Although the introduction of the Special Disability Trust (SDT) in September 2006 was welcomed by parents and carers of those living with disabilities, it has not been as widely taken up as expected, during questioning in Senate Estimates it was revealed that only 22 trusts have been established Australia wide to date. [...]
Instead of replying to the details of the Rudd-Swan Budget, I decided this year to use their backward-looking, future-phobic presentation as the launching pad for a broader discussion of what we might do if we had a Government with the vision and guts necessary to take on the twin challenges of climate change and peak [...]
Crikey published this piece from me today, in the lead up to my Budget Reply speech tonight, which I will post to the blog as soon as the Hansard is available.
Tuesday night’s Budget was a slap in the face for all those Australians who voted for the Labor Party at the last election in the [...]
There is an old political adage that the Budget is the clearest possible view of a government’s soul - laying bare its priorities for all to see.
So, now that the day of the Rudd Government’s first Budget has arrived, what can we expect?
From all that we’ve seen and heard thus far, and from regular interaction [...]
Catching up on videos that I have meant to post here for some time, putting firmly the Greens’ position on Tibet.
Two are of Bob Brown speaking at the rally coinciding with the Olympic torch relay here in Canberra, and the third is Christine Milne’s speech to the Senate on the question of suspending standing orders [...]
It’s a little old now, but I thought you’d all enjoy this short video about our planet’s energy supply.
I’m sure most people by now have seen An Inconvenient Truth. Well, you might not have seen Al Gore’s new talk on the global climate crisis, given in March 2008 at TED.com.
An edited version of this piece ran in today’s Crikey email. See also articles in today’s SMH, Financial Review and Age.
The environment movement has been united since 1972 on the fundamental issue of the polluter pays principle, stating that polluters must pay to clean up the damage they have created. It is the principle which [...]
For some time, we’ve been hearing persistent reports of deeper and deeper gloom pervading meetings and conferences around Australia and the world on geosequestration - so-called ‘clean coal’ technology, or carbon capture and storage. The research, which receives the lions share of government energy funding, just hasn’t been making progress. Years down the track, we [...]
The following article was first published on Larvatus Prodeo on Tuesday 1st April 2008.
The announcement of the Council of Australian Governments that an ‘historic’ Murray Darling Basin agreement has been reached seemed to tickle the fancy of most people involved. Now that the fanfare has died down, it’s time to look past the rhetoric and [...]
This is probably the best visual depiction of climate change in action that I have ever seen.
The video, by WWF International’s Arctic Program, is a month by month animated compilation of satellite imagery showing the extent of Arctic sea ice, starting in 1979 and running through until October 2007 (date in top left corner). The [...]
Against the backdrop of several appalling Rudd Government Budget decisions that will undermine the renewables industry in Australia even further (some of which are detailed here), Christine Milne introduced a Private Member’s Bill in the Senate this morning to establish an comprehensive national feed-in law.
Feed-in laws support the rapid and unlimited growth of the renewables [...]
Tonight’s the night that the Rudd Government deliver their first federal budget, and the Greens are currently in lock-up, pouring over every detail and analysing every last line.
Keep an eye on this spot - after 7:30 tonight, when the doors open, we’ll have more details live blogged here.
It’s great that feed-in laws, regarded globally as one of the most effective mechanisms for boosting renewable energy and long-time Greens policy, are finally getting somewhere in Australia.
But it is deeply troubling that, in Victoria, they are being perverted in such a way as to make them greenwash rather than real, effective emissions reduction policies.
Feed-in [...]
This is an excerpt of a full article I’ve written for newmatilda.com
I’ve just been on the road with the Senate Inquiry into the NT Emergency Response Consolidation Bill - the Government’s proposed changes to Howard’s original legislation.
It has been obvious for a while that there are some serious flaws with the NT [...]
Those of you who might still read The Australian would have seen that they splashed on their opinions page and in the news pages today the claims of Phil Chapman, Australia’s first astronaut, that climate change is bunkum and an ice age cometh.
Apparently global warming has stopped, we are now cooling, and it’s all down [...]
A friend just forwarded me this awesome video by the wonderful Blue Man Group. I remember it from a couple of years ago, but was inspired to post it here.
Love the expressions on the faces!
After some extraordinary work involving sticky-taping together a shredded document, the Tasmanian Greens have claimed the scalp of another senior Minister in the irredeemably awful Lennon Government -this time Deputy Premier and former Attorney-General, Steve Kons.
Observers of Tas politics might recall that Kons replaced Bryan Green as Deputy Premier when Green was forced out after [...]
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong is very fond of calling her government’s approach to climate change and “careful and methodical”, but yet another example of the Government’s actions, that I’ve been working to uncover recently, makes it seem more “careless and haphazard” or reactive governance.
Joining the Infrastructure Australia Bill which precludes the body from assessing [...]
Happy Fossil Fools’ Day, everyone!
This is an idea that has been slowly building for years - that April Fools’ Day should be transformed into a global day of action on climate change, focussing on the need to move away from fossil fuels because of climate change and peak oil. Finally it’s getting some real traction!
The [...]
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