Every now and again, I come across an article in one of the disgraceful Murdoch rags (The Australian, The Herald Sun [the Hun], The Daily Telegraph [Daily Bellylaugh] or the…
Read More
COVID-19 has magnified the shortcomings of our failed paradigm of economy with all its imbalances, inequities and injustices. The pandemic has demonstrated a renewed demand from the citizenries of the OECD, indeed the citizens of the globe, for a new economic order. This is evident through the response to COVID-19, the burden of which fell to the State, and proved, if proof were ever required, that the State has the ability to play a leading, transformative role in crisis management and response; that the public sector has the capacity and expertise to deliver quality universal services to its citizens and do so effectively and fairly; that government can act decisively when the will is there. Yet the crisis has also shown us how so many of our citizens and their families are only ever one wage payment away from hardship; how the self-employed or workers in the so-called ‘gig’ economy lack security and are often impeded from access to basic employment rights; how private tenants in under-regulated housing markets are at the mercy of their landlords, how many designated ‘key workers’, those providing essential services, are shamefully undervalued and underpaid.
In December, 2018, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the creation of a new anti-corruption commission mostly because of sustained pressure from crossbench MPs with the balance of power. The Labor…
He [Trump] allowed people to express their racism and bigotry in a way that they haven’t been able to in quite a while and they really love him for that. It’s a shocking thing to realise people love their hatred more than they care about their own actual lives. The hatred – what is that about? It’s a fear of your own weakness.
Several years ago, I travelled to the Gold Coast in Queensland and stayed in a motel just behind Main Beach, and at high tide I had to stand with my…
We live in incredible times, but still, it has been extraordinarily disappointing to witness how political ideology has guided reactions to a health crisis. Hypocrisy is rife. Take for instance, the federal coalition government, who closed the national borders, lambasting the Labor state governments (but not the Liberal ones) for closing theirs. Consider too, the about face of those were most opposed to Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying laws, when introduced. Back then, every life was sacred, no matter how old or sick the person. This meant people facing an imminent and agonising death should not be allowed to bring it forward, and end their own lives, painlessly, at a time of their choosing. Now, these same types demand various governments abandon restrictions and lockdowns because after all, only the old or the sick will die, and they were on their way out anyway. Suddenly, every life is not so sacred, after all. For months now, there has been vociferous criticism of governments, in particular, of Victoria’s, but the data is in. Across the world, voters expect their leaders to keep them safe, specifically, to prioritise human life over a balance sheet. Perhaps this is because we have all seen economies recover, but none of us have seen a person raised from the dead. The Pew Research Center recently asked citizens of various countries whether their country has done a good or bad job handling COVID-19. The countries that marked their governments with the highest “good” score were Denmark at 95 per cent, Australia at 94 per cent, Canada and Germany at 88 per cent, Netherlands at 87 per cent and South Korea at 86 per cent. The highest “bad” scores came from Britain, at 54 per cent and the US at 52 per cent. Closer to home, the results of a Newspoll for The Australian showed that despite the terrible mistakes made with hotel quarantine, and the cruelty of lockdowns, 62 per cent of Victorian voters are satisfied with how their Premier is doing his job, and 61 per cent think the current lockdown restrictions are “about right”. This data rises above the chorus of remarks by federal coalition politicians, and hyperbolic and often inaccurate criticism from the angry tub-thumpers on SAD (Sky after Dark). On SAD, our Premier is called “Chairman Dan” or “Dictator Dan” and Victoria is referred to as a “socialist republic” and a “failed state”. These insults demean every Victorian, regardless of how they vote. [from The Weekend Australian, 26/9/2020]
Here we go again. In early March of 2020, I posted a list of instances of corruption by coalition governments, mostly from the federal government, but some from the state…
Editor of the Guardian, Lenore Taylor, has written a superb piece on the craft of journalism1, part of which I have quoted elsewhere on this blog2. This quote in part…