Michael Sainsbury

New South Wales

Freelance journalist focused on Asia, tech and biz/gvt corruption in Australia. Sydney Swans tragic having given up on the Wallabies. [email protected]

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Articles

Russia has had military influence in Asia for decades. Why is it a surprise it wants more?

1 week ago | crikey.com.au | Michael Sainsbury

The biggest surprise about the news that Russia may have been trying to base aircraft in Indonesia was that it was a surprise at all. Russia has long been trying to position itself as influential in South-East Asia alongside China and the US, and has deep ties in South Asia with one of Australia’s key regional allies, India, along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Qantas flight fares will soar in a Trump market. It's the airline's fault

1 week ago | crikey.com.au | Michael Sainsbury

As the comfy government-and-regulator-sanctioned Qantas/Virgin domestic airline oligopoly settles back in, airfares are continuing to climb, according to the latest government data. The Australian aviation sector, and Qantas most particularly, is deeply exposed to falls in the Australian dollar, which Donald Trump’s tariff war has driven down. It is predicted to possibly fall — and stay — below US$0.60c.
Todd Sampson to leave Qantas with more than $1 million in flight freebies

3 weeks ago | crikey.com.au | Michael Sainsbury

Qantas chair John Mullen will finally be rid of high-profile director Todd Sampson in July, leaving arms dealer Belinda Hutchinson and ex-airline executive Tony Tyler as the last remnants of the board that allowed Alan Joyce too much control of the company.
Michael Sainsbury. Australia and Cambodia's shady asylum seeker deal.

3 weeks ago | johnmenadue.com | Michael Sainsbury

Australias history of dealing with asylum seekers continues to spin into a dizzying spiral of contempt. Already under fire for shutting its doors to some of the worlds most vulnerable people, the Canberra government is now in talks with Cambodia, the latest in a rollcall of poor, dysfunctional neighbors to whom it will outsource its so-called asylum seeker problem.
Michael Sainsbury. Tables have turned on Chinas ex-security chief

3 weeks ago | johnmenadue.com | Michael Sainsbury

The imminent purge of Zhou Yongkang, Chinas security chief from 2007 to 2012, brings to mind that wonderful Chinese expression: The fish rots from the head down. Since the major clearout after Mao Zedongs death in 1976, Zhou is now the most senior Communist Party official to be fingered by its internal affairs division, the Central Discipline Committee. He is the first former member of the elite Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) to be cast out by the Party.
MICHAEL SAINSBURY AND THOMAS ORA. Timor-Leste's young government teeters on collapse

3 weeks ago | johnmenadue.com | Michael Sainsbury

Asias most Catholic country faces the prospect of a second election inside nine months after government fracturesTimor-Leste has lurched into a constitutional crisis after Prime Minister Mari Alkatiris minority government failed to pass key legislation, including a fresh budget bill, in the week before Christmas.
MICHAEL SAINSBURY. Beijing's spin on Xinjiang camps is not fooling anyone.

3 weeks ago | johnmenadue.com | Michael Sainsbury

November 7, 2018 Communist regime has offered a string of justifications for its inhumane treatment of the Uyghur people. This article was published by UCA News on the 6th of November. After more than year of denial, Beijing has admitted to the existence of so-called ’re-education’ camps in far-western Xinjiang province where up to one million Muslim Uyghurs are incarcerated.
MICHAEL SAINSBURY. Scott Morrison smashes shortest Prime Minister records.

3 weeks ago | johnmenadue.com | Michael Sainsbury

Is Scott Morrison really on his way to a full half-term? As Liberal MPs flee the parliament and by-elections mushroom, the Member for Cook has already failed to earn the distinction of Australias fastest prime ministership. But will he vanquish the record of Arthur Fadden? Michael Sainsbury reports.
MICHAEL SAINSBURY. Back to basics for Pope at huge Tokyo Mass (UCA News 25-11-19)

3 weeks ago | johnmenadue.com | Michael Sainsbury

Francis warns against the consumerism and isolation that wealthy societies can createPope Francis went back to basics in delivering his homily in front of the biggest crowd of his trip to Asia: more than 50,000 people at the cavernous Tokyo Dome. He drew on what he described as Jesus Christs first great sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, and included the thematic of his Japan trip, the Gift of Life. And he used the Mass on Nov.
MICHAEL SAINSBURY. ScoMos Turnaround: Peter Dutton and Stuart Robert ride to the rescue

3 weeks ago | johnmenadue.com | Michael Sainsbury

The Chronicles of a Fleeting Prime MinisterAnd so he sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from The Destruction. Then came the season of The Renewal, and now, The Turnaround is upon the people. With 50 days and 50 nights in office, PM Scott Morrison just smote the record of Arthur Fadden, our fourth shortest-serving PM, and is on his way to vanquish the fifth, Chris Watson. Michael Sainsburyreports. ITS NOW official it must be if The Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said it.