Skulking around underwater in wildly overpriced (and thus far imaginary) submarines is unlikely to persuade China to be reasonable and see things our way. Defence experts Mark Beeson and Vince Scappatura weigh in on the ongoing AUKUS debacle, and the latest Chicken-Little-sky-is-falling-in editorial crusade from the Murdoch press.

The Albanese government has committed Australia to the most expensive defence procurement in the countrys history. They are being offered enthusiastic support in this by the Coalition; unsurprising given that the purchase of nuclear-powered submarines and the creation of the AUKUS alliance were largely the Morrison governments initiatives.

This rare outbreak of bipartisanship and policy agreement is not universally shared, however; not that you would know it if youre unfortunate enough to get your news exclusively from the Murdoch press. As with its view of climate change, there is a consistent editorial line on AUKUS and critical voices are rarely even referred to, let alone heard.

We have personal experience of this having signed an open letter, along with over 100 other academics with expertise in defence and foreign policy, questioning the underlying strategic rationale of both AUKUS and the acquisition of submarines that will cost at least $368 billion, if and when they are ever delivered.

Paul Monk, the self-styled most versatile public intellectual in Australia in our time [Eds note: That is literally the claim Monk makes about himself on his own website while wearing a French beret and a high-neck sweater], was given a platform by The Australian to put us in our place. Needless to say, we havent been offered the right of reply.

Monks central argument, like that of the Albanese government, is that we need the alliance to deter Beijings escalating militarism. In this context, the system of collective security put in place by the US after 1945 has served Asia exceptionally well, Monk claims, as do the policymaking establishments of the US and Australia, of course.

Yet even if we ignore the conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan, its plain that the overwhelming military superiority of the United States with or without its allies has conspicuously not deterred China from reassuming what its leaders see as its rightful place at...

A prominent union says that wage theft and fraud within the National Disability Insurance Scheme is so widespread that it could be described as a standard business model for many providers.

So far this month, the Australian Services Union NSW & ACT (ASU) has referred two providers to the NDIS Commission, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), and the Fair Work Ombudsman for alleged wage theft and fraud, and its actively investigating more than 30 additional providers in NSW alone.

The ASU says the wage theft is so blatant that the NDIAs own wage benchmarking report from 2021 and 2022 shows 10 percent of providers are self-reporting that they are underpaying disability support workers.

ASU NSW & ACT Secretary Angus McFarland said wage theft in the disability support sector was rampant.

Its bad for workers and is ripping off people with disability at the same time, Mr McFarland said. Wage theft undermines efforts to attract and retain workers in an industry plagued by high staff turnover. Without a robust workforce, NDIS participants are left without the vital support they need.

Its criminal to underpay staff its even worse during a cost of living crisis. Next month, disability support workers on minimum award wages will be entitled to a 5.75 per cent pay rise thanks to the Fair Work Commission. I question whether the full benefit will be passed on to all workers if greedy providers continue underpaying our essential workers.

Ripping off workers: Four case studies

A spokesperson for the ASU provided New Matilda with four anonymised examples of ASU members who were ripped off by their employers in the course of their disability support work. In several of the cases, the employees were forced to work extraord...

Mortgage holders were dealt another blow recently when the Reserve Bank of Australia increased interest rates by 25 basis points, to an 11-year high. In response, the satirical online publication The Shovel quipped, RBA cleverly responds to business-driven inflation by increasing struggling familys mortgage by $150 a month.

It continued: When big businesses are pushing up prices and announcing record profits, the best way to respond is to push Julie and Trevor Smith from Werribee to the brink of bankruptcy.

Amusing, at least upon first reading. But it hits a little too close to home for hundreds of thousands of working people who get by paycheck to paycheck. New data shows prices rose 6.8 per cent for the year to April, well outside of the RBAs target band of two to three per cent. Housing is increasingly unaffordable in most of the major cities. Food costs have risen by nearly eight per cent, and if you drive to work good luck at the bowser.

But who should we blame for the current inflation crunch? The business lobby has been telling us that its a multifaceted problem driven by a mix of supply shock and demand-side pressures.

Yes, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has resulted in escalating fuel and agricultural prices. And a combination of natural disasters and delays in transporting goods and services have caused prices to rise globally. In addition, the aptly dubbed wage-price spiral theory has roared back into vogue; according to the Chamber of Commerce, a 5.75 per cent pay rise granted from July 1^st to the lowest paid workers consigns Australia to high inflation.

Yet theres growing evidence to suggest that strategically inflated prices in other terms, corporate profiteering or price gouging is a leading cause of high inflation.

Research published by Dr Jim Stanford from the Australia Institute, and cited by New Matilda, notes that corporate profits, not wages, are a major driver of the countrys high inflation.

The progressive think tank argues that business profits account for 69 per cent of inflation above the RBAs target band, calling it a profit-price spiral. And the figures are telling earnings results posted by supermarkets, mining and energy companies, banks, and the national airline are skyrocketing.

In total, Stanford identified that to the September...

New Zealands Childrens Commissioner will visit Darwin later this year amid a growing push for Australia to appoint its own Commissioner to oversee the welfare of, and government interactions with, Australias First Nations children.

SNAICC23 the 10th National Conference for the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care will be held in Darwin in early September. Its by far the largest event of its kind on the annual calendar, with more than 1,000 people expected to attend.

One of those will be Judge Frances Eivers, a Ngti Maniapoto woman from Waikato and a passionate advocate for First Nations children.

A former family court judge and criminal lawyer, Judge Eivers has held the role of New Zealands Childrens Commissioner since November 2021. She believes it is important to have powerful champions for Indigenous children and has been outspoken about closing care and protection units and improving conditions for children in care.

My vision as Childrens Commissioner has always been kia kuru pounamu te rongo that all children live their best lives, Judge Eivers said. Im sure thats a vision that all Indigenous people aspire to, and I look forward to sharing some of the ways I have advocated for our mokopuna in Aotearoa.

Im especially interested to learn more about the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people and the call for a First Nations Commissioner to serve them.

This has been about calling for Mori approaches to caring for children, within the context of their close and wider family groups. Integral to this work is listening to and amplifying the voices of young people.

Judge Eivers has served as Childrens Commissioner of New Zealand since 2021. From July 1, the model expands to include a Board of up to six Commissioners, on which Judge Eivers will serve. Before being appointed Commissioner, she was a Judge in the District Court in Manukau, working extensively with mokopuna (children) in the court system. Judge Eivers has worked as a lawyer in Auckland, Whakatne, London and Tauranga.

SNAICC Chairperson, Muriel Bamblett said New Zealands experience had a great deal of relevance to Australia.

We are excited to...