Australia’s government has designed a “News Media Bargaining Code” in an attempt to force Google and Facebook to pay news

When change is required, the government of a democracy should seek the ‘common good’ solution - one that appeals to the majority and is least problematic to others.   Reform in Australia is inherently challenging as the ‘politics’ at both state and federal level can de-rail change, even if majority community support exists.   Tax Reform in Australia has been held back for too long by political wrangling and manoeuvring.   Our politicians should put their egos aside and seek community input to determine a tax reform package that is viewed as a ‘common good’ and then get on with implementation.  

The British tech expert and journalist Jamie Bartlett opened his most recent book, The People Vs Tech, two years ago saying: “In

Rugby Union in Australia has struggled now for many years under a governance regime that has failed to keep up with the times, and has resulted in both poor-performance relative to other football codes in Australia and other Rugby Union playing Nations. Additionally, the code is in a perilous financial position.   Andrew Forrest has suggested an AFL-style commission. This could be the way forward to better governance of the code. Australian Rugby Union certainly needs a revolution!

It is of deep concern that our politicians are failing to deliver universal, complete, transparent and timely facts on donations, conflicts of interest and other issues of integrity.   If this behaviour was seen from the private sector there would be political outrage and calls for immediate regulation, legislation or even a Royal Commission.   It is time the electorate pressured for urgent and effective action from our politicians to correct the situation.

There is a concern in the US with executive power being over-used by President Biden.   Australia has a similar problem with our Federal Parliament sitting very few days per year (~67) and an increasing trend for government by regulation - and dictates from the Prime Minister and State Premiers.   We should all contact our State and Federal parliamentary representatives and demand higher quality policy formation. A return to a more independent public service, crafting well thought through and widely circulated and discussed Green and White Papers as part of the policy development program, would be a big step forward.