The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) will ask the royal commissioner into trade union corruption, Dyson Heydon, to disqualify himself – an application he will hear today.
If the move is unsuccessful, the unions will appeal to higher courts.
Professor Nicholas Cowdery QC thinks Justice Heydon can be impartial in judging himself. You see, it’s the training of the legal mind. Continue reading Dyson Heydon judges himself
Bronwyn Bishop will have to get by on a pension of $255,000 plus 10 free domestic return flights a year if she were to take the Prime Minister’s hint and quit Parliament at the next election. Continue reading Saturday salon 8/8
Turning back asylum seeker boats can only be done legally and ethically, in my view, with the agreement of transitional countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Unfortunately the form of the decision made at the ALP conference makes clear that the ALP would seek to act without such agreement. Continue reading Turning back boats – only by agreement
It can’t be true. In the UK unemployment is being redefined as a psychological disorder as part of an effort to cut the welfare bill by $12 billion. And, says an article in the New Scientist (can’t find the link), the UK
They say “claimants must demonstrate characteristics deemed desirable in workplaces, like confidence and enthusiasm, in return for welfare.” Continue reading Pathologising unemployment
Whatever wave of migration we look at, someone was already there. Colin Barras in the New Scientist (paywalled) takes a look at the three ancestral waves of migration that founded Western civilisation.
First were the hunter-gatherers. Then came the farmers. These were followed by the Yamnaya, originating from herders on the steppes north of the Black Sea, who brought the horse and the wagon, and the Indo-European language that predominates in Europe, except for Basque, Estonian, Finnish and Magyar (Hungarian). Continue reading Deep origins: early Europe
Happiest is a woman, living without a partner in a small town in Queensland, who is not poor and who exercises every day. Continue reading Happiness is…
The Economist spells out the message – inequality is bad for growth. And the growth they are talking about is plain old-fashioned GDP, not newer measures of happiness or well-being. Continue reading Inequality is bad for growth
The recent Fairfax Ipsos poll said 85% of people supported the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s first inhabitants. Hence on the surface a referendum planned for 2017, the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum looks like passing. However, indigenous leaders have made it clear that they regard such an outcome as merely symbolic. They want discrimination within the current Constitution dealt with. This is where the trouble begins. Continue reading Indigenous constitutional recognition – will we get more than symbolism?
Did the Euro die at 5.13pm on Saturday 27 June, when Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis walked out of the Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers? We still don’t know, but it is important to understand that Varoufakis didn’t ‘walk’, he was pushed. Continue reading Greece is in default arrears
There is a vague feeling of unease abroad about Australia’s economic future, as the mining industry peaks, the car manufacturing industry evaporates and now Woolworths announces yet another job bloodletting – this time 1200 staff to go. This unease was picked up in the Lowy Institute Poll 2015, where our economic optimism rose from 2005 to 2009, then fell from 2010 to 2015: Continue reading Australia’s Future Workforce: up to five million jobs to go
Miriam Webster defines the Magna Carta as “a charter of liberties to which the English barons forced King John to give his assent in June 1215 at Runnymede”.
June 15, in fact, 800 years ago today. Lord Denning describes it as “the greatest constitutional document of all times – the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot”. Continue reading Remembering the Magna Carta
