Warning about ‘Exhibit A’

Last week, Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter of Donald Trump’s “Art of the Deal”, joined a long list of people who have worked with Trump and concluded that he is not fit to be President. Schwartz’s memoir is perhaps the most damning.

“A lack of conscience can be a huge advantage when it comes to accruing power, attention and wealth in a society where most other human beings abide by a social contract,” he writes in the New York Times. And Trump is “Exhibit A”.

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On health and population

Gosh, fertility in Australia is down. Should we be concerned? No. Should Australian Governments be moved to spend vast amounts of scarce health money on IVF programs to turn the trend around? No.

Last week, the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand rang the alarm bells at its annual conference in Perth.

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Wherefore art thou Albo?

Last week’s national accounts figures suggest that we are now midway through Act IV and it may be too late to save King Albo from his Shakespearean fate.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has, but for one crucial back-firing moment (the Voice), always been looking over his shoulder fearful and worrying about how what he proposes to do or not do could be used by his opposition (both political and in the media) to be played against him.

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CFMEU and the rule of law

What would have been the reaction if the Federal Government had responded to the banking and child-sexual-abuse royal commissions by legislating to put the offending banks and churches into administration?

After all, the allegations against the banks and churches were of similar seriousness as those against the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union.

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Breaking the ice with China

The icebreakers illustrate the story. This month China sent its third icebreaker, the new Ji Di, into the Arctic, following Xue Long (pictured) and Zhong Shan. One of them is in waters north of Alaska.

Meanwhile, the US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy abandoned its Arctic mission after an electrical fire and limped home on one engine to Seattle. The only other US Coast Guard sea-going icebreaker, the 55-year-old Polar Star, is undergoing a refit.

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