December 9 – 15, 2023

“The year just ending is the worst I can recall for more than half a century. Already there are strong indications the next will be worse. It has been the hottest year on record since global meteorological systems were established in 1873. Increasingly brutal wars between Russia and Ukraine, and Israel and Hamas, and massive conflicts in Africa and border wars in South America are destructive not only to lives and property but to all human values and the whole concept of rational problem-solving. Politics itself is a war zone. No prisoners are taken and the winner takes all. The more existential the crisis, the more trivial and toxic the response.”

“The latest batch of published polls suggest voters are not yet ready to switch to the Dutton-led Coalition. In this context, it is not hard to see why Dutton, who has always been a strident partisan warrior, has given no quarter as he attempts to turn the High Court-directed release of indefinitely detained migrants and refugees into a national security emergency, a shambles and a catastrophe. In this he has the unabashed urging and backing of the Murdoch media.”

“The cost of living is still running too high and the opposition is weaponising every issue it can. As Treasurer Jim Chalmers prepares to deliver the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook statement, he faces a very big question. How he will balance the desire to maintain the long-awaited surplus Labor touted this year as evidence of its sound economic management with the need to help households still struggling with inflation and the highest interest rates in 12 years. ”