May 2011
The Government will be hoping that the convoluted and dense reckoning of professor Ross Garnaut will counter the slick and glib one-liners of Tony Abbott.
The Opposition has successfully been telling the public that a “carbon tax” - or on occasion the “toxic tax” - will wreck household budgets already flattened by other cost-increasing factors.
The proposed carbon price has been depicted as a financial horror which would dwarf those already-punishing family expenses.
Continue reading "Carbon pricing: At least Garnaut hasn’t been gagged" »
This story was written before I had seen the Four Corners special ‘A bloody business’. I had the intention of opening with a description of some of the footage shown in that program. Footage showing scenes of horrific cruelty in Indonesian slaughter houses. But I can’t do that. It was simply too horrible.
Stories from Indonesia - Live Export Investigation from Animals Australia on Vimeo.
All I could think of was my student days studying the history of Germany during the 1930s and the rise of Nazism. The acquiescence that allowed the Holocaust to happen was on display during interviews with Australian cattle producers who were appalled by the slaughter conditions while perfectly happy to bank the money. These human scum, and in particular Meat and Livestock Corporation CEO Cameron Hall, rank among the worst excuses for human beings on the planet.
Rest assured, the remainder of this story will perhaps shock but there will be no graphic descriptions of cruelty.
Continue reading "Slaughterhouse live: Our bloody cattle exports" »
Latest 2 of 242 comments
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PypeJeneGyday says:
The amount of home-based corporations is soaring, but the quantity of individuals wanting to start a home-based enterprise is even larger. The benefits of a home-based business are fantastic. One particular saves gas, which costs are increasing quickly. A single #keyword2# does not have to leave home. One particular gets… Read more »
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lulu says:
This is about animal suffering. What has export coal got to do with it? Read more »
Not since the Federated Actors Guild launched a musical campaign against the AIDS virus in the movie Team America has a group of celebrities caused such a stink.
The decision of actors Cate Blanchett and Michael Caton to front advertisements supporting the Federal Government’s climate change policies has been denounced as a shocking act of impertinence by a pair of cashed-up lefties who have no right to enter the debate.
The attacks on the pair have been over the top and underscore the increasing shoutiness of modern discourse. On news and opinion websites (including the two I work for, The Punch and news.com.au) we have seen the usual procession of anonymous haters line the pair up over their supposedly unwelcome foray into publc policy arena.
Continue reading "Climate critics should play the ball not the (wo)man" »
Latest 2 of 440 comments
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Bloggs says:
persephone says: 01:01pm | 31/05/11 - and it’s on the record that she offsets the carbon footprint of those flights and that her home is powered by green energy. Yep, she may do that, Pers, but nothing comes of it now does it? What happens with the money she may… Read more »
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HeatherG says:
Peter E, what Perseph used is a “fallacy of comparison”. She took an argument by trying to form a metaphor with a non equivalent comparison. “A drop (usually 30mg) of strychnine in your bowl of soup (of perhaps 2-odd metric cups)” =/= “a hair’s width in a kilometre” of carbon… Read more »
Now we are means-testing people for the right to have an opinion in television commercials, it seems that only those who struggle with absolute penury can speak for Australians.
Everyone else is tainted by the bias of success and salaries.
Billionaires can’t complain about higher taxes on super-profits; screen stars can’t complain about pollution.
Continue reading "It’s a bit rich to gag the wealthy on carbon pricing" »
Latest 2 of 124 comments
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Cate P says:
Andrew Laming’s response nails it. Good on you Punch for publishing it with M Farr’s piece. Read more »
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Dan says:
Marilyn, Usually, I think your posts are off the wall, but this time you’ve nailed it in a few short sentences. You have got to nub of the matter so let’s now wait for the right-wing loonies to fire up (shouldn’t have to wait long). Read more »
In 2010 Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa declared that the time had come, particularly for Africans, to stop the “wave of hate” and to stand up “against wrong”.
He was referring to the wrong to “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people” who are “part of the African family” and who “are living in fear.”
This news from Africa would be bad enough. But the same fear extends far beyond that continent.
Latest 2 of 486 comments
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WilliamK says:
@Jake “No, as I said several times, I’m using the senses and reasoning of other people to validate that my senses are working. What aren’t you understanding?” So you use your senses and reasoning to validate your senses and reasoning, that the feedback on your senses and reasoning from others… Read more »
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WilliamK says:
@Jake I have no problem with speciation or mutation. Both are better explained by the loss of DNA information from the parent. “Do I believe life could emerge spontaneously? I haven’t studied the evidence enough to make a very confident call one way or the other but based on what… Read more »
Babies have a nasty habit of getting in the way of your career. Just ask Shelley Craft.
The host of Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show admitted in a weekend newspaper interview that she went back to work just two weeks after giving birth.
“There was no maternity leave,” she told the Sunday Telegraph. “Either I came back to work or someone else filled in for me.”
Continue reading "Modern mums are racing back to work too soon" »
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icon package says:
I agree with you, thanks for an explanation. As always all ingenious is simple. Read more »
When my parents arrived in the 1950s as ’10 pound Poms’, Australia was a brave new world. Their street in Melbourne’s Glen Waverley bustled with fellow European migrants eager to create a life for their families.
But while our neighbourhood was a snapshot of multicultural Europe there wasn’t a lot of mixing. My parents socialised with others from the old country while their Italian and Greek neighbours went to their own churches and started their own small businesses.
The ‘poms’ and ‘wogs’ in the street lived together quite happily, but separately.
Continue reading "Have you even met an Aboriginal person?" »
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sam says:
Aboriginals are still waiting for non Aboriginal Australians to take the first step, there has been no restitution yet, english law is subject to international law, what happened in australia was illegal and no amount of ignorance will change that, Aboriginal society was alot more productive than current society, the… Read more »
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Mack says:
Well stated Tom Read more »
One day the Government may need to stage an intervention in Sydney’s plushest suburbs, Byron Bay’s glorious expanse, and the genteel landscape of the Adelaide Hills.
These are the places where some children’s lives are at risk because parents have entirely lost trust in governments, and are turning to some dodgy alternative sources of health information.
Studies by the Federal health department, CSIRO and the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance have shown that while overall Australia’s uptake of vaccination is good – mostly around 90 per cent for children - in certain regions the levels of conscientious objectors have soared, resulting in clusters of deadly diseases.
Continue reading "Deadly parenting choices in the vaccination debate" »
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David says:
Acotrel, my mum and grandfather had cancer, followed our medical system through to the end, they are dead now too. Read more »
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Fi says:
Every single time I have been vaccinated, I’ve been asked if I’ve been sick in the last fortnight. It’s a failure of the doctor you’ve seen, not the vaccination system. Read more »
Back by popular demand! Your chance to give us a piece of your mind.
Here at The Punch, we love reading your comments on our articles. But now we want your thoughts on the site too! Tell us what you like, what you loathe, what you want more of and what you just can’t stand. So fill out our quick survey, and we’ll be your bestest friend forever!
And just for all you rev-heads, on this day in 1927 the very last Model T Ford rolled off the assembly line in Michigan, USA. This little beauty was the first car to be mass produced on an assembly line and was arguably the most influential automobile in history. What’s been the most influential car in your life? The little MG that broke-down on first dates? Or maybe your beloved VW Beetle that you managed to fit 10 university students in?
Have a whinge or have or a laugh… right here, right now!
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Like a niggly married couple, Australia’s increasingly divided populace is having a big, dirty spat this morning. And just like parents split on how best to discipline a naughty child, the warring parties are united on the goal but divided on the methods employed to achieve it.
The goal we’re united on is the need to cut carbon emissions. Even the staunchest anthropogenic global warming denier would surely concede there are all sorts of benefits in cutting carbon emissions, not least cleaner air and the transition to smarter industries and renewable energy sources.
But thanks to the “Say Yes Australia” ad, made by a coalition of leftist groups and starring popular actors Michael Caton and Cate Blanchett, the carbon tax debate has been turned into the equivalent of a he says/she says marriage dispute. Or in this case, a we pay/they pay issue.
Continue reading "Shoot the messengers, and send them to Bonnie Doon" »
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Bloggs says:
We do not emit carbon, you twisted sod, we emit carbon dioxide. There’s a small difference. Read more »
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