This week’s horrific terrorist attack in Sydney, a crazed self-styled cleric held people hostage in the Lindt cafe in central Sydney killing three people including the gunman, has shocked the country and generated global headlines. Too much of the media coverage was exploitative and sensational, framing the event as led or even inspired by ISIS.…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Proposed Australian citizenship bill guarantees isolation
My weekly Guardian column: The legislation on asylum seekers that immigration minister Scott Morrison pushed through the Senate last week, granting him even wider powers, is not the only area in which he is seeking to extend and concentrate his influence over the lives of vulnerable people. The Australian Citizenship and Other Legislation Amendment Bill…
How Israel, America and Australia make $ from dirty arms dealing
My weekly Guardian column: It’s a good time to be in the weapons business. Three of the leading US defence contractors, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, are all making unprecedented profits. In December, Northrop will host an event at the Australian War Memorial to mark the company’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific region. It…
Making money from Ebola misery
My weekly Guardian column: The horror of ebola in West Africa has taken thousands of lives and spread fear around the world. This fact, coupled with ignorance and misinformation, has created the perfect storm. The risk is real, but you wouldn’t know the full picture from watching last weekend’s American 60 Minutes. Lara Logan’s report…
Serco bleeding but helped by Australian immigration contract
My article appears today in The Guardian: British multinational Serco is in trouble. After years as the favoured outsourcer for public services in Britain and countless countries around the world, the latest figures show a financial crash of unprecedented proportions. The firm announced it is writing down its business value by nearly AU $3bn with…
Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything advocates serious climate change action
My following book review appears in the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age: THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING: Capitalism vs the Climate by NAOMI KLEIN ALLEN LANE, $29.99 “If the news that in the past 40 years the world has lost over 50 per cent of its vertebrate wildlife fails to tell us there is something wrong…
A few thoughts on modern feminism
My weekly Guardian column: Men are afraid to talk about feminism. If that sounds melodramatic, I’d ask you to count the number of articles written by male writers tackling the big and small issues around gender and women’s equality. You’ll be hard pressed to find a strong selection. This is not acceptable. Men have a…
ABC radio interview on whistle-blower rights
Last week my Guardian column was about defending the rights of whistle-blowers. I was interviewed by ABC Sunshine Coast about these issues:
Defending the rights of whistle-blowers in our age
My weekly Guardian column: Freedom is difficult to resuscitate once extinguished. Australian attorney-general George Brandis recently chastised journalists for criticising his government’s new laws aimed at preventing reporting about “special intelligence operations”. Because he’s a culture warrior brawler, Brandis damned the “usual suspects of the paranoid, fantasist left” but also “reputable conservative commentators” for questioning…
ABCTV New24's The Drum on ISIS, terrorism and Gough Whitlam
Last night I appeared on ABCTV News24’s The Drum talking about ISIS, terrorism and Gough Whitlam’s collusion in the occupation of East Timor: