The release of the report of the Clarke inquiry into the Dr Mohamad Haneef debacle that occurred at the tail end of the previous government has generated a lot of commentary. This report on the ABC’s website drew over a 100 comments in just a few hours.
I followed this issue with interest, as I had a lot [...]
The world of politics, policy and public life
Monthly Archives: December 2008
Lessons from Haneef inquiry report
December 24, 2008 – 12:05 pm
By Andrew Bartlett
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Posted in human rights, immigration
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Tagged Haneef, human rights, immigration
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Comments (1)
Immigration politics reappearing in Qld?
December 20, 2008 – 9:28 pm
There was some curious and occasionally concerning commentary in Brisbane’s Courier-Mail this week regarding migration intake into Queensland. Many people are quite rightly urging that governments do not react to the current economic difficulties by winding back the openness of their economies. Yet calls to slash migrant numbers can sometimes equate to another path to [...]
By Andrew Bartlett
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Posted in Queensland politics, immigration
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Tagged immigration, Queensland politics
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Comments (2)
No need to use Christmas Island for asylum seekers
December 19, 2008 – 11:31 am
The news that the federal government is going to put some asylum seekers in the massively expensive, high security detention facility on Christmas Island for the first time is being portrayed as unavoidable. This report says the government has been “forced” to open the centre after the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat rose to [...]
By Andrew Bartlett
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Posted in human rights, immigration, refugees
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Tagged human rights, immigration, refugees
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Comments (2)
Horrors of the Congo conflict must not be ignored
December 17, 2008 – 1:09 am
Putting an end to the appalling humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwe which has been unfolding in a slow-motion sort of way for a number of years has clearly been beyond the capability of the global community, even when things have reached the current quite astonishing degree of disintegration of virtually the entire economy and almost all [...]
Emissions Trading Scheme announced
December 15, 2008 – 1:30 pm
There is no other single issue affecting the future of each one us as much as the risk of climate change. The federal government’s newly released carbon trading White Paper is about the only story today that really matters long-term. The emissions reduction target of just 5 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020 is [...]
I don't believe it
December 13, 2008 – 12:49 pm
I just saw this story, via DemConWatch of a court case in South Carolina in the USA, whose car drivers are “the first in the nation to be offered license plates that carry the phrase “I Believe” and a Christian cross over a stained-glass window”.
The bill authorizing the plate passed the State House and Senate unanimously. [...]
Refugee from Vietnam elected to US Congress
December 9, 2008 – 5:21 pm
A belated contest for a House of Representatives Congressional seat in the USA has delivered a result against the trend. A Republican challenger with no political experience defeating a Democrat incumbent with decades of experience in the current electoral climate is significant in itself. In addition, the winner is someone who came to the US [...]
By Andrew Bartlett
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Posted in US election, immigration, multiculturalism
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Tagged immigration, multiculturalism, US election
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Comments (1)
The real world and Australia
December 8, 2008 – 9:26 pm
Australians often like to poke fun at how allegedly insular people from the USA are when in comes to events outside their borders. But the fact that a tiny number of asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia generates pants-wetting front page coverage in Australia suggests we might be no better when it comes to [...]
By Andrew Bartlett
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Posted in human rights, international issues, refugees
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Tagged human rights, international issues, refugees
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Comments (1)
The Italian job
December 7, 2008 – 10:18 pm
A couple of years ago I wrote about the Italian experiment in allowing expats to vote as part of a specific off-shore constituency. It was perhaps unfortunate (although not surprising given Italy’s post-war electoral history) that the first time this experiment was tried, the expat representatives held the balance of power in the country’s Senate and [...]
By Andrew Bartlett
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Posted in democratic engagement, international issues
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Tagged democratic engagement, international issues
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Comments (0)
Pasture huggers
December 6, 2008 – 5:50 pm
Not too long ago, it would have been common to see alarm from environmentalists about of the destruction of forests to create farming land. But this week, the Senate saw the Greens vote with the Nationals because of a measure which is causing “alarm over the destruction of farming land to create forests”.
By Andrew Bartlett
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Posted in Australian politics, climate change
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Tagged climate change
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Comments (5)
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Crikey presents its keystone blog: an informed, caffeinated, wonkish, opinionated and engagingly discursive look at the world of politics, policy and public life — in Australia and beyond and from every which side of the ideological divide. Compiled by a cast of, well, several.
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