“There is a fox in the chicken coop in this plan and that is that the federal minister for education will have unprecedented power over state schools, and Tasmania, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria…
Australia’s unemployment is 5.5%. How does that stack up internationally?
APH
“Australia has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the developed world.” - Finance minister Penny Wong, The Drum opinion article, 14 January. Several ministers, including finance minister Penny Wong…
How long does it take to get a mine approved in Australia?
APH
“Just to get the regulatory approvals [to start a mine] takes more than three years. Six years ago it took less than 12 months… Australian investors are fleeing this country to invest in more stable countries…
Is Bob Katter exaggerating when he says Coles and Woolworths own 80% of the groceries market?
APH
“The Americans are screaming blue murder because WalMart and their competitor have now reached about 23% market share. Here we have two supermarkets with a market share of over 80%, so if they decide to…
“The Australian Federal Police takes [red notices] very seriously but knows it must examine the veracity or otherwise of those claims because quite often claims, even against Australian citizens who’ve…
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is the cause of delays at the very airport at which he now wants a second runway to proceed… “Kevin Rudd ran a damaging campaign against a second runway in the late ‘90s and since…
Did Foreign minister Bob Carr’s controversial claim that the majority of asylum seekers coming to Australia are economic refugees go too far?
APH
“People are coming here, not now as a result of persecution, but because they’re economic refugees who have paid money to people smugglers.” - Foreign minister Bob Carr, Meet the Press, June 9. There is…
How much difference will unplugging the carbon tax make?
jnyemb/Flickr
Tony Abbott has said he will scrap the carbon “tax”, leading to a fall in electricity prices. In his budget reply speech he stated: We will abolish the carbon tax – because that’s the quickest way to reduce…
Australian studies show alcohol is considerably more likely than other drugs to be involved in violence.
Aviva West
On ABC TV’s Four Corners program last night, Paul Nicolaou, chief executive officer of Australia Hotels Association New South Wales, dismissed claims that alcohol is fuelling late-night violence, arguing…
Look at ocean temperatures if you want to know whether the earth is still warming.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
“The UN’s climate change chief, Rajendra Pachauri, has acknowledged a 17-year pause in global temperature rises, confirmed recently by Britain’s Met Office, but said it would need to last ‘30 to 40 years…
Is Tony Abbott right that the carbon price is ruining Australia?
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
… It became absolutely obvious after the Copenhagen conference that the rest of the world was not going anywhere near carbon taxes or emission trading schemes and that’s why the Coalition is absolutely…
Cows do more harm than good in national parks.
Howard Russell
According to the ABC, Senator John Williams has called for cattle grazing in national parks to reduce the risk of fire: The problem in our national parks is that when we have these savage fires with these…
Bushfires release CO2, but how much?
AAP Image/Kim Foale
“Indeed I guess there’ll be more CO2 emissions from these fires than there will be from coal-fired power stations for decades.” - acting Opposition leader, Warren Truss, January 9, 2013 On Wednesday, leader…