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1 week ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Jack Waterford
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is fighting this election as if it were what some of my sisters in journalism would call a dick-measuring competition. On many of the key issues, he invites voters to assume that he is firmer, stronger and tougher. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is, by implication, smaller, weaker and (dare we say it, as Dutton has) more limp-wristed.
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2 weeks ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Jack Waterford
Anthony Albanese must feel that he understands how John Curtin felt after the fall of Singapore. The idea that Winston Churchill “abandoned” Australia to its fate is virtually a dogmatic myth inside Labor, not only part of the cult of Curtin but of Paul Keating, whose version of what occurred has been often repeated. Curtin had long believed that the Singapore naval base, the supposed bulwark keeping Japan from attacking south-east Asia, was vulnerable.
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3 weeks ago | 
canberratimes.com.au | Jack Waterford
Anthony Albanese must feel that he understands how John Curtin felt after the fall of Singapore. The idea that Winston Churchill "abandoned" Australia to its fate is virtually dogmatic myth inside Labor, not only part of the cult of John Curtin but of Paul Keating whose version of what occurred has been often repeated.
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3 weeks ago | 
braidwoodtimes.com.au | Jack Waterford
Anthony Albanese must feel that he understands how John Curtin felt after the fall of Singapore. The idea that Winston Churchill "abandoned" Australia to its fate is virtually dogmatic myth inside Labor, not only part of the cult of John Curtin but of Paul Keating whose version of what occurred has been often repeated. Subscribe now for unlimited access.
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3 weeks ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Jack Waterford
There is a great opportunity for honest discussion of more efficient and effective divisions of power and responsibility, writes Jack Waterhouse. On many issues, I have more in common with my Labor counterparts at a state level than a Coalition treasurer at a federal level.
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3 weeks ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Jack Waterford
Sooner or later many hope sooner people will decide that the scourging and self-flagellation of PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the big consultancies has gone far enough. A few penances perhaps if the AFP are up to it, a few prosecutions and government departments can resume the business of outsourcing most of its thinking to former colleagues at about 10 times the cost of doing it themselves.
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3 weeks ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Duncan Graham |Jack Waterford
Wheres the torrent of cash expected to flow from Google, Meta and other overseas behemoths plundering Ozzie journalism? Heres the latest handwringing. Three years ago more than 80 per cent of readers said they hadnt used print media to get a news fix. Hadnt or couldnt? The Melbourne-based NGO Public Interest Journalism Initiative reckons it knows of 166 news outlet closures across the past five years.
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3 weeks ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Jack Waterford
The Shergold review of Australias pandemic response is infected by the Sydney and Canberra view of putting the economy ahead of individual health. Professor Peter Shergold is a very distinguished Australian public servant, fabulous after-dinner speaker and accomplished part-time actor in departmental pantomimes. His deep and expert interest in public sector management and reform has survived 14 years of retirement from the mandarinate. His range of experience is extraordinary.
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3 weeks ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Jack Waterford
As Anthony Albanese might see it, almost all of his political good fortune has come from preferring his own judgment and instinct ahead of the advice and experience of others. He has a very long background in politics. He first prospered as the head of a minority party faction which was completely frozen out of exercising power within the party even if it received a small portion of the spoils of government if the party itself gained the support of the electorate.
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3 weeks ago | 
johnmenadue.com | Jack Waterford
I have never had much regard for Mike Pezzullo, and my regard is lower for the disclosures this week of Nine and Fairfax journalists of his secret email correspondence with politicians he thought he might be able to influence. As any number of people have said, his position is untenable, and he must look forward to, at best, the hope that some private sector consultancy might pick him up.
