Judgement is a dying art

Everywhere you look – parliament, public service, church, police – old-fashioned ‘;judgement’ and ‘common sense’ are lacking. And the situation is getting worse, not better, says Rajan Venkataraman.  5 Oct 2016

Politics bitter sweet, need a new core

Ross Fitzgerald’s proposition that the destabilisation of Malcolm Turnbull is starting (PM’s left-right dilemma”, Canberra Times Comment, 3 October, p16) is probably very close to the mark. Australian politics is a poisonous concoction of the prosaic and the febrile, a recipe for extreme ennui, and internal party politics is not exactly marked by common sense. Turnbull cannot be what presumably he would wish, a Liberal wet, in a party room where the god-bothering and back-to-the-workhouse factions have the numbers. Not if he wants to remain party leader at least, which presumably he does, though one might ask why he wantsContinue reading

Equality makes us happy

The recognition of ‘marriage equality’ has been dragging on for a long time. If the gay and the lesbian people live a peaceful life together without harming others, it’s a relief for our society as well. They are surely a minority group. But why those who are different to them and in the majority should have the right to decide how their position would be or should be in the community? It is a matter of human rights. A government should govern and protect human rights for all. It is about time Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull shows some leadership, takes a principledContinue reading