In the past 50 years Australia has had 23 Health Ministers. But who is the worst?
Two of them, Lance Barnard and Arthur Sinodinos get passes, because Barnard and Whitlam were Ministers for everything in 1972 and Sinodinos merely filled in temporarily.
Neil Blewett, Brian Howe and Nicola Roxon would be among the best mainly because they focussed on major policy reform; expanded preventative medical programs; and tried to integrate health policy into broader policy perspectives.
The Australian military’s primary focus – at least according to Assistant Defence Minister and ex-Army officer Andrew Hastie – will always be the “application of lethal violence” and that the fighting forces always needed mission clarity.
Arguably a mission statement with the primary focus of ‘lethal violence’ is a recipe for potential war crimes as has allegedly happened with some Australian troops in recent years.
The BBC scrapped all regular programming to cover Prince Phillip’s death. The complaints roared in from viewers, listeners and online followers who complained that it was all too much and they wanted their regular programs back.
An indication of the fervour of media monarchists the BBC was immediately attacked for making it too easy to complain.
There are so many things so many have missed during lockdowns that it is difficult to make a list – or even start to develop one in ranked order – even though there has been plenty of time to think about the problem.
For many two of them would be art galleries and museums. Some might deem that a First World problem and the Morrison Government wouldn’t rank it highly given that the arts – and those who like them – are high on their enemies list.
The Victorian Government is allegedly enthusiastic about parks and has recently announced it plans to spend $15 million to create 13 new pocket parks and five off leash dog parks across Melbourne’s suburbs.
It is all part of a bigger $154 million suburban parks program about which Environment and Climate Change Minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, has said: “The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the importance of open space close to home and these new parks will deliver just that – building on our reputation as one of the world’s most liveable cities.”
There are two Morrisons who have confronted sexism in their ranks. One, David, showed leadership. The other, Scott, showed the antithesis of leadership.
It is eight years since the Chief of Army Lieutenant General David Morrison addressed a sexist misconduct scandal involving more than 100 Australian Defence Force troops.
When Federation occurred in 1901 trade unions and conservative politicians were agreed on one thing – keeping Australia white.
Today trade unions are in the forefront of fights against racism and support for Indigenous causes while the descendants of those old white pollies are raising scares about refugees, Muslims and any other Others they can think of to scare voters.
It might be surprising given the scale of the problem but there is an emerging consensus about the current status of the science of misinformation and its debunking.
Arguably there was some evidence emerging in the US in November last year about the rejection of lies and misinformation but even then Trump managed to get 74 million people to vote for him. In Australia the lying, secretive and corrupt Morrison Government is still the favourite to win the next Federal election.
The apocryphal King Canute story has over the centuries morphed into a legend which shows the futility of trying to stop the tide.
In fact Canute was actually trying to demonstrate to his courtiers (and perhaps his god) his humility and recognition of limits to his power. The latter day legend, in contrast, is an example of misinformation promulgated over centuries.
A new Guardian Essential poll (3 March 2021) indicates an emerging Morrison vulnerability – he shares a female problem with Donald Trump. Not the major Trump one but the electoral one.
Just as the US November election result was heavily influenced by the voting behaviour of suburban women so the poll shows Morrison is less trusted by Australian females who also regard him as less honest than most politicians, less visionary and out touch with ordinary people.