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Letter in Crikey

My letter in Crikey today Regarding “Make the World Pay“: I’ve noticed it is fashionable for Crikey to publish CPRS-bashing articles from the Greens Party and others (e.g. Bernard Keane). There is no doubt that the CPRS is less than many people hoped it would be — especially the excessive industry assistance. The simple fact [...]

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Letters in The Age

I’m always pleasantly surprised when one of my letters gets in The Age, as it did the other day without me knowing. Clearly I don’t support league tables for schools.

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Labor must assert its economic credentials

The recent spate of reporting of polls demonstrates that Labor must continue to assert its strong nation building narrative and economic credentials. Labor and Kevin Rudd correctly judged the public’s mood by decrying the excesses of extreme capitalism and neoliberalism, and forging a renewed social-democratic path. Despite the baying of the press gallery and conservative [...]

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We need to get to less than 350ppm

A short video from 350.org, illustrating why we need urgent action on climate change. 350.org: Because the world needs to know from 350.org on Vimeo.

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Republicans struggling, near bottom

I have previously written that the US Republicans are cannibalising themselves, that they are struggling to find a leader, and that they have no clear strategy for combating Obama and the Democrat machine. Now, with the Democrats hammering the Republicans over Rush Limbaugh, some Republican representatives are acknowledging that they nearly as low as they [...]

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Corporate welfare should come with strings

Businesses receiving government corporate welfare should be required to follow industrial relations and OHS laws, and should put caps on executive and board payouts. There is a clear national interest. Governments (state and Federal) gives tax concessions and other support to many different kinds of business, in order to create jobs and ensure economic growth. [...]

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Willful ignorance or straw man

Alex Robson from Concept Economics has not bothered to read the Australia Institute paper into the CPRS emissions floor (pdf link). Amazingly, his uninformed and un-researched tirade against environmentalists was published in The Australian today. Mr Robson writes: Clearly, if the number of permits in circulation could never fall, then the Australia Institute view would [...]

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garnaut

We need strong action on emissions trading

The Garnaut report released earlier this year made the case for a robust emissions trading scheme. If Australia is to combat climate change, Federal Labor needs to take immediate action to reduce the amount of carbon put into the atmosphere. As activists, we have a duty to lobby senior Ministers in parliament to do everything [...]

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rightonemap1

Guerrilla marketing at work

Database entrepreneur Robert Moore has uncovered a vast guerrilla marketing campaign being waged across the US, and potentially at a global level. Across America, yard signs advertising localised online singles and dating services point towards an enormous data collection effort. The signs point towards dating sites with a domain-name linked to that town, suburb or [...]

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diverge

Republicans eat their own

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin typifies the hard-right conservative group in the GOP that would rather eat their own than work towards defeating a common foe. From CNN: At a boisterous Sarah Palin rally in Polk City, Florida on Saturday afternoon, one name was surprisingly absent from the campaign decor John McCain’s. Looking around [...]

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Negative campaiging works

Negative campaigning works. Negative ads are also generally are more ‘honest’ than positive ads – they generally reference their sources. They are more likely to energise supporters into taking action – even Obama’s campaigning to potential volunteers use the scare-tactics of Rove, Cheney, Bush and ‘more of the same’. It especially works when you are [...]

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deakin

Controversial trimester at Deakin leads to industrial action

Deakin University staff are standing up to get a collectively bargain. The NTEU Victorian Division has produced a video with Deakin staff explaining the importance of getting a collective agreement. Unfortunately the Deakin senior management have been dragging their feet and have not seriously negotiated. Furthermore the senior management have insisted on ramming through the [...]

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