Holding Pattern

Some time, around 2005 or 2006, Bill Shorten was seeking to knock off the sitting member for Maribynong Bob Sercomb. They were both members of Labor’s right. But for various reasons the left, or parts of it, wanted to block Shorten’s pre-selection. Shorten gained a front page headline in ‘The Australian’ calling for Australia’s top […]

Labor may need to refine an important aspect of its childcare policy. Extra subsidies to parents will not be of sufficient benefit to parents if they result in price hikes from childcare providers. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) cannot be relied upon to prevent these price hikes, at least given its current suite […]

(This article is a slightly revised extract from a longer article entitled ‘Animals’.) Modern debates about how humans should treat animals can be traced to the ancient world. Aristotle thought that human beings were superior to other animals because only human beings are capable of reasoning.  Jewish, Christian and Islamic teaching is that that God […]

Dear  Members of Congress, We, the undersigned groups, wish to express our grave concern regarding the Trump administration’s dangerous and destructive regime change strategy targeting Venezuela. Broad economic sanctions unilaterally imposed by the administration since August of 2017 have caused great hardship and loss of life for many Venezuelans. The latest round of sanctions announced […]

A constitutional crisis forms a part of Venezuela’s wider political crisis. The current constitution of Venezuela was drafted in mid 1999 by a Constituent Assembly created through a referendum. It was strongly promoted by Hugo Chavez and became law in December 1999, supported by 72% of voters. An English translation of the entire document can […]