Of late there has been much overblown rhetoric about Australia’s possible response to a range of defence contingencies. These have ranged from putting a non-existent armoured brigade into Iraq, to intervening with ground troops in various regional trouble spots. Fierce arguments have been mounted in support of particular responses and equally fierce arguments stated against…
Last month, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Pru Goward, released her 277 page report, A time to value, in which she proposed a government-funded 14 week paid maternity leave scheme, for women in the paid workforce. The problem with this is: what happens after 14 weeks? The unspoken assumption is that the mother simply returns to…
Behind the hype and headlines surrounding the re-election of the Bracks Labor Government in Victoria, some important facts have been largely ignored. In terms of seats won, the election result is accurately described as a landslide. But in terms of votes received, the ALP vote increased only 2.8 per cent on its vote in 1999,…
It’s official! Or so our newspapers tell us. The US and Australia are to start talks on so-called “free trade”. And the process is to be “fast tracked” – talks will begin within 90 days. When they will be concluded, and to what purpose, is another matter. Some of the commentators – especially those with…
Following the Bali bombing, the Federal Government has apparently discovered that there might be al Qaeda cells operating within Australia, opening up the real possibility that acts of terrorism could occur on Australian soil. Clearly the source of such organisation is Islamic fundamentalism based in Indonesia. If Indonesia is to successfully track down those responsible…
The barbaric and cowardly killing of predominantly Australian tourists in Bali on October 12 raises a number of important questions for both Indonesia and Australia. The bombing took place at about 11.30 pm on a Saturday night, in a resort frequented by foreigners who were both defenceless and unsuspecting. The earlier vague upgrade in security…