There is nothing inherently foolish about holding a climate meeting in Fiji. If the purpose is to draw attention to the problems faced by Pacific nations, Fiji is a logical venue. It puts delegates in the region under discussion, rather than in another European conference centre where everybody can admire the catering and agree that…
The Australian Labor Party is holding its fiftieth national conference in Adelaide this week. Or, as I prefer to think of it, the annual gabfest where several hundred people gather to decide how the rest of us ought to live. Naturally, the unions have arrived with their shopping lists. The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union wants…
Thousands of books are published every day somewhere in the world, as ebooks and, to a lesser extent, paperbacks. I know lots of people love the feel of a book in their hands, and the smell of books. I used to be one of those but these days I prefer ebooks. I can change the…
Back in 2006 John Doyle and Tim Flannery made a mini-series entitled ‘Two Men in a Tinnie’ in which they travelled the length of the Murray-Darling River system. That year was hard. In December we were told that Australia had suffered the worst drought in 1,000 years. The Guardian reported that “David Dreverman, head of…
Well gosh. We’ve hit the inevitable crunch over electricity. NSW and Queensland have been warned about blackouts as the states struggle to ensure power suppliers keep the grid working. Cost of power has been capped to protect consumers, so some of those suppliers will be making a loss. There’s no point in crying about it….
It seems Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has finally bitten the bullet and agreed to open Fortress Queensland in time for Christmas on 17th December (for double vaccinated people, at least). But it’s all a bit of coming and going with her. Not so long ago she said opening wasn’t going to happen until 80% of…
Since I don’t live under a rock I have heard all about sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg’s epic voyage across the ocean to speak to the UN about the inaction on climate change. And, of course, the student (and others) ‘strike’ across the world. In Australia, the news was full of the marches in the cities. The…
Today on one of the TV morning programs the young woman reading the news announced that after a brief respite, the continent would be returning to heat wave conditions. Adelaide would soar to 39 tomorrow and 41 later in the week. This was after a ‘scorching’ Christmas and New Year, with everyone urged to stay…
Let me introduce you to Bufo marinus, known to many Australians as the cane toad. A government department introduced them to Australia from Hawaii in 1935 in an attempt to control sugar cane beetles. The toads mumbled ‘thank you very much’, had no impact on the cane beetles, and bred prolifically, quickly spreading along the…
Here it is December already. Who’d a thunk? Actually, one giveaway is the faux snow in windows, a fat guy with a red coat on having his picture taken with kiddies, and endless repeats of Bing’s dreaming of a white Christmas. Good luck with that in Queensland, old man. Then again, in places the country…