Hmmm, precisely who orwhat is a refugee? This is not an issue for pedantry, it’s more serious than that. Climate refugees are not fleeing persecution, they do not meet the definition of refugees and it can’t be said that the climate is at all selective in its persecution. But if your Island home or your floodplain house is so often underwater that it is uninhabitable, you need to leave for somewhere above the waterline. You join the throng seeking safety, as do refugees.
Here’s a new demographic to be brought into the climate response, country and western fans of the 76 year old Dolly “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap” Parton. Hey, everyone needs to get onboard and it the wise and self-deprecating Ms Parton can enlist her supporters, a group not often thought of as climate activists, this has to be applauded. Dang if y’all ain’t doing a good thang, Dolly.https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/dolly-parton-climate-change-earth-b2053052.html
There’s a new way to stop the release of material that you don’t want the public to see, particularly before an election. If the rules say a report has to be released within 15 sitting days of receiving it, just don’t sit. As it is, this 46th Parliament has been one of the least active Parliaments we’ve had. Bring on fixed terms with a minimum number of sittings days, I reckon.https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/action-on-environment-report-card-stalls-as-government-slow-to-release-20220406-p5ab75.html
Hmmm, when does ‘misleading’ morph into lying? Was the Pentecostal PM ‘misleading’ when he said he hadn’t been to Hillsong for 15 years, despite photographs of him at the 2019 Hillsong conference? Just ‘misleading’ when he said he never mocked EV technology in the 2019 election campaign despite footage of him doing just that (“they’ll never tow your boat”)? That St Gladys didn’t say he was “a horrible horrible person” with Van Onselen publishing screenshots with her texting just that? The guy lies!https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-06/fact-check-scott-morrison-emissions-us-nz-canada-japan-european/100944142
It’s past time for the Big Swinging Dic*s to make way for intelligent leadership. Just look at the Voices candidates taking on the troglodytes in what used to be safe conservative seats. And their gender? While the blokes are busy marking territory against lamp-posts, the women are stepping up to the biggest global challenge of all. Remember this come the election.https://www.miragenews.com/10-women-from-asia-pacific-region-leading-757433/
Today’s Newspoll shows a slight lift in support for the LNP. As Gerald ‘Chuckles’ Henderson might ask, “can you believe it”. Shovelling our dollars to fossil fools by way of subsidies, incompetence in the emergency recovery, even to the point of shutting down the Australian Emergency Management Institute which trains emergency managers, is hardly the leadership we need. What are those polled thinking?https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/research-reveals-how-much-fossil-fuel-industries-get-from-government-subsidies/news-story/f410fb1a992513bc504727b6c5b88b20
Putting one’s snout in the public trough has been taken to unconscionable heights (or is that lows?) by the Beetrooter and there’s an attempted protection racket for him. Strong FoI processes backed up by an effective Integrity Commission should be givens in a functioning democracy.https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/02/barnaby-joyces-drought-envoy-texts-to-scott-morrison-should-be-released-information-watchdog-rules
Apart from the questions around whether the carbon market is fair dinkum, there’s a clue as to why Australia has fallen 4 points to score only 73 out 100 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Then look at who is highlighting these issues. Is there also a clue as to why the conservatives don’t like the ABC for its scrutiny of their shenanigans and Lachlan Murdoch and the IPA urging its privatisation?https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-02/carbon-credit-conflicts-of-interest-in-clean-energy-regulator/100952758
It turns at the ‘E’ in ARENA doesn’t stand for Energy, it stands for ‘Employment’. ARENAs dollars are going to hiring consultants and contractors rather than internal staff who build up job knowledge and skills to drive our energy transition. Thank you, NOT, Angus ‘Fantastic’ Taylor.https://reneweconomy.com.au/renewables-agency-forced-to-spend-100m-on-consultant-and-labour-hire-after-staff-cuts/