Here’s Crikey’s Politician of the year, nominated through his leadership on climate action and bringing the Nats with him. Good policy can be good politics if you have a good politician and it’d help if he had a good party.https://www.crikey.com.au/2021/12/23/crikeys-politician-of-2021-matt-kean/And thank you Maelor, for your work through the year. It is a valuable service that you perform for us all, sifting through the media dross for the nuggets of information to be found.
” … waste discloses the logic or illogic of a culture.” The excesses, including waste, of Christmas suggests illogic. Bring back goats, chickens and blackboards; make gifts that people need or give experiences rather than plastic.https://www.theage.com.au/national/how-we-landfill-our-christmas-stockings-in-this-nation-of-wasters-20211218-p59ip2.html
Mirage News is at it again. Read this article and you might think that protection of our environment is being enforced rigorously. This ‘news’ outlet is known for its ‘churnalism’, broadcasting barely edited government press releases to gull into thinking all is in hand. Meanwhile a penalty of $1.5 mill is just a cost of doing business. And in whose universe does an offset undo the damage caused?https://www.miragenews.com/company-to-pay-1-5-million-after-clearing-698467/
It’s heartening to see the rise of Voices candidates in ‘modern’ Liberals’ seats.Tim Wilson’s jibe at Goldstein independent candidate Zoe Daniel, that she is a Labor and greens puppet’, is totally consistent with the views of Liberals, whether modern or fossorial, towards women. Tim ‘Freedom Boy’ Wilson is a little shrill with his attacks. He might be a little concerned, perhaps even more than a little concerned, at his chances of success at the the forthcoming election. It’s a lovely irony that the IPA, where he worked for 6 years, had a policy to sell off the ABC; now an ex-employee of the ABC threatens to see him off.https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/i-m-running-as-an-independent-because-the-cost-of-inaction-is-too-high-20211219-p59is4.html
The issue for us all, well-illustrated in this Manchin example, is the outsized influence one individual can have. We have so many local instances, Clive Palmer in our last federal election is one, Rupert Murdoch reshaping the politics of the UK, US and here is another. Would that the forces for good were as well-served.https://www.axios.com/climate-effects-manchin-build-back-better-11da493e-12f1-4e4b-9659-9082a461967b.html
There is the need for the long-overdue conversation about population policy, global carrying capacity, Australia’s carrying capacity, likely climate change impacts and environmental protection. Yes, there’re risks, among them racist hijacking, unsustainability of current economic structures and processes and global interactions, particularly in our region. But it is a conversation that has to be had. Perhaps we might create a Commission for the Future to deal with it?https://johnmenadue.com/economic-planners-do-not-reckon-with-climate-crisis-bearing-down-on-us/
As my apple-cheeked mater was want to observe, “there is none so blind as he that will not see”. How much more of this must we endure before the deniers accept that there is something happening and we can and must do something about it?https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/catastrophic-fire-danger-as-heatwave-set-to-sweep-australia/news-story/efe7e2431c52e0097d7193d5a2fae2bb
There’s no doubt that climate change is the biggest game in town, as many articles listed here will attest. And we need an honest, transparent and responsive government to lead our response. Think about this when the faux election campaign (currently being conducted by the Pentecostal PM on the taxpayer dime) ends and we walk into the polling booth as the real campaign draws to a close.https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/17/prime-ministers-office-cant-find-sports-rorts-document-requested-by-rex-patrick-under-foi
The foes to progressive climate change response are everywhere, often masquerading as credible commentators. Vic Jurskis, once a professional forester and a continuing author on forests and biodiversity, is published by Connorcourt Publishing. A member of its Editorial Board is serial Liberal pre-selection candidate and IPA CEO John Roskam. What purports to be evidence-based analysis should be viewed through the IPA’s ideological lens.https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=21765
Here’s a taste of things to come? And it’s a lot more serious than SA complaining about NSW over-allocations. Then there’re population movements through avoiding rising sea levels that will …