1. Mark Bahnisch in conversation with Paul Barclay
Last night I joined ABC Radio National’s Paul Barclay in conversation with Mark Bahnisch discussing his book Queensland: Everything you ever wanted to know, but were afraid to ask at the Avid reader bookshop. Continue reading Saturday salon 9/5
That’s the title of a Four Corners program on working conditions in Australia’s fresh food industry.
A union official contends:
Michelle Grattan says that the change is more than generational – “it marks the end of the Brown-Milne era, that was born out of the environmental cause and centred in Tasmania.” Continue reading Greens go for Di Natale
The bottom line appears to be that what the AFP did in alerting the Indonesian police about the Bali 9 was legal, but was it moral, and were there other alternatives?
Brisbane solicitor Stephen Keim says that Lee Rush, father of Scott Rush, one of the Bali 9, had his lawyer approach the AFP because his son was going to Asia for no good reason. Rush’s lawyer was left with the impression that a passport alert had been raised and that his son would be going nowhere. Because of this he didn’t approach his son directly.
The contention is that Lee Rush was intentionally deceived. Continue reading Bali 9: AFP says it was legal, we might do it again
No doubt the focus groups have been consulted and the slogans are already upon us. Tony Abbott:
1. Unburnable Carbon: Why we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground
That’s the title of a new report from the Climate Council.
To have a 75% chance of meeting the 2°C warming limit, at least 77% of the world’s fossil fuels cannot be burned.
1. Nepal earthquake
Recovery is chaotic, with no direction or authority says ABC journalist Siobhan Heanue. She said law and order and the general morale in Kathmandu was stable purely because of the compassion and attitude of the Nepalese people. Continue reading Saturday salon 2/5
Nurses again rate, for the 21st year in a row, the highest in esteem amongst the professions. Fully 92% of Australians over the age of 14 rated them either high or very high when asked the following question in the Roy Morgan Image of Professions Survey 2015:
“As I say different occupations, could you please say – from what you know or have heard – which rating best describes how you, yourself, would rate or score people in various occupations for honesty and ethical standards (Very High, High, Average, Low, Very Low)?”
When I heard Greg Hunt spruiking the first auction under the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) last week, he sounded like a used car salesman. He has form on cherry picking statistics and imaginative accounting, so it’s best to ignore what he said and look to other sources (please note, there is other commentary in the link, including from Tim Flannery).
In the broad we need 236 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions reduction to meet a 5% target. The Government has just spent $660 million (25.9%) of the $2.55 billion fund to purchase 47 million tonnes (19.9%) of abatement. Continue reading Emissions reduction auctions: Dodgy Bros or the best thing since sliced bread
Like others, I have been appalled by the barbaric execution state murder of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran together with six others by Indonesia. Our northern neighbour defends the killings as part of their ‘war’ on drugs. Continue reading A sorry tale
Yes, the look of the site has changed yet again – sorry about that. WordPress is rolling out security updates every few days at the moment after a core vulnerability was discovered, and the updates break theme templates that try and be too fancy with non-core features.
So I’ve reverted to one of WordPress’ own standard themes, Twenty-Fifteen, in the hope that as further updates roll out they are less likely to break anything on this template.
It began as a comment about Vandana Shiva on Saturday salon 28/3. It continued on the thread for Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – cultist, guru or con-artist?
The topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is very broad, but where we left it the focus had been on the safety of GM foods.
I’d expressed a need for someone knowledgeable who was both engaged and detached to explain the topic. Frankly I get concerned when people, however well-informed, seek to shove the truth down my throat. Reliable information from someone who is not trying to convince me one way or the other, is what I need. Continue reading Seeking answers on GM food
