National Observer - Australia and World Affairs articles from September 2002

National Observer - Australia and World Affairs archives from September 2002

Cultural and social decline within Australia.
September 22, 2002... Is Australian cultural and intellectual life comparable in quality to that in other Western countries? Unfortunately it is difficult to avoid a negative answer to this question. In cultural terms, it seems if anything that there has been a...

The accelerating growth in commonwealth spending.
September 22, 2002... One of the chief problems for observers of the political position in Australia is a scarcity of reliable political leaders. Mr. John Howard is generally regarded as the best who is available, but within the Liberal Party his rival, Mr. Peter...

Mr. Philip Ruddock: a conscientious defender of Australia's sovereignty.
September 22, 2002... Mr. Philip Ruddock, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, bears perhaps the most difficult government responsibilities today. He is beset by some of the most unpleasant manifestations of political correctness....

On mining and minerals.
September 22, 2002... It is not an exaggeration to say that, without the minerals developments in the last one hundred and sixty years, Australia would be a very different and very much poorer country today. Copper finds beginning in the 1840s saved South...

History, anthropology and the politics of aboriginal sovereignty.
September 22, 2002... After the High Court's Mabo judgment in 1992, Henry Reynolds, who describes himself as "an historian and advocate for indigenous rights", (1) commented on its future implications. He said the judgment was a major landmark in the "decolonising"...

Trade and industry policy for the years ahead.
September 22, 2002... "The best Trade and Industry policies are none" -- that was the view of one internationally well-regarded Australian economist (obviously a globalist) back in the nineteen-eighties. That remark came when the idea of "globalization" and...

The potent triangle: Empires, Islam and the Pamir region.
September 22, 2002... Independent inland territories with three borders have long played an important part in Asian politics. Rebels have used them as spring boards to win empires. Defeated dynasties have used them for last stands, or as safe havens. And they have...

The case for the two-parent family: Part I.
September 22, 2002... INTRODUCTION For centuries, the biological family with mother and father was viewed as the appropriate and necessary structure for raising children and undergirding society. Indeed, both historical and universally, the natural family has...

Malcolm Fraser: political decadent.
September 22, 2002... Australia's progressives have a new hero: Malcolm Fraser. Two years ago, Labor Party icon and former Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, "rattled off" the issues he and his former political enemy and "new mate" shared: "the republic, reconciliation,...

The campaign against Dr. Peter Hollingworth.
September 22, 2002... The matter of sexual abuse of minors is highly emotional. The betrayal of trust by teachers and priests is an extremely serious matter and may have very severe emotional effects on children, especially where parents, friends and outsiders...

Should Justice Kirby resign?(Michael Kirby )(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... On 12 March 2002, Senator Heffernan indicated in the Senate that Justice Michael Kirby "has come to the attention of senior police and the Child Protection Agency in New South Wales", and stated, "I have personally interviewed at great length,...

The Chastening: Inside the Crisis that Rocked the Global Financial System and Humbled the I.M.F.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... By Paul Blustein New York: Public Affairs, 2001, pp. 426. Paul Blustein is a staff writer at The Washington Post, and therefore carries with him the left-of-centre and internationalist outlook of that very liberal newspaper. Nonetheless his...

A Modern History of Japan.
September 22, 2002... By James L. McClain New York, 2001: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., pages 632 notes and index. James L. McClain is Professor of History at Brown University, Rhode Island, and is a recognised scholar of Japanese history. "A Modern History of Japan"...

Postcommunism and the Theory of Democracy.
September 22, 2002... By Richard D. Anderson Jr., M. Stephen Fish, Stephen E. Hanson and Philip G. Roeder. New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 2001, 195 pp. and index. Anderson, Breslauer (who writes an introduction), Fish and Roeder have professorial...

Bias: A.C.B.S. Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News.
September 22, 2002... By Bernard Goldberg Washington D.C.: Regnery, 2002, pp. 232. The liberal bias in the media in Western democracies has long been evident. Nearly all political journalists in Australia are pro-Labor, and nearly all in the United States are...

Reflections on a Ravaged Century.
September 22, 2002... By Robert Conquest New York, 2001, W.W. Norton & Co., pp. 304 and index. Robert Conquest has been described by Paul Johnson as "our greatest living modern historian", and as such any new writings from him merit serious attention In...