Opinion on politics and social policy
from
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By chance I was at a breakfast for 300 women in Canberra yesterday. It was part of the ‘one million women’ campaign, which seeks that number in Australia to unite in personal and political action to combat climate change.
Penny Wong spoke, then dashed off to caucus at Parliament House. […] Continue Reading…
A writer of exceptional insight and clarity, Naomi Klein also expresses the compassion and sorrow many of us feel about this ongoing catastrophe. Below is a link to her Guardian article ‘A hole in the world’, and the accompanying video. Her observations about the political context and the natural […] Continue Reading…
Only rarely I forward intact a message from another site, usually this one, the Institute for Public Accuracy (which incidentally really needs a correlate in OZ). A big tip of the hat to Australian Julian Assange and his team at Wikileaks.
Although I laugh heartily at Stephen Colbert, he is often […] Continue Reading…
As escaped public servants, partner and I were shaking our heads last December about the Henry Tax Review. We were familiar with the release of reports to a generous consultation period, followed by a draft government response and further argy-bargy with the affected groups.
But only the Government got to […] Continue Reading…
Has GetUp decided that the budgie smugglers are a net loser for Tony Abbott? How else to explain their fascination with Abbott and the beach. First they were running billboard against his position on global warming by showing him on the beach in a pair of Speedos.
I didn’t think […] Continue Reading…
Robert Gordon Menzies was the last Australian Prime Minister not to make it to his first election as PM after winning the preceding one. Will Kevin Rudd follow in his steps? […] Continue Reading…
I’ve met lawyers who tell me I should just accept the IPCC view. For members of a profession paid to scrutinise each last detail of their opponents case this strikes me as bizarre. One US academic lawyer takes a different view and puts the IPCC in the box and finds it an unreliable witness. […] Continue Reading…
What we normally call “rent”, and what economists mean by “rent” when they talk about rental taxes, are two different things, but there are lessons for resource rental taxes that can be drawn from the everyday experience of renting. […] Continue Reading…
Some people would say that all taxation is theft. I don’t accept that, but in the case of the Rudd government’s so-called Resources Super Profit Tax theft is occurring at two levels. That is what has got me angry about the tax, and I suspect it underlies a lot […] Continue Reading…
Coming back to a cold Canberra, chilled as much by lack of imagination as frost, it is time to reflect on my recent travels.
The radio tells me the ACT Greens have expressed concern again, this time over the Stanhopeless government’s lack of attention to planning in the work on the road […] Continue Reading…