There is zero chance of a bipartisan solution to asylum seekers unless the government adopts the opposition’s policies. Any analysis that says otherwise is day dreaming. What the offer from the government is about is an attempt to pivot off the deaths of 100 or so asylum seekers in Indonesian waters last weekend and entangle […]

Agence France-Presse has just launched a fascinating tool that maps international diplomacy using twitter accounts of the foreign policy elites. As much as it is an accurate measure the ediplomacy hub suggests that Australia’s diplomats aren’t looking in the right places. Australia’s diplomats appear to be parochial, shunning huge parts of the developing world, and […]

Dr Joseph Toscano may be an anarchist, but he’s interested in some collective action on Fairfax. The plan is to get enough Australians to invest $100 in Fairfax shares that they can stop Gina Rinehart buying or controlling it. I’m not sure how he thinks this works. To effectively control a company you don’t need […]

Why did Australia’s representatives insert wording into the Rio + 20 statement that weakened the world’s committment to ending these pernicious subsidies? And why aren’t we party to the group of countries that is trying to achieve fossil fuel subsidy reform? NZ has raised their voice, but Australia remains captive to an industry that is […]

I was surprised the other day to be offered an AMEX card that for no additional fees offered me additional benefits, such as an economy return airfare each year. “How does this work?” I wondered. Now I know. I just received a letter from the Commonwealth Bank telling me that our merchant fees for taking […]

Some current research reveals that 95% of Latin American cities are actively preparing for climate change, but only 59% of US cities are taking such action: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120605130752.htm Do they know something we don’t know? The difference clearly does not lie in wealth and ability to invest in these measures. Rather, it lies partly in their […]

Today’s GDP figures prove that in this year of the Queen’s Jubilee, the economy and the Queen Mary have something in common – they don’t turn on a dime. It’s fanciful to think that the figures owe anything to the current government’s policies. Rather, what they prove is that no matter how incompetent a government […]

News that no-one visits the two blogs that the federal government will give $53,000 over three months to a couple of think tanks to run is hardly surprising. We foretold it all 13 years ago when we set up On Line Opinion and The National Forum, and it’s been confirmed many times since. Online publishing […]

Because we will never get to evidence-based policy if we can’t agree on evidence-based science. Last week’s program on the ABC, ‘I can change your mind about climate’ was a brave but flawed attempt to get to consensus. Young Anna Rose was marvelous, polite, restrained, and charming. Old Nick Minchin was less gracious at some […]