Cadbury is worried about the carbon footprint of its chocolate. This strikes me as being in the same boat as worrying about the greenhouse emissions of a submachine gun, writes David Gillespie.
Politics government
On questioning the “viability” of remote Aboriginal settlements
“Remoteness” alone is not the core problem for Indigenous Australians, writes Mark Moran.
Abstinence doesn’t make the Pope grow fonder
If abstinence doesn’t work for a privileged family like the Palins in the richest country in the world, how’s it going to pan out in Africa?, asks Jeff Sparrow.
ETS sleeper: the government’s deforestation scam
The Rudd Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is riddled with rorts, writes Andrew Macintosh.
Sheik Hilaly fights for his life in Lakemba
It seems likely that Sheik Hilaly’s days as senior imam at Lakemba are numbered, writes Irfan Yusuf.
How the government profited from detainees’ misery
To understand how an Aboriginal man could slowly die in the back of a van driven by GSL guards in 2008, one has only to read a report of another GSL transfer in 2004, writes Pamela Curr.
Gold Coast political football — see the gloves come off
You could be mistaken for thinking Saturday’s Queensland election is about the whole of the state voting on whether it wants an AFL team on the Gold Coast, writes Ross Stapleton.
Government holds the line on golden handshakes
The rising tide of criticism of executive remuneration has left the Government exposed, writes Bernard Keane.
Carry On Question Time: Opposition at a loss in the House
In a week when the Government should have been under pressure, given its inability to get key legislation through the Senate, Question Time has been like shooting fish in a barrel, writes Bernard Keane.
SA Attorney General throws down the gauntlet to gamers
Last week, SA Attorney General Michael Atkinson laid down a challenge to Australian gamers: If you want R18+ video games, run against me at the next election, writes Ruth Brown.
Democracy revitalised by Pakistan’s Chief Justice
By demonstrating the importance of functioning and accountable institutions, Pakistan’s lawyers may well have paved the road upon which the long road from its present hell may be charted, writes Mustafa Qadri.
Some peer review of Access Economics’ forays into health
Peer reviewing, methodology and misunderstandings … Gavin Mooney examines Access Economics reports on health.
Babcock & Brown political donations will be missed
When the helium-driven investment bank Babcock & Brown collapsed into the arms of the administrator last Friday, the major political parties lowered their flags to half mast, writes Alex Mitchell.
Special report: how oil spill spin put the skids under Anna Bligh
With only two-and-a-bit days of campaigning left before Queensland rushes to the polls, media attention remains stubbornly focused on premier Anna Bligh’s handling of last week’s disastrous 240 tonne oil spill off Moreton Bay, writes Andrew Crook.
Climate science sceptics have their Copenhagen in New York
While last week the best minds in climate science were gathering in Copenhagen, the previous week the finest minds in climate scepticism gathered in New York, writes Bernard Keane.
Alcopops memo to the Senate: It’s the taste, stupid
We should not expect people’s tastes in alcohol to switch at a wave of the Treasurer’s wand, writes Jennifer Doggett.
NSW nurses to pick up legal tab
The NSW Nurses Association is expected to be asked to pick up the tab for the failed defamation proceedings launched by the union’s general secretary Brett Holmes, writes Alex Mitchell.
Taking on the tsar of all the oceans
I was not aware that fomer Environment Minister Barry Cohen was tsar of all the oceans. If so he was a very feeble tsar because for the last 22 years, the whales have been illegally slaughtered, writes Captain Paul Watson.
Trashing Pauline Hanson was a class act
If sexism remains one of the great unmentionables in Australian politics, class is even more so, writes Jeff Sparrow.
Woollies, Mathiesons and the licence to print money
From a harm minimisation perspective, large scale pokie operations appear to be a big part of the problem, writes Charles Livingston.
Is the Victorian Government running without data backups?
At Victorian Government offices, there hasn’t been a full data backup in more than a year, writes Stigherrian.
The ETS is a dog. It will never pass
The ETS will not establish incentives to reduce emissions and will not drive any transition to low-carbon industries and the jobs that will emerge from them, writes Bernard Keane.
Why calling an election early would be suicide for Rudd
Going prematurely to the polls suggests politicians are more interested in obtaining an electoral advantage than in doing the job they are elected to do, Bernard Keane explains.
South Australia’s racing industry is in turmoil
The racing industry in South Australia is in total disarray as a result of an explosive inquiry into the activities of the Committee and the CEO of the South Australian Jockey Club, writes Jeff Wall.
Pakistan’s Sharif an unlikely poster boy for democracy
Pakistan’s elected leaders have a habit of descending into the kind of authoritarianism that makes it hard to be too upset when the military takes over — yet again, writes Shakira Hussein.
