Trust as a political entitlement…

Posted on April 20, 2012 by bigj

This week the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, delivered a speech on our ‘entitlement society‘. On its own, this idea that we have come to expect more and more entitlements is something that should be discussed: that is, we need to have a serious policy review about what should each and everyone of us expect from the government?

 

The problem for Joe Hockey, however, is that you cannot discuss this on its own: there is a flip side – the collection of taxes. Yes, successive governments (including the Howard Government which Joe refuses to criticize) have increased the level of middle class welfare and this is problematic. But what has made it worse, it has been done with no discussion of a need to redistribute wealth through a tax system at a time when inequality is growing in Australia. Further, it has been done at the expense of the most vulnerable: holding back increases in unemployment benefits for example.

 

The hypocrisy does not end there however. In today’s Sydney Morning Herald, Phillip Continue reading →

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History: celebrations and displacement

Posted on March 30, 2012 by bigj

Like every other nation, the history of Australia is complex. While there is much to celebrate about this nation that almost 22 million of us call home, there is also many things in our history that are quite appalling.

I have always felt that we are at a stage in Australia’s history that we should be able to simultaneously celebrate what we have achieved while at the same time acknowledging our mistakes and errors. There is no contradiction between the two: but some seem to feel that we are too immature to acknowledge such divergent feelings simultaneously.

This is the basis for an article I wrote for Opinion Online (available here) based on my visit to the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, UK. The article also explains the history of the Lambanana (pictured).

I often describe myself as a ‘progressive nationalist’: loving this country while also Continue reading →

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Population control: Disastrous policy solutions

Posted on January 24, 2012 by bigj

One of the fundamental environmental challenges that we are confronting is the growing population of this world. In 2011, the world population reached 7 billion people and it is predicted to grow in current trends by another 2 billion in 2050.

 

The issue of population always creates a tension for those concerned about environmental issues. By simply looking at numbers, many wonder how the earth can support such population growth. As I have written in other articles, posing such an equation is much too simple. Sure, carrying capacity is an issue, but more importantly are issues around resource usage. There is no way the earth could support such a population if everyone used resources as many of us do that live in wealthy nations.

Continue reading →

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On public debate and Wikileaks…

Posted on November 28, 2011 by bigj

I have always felt the one of a fundamental aspects of taking part in public debates has been to judge each issue on its merits. In this way, as a public commentator drawing on a long tradition of theoretical and intellectual tradition, I try not to be captured by any single ideology.

In this way, I see myself as an environmentalist, but refuse to accept the simple equation that population growth is the problem because it targets poor nations and creates a lifeboat mentality. Likewise, I have strong socialist leanings and believe in the communist ideals of solidarity, but also see a place for the free market in efficient distribution of certain resources. I have also been involved with social movements, and written in support of these (including Occupy and GetUp), but also see their limitations and problems.

Each time I write something like that, I am flooded with tweets, facebook and blog comments as well as emails in both support and criticism (and sometimes abuse). I have been called everything from a communist and socialist, extremist, neoliberal, naive, conservative, radical, a sell-out and so on.

Many of the people who write the abuse or dismiss what I have written rarely engage with the arguments, they simply throw labels they seem not to understand at me (read up on neliberalism and communism people). I sometimes feel that they have not even properly read the article.

Nothing has surprise me more, however, than the reaction to the article I wrote for New Matilda about the the rape allegations regarding Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks.

Continue reading →

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So many protests, why now?

Posted on October 26, 2011 by bigj

It is hard to miss the many protests that have been happening around the world. Most of these protests are driven by a broad range of young people. I have written some articles lately that attempt to understand what is going on.

The first article was written for New Matilda online magaze (and is available here) with the amazing Juan Salazar – a colleague at University of Western Sydney. While the Australian media often focuses on what is happening in Australia, the United States and Britain, we spread our analysis to Latin America and other parts of Europe.

As part of these protests, we have also seen the emergence of the profile ‘Occupy Movement’. Starting as Occupy Wall Street, they began spreading around the world and in Australia Occupy Sydney and Occupy Melbourne proved quite successful. One of the criticisms of these protests is that they have no agenda and no clear message. In an article I wrote for The Punch (available here), I discuss why we should listen to their messages.

If you are interested in this phenomenon, there are a couple of other articles worth following up. The awesome Ben Eltham writing for New Matilda wrote an outstanding piece covering a number of important issues the Occupy Movement is raising. Jesse Wynhausen, also pretty awesome, wrote an opinion piece for the Daily Telegraph on this issue.

I think these protests are not going to go away, so rather than dismiss them, there is a need for our political leaders to listen and respond.

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Gillard can win the next election?

Posted on October 3, 2011 by bigj

Everywhere you look these days you see commentary that the Gillard Government is dead and buried. Yes, the polls are bad and they seem to be stuffing more often than they get things right, but I still think that Gillard can win the next election (scheduled for about two years from now). This observation is based on three observations:

  1. The first is that things can not get much worse for Gillard: she has had no luck and every time the government does something well, it  is drowned out by something else – can this last?
  2. The second is that I do not think the Opposition is very good. Abbott and his shadow ministry are making a great deal of noise being critical but they have produced any real policies. Two years is a long time in Opposition and there is plenty of time to see things fall apart there (especially as Abbott is sitting on a deeply divided party); and
  3. Gillard and the Labor Government start using the ALP policy framework when designing policy. At the moment we seem to be presented with a series of policy initiatives that make no sense and are often contradictory.

The fortunes of the Gillard Government was the focus of my latest piece for the Punch available here. I received some quite aggressive emails in response to this article. Would be interested to know your thoughts.

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Homelands and Land Rights

Posted on September 2, 2011 by bigj

Recently, the Papua New Guinea parliament replaced its Prime Minister. For those with an interest in the Pacific nation, such changes seem far too regular. What caught many of us by surprise, however, was an announcement by the Minister for Mines to give greater say to local land owners on their own land. Prof Spike Boydell and myself looked at the implications of this development in a recent article for New Matilda available here…

While we were positive of the changes, it seems that our hopes did not last long, with the Australian reporting that the PNG Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, has taken a step backwards – heart breaking for many.

Continue reading →

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Sustainability before profits

Posted on August 3, 2011 by bigj

Last week in Papua New Guinea (PNG), an important court case came to a conclusion which most of us in Australia did not hear about. It was based around an application for an injunction to stop mining waste disposal in PNG. This injunction was refused and as a consequence it leaves important questions about the stewardship of natural resources unanswered – and the many communities which rely on these resources vulnerable. I wrote an article with Prof. Spike Boydell from the University of Technology, Sydney for NewMatilda that is available here…

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The changing citizen

Posted on July 26, 2011 by bigj

Over the last few years, I have been working at the Whitlam Institute to look at the way that the culture and attitudes of citizenship have changed. It should come as no surprise that the relationship between formal political/civic institutions and the citizenry is strained: while the demographic, social and cultural influences have changed considerably, most civic institutions have remained unchanged for decades.

Consequently, we need to alter the way we look at citizenship: not simply as a one way (vertical) relationship with governments, but as a complex set of interactions between a wide range of actors. I have presented these arguments in a recent academic paper (available here) published through the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal.

Continue reading →

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Reflections on current political debates

Posted on June 12, 2011 by bigj

As anyone who has ever read my posts would know, I am not a big fan of the current Australian federal government. I am not saying that they have not done some good things, they have. They also deserve credit for trying to introduce important changes to the way this country operates (like carbon and mining taxes), but they seem unable to make real breakthroughs. Most problematic is that they seem to create many of their own problems.

I do believe that the one thing that is keeping them in power is an federal opposition who is currently led by a group of opportunists and conservatives. Despite all the press, I do not believe people can really stomach them – but maybe I will be proven wrong.

Recently, I have written two articles about the state of Australian politics. The first looks at the way the federal opposition is making reform impossible – taking a negative stance on everything rather than being part of a reform conversation. This is part of The Australian’s ‘Shaping the Future’ series and discusses the possibility for reforming our country towards a low carbon economy. It is available here…

The second article is a reflection on the way that a hysteria has developed around the Australian Greens holding the balance of power. What has made it worse have been the very personal attacks on Senator elect, Lee Rhiannon. People like Gerard Henderson do themselves no favours by looking at someone’s political position when they are 20 year old and using that as a basis of attacks: they come across looking grubby and petty. I am sure we could all be attacked for taking positions that we later regret. Consequently, I wrote this piece for The Punch making fun of the approach that some media, business leaders and parliamentarians have take…

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