Tony Fitzgerald: putting corrupt Queensland in the forgetteryQueenslanders need to be reminded of their political past in order not to repeat mistakes, particularly in relation to greed and corruption. That’s not happening, says Tony Fitzgerald on the 20th anniversary of his corruption report.
Former Premier Peter Beattie retorts: “I led one of the most honest governments in Queensland’s history.”
Gittins: Rudd’s health reforms just new empty promises?Is health reform just another hot topic that Rudd gets excited about then forgets, like climate change and the GFC? asks Ross Gittins.
Hawaii: He’s our ObamaOfficials in Hawaii have once again dug up Barack Obama’s birth records to prove his US citizenship in the face of mounting claims (or mounting press coverage about said claims) that he is not a natural-born American.
The tweet that launched a $50k lawsuitHow to get sued in 140 characters or fewer: a woman complained to her 20 followers on Twitter about her real estate agents. Now they’re hitting her up for $50,000 for defamation.
Brüno is like a Rorschach testSacha Baron Cohen’s film — and character — Brüno is such an extreme exercise that how a reviewer reacts is a pretty good indicator of that reviewer’s tightness of grip on his or her sense of decorum, writes W H Chong.
What’s that terrible smell? Oh, it’s the resurrected corpse of Hey HeyOur screens have been mercifully free of Hey Hey It’s Saturday for ten years — so why is Nine reanimating its corpse now? Dylan Behan searches for answers.
Booker Prize finalists revealedThe longlist for the prestigious Man Booker Prize has been announced, with old hands like JM Coetzee and William Trevor sitting alongside newcomers like James Lever, the much-hyped first-time author of Me Cheeta.
China costing the environment $13b a yearChina’s emissions per capita may be lower than most developed countries, but it is still the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world, and according to Greenpeace, the country’s addiction to coal lead to an estimated $13 billion worth of environmental damage last year.
Former Bagram detainee speaks outAn Afghan farmer who was detained by US forces at Bagram prison shares his experiences and explains why the US troops are still failing to win the locals’ hearts and minds.
What the RBA chief really saidReserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens’ housing speech will inevitably trigger a lot of uninformed comment, says Christopher Joye, but here it is straight…
The Liberal Party’s man of God and the people, Tony Abbott, has blessed Australia with his memoirs. Here, Walter Slurry, the man behind Not the Costello Memoirs brings us the forgotten extracts, from which we have selected some of the best bits.
Kevin Rudd has told Australians that the Premiers Plan of June 1931 compounded problems created by the private sector in the economic depression of the thirties. He is wrong, writes Anne Henderson.
A briefly noted transaction this week told us more about the collapse of the tech bubble than any other story, writes Glenn Dyer.
…six of us sat down at the front of the alley way and linked arms to block the path of a small earth mover. After about 20 minutes the police told us to move, we didn’t move, so they bodily removed us one at a time. Sarah Haynes writes from East Jerusalem.
RIP handwritingWe are witnessing the death of handwriting, says Claire Suddath, and it’s not just because we’re all glued to the keyboard: schools are focusing less and less on the art of cursive in favour of achieving high test scores and job-friendly skills.
Athens breathes easy with garbage collectionThe notoriously smoggy city of Athens is attempting to clean its act up, with new garbage collection trucks run on compressed natural gas. Ancient Greek god of air, Khaos, would be proud.
For Sale: Gandhi’s houseMahatma Gandhi may not have been a man known for his material possessions, but now you can own a piece of his history, with his former home in Johannesburg up for sale.
Councillors quash Hobart’s Windy City plansA controversial plan to put 11-metre high wind turbines on top of an inner-city Hobart building has been quashed by local councillors, although it was claimed the wind turbines would drop the power bill by 10%.
Bio-piracy: the story of US Patent #5,894,079In 1999, an American found some yellow beans in a Mexican market, named them Enola Beans and slapped a patent on them, allowing him to tax people who had been growing, consuming and exporting the beans for centuries. Ten years later, the patent has finally been scrapped.
The Queen snubs Bermuda’s birthday partyThe Queen has decided not to attend the anniversary of Britain’s oldest colony after an argument with the island’s pro-independence leader.
The Gaza Strip, under siege for over three years by Israel and the Western powers, is utterly unlike anywhere I’ve ever visited.
RBA Governor Glenn Stevens has weighed in on Australia’s economic recovery, suggesting there will be no more rate cuts and could be a rate rise or two by the end of the first quarter of 2010.
Israeli Gaza soldiers’ testimonies trigger furious reactionIsraeli soldiers who fought in the 2008 Gaza War say gross crimes were committed against civilians as a result of Israels lax military discipline.
Republican moms heart marijuana“As a Republican mother committed to legalizing marijuana, political life can be lonely,” admits Jessica Peck Corry. “But while many in my party whisper about the Drug War’s insanity, we should shout it from the rooftop: the time to legalize is now.”
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