Despite the “headline” reports of Australia’s booming economy fuelled by mineral exports to China and lower petroleum prices, there is mounting evidence that the decline in Australia’s manufacturing and agricultural industries is accelerating. Late in August, the closure of Ajax Fasteners, a major supplier of bolts and nuts to the Australian motor vehicle industry, threatened…
THUNDER FROM THE SILENT ZONE: Rethinking Chinaby Paul MonkMelbourne: Scribe PublicationsPaperback: 336 pagesRec. Price: $35.00 Paul Monk, one of Australia’s most original strategic thinkers, worked until 2000 in the Defence Intelligence Organisation, becoming head of China analysis and chairman of the inter-agency working group on China, where he was directly involved in the preparation of…
Former U.S. Vice-President, Al Gore, recently visited Australia as part of a barnstorming visit to launch his documentary-style movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Not surprisingly, Gore’s message of imminent environmental catastrophe received a warm response from a largely credulous media which have been vigorously promoting the idea that every climatic extreme – from floods, cyclones and…
Do we need a quarantine disaster before Canberra wakes up to its responsibilities and stops eroding quarantine standards? The Federal Government’s recent decision to permit the importing of 11 tonnes of processed bananas from Vietnam, without telling the Australian banana industry, has angered many Queenslanders. The head of the Australian Banana Growers Council, Tony Heidrich,…