- Australia's free Internet journal of social and political opinion.

Find our home page at www.onlineopinion.com.au

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Since 1999 On Line Opinion has been even-handedly providing a place for diverse and passionate debate for all Australians. We need your help to keep doing it. Even $50 can make a difference. If you believe in what we are doing please click on this link - www.onlineopinion.com.au/membership/ - to become a supporter.

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What’s it worth?

On Line Opinion is unique in the world - an eJournal that really is at the centre of the national conversation, that is impartial, fair and open to new ideas. So what is it worth to you? We reckon there’s as much or more daily op-ed value here as in any of the broadsheets. You’d think it would be worth at least one-fifth the cover-price of the cheapest of them? Wouldn’t you? Go to www.onlineopinion.com.au/membership/ and tell us what you really think.

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June Feature - In bed with the Panda.

How are China's neighbours going to accommodate their growing bedmate?

Please send submissions to the editor at subm...@onlineopinion.com.au.

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New Articles

It’s a rut, it’s relentless, it's a juggle
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3403
Feature - Alex Sanchez - posted 3/5/2005

Work stress equals household stress
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3401
Feature - Russ Grayson - posted 3/5/2005

Monday to Fridayitis
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3397
Feature - Jane Caro - posted 3/5/2005

UK - Labour in front but flagging
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3399
International - Alexander Deane - posted 3/5/2005

Let his own bury him
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3408
Media - Wayne Sanderson - posted 3/5/2005

Rifts risk economic prosperity
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3409
Economics - Henry Thornton - posted 3/5/2005

Vietnam thirty years on - was it worth it?
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3394
International - Keith Suter - posted 29/4/2005

Scheyville graduates an unintended benefit of the Vietnam War
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3398
Society - Stephen Barton - posted 29/4/2005

Giving boys a voice
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3385
The Arts - Stephen Crabbe - posted 29/4/2005

Pope Benedict XVI - the truth is the focus of his life
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3392
Religion & Spirituality - Rachael Patterson - posted 29/4/2005

Privatise Aboriginal land rights? - the lessons from PNG
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3349
Indigenous Affairs - Tim Anderson - posted 29/4/2005

Personal debt as a fashion accessory
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3389
Society - Emma Dawson - posted 28/4/2005

Great Barrier Reef threatened: so where is the evidence?
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3396
Environment - Walter Starck - posted 28/4/2005

Big brother Brendan, check out Singapore
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3391
Education - Peter Ridd - posted 28/4/2005

Murder, suicide and the skills shortage
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3390
Society - Nicholas Gruen - posted 28/4/2005

Broken promises - the MedicarePlus safety net
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3395
Health - Brian Harradine - posted 28/4/2005

Pope John Paul II's message to Indigenous Australians
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3371
Religion & Spirituality - Stephen Hagan - posted 27/4/2005

Bring me your Huddled Murdochs!
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3384
/Feature - John Hartley - posted 27/4/2005

The business of Indigenous Affairs then and now
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3377
Indigenous Affairs - Kevin Andrews - posted 27/4/2005

Parent Power - should the free market decide school curricula?
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3387
Education - Ross Farrelly - posted 27/4/2005

Should we change for the church or should the church change for us?
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3386
Religion & Spirituality - Peter Sellick - posted 27/4/2005

Give independents a chance!
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3378
Feature - Eve Vincent - posted 26/4/2005

Creative Commons: accessing, negotiating and remixing online content
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3379
Feature - Brian Fitzgerald - posted 26/4/2005

How much of the agenda can 'new media' wrest from the mainstream?
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3382
Feature - Hugh Brown - posted 26/4/2005

Alternative media offering up a tasty smorgasbord of news and opinion
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3380
Feature - Kym Durance - posted 26/4/2005

The way ahead means tax and welfare reform
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3383
Domestic Politics - Malcolm Turnbull - posted 26/4/2005

Mental health: the DSP or unemployment benefits?
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3373
Health - Tanveer Ahmed - posted 26/4/2005

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Tuesday May 3

Ambit Gambit

We need Joh to have a state funeral
Joh Bjelke-Petersen will have a state funeral today. Many say he shouldn't including Nigel Powell and Wayne Sanderson. They're both wrong. We owe it to ourselves to give him one. Deny him a state funeral, and we are one with...
More http://ambit-gambit.nationalforum.com.au/archives/000582.html

Work till you drop John
For a man who thinks we should all be working past the current retirement age of 65, Peter Costello seems to have a penchant for wanting to move the old and the wise on. Stories are that before her preselection...
More http://ambit-gambit.nationalforum.com.au/archives/000580.html

Howard calls opponent liar
Anyone remember seeing this in the Australian election? No, and neither did I. So why is alleged political mastermind Lynton Crosby allowing the other Howard, Tories' leader Michael Howard, to use the line in the UK election? Look at the...
More http://ambit-gambit.nationalforum.com.au/archives/000578.html

John Quiggin

Contracts and casualisation
It’s the May Day holiday in Queensland, which I’ve observed by starting my long-promised post on contract employment and casualisation. What I have so far is only a first attempt at tackling the issues. The two big changes in working life in Australia over the past twenty-five years or so have been, first, the reversal of [...] http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2005/05/02/contracts-and-casua...

>From the sidelines....

Nepotism wins again - Lachlan Murdoch to be named media person of the year
Once again, the Murdochs have demonstrated that there is money in crap. Judges were particularly impressed with his management of the New York Post, which has increased its daily circulation by more than 40% under his tenure. News Corp's Lachlan...
More http://trevorcook.typepad.com/election/2005/05/nepotism_wins_a.html

Imagining Australia

Blogging in Perspective
A useful discussion at Catallaxy on the value of blogging versus the mainstream media has inadvertently illustrated the echo chamber effect, by which lots of bloggers think that everyone reads blogs because all their friends do. Blogging is immensely valuable,...
More http://imaginingaustralia.blogs.com/imagining/2005/05/blogging_in_per.ht...

Jennifer Marohasy

Interests versus Propaganda
"The reality is that all scientists have personal ideologies, motivations and goals - all of which can potentially introduce bias into research. Scientific work should be evaluated on its merits, not on 'conflicts of interest' that may or may not...
More www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/000579.html

Friday April 29

Ambit Gambit

Would Joh be impressed with Beattie's health inquiries?
Many Queenslanders, particularly ALP voters, think that Peter Beattie has a lot in common with Joh Bjelke-Petersen, according to some of our yet to be published research work. Not a view I share. But I think Joh would approve of...
More http://ambit-gambit.nationalforum.com.au/archives/000571.html

John Quiggin

Time to go nuclear ?
My column in yesterday's Fin was about the option of nuclear energy as a solution to the problem of climate change, an issue that's been discussed a few times here already. One point I didn't make is that the availability of nuclear-generated electricity as a 'backstop' technology puts an upper bound on the costs of [...] http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2005/04/29/time-to-go-nuclear/

Troppo Armadillo

Dr Jayant Patel: Butcher of Bundaberg Hostpital
Writing my column I try to follow a fairly standard formula ' editors seem to really want this ' of commenting on topical events. Sometimes I find this preoccupation with what's happening now really frustrating. It means that things...
More http://troppoarmadillo.ubersportingpundit.com/archives/009015.html

Public Opinion

an old moderrnist dream returns
The technocrat's dream was a nuclear powered for electricity generation, a thriving nuclear industry, and a nuclear Australia. A nuclear...
More www.sauer-thompson.com/archives/opinion/003163.php

Jennifer Marohasy

Counting Coral Trout
It was the WWF Save the Reef Campaign that really developed my interest in environmental campaigns and through my public criticism of the same I have meet some wonderful characters. Dr Walter Stark grew up in the Florida Keys and...
More www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/000573.html

Catallaxy

Are student union fees a ‘tax’?
For years supporters of compulsory student union fees have been saying that they are like council rates. At yesterday's rally the consensus seemed to be that these fees were a 'tax'. The University of Sydney's Academic Board Chair John Carter told the students: "I haven't seen so many people on the front lawn since the [...] http://badanalysis.com/catallaxy/?p=856

Thursday April 28

Ambit Gambit

Joh would want the demonstrators there.
I see that Brian Laver, Dan O'Neil, Garry McLennan, and Sam Watson are planning to picket Joh Bjelke-Petersen's funeral in Kingaroy next week. Joh would have approved. There are two men that I learnt more from about political campaigning than...
More http://ambit-gambit.nationalforum.com.au/archives/000572.html

Inside the Queensland Ming Dynasty
This letter from Ryan MHR Michael Johnson, demonstrates the secret of his success - being completely up-front and unconventional, not to mention monomaniacal. I can think of no other MP who could have written this letter. Essentially it is Johnson...
More http://ambit-gambit.nationalforum.com.au/archives/000570.html

>From the sidelines....

Part-timers and casuals lose ground - National - www.smh.com.au
Australia now has the second-highest rate of casual or part-time workers among the 30 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Only the Netherlands is higher....
More http://trevorcook.typepad.com/election/2005/04/parttimers_and_.html

Troppo Armadillo

If You Haven't Got Anything Nice to Say - Sit Down Here
The art of the obit is a tricky one and potential exponents have had a field day recently what with Joh - a unique amalgam of the mayor of Porpoise Spit in Muriel's Wedding and a dyslexic John Calvin -...
More http://troppoarmadillo.ubersportingpundit.com/archives/009008.html

Jennifer Marohasy

Australia's Highest Paid Blogger
Last week, sociologist and blogger Mark Bahnisch made the comment that "blogging reflects not just a broader decline in civility, but something about the very nature of political discourse - it's not about getting to the truth but about swaying...
More www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/000567.html

Catallaxy

Why Mark Latham should publish his memoirs on CD-ROM
Fallen Labor Leader Mark Latham is, according to press reports, trying to flog his memoirs to publishers. One of them declined 'because it was "a book of insults".' Poltical autobiographies, or for that matter biographies, don't have a great record in Australia. Don Watson's Recollections of a Bleeding Heart about Keating is the only one that [...]
http://badanalysis.com/catallaxy/?p=851

Wednesday April 27

John Quiggin

Global glut
The big question in global macro policy today is : Why are long-term interest rates so low. I had a go at this topic over at Institutional Economics and i thought I'd reprint it here. Very preliminary, needless to say. A general comment on why so few economists trust the market on bubbles. It’s obvious that [...]
http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2005/04/27/global-glut/

Tim Blair

WARNING OF TERRORISM = TERRORISM
Professor Bob Goodin, of the Australian National University’s Department of International Relations, will today argue that politicians pursuing the war against terror are themselves terrorists.
http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/warning_of_terrorism_terrorism/

>From the sidelines....

Ken Henry is so right
Treasury chief's dire warning on rate rises - Business - www.smh.com.au Raising interest rates to try to induce a soft landing for an over-heated economy typically ends in recession, the Treasurer's top bureaucrat has warned.With the federal budget just a... More http://trevorcook.typepad.com/election/2005/04/ken_henry_is_so.html

Imagining Australia

You must be joking
If you're checking in at Canberra Airport, you'd better act serious. Security there has just arrested three people in the last week for making jokes about having dangerous items in their luggage. In the latest incident, a Brisbane man was...
More http://imaginingaustralia.blogs.com/imagining/2005/04/you_must_be_jok.ht...

shannonsays.com

Where are all the Australian Entrepreneurs?
An excellent question is posed by Stephen Mayne in the weeks Reader, about why Australian has so few successful young companies: Australia is a relatively young country, so why is it that so many of our biggest and best companies are...
More http://shannonc.blogs.com/shannonsays/2005/04/where_are_all_t.html

Tuesday April 26

Ambit Gambit

Joh Bjelke-Petersen's most significant contribution to agriculture
Curiously, in all the tributes to Joh Bjelke-Petersen, no-one has mentioned his significant contribution to Queensland agriculture. Press releases have lauded his long reign. They have credited him with starting Queensland's coal industry. He is given the credit for the...
More http://ambit-gambit.nationalforum.com.au/archives/000569.html

Johannes Bjelke-Petersen...an unhealthy contempt for the role of the opposition in a democracy
I worked for a senior Liberal Minister in the early years of the Bjelke-Petersen Government so I knew him relatively well. He was ever courteous to me - but that was before the Liberals became as much as the enemy...
More http://ambit-gambit.nationalforum.com.au/archives/000568.html

>From the sidelines....

More research on the obesity 'epidemic'
>From Freakonomics: A new study released by the CDC is described in news reports as follows:The death toll from obesity is less than a third of the government's previous estimate, researchers are reporting today, contradicting warnings that poor diet and... More http://trevorcook.typepad.com/election/2005/04/more_research_o.html

Troppo Armadillo

"Join the army, travel to exotic distant lands, meet exciting and unusual people . . . and kill them"
The Imagining Australia quartet look Anzac legend through the eyes of young Australians and see a new cosmopolitanism: It is the tragedy of the event that moves young Australians. We weep for the memory of wasted young lives because in...
More http://troppoarmadillo.ubersportingpundit.com/archives/009000.html

Imagining Australia

Why the Yoof Like ANZAC
Macgregor Duncan, David Madden, Peter Tynan and myself have a piece in today's Australian on why ANZAC still resonates for young Australians today. Full text over the fold....
More http://imaginingaustralia.blogs.com/imagining/2005/04/why_the_yoof_li.ht...

shannonsays.com

ANZAC Day
”They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them” As an Australian...
More http://shannonc.blogs.com/shannonsays/2005/04/anzac_day.html

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Regards,
Graham Young
Chief Editor

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On Line Opinion is owned and published by National Forum.

Editorial Advisory Board:
Brian Johns, Leonie Kramer, Michael Kelly, Peter Donoughue, Ray Evans, Michael Williams, Kathy Sullivan, Tom Worthington, Julian Cribb, Helen O'Neil, Lucy Turnbull.

Acknowledgement of Collaborative Editors
The following people and groups have collaborated in producing this edition of On Line Opinion, please visit their websites to find out more about their organisations:

Carly Hammond and James Ensor,
Oxfam Community Aid Abroad
www.caa.org.au/

Terry Flew,
QUT
www.creativeindustries.qut.eu.au/