National Observer - Australia and World Affairs articles from June 2001

National Observer - Australia and World Affairs archives from June 2001

The Kyoto controversy and Senator Hill.
June 22, 2001... The Kyoto Protocol, if it came into force, would have alarming consequences for the Australian economy and for Australians' standard of living. It would in effect require Australia to reduce, by the period 2008-2012, net greenhouse gas...

China: the ancient barbarians. (Editorial Comment).(Editorial)
June 22, 2001... There is a tendency for our politicians and public servants to be unduly impressed by Chinese self-presentation as an ancient, wise, populous and incipiently powerful civilisation. Amongst commercial entrepreneurs there is an even more unwise...

Mr. Peter Reith and the liberal succession. (Editorial Comment).(Brief Article)(Editorial)
June 22, 2001... The choice of Prime Minister is one of the most critical for the Australian national interest. As has been commented before, although criticisms may be made of some aspects of Mr. John Howard's leadership, he appears to be distinctly preferable...

The protection of rights in Australia. (Editorial Comment).(Editorial)
June 22, 2001... The enactment by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of the Human Rights Act 1999, which is already in force in Scotland and will soon take effect in England, means that Australia is the only developed Common Law country which has no Bill of...

Directions for Australia's future after the Republic Referendum.
June 22, 2001... It is appropriate to reflect on the lessons of the 1999 Referendum on the question of a Republic, now that we are about to mark the first anniversary of the day on which Australians clearly rejected the proposal. The most gratifying lesson...

A necessary re-organisation of Australia's defence.
June 22, 2001... Before there can be a fundamental review of Australian Defence Policy to take account of major changes in our strategic environment and military technology, and the increasing costs and budgetary pressures for the Defence Department, there must...

Feminists within the Catholic Church.(Australia)
June 22, 2001... The failure in 1992 of the American bishops' attempt to produce a pastoral letter on the role of women in the Catholic Church in America did not deter Australia's Catholic bishops from embarking on a similar project in 1996. The American...

J. Edgar Hoover and the Ku Klux Klan.
June 22, 2001... It seems incredible now that J. Edgar Hoover, who ran the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation as an absolute monarch from 1924 till his sudden death in May 1972, should once have possessed "a name at which the world grew pale". Yet...

Trends in post-Cold War international relations.
June 22, 2001... Three general trends can be identified in post-Cold War international relations. First, on the security front, we have observed the decline in the salience of strategic nuclear weapons. The world is in transition from nuclear to...

Cross-examination in the Gunner-Cubillo cases. (Legal Notes).(Lorna Cubillo, Peter Gunner, "stolen generations" case, Australia)
June 22, 2001... "The recent spectacle of members of the stolen generations being subjected to hostile cross-examination during the Gunner-Cubillo case was a disgrace to any civilised government. "Sir Ronald Wilson Q.C., submission to Senate ...

The Samuel Griffith Society.(Australian Constitution)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... The Twelfth Conference of the Samuel Griffith Society was held in Sydney on 10-12 November 2000. This Society, which is concerned primarily with the preservation and proper operation of the Australian Constitution, has gained a position of...

Hitler's Pope: the Secret History of Pius XII. (Book Reviews).
June 22, 2001... HITLER'S POPE: THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell London: Viking, 1999, pp. 430. As Pius XII, Eugenio Pacelli was the most controversial of modern Popes. Regarded during his lifetime as truly a prince among men, since his...

Australia: A Biography of a Nation. (Book Reviews).
June 22, 2001... AUSTRALIA: A BIOGRAPHY OF A NATION by Phillip Knightley London: Jonathan Cape, 2000, pp. 372. While Manning Clark's work is of course in a class of its own, peerless and beyond question or comparison, I believe that Phillip Knightley's new...

Anglo-Australian Attitudes. (Book Reviews).
June 22, 2001... ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN ATTITUDES by Michael Davie London: Secker & Warburg, 2000, pp. 250. While Manning Clark's work is of course in a class of its own, peerless and beyond question or comparison, I believe that Phillip Knightley's new book has...