Bob Gosford spent the day poking around under some scattered Mulga trees in the MacDonnell Range, looking for rare snails that live in the delicate moist environment at the base of the trees.
November, 2010
fishing 
Will Tony Burke deliver on marine protected areas?
Australia in the midst of deciding the level of protection to be applied to a large section of our coastline and offshore areas. Will we use this critical time wisely? asks Dr Margi Prideaux.
The worst Australian cricket side in 30 years
Australian cricket is in a dark place right now, writes The Guardian’s Duncan Fletcher, and you have to go back more than 30 years, to the era when Kerry Packer had tempted away the best players to World Series Cricket, to find the last time the team were in such a muddled state.
A Tiger Woods exclusive on Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods writes exclusively today for Newsweek about his marriage break up, the car accident and how he is reinventing the art of winning golf tournaments.
Is LeBron James Time’s Person of the Year?
The NBA star is already a finalist, so is it too shocking to think he could join Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr and Pope John XXIII?
Welcome to the Sonny Bill Williams revolution
Sonny Bill Williams is leading a rugby revolution, writes The New Zealand Herald’s Chris Rattue , and he’s the right man at the right time to expand rugby thinking even further.
Red Bull’s Webber and Vettel bury the hatchet
The duo, who looked at times as though they were shaping up to reprise the bitter Senna/Prost team rivalry of the 1990s, have made their peace, writes James Allen.
Major League Soccer is ignoring its troubled past
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, and that’s exactly what the USA’s Major League Soccer is doing, writes Slate’s Brian Phillips.
Getting the balance right in royal reporting
Republicans think most people — a clear majority — in Australia have moved on from the 1950s and that the correct line for us to take is to be respectful and honest — not disingenuously claim we are overcome with excitement about upcoming royal wedding, writes the Australian Republican Movement’s David Donovan.
Will Burke deliver on marine protected areas?
Australia in the midst of deciding the level of protection to be applied to a large section of our coastline and offshore areas. Will we use this critical time wisely? asks Dr Margi Prideaux.
Mental health debate? It’s all smoke and mirrors
You’d think mental health was firmly on the political radar, judging by the column inches devoted to the topic. But it’s mostly smoke and mirrors, from public relations and vested interests peddling status quo assumptions rather than the genuine community conversation needed, says David Webb.
Daniel Petre: the decline of generosity
We are too focused on our own needs and on hoarding more with the sad result that we lack the ability to care for others or approach life with a generous demeanor and spirit, writes Daniel Petre, executive chairman of Netus and head of the Petre Foundation.
Dear Richmond: Burnside picks Wynne in direct mail salvo
Leading Melbourne QC Julian Burnside has thrown his weight behind endangered ALP housing minister Dick Wynne just weeks after calling the Labor party a “disgrace” and branding Wynne’s factional colleague Bronwyn Pike a hypocrite.
Anti-siphoning isn’t new paradigm-friendly
All the huffing and puffing on anti-siphoning doesn’t change that the opposition and minor parties have virtually no options if they don’t like what the government offers.
Rundle: Planet Janet accidentally gets to the heart of political change
This week’s contribution from Janet Albrechtsen is a way into the heart of political change in Australia, albeit in ways she couldn’t possibly understand.
Murray Murmurings: Basin community won’t be sidelined by govt, interest groups
What does the wider Basin community really think about water reform? asks Basin Pulse’s Brian Ramsay.
James Murdoch a chip off the old bloke when in comes to BSkyB
James Murdoch is up to the family’s oldest trick, bluff and blustering when it can’t have its way. Dad has turned it into an art form, by threatening to take something away that is not granted.
US economy Gottliebsen: a damaging flood of US money
Recent economic statistics make you understand why the Chinese are so mad with the Americans. The US$600 billion QE2 money printing exercise is like pumping huge quantities of water down a blocked pipe without removing the blockage, says Robert Gottliebsen.
Come in Spinner: Background briefings cui bono?
One of the fascinating things about the media is how frequently the “facts” reported about an event differ between media outlets while, simultaneously, the supposed meaning of the events are interpreted in remarkably similar ways. Noel Turnbull looks to Burma.
Anatomy of a near-disaster: the Airbus presentation on Qantas
The Airbus presentation to accident investigators of the damage done to QF32 on November 4 gives new technical insights into this near disaster involving a Qantas A380 with 466 persons on board. The examination of the damage is far from complete, as the presentation makes clear. It doesn’t deal with the other dimensions of this […]
18 months on, picking up the pieces of postwar Sri Lanka
Nick Johns-Wickberg interviews two foreign aid workers who, in dealing with Sri Lanka recently, understand better than most the serious issues that country is facing.
Morning Market Report: Local markets, US down on poor new home stats
Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese said signs of increased demand are emerging from the US but Chinese growth needs to cool.
Daily Proposition: Explore a new Melbourne arts space
Check out the new Monash University Museum of Art in Melbourne, says Robert Lukins, and its spectacular exhibition of contemporary Australian art, Change.
Media briefs: Leckie’s going nowhere … Aussie media dine out on royal wedding …
As a proud member of the Commonwealth, our little old Antipodean outpost should do everything in our power to be embarrassingly sycophantic in the rush to praise our Royal overlords. Luckily Australia’s newspapers agree. Plus, other media tid bits of the day.
