Australia
-
By Jingo, It’s Time for Common Sense
BOAT PEOPLE There’s a streak of jingoism in Australia that irritates many people, including, let it be said, large numbers of Australians. It gets in the way of common sense and stymies the requirement to deal with reality. It’s a political and social phenomenon born of residual colonial cringe, earlier isolation and boastful over-pride, all… Continue reading
-
Save Us from Visiting Firepersons
Judith Sloan, contributing economics editor at The Australian, is someone who should be read regularly for her insights on matters within her portfolio. She generally makes very good sense. But in a piece in her newspaper on April 17, she breaks a fundamental rule of considered comment. On the basis of “travelling around Asia for… Continue reading
-
A Green Tinge is Common Sense
Bob Brown is the Australian Greens. Whether the present tense can convert smoothly to past, and the statement become “Bob Brown was the Australian Greens”, is a question Christine Milne and others will have to answer in due course. More importantly for the moment, Brown is the most underrated politician in Australia. Others have noted… Continue reading
-
HECTOR’S DIARY Bali Advertiser, April 4, 2012
Off With the Pixels Australia Network, the officially funded Asia-Pacific TV satellite channel run by the ABC, is always strapped for cash. It gets its money from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and is tasked with presenting an Australian image to the near abroad, so to speak. It does a lot of good things… Continue reading
-
It Might Work in Upper Gumtree
From the Australian Greens’ media team today, Feb. 9, 2012 Libs, Nats and Labor fail on supermarket duopolyThursday 9 February 2012 The Liberal, National and Labor parties today failed to act on their own words in voting down a motion that calls on the government to direct the ACCC and Productivity Commission to take the… Continue reading
-
Something in the Air
They’re always at it at Ubud, or so it seems; thinking about navel engagements, that is. A delightful piece by Marie Bee in the latest edition of La Gazette de Bali – the great French language monthly journal for the Francophone community – discusses what one can do when it is the saison des pluies… Continue reading
8º of latitude 