Public Policy
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Environment: Atmospheric CO2 hits 420ppm. Operating mines and wells must close to stay under 1.5C
The level of CO2 in the atmosphere continues to rise and staying under 1.5 degrees of warming will require closing almost half of currently operating fossil fuel wells and mines: regional Australians know this. Conflicts over water are increasing worldwide. Continue reading »
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Environment: Forests, soil and peatlands disappearing
20 million hectares of tropical and boreal forests were lost in 2021. Climate change is destroying the soil crust in arid lands. Peatlands are disappearing globally. It doesn’t have to be this way: action is possible. Continue reading »
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After Ukraine a fractured and unravelling global order will confront the next Australian government
Putin’s forces might not progress far beyond the Dnieper River, yet the invasion will reshape the world in which the next Australian government operates. Evidence indicates that pouring funds into Ukraine’s reconstruction could feed an already corrupt elite Continue reading »
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Environment: Electricity, extinctions and agroecology
Wind and solar generate a tenth of the world’s electricity but coal still dominates in Australia. Reptiles and marine species face high risk of extinction. Moving from agribusiness to agroecology. Continue reading »
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Priorities for a new health minister
After almost a decade of health policy stagnation, what are the three most important issues for a new health minister to address? Continue reading »
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If I were the Minister responsible for Higher Education in the next government these would be my priorities
What should be the top priorities of any incoming Federal Government concerning tertiary education in Australia after decades of cost-cutting, restructuring and corporatisation? Continue reading »
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Attention Australia: The climate crisis is a health crisis too
After more than two years coping with a pandemic, the last thing we want to hear about is another global health crisis. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that as we continue to heat our fragile planet, we face a threat to public health that will eclipse even COVID-19. Continue reading »
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Environment: Native forests out perform plantations in providing environmental benefits
Native forests deliver more benefits than plantations. ‘Loss and damage’, the unloved sibling in climate negotiations. China builds up its environmental legal system. Continue reading »
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Peter Tait: Vote Independent? If that doesn’t work, then what?
Voting independent needs careful preferencing. If your independent doesn’t get up (or you don’t have that option), you can try Active Democracy Continue reading »
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Time to reclaim remembrance
As the nation pauses to honour our war dead on Anzac Day, it is appropriate to reflect on the tainting of genuine commemoration at the Australian War Memorial (AWM) by vested interests. Added to deep concerns about the bitterly controversial $1/2 billion redevelopment, the Memorial is dividing rather than uniting Australians. Continue reading »
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Environment: IPCC lays out the gruesome climate facts
Three years to turn the carbon supertanker around. ‘Fortress conservation’ of forests is killing local communities. Cats and foxes destroy 3 billion Australian native fauna every year. Continue reading »
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None of us is safe until all of us are safe: Australia and global vaccine equity
Ending COVID public health restrictions reflects community sentiment. People are tired of COVID and want to move on. But the only way to protect our own citizens is to protect other countries. Continue reading »
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Environment: Colonialism, chocolate, Krugman and climate change
The IPCC has accepted that colonialism causes climate change. Options for reducing beef-related emissions. Vastly different population trajectories around the world. Continue reading »
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Environment: Terrestrial and coastal ecosystems destroyed by human activities
Seagrasses are the forgotten but valuable cousins of our coasts. Powerful ‘farmers’ pay lots and lobby hard to avoid regulation, but methane emissions can be reduced. Continue reading »
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Environment: nobody wants to pay for climate action
The Commonwealth government continues to ignore climate action, while developing countries resist bearing the burden of the renewable energy transition. Scientists say ‘no’ to solar geoengineering. Continue reading »
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Will central Lismore be abandoned after yet another flood.
Now that the floodwaters have hopefully gone and communities are focusing on recovery, the question of ‘relocation’ has become central in discussions about the future. Continue reading »
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What can the under-privileged hope for in the budget…not much?
In a civilized country, where we pride ourselves on a fair go for all, a very significant part of our community is missing out. Continue reading »
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Environment: Pollution destroys lives, the ozone layer and bushland
Profits trump health in sacrifice zones, and pollution from the 2019/20 bushfires may increase Australia’s skin cancer rate. Dogs destroying bushland. Continue reading »
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Our democracy is weakening-here’s how we can stop the rot
Australians are living through the longest period of sustained democratic dissatisfaction in the nation’s history, according to the Australian Electoral Study. Continue reading »
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Environment: Emissions rising and no green recovery visible
Despite endorsing the IPCC’s findings, and rising emissions, Morrison still supports coal development. New climate-social system model identifies central importance of responsive political institutions for controlling global warming. Continue reading »
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The Dominoes are falling fast. We face a climate emergency
The belated release of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s “Reef snapshot: summer 2021-22” has exposed the Federal government’s insistence that the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is not endangered as the lie it has always been. Continue reading »
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Uluru-Legacies, political capital and ending the procrastination
You know the feeling you get when something is bleedingly obvious, staring you in the face and because no one else seems to recognise it, you begin to doubt what you see? Continue reading »
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If I was minister for the environment, my one crucial reform would offer a sustainable future for Australia
The most urgent and vital decision that the Minister could make to help secure a sustainable future for Australia would be to establish a scientifically based national independent Environmental Protection Agency with statutory powers. Continue reading »
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If I were the Minister for Health
I would progressively wind back and eliminate the $14b pa taxpayer subsidy for Private Health Insurance and use that very large sum to fund the inclusion of dental care within Medicare and increase the funding to the states for expanded specialist services in outpatient clinics at public hospitals. Continue reading »
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I have not seen an Australia so bereft of trust in its politicians, so cynical of their motives and their promises as it is today
A strong, independent public broadcaster, with its governing board appointed at arms-length from executive government, and funded by and accountable to a healthily functioning parliament, is a gift to democracy. Continue reading »
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Election coverage: ridiculous questions, irrelevant answers
There has been justified criticism of journalists’ fondness for gotcha questions. But there is a broader and more costly crisis in the way that election campaigns are structured and covered by media. Continue reading »
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Election 2022: no education minister and an opposition without a school funding policy
Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek taunt Scott Morrison, calling on him to identify who is actually education minister – the disgraced Alan Tudge or the disgraceful Stuart Robert – but Labor has questions of its own to answer. Continue reading »
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The erosion of Medicare
Large out-of-pocket costs for specialist consultations driven by inadequate indexations are undermining Medicare. Continue reading »
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Morrison Government’s high risk visa switch for migrant meatworkers
We are on a very slippery slope with these visas towards the slavery-like conditions that have existed for migrant workers in North America and Europe for decades. Continue reading »
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Do we continue down the pathway of privatisation of health by stealth?
Loss of public funding for specific aspects of health care despite overall (public and private) increases in expenditure, as detailed recently by John Menadue, has already happened out of sight. Continue reading »
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The destructive Rupert Murdoch
The grim news is that Rupert’s heir, Lachlan, is a less intelligent and harder right force in News Corp. The death of the old man can’t save us. Continue reading »
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What I would do if I were the Minister for Health and Ageing in the next government
A new minister in any portfolio has two tasks: fix the past and fix the future. Continue reading »
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Healthcare reform is not featuring in the current election
Australia’s public hospital system is having a hard time meeting the ever increasing demand for in-patient care. Continue reading »
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The Murdoch media has gone rogue again in the 2022 election (Updated repost from 27 Oct, 2017)
Denis Muller puts it this way in The Conversation Continue reading »
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Our health system: The dream and the reality
How would it be to have a health system which delivered timely high quality care to everyone, with such a system emphasising that prevention of illness and promotion of health at every level to improve health, as well as potentially increasing productivity? How would it be to have a society which recognised that poor health Continue reading »
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Voting season sees clichés bloom
Elections are spring rains bursting dormant seeds into carpets of weeds. Common varieties include sun-intolerant promises and herbicide-resistant lies. The most tenacious is Diurnarius proverbium, commonly known as journalistic clichés. Continue reading »
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Alan Pears-Energy productivity and efficiency improvement: Australia’s forgotten fuels
Whether you focus on climate policy, energy market transition, social justice, health or business competitiveness and innovation, improving energy productivity and efficiency is a winner. Continue reading »
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Wrong way, not just kidding, on climate change
Ross Garnaut has said the leaders are “just kidding” on climate change in the election campaign. It’s worse than that. They are leading us the wrong way. Continue reading »
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Fixing Immigration: five things an incoming Labor government could do
Labor, if elected, has a big job ahead of it in fixing the immigration shambles that the Coalition has created in nearly 9 years of office. Continue reading »
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Keith Mitchelson: Climate change and International security – Why defence is Morrison’s greatest policy failure
Scott Morrison claims to be Australia’s best defender. In reality he is its worst. His government’s subservience to local and international oligarchs has seen it neglect real interest in Australia’s long-term security and wellbeing. Continue reading »
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If I were the Minister for Education, these are the three priority things I would do for schools
If any serious policy issues are aired during this election, it’s unlikely school education will feature. Yet our framework of schools is an evolving disaster. And while there are critical differences between the parties, none of the policy offerings address the root causes of our educational malaise. Continue reading »
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