John Menadue

John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.

John's recent articles

Asylum seekers - Tony Abbott and I share a Jesuit education. John O'Mara

Like many Australians, I look on the way the Abbott government is handling the matter of asylum seekers with ever increasing dismay. Tony Abbotts mantra stop the boats, is unprincipled, contrary to signed UN agreements and impractical. It is hard to erase the pre-election memory of the Western Sydney interviewee..Im going to vote for Abbott, because hell stop the boats . What dismays me most is that Tony and I shared an educational experience at the hands of the Jesuits and then a friendship that reaches back almost 40 years. Like Tony, Im very grateful for my time...

Journalists are not welcome in Nauru. Elaine Pearson

Dramatically increasing the cost of visas to enter Nauru places severe restrictions from the ability of journalists and others to let us know the truth about asylum seekers being held there. John Menadue Heres an innovative way to discourage foreign media scrutiny of a touchy human rights issue: jack-up the cost of a journalist visa 40-fold, from A$200 to A$8000 (US$178 to US$7108). Thats precisely what the government of the small Pacific nation of Nauru has done, dressing up that skyrocketing increase as a means to increase revenue. The fee is non-refundable even if the visa application is rejected....

Repost: Don't tamper with the Refugee Convention. John Menadue

It would be dangerous to open up the pandora's box of the Refugee Convention. It has served us well. Who would seriously suggest that persons facing persecution should not be protected. Given the world wide agitation against refugees and 'outsiders', a review of the Convention would be a great opportunity for extremists to run their campaigns against foreigners. It would be a field day for the Scott Morrisons of this world. This is a repost from 19 July, 2013. When will the nonsense stop on boats and refugees? A few days ago Foreign Minister Carr suggested that too...

A place of refuge: responses to international population movements. Arja Keski-Nummi

For over 60 years Australia has played a vital role in the development and strengthening of a system of international protection for refugees. It was one of the earliest signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention. It has been an active member of the Executive Committee of the UNHCR and has held the Chair on several occasions. Australia was one of the key countries in the development and implementation of the Comprehensive Plan of Action for Indo Chinese Refugees (CPA). Two Australians have been awarded the UNHCR Nansen Award for Refugees: Sir Tasman Heyes in1962 and Major General Paul Cullen in...

Is Pope Francis a Marxist?

On 16 December last year, Eureka Street carried an article by Neil Ormerod about Pope Francis and his economic, social and political message. That article can be found on the link below. John Menadue http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=38645#.Us8a9j0XBt8.email

A 100 billion dollar tale of piracy in the Timor Sea. Michael Sainsbury

Although it sits on a vast undersea gas reserve, Timor-Leste remains deeply impoverished. Deep under the Timor Sea, there is a huge reserve of gas. Geologists now believe it is worth upwards of US$100 billion; a figure more than twice the amount estimated by Australia as recently as 2006. It is perhaps ironic that the nation with the strongest claim to ownership of that gas, by dint of proximity to it, is Timor-Leste, which is also among the world's poorest nations. But will it ever get the benefit of it? There have been numerous treaties over the...

People like us: personal reflections. Guest blogger Trevor Boucher

One of my great-great grandfathers on my mothers side was transported to Australia in the early 1840s for stealing lead from a chapel roof. The lash and Van Diemans Land didnt reform him, although marriage in Geelong to an Irish orphan helped- even though a couple of manslaughter convictions followed. Not that I knew about this as a child born in 1936 in remote eastern Victoria. My family historian brother later extracted the information from a reluctant Mum (a crusading Salvationists daughter). Her opinion was, We dont need to talk about that sort of thing. With hardworking and upright Dad...

Repost: The scourge of special interests. John Menadue

A REPOST FOR HOLIDAY READING. Lobbying has grown dramatically in recent years, particularly in Canberra. It now represents a growing and serious corruption of good governance and the development of sound public policy. In referring to the so called public debate on climate change Professor Ross Garnaut, highlighted the diabolical problem that special interests brought to bear on public discussion on that critical issue. What is in it for me is not just a problem of self-interest by voters and consumers. That self-centredness has been taken to a high art form by powerful vested interests that extract monopoly...

Cricket - junk food and alcohol. John Menadue

Over the holidays I have very much enjoyed watching on television Australia winning at last. The visual TV coverage is outstanding. The camera crews do a great job. I enhance my enjoyment by minimising the audio content. Except for the opening and closing of each session, and at the fall of each wicket, I keep my TV console on mute. But that is the good news. Unfortunately I cant get away from the almost saturation picture coverage of junk food (KFC) and alcohol (Victorian Bitter and Bear-Wine-and-Spirits or BWS). Last year, the Australian National Preventive Health Agency (ANPHA)...

Repost: Pink Batts - facts and fiction. John Menadue

The following is a repost from July 11, 2013. I wonder if it is necessary for the Abbott Government to rake over the past rather than concentrate on the future! The fiction is continuing in the uncritical media that only the Commonwealth Government should bear responsibility for the problems of the Home Insulation Scheme. We should consider the facts... 1.1 million Installations were completed under the scheme. There was clearly a rush by the Commonwealth Government to roll out the scheme as part of a successful stimulus plan to provide work as the global financial crisis bore down...

People smugglers - villains and heroes. John Menadue

In 2009 Kevin Rudd called people smugglers the absolute scum of the earth who should rot in hell. Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison echo and expanded this view. Others will point to people smugglers like Oskar Schindler who saved hundreds of lives. Life is anything but simple for people facing persecution. There will be grades of grey rather than black and white when we look at the history of people escaping from persecution to freedom. We know that some agents helping people flee may be driven by greed. Some will have genuine humanitarian concerns. The focus...

Repost: We all see our doctor too much; and it's not just the aged. John Menadue

The media have been discussing a proposal to impose a $5 or $6 levy for GP visits. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of times we each see our GP. It needs addressing, but not with a simplistic GP levy. See also piece below by Ian McAuley. Following the Grattan Institutes recent work on budget deficits there was a focus by the media on rising health costs. The media commentators didnt seriously examine the Grattan work about ageing but hopped onto an old and overworked hobbyhorse that rising health costs are largely due to the...

Repost: Are most asylum seekers and refugees Muslims? John Menadue

Repost for holiday reading. Well, as a matter of fact, they are not. But I am sure that many commentators and a lot of the community believe that most are Muslim. The dog-whistlers like Scott Morrison feed on this assumption .According to Jane Cadzow in the Sun Herald he urged the Coalition parties to ramp up its questioning to capitalise on anti-Muslim sentiment. Figures on this issue are extracted from the DIAC Settlement data base. One reason for the difficulty in analysing the figures is that a religious test is not applied to persons seeking refugee...

Remarks by Sir William Deane AC on "Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Finding a Better Way".

On 17 December, Sir William Deane, former Governor-General launched Australia21 - essays on refugees and asylum seekers. Sir William Deane's remarks follow. Paul Barratts acknowledgement of the traditional custodians in which I respectfully join, serves to remind us that apart from indigenous Australians we are all migrants or descended from migrants and that many of us were asylum seekers or are descended from asylum seekers. My own great-grandfather came to Australia with his wife and young family, including my grandfather who was aged 7 from Tipperary in 1851 on a wooden sailing ship called the Harry Lorrequer. They sought...

Repost: The Asian Century and the Australian Smoko. John Menadue and Greg Dodds

The Asian Century and the Australian Smoko was first published in April 2012. This repost might be interesting holiday reading. The Gillard Government has commissioned Ken Henry to report on Australia and the Asian Century. Our trade with China, Japan, India and other Asian countries is booming. Our luck is still holding. But our key sectors - business, education and the media - are no more Asia-ready than they were two decades ago. This may seem counter-intuitive with the superficial signs pointing in the other direction the number of Asian faces on our streets, staffing in our...

A letter to Pope Francis

The Australian Catholic Coalition for Church Renewal has called for structural amd cultural change in the governance of the Catholic Church The letter can be found on my web site.Go to top left hand of the home page and click on John Menadue web site. John Menadue

Japanese Prime Minister Abe and Yasukuni Shrine. Guest blogger: Walter Hamilton

Perhaps the most significant aspect of Prime Minister Shinzo Abes visit on Thursday to Yasukuni Shrine the place where Japanese venerate their war dead was its timing. Abe chose to go on the day that marked the first anniversary of his administration, in effect directly linking his government with this controversial establishment. He not only became the first serving prime minister to cross its threshold for seven years but, most unusually, he lent the visit an official stamp. (Notwithstanding that the Prime Ministers Office described it as a private affair, the media were forewarned, his visit was televised...

A Christmas Message from Sister Joan Chittister.

Two years ago this Christmas message was published by Vision and Viewpoint, an e-newsletter. Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, is prioress of The Benedictine Sisters in Erie, PA. Now and here bells everywhere are ringing again. The gift boxes are heaping up. Everybodys saying it: Christmas Blessings God bless you at Christmas time Christmas Peace to you and yours Merry Christmas. But is there any truth at all to any of this manufactured joy? Or is this, at best, nothing more than an exercise in auto-suggestion: Say it often enough and youll think its true, whatever the facts to the...

Waiting on Him in Advent for His Birth; His birth in us. Guest Blogger: Caroline Coggins

Is the birth of Jesus a story that can touch us deeply today, does it offer a way for us to know and follow Jesus? Do we get glib with what we know, and skate over the story? The advent story is like a pregnancy, it creates an intimate space to be with Mary, from her meeting with God, through conception and pregnancy, to the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. What a marvel that a woman will bear this child, and Joseph will father him, ordinary people like us, called to do extraordinary things for God. The...

My year of leaning - and leaning into Christmas. Guest Blogger: Patty Fawkner SGS

There are all kinds of years. Theres the year of living dangerously and the annus horribilis. 2013 was the Year of Grace and the Year of the Snake. For me its been the year of leaning. Earlier this year I was intrigued by the title and the phenomenal publishing success of Sheryl Sandbergs book, Lean In, which was on the New York Times best-seller list for a remarkable 36 weeks. Sandberg and her book were ubiquitous. There she was on the cover of Time magazine; I tuned in to Geraldine Doogues Saturday Extra show on Radio National and heard...

New Vatican Committee on Sexual Abuse - What the Pope and the Bishops should do. Guest blogger: Bishop Geoffrey Robinson

Pope Francis has announced that he is setting up a committee to advise him on how to respond to sexual abuse within the Church. There is a large amount of scepticism in many quarters about such a move, for there have been so many other meetings before this and they have produced so little. So why should one more committee make any difference? I am more hopeful than the sceptics because I think there is a new factor here, and that new factor is Pope Francis himself. He has shown a willingness to face unpleasant aspects of the Church...

No Room at the Inn - Asylum Seekers in Australia, Christmas 2013. Guest blogger: Kerry Murphy

In the time approaching Christmas, asylum seekers in Australia have been the target for increasingly harsh and punitive policies from the new Government. None of this is really surprising as the Coalition policy documents stated the broad outline of their intentions. It may help to outline the recent major events and to put them in context. No one is illegal Mr Abbott has often stated This government will never allow people who come here illegally by boat to gain permanent residency in Australia. [1]. This is an example of the incorrect use of the word illegal. Under the...

Election aftermath - where to now on asylum seekers and refugees? John Menadue

Yesterday Sir William Deane launched a book Refugees and asylum seekers a better way. A link to the book can be found at http://gallery.mailchimp.com/d2331cf87fedd353f6dada8de/files/Refugee_and_asylum_seeker_policy_Finding_a_better_way.pdfThe book includes a chapter I wrote Election aftermath where to now on asylum seekers and refugees. This chapter follows Election aftermath- where to now on asylum seekers and refugees? Since Tampa in 2001 asylum-seekers and refugees have become a divisive public issue. In that debate, boat arrivals have been the most contentious issue of all. Just before the September election the Rudd Government announced that no asylum seeker coming to...

Is trench warfare the answer? John Menadue

Sensing concern about the governments performance in the first 100 days, Tony Abbott reportedly told the Liberal Party caucus to prepare for trench warfare when parliament resumes in 2014. I would have thought that the last thing that Australia needs is for the government to embark on trench warfare. I sense that the public is looking for considered and conciliatory leadership. Defenders of Tony Abbotts 100 day performance point out that John Howard had a rocky start, but that he then recovered. That is true, but Tony Abbott needs to learn quickly or the pattern set in the...

Budget deficits - how did they happen and what can be done. John Menadue

The government is announcing today an update of this year's budget. This is the government's first major economic statement since the election. It will focus particularly on the budget deficit. It will attempt to blame the previous government as much as possible. I addressed this issue of the budget deficit and how it has come about. What is important is the performance of the economy. The budget is a means to that end. The budget deficit is important, but it is important not to over-react. The Europeans did this with very serious consequences for slower economic growth and large...

Well-paid jobs or welfare? John Menadue

The Abbott Governments confusion over Holdens withdrawal from Australia reflects a much deeper hostility to the car industry. The main reason for this is that the car industry is highly unionised, pays good wages and has a high degree of alignment of interests between labour and capital. The right-wing finds that all quite offensive. Yet the right-wing supports subsidies in other industries that have little merit. The subsidies to these other industries put the support of the car industry in the shade. As I mentioned in a recent blog on 12 December, the government provides enormous subsidies to...

The Holden mess gets worse. John Menadue

Yesterday I posted a blog Taunting Holden to Leave. Let me add to the continuing story of this major stuff-up. The Abbott Government, through Industry Minister Macfarlane asked the Productivity Commission to advise on assistance to the car industry. He asked for a report by March next year. On Monday this week, Minister Macfarlane was asked if he supported Holden remaining in Australia. He replied Absolutely! Are we doing something about it? Absolutely! But this attempt by the Minister for due process and proper consideration was saboutaged by Joe Hockey. Holden was put to the sword by the...

Japan's secret agenda. Guest blogger: Walter Hamilton

Using its dominance of both houses of the Diet, Japans ruling party has pushed through a new anti-terrorism and secrecy law. The strong-arm parliamentary methods used to secure its passage have added to public concerns about the way the law may be employed by the Abe Government to stifle dissent, curb public access to information and intimidate political opponents. The LDP mustered its numbers during a late-night session on Friday, noisy public protests and extensive media criticism notwithstanding. The State Secrecy Protection Law is the legislative accompaniment for Japans newly created National Security Council (modeled on Americas NSC), both...

Taunting Holden to leave. John Menadue

It has been quite remarkable to see Joe Hockey daring and taunting Holden to close. He apparently chose to take advantage of Tony Abbotts absence in South Africa to show off his dry credentials and burnish his leadership aspirations. Having lost the argument over Graincorp, Joe Hockey talked tough on Holden. He dared Holden to either put up or shut up. He then escalated the rhetoric against Holden by shouting in parliament There is a hell of a lot of industries in Australia that would love to get the assistance that the motor vehicle industry is getting. In fact...

Facts on boat arrivals. John Menadue

There have been a number of claims by Scott Morrison that Operation Sovereign Borders has resulted in a significant reduction in boat arrivals. The ALP has asserted that the reduction in boat arrivals follows the trend set by the Rudd Government. It has been difficult to check Scott Morrisons claims as there has been quite deliberate policy to make it difficult for the public to ascertain what is really happening. The ABC Fact Check has reviewed the facts that are available. The Fact Check Report can Facts on boat abe found at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-10/scott-morrison-not-telling-full-story-asylum-seeker-arrivals/5119380 The report concludes...

In defence of compulsory voting. Guest blogger: Graham Freudenberg

One of the best features of Australian elections is the high voter turnout. This has been achieved by compulsory voting. The LNP in Queensland is now moving to abolish it in the state in which it was first established, by a Tory government, in 1914. This must not be allowed to go uncontested, like so much else that is happening in Queensland. Compulsory voting has been a distinctive, positive and successful feature of Australian democracy for the best part of a century (1924 in Federal elections). It is deeply embedded in our political culture and custom. It makes elections...

Does Tony Abbott believe in markets? John Menadue

We are already seeing a division opening up in the Abbott Government between wets and dries and a lot of confusion. The Liberal Party and conservatives generally espouse the value of markets that governments should not interfere unless there is clear market failure or overwhelming reasons of public interest. This belief in markets is at the core of conservative philosophy The Liberal Party platform speaks expansively of enterprise and consumer choice. Ministers such as Joe Hockey, Andrew Robb and Malcolm Turnbull seem to hold to that belief. But Tony Abbott, along with Barnaby Joyce and the National Party,...

Being in Government is different to being in Opposition. John Menadue

Tony Abbott is being mugged by the reality of Government and how he manages day to day events. He has very little of a developed policy framework on which to draw. In Opposition, Tony Abbott was adept at the political one-liners stop the boats, axe the tax, reduce the deficit and pay back the debt. There was not a great deal of policy to back up this political rhetoric. We are now seeing that day after day with one blunder after another. The NSW Premier OFarrell put it succinctly over education policy that the Abbott Government should...

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. John Menadue

On December 9 the Royal Commission will commence public hearings into the role of the Catholic Church in Australia on this issue. Francis Sullivan the Executive Director of the Truth Justice and Healing Council of the Catholic Church said on 3 December that Catholics and non-Catholics will be shocked and disillusioned when they hear the details of the four Queensland based case studies and how the Catholic Church handled the cases and treated the victims. Together with friends, I have made a submission to the Royal Commission. You can find it by clicking on my website which can be...

The Japanese and Chinese provocations. Guest blogger: William Grimm

China has expanded its air defense zone, ramping up a dispute with Japan that goes from bad to worse and shows no sign of abating. Observers are even thinking about the unthinkable armed conflict between the two countries. And such conflict would not be limited to them. As was demonstrated by their sending two B-52 bombers through the area newly claimed by China, the Americans are bound to honor their alliance with Japan in the event of conflict. How did things reach this point? Though the issues that underlie the crisis have existed since at least the end...

The cost of healthcare in Australia and remuneration of doctors. Guest blogger: Professor Kerry Goulston

The cost of healthcareis unsustainablehere and in many other countries. In Australia it is 9.5% of GDP, estimated to rise to 16-25% by 2025. There are obvious reasons for thispopulation ageing, end of life heroics, increased technology and increased use of procedures. A rapidly increasing contributor to the cost of healthcare in Australia comes from out-of-pocketexpenses-estimated by Yusef and Leeder in a seminal paper Oct 2013-in the Medical Journal of Australia to be $28 billion per annum. For older households this represents an annual cost of $3,585. Yusef and Leeder point out that the decline in adequacy of coverage of...

Funding withdrawal forces the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia into Administration. Guest blogger: Ian Webster AO

The Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA) has served Australia for 50 years. It has worked collaboratively but honestly with all governments from Menzies to Rudd. But last week the Abbott government cut off funding. Compared with the costs of alcohol and drugs, alcohol alone costing $36 billion per year (Foundation for Alcohol Research and Evaluation commissioned study), the annual costs of $1.5 million to run ADCA is peanuts. Despite this it has a nation-wide constituency of 350 organisational, association and individual members almost all being front-line agencies. When questioned about his daughters...

Pope Francis's Synod. Guest blogger: Eric Hodgens

The new Pope Francis has caught the eye of the world. Many people with Catholic friends know that there are two Catholic Churches in the world today one of the popes and the Pells, the other of the rank and file Catholics and their priests. The first is doctrinaire. The second makes adjustments to doctrine and rules as required. The Churchs central vision is one of life, forgiveness and hope. But in recent years this has been smothered by its pope and bishops preoccupation with todays hot ethical issues abortion, sexuality (including homosexuality), medical technology, divorce and...

There goes the neighbourhood. John Menadue

It used to be thought that the intrusion of new ethnic communities into established Anglo-areas was destroying the neighbourhood. Now it is increasingly the excesses of wealth that are doing the damage. James Packer spent millions to buy and then bulldoze three houses to make room for his Sydney fortress. In the three year process, he inflicted noise, congestion and dust over the local residents whilst he lived quietly elsewhere. But it didnt make for happiness and wellbeing. The marriage lasted only three months in the new $50 million pile which Erica Packer described as like living...

China's new rules. Guest blogger: Walter Hamilton

Chinas unilateral declaration of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea is the most serious escalation of its territorial dispute with Japan since the large-scale mob attacks on Japanese property in China just over a year ago. Chinas Ministry of National Defense has declared that as of two days ago new rules govern the entry of aircraft into the vast zone that encompasses the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, with all over-flights now requiring prior notification. To back up this measure, the PLA Air Force has begun enforcement patrols. Both Japan and the United States have...

Tony Abbott and his very close confidante, Mark Textor. John Menadue

To refuse to apologise to President Yudhoyono would be entirely consistent with the type of advice that Mark Textor has given to a succession of Liberal leaders in Australia, including Tony Abbott. In his texting Mark Textor has made the point, according to Laurie Tingle in the AFR today that (Australian) voters dont give rats if Indonesia was offended by the revelation of eavesdropping. This is consistent with the view of Textor that the media and the blogger sphere are filled with elite opinion which is not held in the community in general. Dextor then went on in...

Australia's Foreign Policy Trailing a Leaky Boat. Guest Blogger: Arja Keski-Nummi

Our foreign policy is more than boats or asylum seekers but that is what the Abbott government has reduced it to. We should all be concerned because what is at stake is much greater than stopping boats it jeopardizes our ability to influence and be taken seriously on issues of greater importance to our long term future and well-being such as cooperation in security related issues, trade and in the longer term building genuine regional cooperation on asylum seekers and displaced people. Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop have much to learn if we are to have a...

A mega industry subsidy to private health insurance companies. John Menadue

Many business economists continue to criticise the previous government and possibly the current one over the government subsidy of $10 billion over seven years for the auto industry. But that subsidy is small beer. The government subsidy to the private health insurance industry (PHI) has been $30 billion plus, over seven years. This year the government will provide $7 billion for the private health insurance industry. $5.6 billion will be in a direct subsidy to the industry. There will be another $1.4 billion in income tax foregone by the Commonwealth Government. That $30 billion is a mega-subsidy which...

Tony Abbott in Sri Lanka. John Menadue

Tony Abbott has continued his 'stop the boats campaign in Sri Lanka regardless of growing concerns about human rights abuses in that country. He offered two patrol boats as part of a 'foreign aid package'. His justification for this is that it would help save the lives of people drowning at sea. Please spare us this hypocracy. The real reason is that with the cooperation of the Sri Lankan Navy he hopes he stop asylum seekers leaving Sri Lanka and possibly landing in Australia. The previous government used the same phoney excuse that it wanted to stop the boats...

Cooking the books. John Menadue

Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey have decided that there wasnt really a budget emergency or a debt crisis that they have warned us about for many years. Perhaps they may have also privately conceded, as they should, that the Australian economy was one of the best performing and best managed economies in the world during the years of the Rudd and Gillard Governments particularly through the Global Financial Crisis. Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey however have now decided on another tack cooking the books by announcing budget changes in the current year that hopefully can be attributed to...

Surely the Indonesians wouldn't play politics over boat people! John Menadue

Well yes they would. They have learnt it from Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison. The blokey Australians are no match for the subtle and sophisticated Indonesians. In Opposition, the Coalition took every opportunity to exploit boat arrivals. They were not genuinely interested in stopping the boats then. Their main objective was to stop the Labor Government stopping the boats. That was clearly spelt out in what a key Liberal strategist told the US embassy in November 2009, as revealed by Wikileaks, that the more boats that come the better. It is not hard to speculate who the key...

Lagging the field on climate change. John Menadue

Across the world there are clear signs that the tide is turning with acceptance of the reality of climate change, that humans are the cause and that we need to address the problem. But not in Australia. We keep acting like King Canute against the tide. The Abbott Government is proposing to abolish the carbon tax which is the most credible measure we have in place in Australia to reduce CO2 emissions. The OECD has just released a report Effective Carbon Prices. The report concludes that carbon taxes and emissions trading systems are the most effective way to...

Yes we can - zero carbon emissions within 10 years in Australia. Guest blogger: Ann Long

On Wednesday 6th November Kiamas Ss Peter and Paul Social Justice Group, together with Transition Towns Kiama, hosted a presentation by Gillian King from Beyond Zero Emissions, which explained a fully costed blue-print for Australias transition to 100% renewable energy. Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE), a not-for-profit research and education organisation, together with the University of Melbournes Energy Research Institute, developed the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan. The Plan was launched in 2010 and was fully costed, at $8.00 per household per week, with implementation over 10 years. The plan details the commercially available renewable energy technology...

When "... language itself becomes a weapon" Guest blogger: Professor Ian Webster.

When ..language itself becomes a weapon.[1] I know they're rorting the system; Ive seen it in the source countries; and Ive seen it in my own electorate. It was a party stopper from a Member of Parliament speaking informally with a group attending a meeting about preventing suicide. The two words refugee and asylum seeker provoke private and public dissonance. The criminalisation, the otherness, in the way we speak about refugees and asylum seekers stands in stark contrast to our attempts to prevent discrimination against others in Australia people with disabilities, those with mental disorders, suicides and...

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