedim In times of uncertainty, people place enormous trust in leaders. And right now, many Australians have placed unwavering faith in the state, territory and federal governments to make sensible decisions to fight the coronavirus… Continue Reading →
By Paul Gregoire Using COVID-19 as an excuse, we’ve witnessed repeated instances of over-policing, with heavy-handed tactics repeatedly making headlines. “What we have seen in the last six months, in particular, is a ramping up of police hostility towards peaceful… Continue Reading →
By John Stapleton The debate over Australia’s harsh lockdowns has turned. From the beginning the cognoscenti, if you wish to call them that, did not climb on board, much less rally behind the flag. But the masses thought otherwise. Anyone… Continue Reading →
By Michael West If it’s good enough for tennis stars and entertainers, it’s good enough for multinational tax avoiders and consultants. Michael West addresses the Senate Inquiry into Finance and Public Administration. This is an edited version of the opening statement to… Continue Reading →
Reviewed by John West The US/China relationship — arguably the most important in the world — is on a downward spiral. The authors of Superpower Showdown describe it as a “romance gone bad.” We often read reviews claiming that a new book… Continue Reading →
Roxana Diamond, Flinders University This article has links that contain graphic content Many industries and employees have been hurt by COVID-19. But sex workers, who face stigma and discrimination at the best of times, have been hit particularly hard by… Continue Reading →
The Interview: By John Stapleton Only a few short years ago the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, the country’s leading Sunni Muslim organisation, was drenched in controversy, day after dismal day. The Federation, reported to be sitting on more than… Continue Reading →
By Dr Guy Campbell We are facing a lethal and unpredictable enemy that is impossible to completely eradicate, which means that most of us will at some point be immunised with COVID-19 either from natural spread or immunisation. Living with… Continue Reading →
By Terrence O’Brien and Robert Carling. Centre for Independent Studies. Current policies against Covid are unsustainably costly to jobs and living standards. They produce downsides for other health outcomes, such that the net impact on health over time is becoming… Continue Reading →
By Mark Mordue When I think about rock ‘n’ roll and my life trying to write about it, my trying to get inside rock ‘n’ roll through words and stories, it seems to me all I ever cared about was… Continue Reading →
By Gisela Kaplan, University of New England Can one form a friendship with a magpie – even when adult males are protecting their nests during the swooping season? The short answer is: “Yes, one can” – although science has just… Continue Reading →
By Dr Sarah Russell with Michael West Media The deaths of 80 elderly people are imminent as a result of COVID-19 spreading through private aged care homes. Aged care behemoths were granted an extra $200m to cope with the pandemic… Continue Reading →
By Duncan Graham with Pearls and Irritations Thou woldest han oure labour al for noght. The hye god, that al this world hath wrough Seith that the workman worthy is his hyre. Geoffrey Chaucer: The Summoner’s Tale. What fools we journalists are… Continue Reading →
By Elisa deCourcy and Martyn Jolly of the Australian National University It is little wonder the life of Hemi Pōmare has attracted the attention of writers and film makers. Kidnapped in the early 1840s, passed from person to person, displayed… Continue Reading →
By Emile Dirks and Dr James Leibold. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The Chinese Government is building the world’s largest police-run DNA database in close cooperation with key industry partners across the globe. Yet, unlike the managers of other forensic… Continue Reading →
By John Patykowski, Deakin University Grass trees (genus Xanthorrhoea) look like they were imagined by Dr Seuss. An unmistakable tuft of wiry, grass-like leaves atop a blackened, fire-charred trunk. Of all the wonderfully unique plants in Australia, surely grass trees… Continue Reading →
By Jonathan Benjamin, Flinders University; Geoff Bailey, University of York; Jo McDonald, University of Western Australia; Michael O’Leary, University of Western Australia and Sean Ulm, James Cook University For most of the human history of Australia, sea levels were much… Continue Reading →
By Leisa Armstrong of Edith Cowan University In recent months, food security concerns have emerged for nations across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as swarms of desert locusts wreak havoc on crops. While the same level of damage isn’t… Continue Reading →
By Augusto Zimmerman All the worst elements of Australian governance have been released during the so-called “Pandemic”. Every little autocrat in the country is telling you where to sit, where to stand, where you can and cannot go, how many… Continue Reading →
By Jacqui Sol, CSIRO; Annie Kelly, and Suzanne Prober, CSIRO In box gum grassy woodlands, widely spaced eucalypts tower over carpets of wildflowers, lush native grasses and groves of flowering wattles. It’s no wonder some early landscape paintings depicting Australian… Continue Reading →
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