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

The first US pope is a moderate like Francis. Will he bump up against Trump?

6 days ago | crikey.com.au | Michael Sainsbury

By electing the church’s first-ever North American pope, the leaders of the Catholic Church have chosen to move forward with Pope Francis’ reforms. Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, a long-time educator and missionary in Peru, is seen as a moderate who has been a backer of Francis’ moves to modernise the church while retaining some conservative social positions.
In NSW's Cowper, community independent goes close but no cigar

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

The relentless rainfall of the past month has upended the macadamia nut harvest on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, delaying the first pick of the season, with the steep hills the trees grow on impossible to access by tractor.
This election has served up pork-barrelling bribes over proper policy (but God forbid anyone lose their Qantas Lounge membership)

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

In an aviation sector dominated by the Qantas/Virgin duopoly, customers face rising prices, a lack of competition and consumer protections, and an uncertain future as pilot and engineer shortages mount. Yet these issues have barely been addressed in what is supposed to be a cost of living election campaign. The latest government data shows airfares are still rising while delays across the sector continue to sit below the long-term average.
Fresh airport security scare shines light on Australian aviation’s uncertain future

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

On Sunday, April 13, a woman was arrested after scaling a fence and running onto active runways at Melbourne’s busy Moorabbin Airport. This prompted the airport to shut down all active runways and direct aircraft to turn off their engines to prevent any risk of injury before the intruder was tackled, arrested and charged, tenants at the airport told Crikey.
Pope Francis' death is a crossroad for the Catholic Church. Will his progressive, anti-Trump agenda last?

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

For at least the next three to four weeks, Irish priest Cardinal Kevin Farrell, 78 — the Vatican’s camerlengo (chamberlain and secretary) — will be the de facto regent of the Catholic Church and its 1.3 billion members.
Russia has had military influence in Asia for decades. Why is it a surprise it wants more?

4 weeks 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 month 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

1 month 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.

1 month 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

1 month 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.