With her acceptance on the 7.30 report that her proposed Carbon Pricing Scheme is a tax, Julia Gillard confirmed that she had lied about the issue in the 2010 election, just as much as John Howard lied about the GST in 1996, with one caveat.
February 20, 2011 | Ronda Jambe
Walk like an Egyptian
Or a Libyan, a Tunisian, a Bahraini or a Yemeni…but don’t get shot. True colours of both governments and populace are now being revealed. The US is back-pedalling on support for repressive Mid-Eastern regimes.
But shouldn’t they be crowing, as their avowed aim was to promote democracy? Well, perhaps not on the people’s terms, but tables are turning. The true turning point will be when US military spending actually starts to drop in real terms. Call it Peak Guns. We already seem to have reached Peak Butter.
One can perhaps look forward now to the downfall of the Saudi regime, whose princes make up the numbers that a legitimate government might equal (although their take is somewhat grander)
‘Let them eat bread!’ to paraphrase a lady with big hair. Even Hollywood movies now are touting the theme of food security and peak oil. The latest offering with Liam Neeson, Unknown, has that underlying thread.
Look to the price of wheat for a crystal ball on future strategic alliances.
Taking seriously the CSIRO predictions for climate change wouldn’t hurt, either.
Point is, we are not immune to the viral desire for justice, adaptation and remediation for ravages of extreme weather events, and above all, food security.
Look also to BHP’s profits, and see how many in our own government have the courage to walk like an Egyptian. My spouse has just reminded me that even my humble online savings account may be invested in unsavory or unsustainable practices. I may have to take to the streets myself.
February 15, 2011 | Graham
Snowy Hydro scandal hits 7.30 Report
Very few blogs do news.
As recent events have shown, most cater to a micro market, working themselves into a lather in often bizarre ways about issues that barely matter to their own market, let alone the broader universe.
And they rarely break new ground.
An exception to that is Jennifer Marohasy.
Earlier this year Jennifer uncovered a scandal involving the Snowy River Hydro Corporation which in the middle of flooding had been needlessly pumping even more water into the river system so as to generate electricity for sale. The reason for this? To dress up the asset for sale.
So, this part government-owned corporation was prepared to put at risk the health, wealth and safety of flood affected downstream Australians just to pimp its corporate bottom line.
What’s worse it has been denying its own actions, and these have been revealed in documents leaked to Marohasy.
Surely this is what blogging ought to be about rather than snide self-opinionated rants.
Click here to see what 7.30 Report reporter Bronwyn Herbert does with the issue.
You can see Jennifer’s first take at this story on On Line Opinion here.
This should be a much larger story, but outside the blogosphere, On Line Opinion and Quadrant the only organisations to do anything are The Australian and now the ABC.