While it may well have been the 'right thing to do', politics is about pragmatism and populism, not principle and leadership. Unfortunately, Aboriginal people tend not to be all that pragmatic when it comes to their basic human rights. They have this crazy notion that their rights should be respected, no matter what. And a basic human right the world over is that if you are harmed, you're entitled to an apology, an assurance it will not occur again, and compensation. Rudd's plan of action on this issue is straight out of the John Howard playbook on 'Dealing with The Natives' - whatever you do, do less than the bare minimum. But surely Rudd must realise by now that this approach simply delays the inevitable, and guarantees you a bad write-up in the history books.

The truth is that just as mankind developed opposable thumbs and crawled outof the caves, Australia will - kicking, screaming or otherwise - eventually be dragged into the human rights community. We will progress. We will evolve. Indigenous Australians will one day be compensated for stolen land, stolen wages and stolen children. We will one day have to pay out the 'Great Australian Trifecta'. [More] . . read more

The questions which emerge from these statistics are:

• What are we doing globally to understand and engage with the Chinese world view?
• When will our preoccupation with 'things-US' deflate so as to let us attend to this major discontinuity?

China's burgeoning wealth means it will soon have more millionaires and more foreign currency than anywhere else. It will make George Soros look like a bit player in a 'B' movie. And Bill Gates 'that guy who ran a laundry in Seattle.'! . . read more

By 2020 Australia will be making a major contribution to a comprehensive global response to climate change, including working with our partners on clean energy. Australia will have dramatically reduced our emissions, and communities, regions and business will be actively assisted to adopt the unavoidable consequences of climate change.

Environmental considerations will be fully integrated into economic decision making in Australia, at the household, business and government levels. We will have resilient and innovative water systems that reduce our dependency on climate-sensitive water resources in our towns and cities.

A robust emissions trading system and a suite of complementary measures will be driving a low carbon revolution with Government taking the lead working in partnership with business and the community. Climate and sustainability policy will also incorporate the needs of disadvantaged and low-income Australians. A new dialogue will have been established with our indigenous peoples on our response to climate change, water and sustainability challenges. . . read more

The spectre of the thought police pulling down Bill Henson’s show in Sydney is now followed by the red necked council of Camden in Sydney’s south rejecting the creation of a 1200 student Islamic school ‘based on concerns surrounding the impact on traffic flows, loss of agricultural land, highlighted in the planners report and not on religious grounds.’ Oh yeh!

Our hopes for a more progressive Australia following the heinous Howard regime have been seriously dented in just 5 days. Where is the leadership promised by the Australia 2020 summit? It is certainly absent from the mealy-mouthed Front Bench.

Attention now shifts ironically to the Opposition where shadow treasurer Malcolm Turnbull is the lone progressive voice in a sea of mediocrity. He has the guts to point out the precious nature of our artistic freedoms which are being sorely pressed by political ratbags and the citizens of Middle Earth.  . . read more

At the same time, we also have to recognize that China is rapidly increasing its military spending... We should not, at one level, be surprised that a more affluent China seeks to spend more on its military, but China also needs to be aware that its modernization drive also has an impact on the region. It is, in part, a question of transparency. It is also, in part, a question of uncertainties concerning long-term strategic purpose. We must remain vigilant to changing strategic terrain, but strategic vigilance must not be allowed, of itself, to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. There is nothing predetermined about a U.S.-China conflict in the future.

We decide the future by our actions today, and we need to give ourselves the best chance to choose the best future for us all. We need to have strong regional and global institutions, a China that is positively engaged in those institutions as a responsible stakeholder, contributing to a harmonious global and regional order and continued good management of the China-U.S. relations by both sides. [More] . . read more

Unlike Hitler in 1936 who was in the process of imposing imperial ambitions on the outside world, China's political elite (as opposed to the Chinese military leadership) is most concerned with managing its own internal stressors, including a significant percentage of citizens who live in poverty. The Beijing Olympics in 2008 does not presage some new war: in a certain sense, the impulse to war has been blunted by the peaceful transactions of globalized trade; the victor's ascendence is measured in reverse proportion to the USA's hollowed out industries and scattered Rust Belts. To the masses in Asia, what America's falling economic tide exposes is the first fraction of our standard of living...

China is governed today by a political elite that fully embraces Orwellian focus on security and control. Through this set of circumstances, the sight of President Bush waving on U.S. competitors at the Olympics can be interpreted as either a brand new day based on resurgent, grand achievements or a forced smile at a dynamo he understands better now that his own time clock is running out. [More] . . read more

It is love alone which can deliver the healing and take us, all of us, to a new place. Love helps us to see the world through the eyes of others; to share their ‘world views’ and to feel with them. And it is only by sharing that we can co-create the context in which change can take place. A Croatian neighbour confided in me today – in halting English – that Aborigines were beyond help; my response is that it is him that needs help.

Australia is a better place after the apology. And it is now that the real work begins. With each other.  . . read more

Our shared future is not only one about harmony between nations and peoples. It is also about harmony with nature — the “Unity of Man and Nature” — a concept with ancient roots in Chinese thought. We all share responsibility for the future. One of the big future challenges for Australia and China is climate change. Australia is committed to strong action domestically and internationally on climate change. Because we know that climate change is the great moral, economic and environmental challenge of our time – one that all nations have to work together to overcome... I also believe it is important for China’s own future. Unless we are successful, China will face increasing pressure on its water supplies, changing rainfall patterns and rising sea levels.

A strong relationship, and a true friendship, are built on the ability to engage in direct, frank and ongoing dialogue about our fundamental interests and future vision. In the modern, globalised world, we are all connected; connected not only by politics and economics, but also in the air we breathe. A true friend is one who can be a “zhengyou” , that is a partner who sees beyond immediate benefit to the broader and firm basis for continuing, profound and sincere friendship. In other words, a true friendship which “offers unflinching advice and counsels restraint” to engage in principled dialogue about matters of contention. It is the kind of friendship that I know is treasured in China’s political tradition. It is the kind of friendship that I also offer China today.

Translation from Kevin Rudd's address to students at Peking University, Beijing. . . read more

And yet John Howard, the now self-defined ‘climate change realist’, persists with the same policies and the same thinking that has failed Australia for the past decade. And Kevin Rudd shows little sign of making that seismic shift in thinking required to address the most urgent matters confronting Australia today – climate change and water security.

John Howard’s so-called ‘good’ economic management has produced [a] growing disparity between his prosperous and comfortable Australia and the millions, including pensioners, who are struggling with huge burdens of personal debt... Meanwhile a small but growing number of Australian corporate executives take home pay packets in the millions of dollars...

Howard won government with the slogan ‘For all of us’. We now know this was a sham. It was not true for Indigenous Australians, for pensioners, for people with disabilities and their carers – and for millions of other Australians who watch as the cost of living rises and their pay packets shrink by comparison. Under Howard’s watch, Australia has become more like America, and more divided than before. . . read more

1. How we can build a strong foundation for future prosperity, in a global economy that will be transformed by the rise of China and India and other developing economies; and how we ensure our prosperity does not rest only on the ups and downs of commodity markets but also on what we can craft out of our human capital.
2. How we can have the best educated, best skilled, best trained workforce in the world – a workforce whose innovation and ingenuity drives productivity growth forward.
3. How we respond to the enormous challenge of climate change and become a leader in tomorrow’s lower carbon energy revolution.
4. How we ensure a strong future for rural industries and rural communities at a time when the world, once again is debating the possibility of global food shortages.
5. How we develop a long-term national health strategy – and don’t simply surrender to the trend of rising chronic disease rates. But instead say, ‘there is a different way of doing this’
6. How we build stronger communities, stronger families and a society that works hard, not to leave any single Australian behind.
7. How we close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage and ensure life opportunities for Indigenous Australians, comparable to those enjoyed by all Australians. That should be our goal.
8. How we build a creative arts industry that reflect Australia’s unique story that carries our unique culture to the rest of the world.
9. How we reform our system of governance for the needs of the 21st Century rather than perpetuating some of the structures from the 19th Century.
10. How we ensure Australia’s future security and prosperity in a rapidly changing region and world. [More]