http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/simon-sheikh/ Simon is the National Director of advocacy group GetUp. Simon has been behind campaigns on climate change, changes to our anti-terrorism laws and GetUp’s work on internet censorship. Simon was born and raised in Sydney and studied Economics at the University of New South Wales. In a career change Simon left Government in 2008 instead choosing to make change by working to inject community voices into the political system. Prior to joining GetUp Simon represented Australia at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Uganda in 2007 as Australia’s Commonwealth youth representative and in the same year was named the NSW Young Professional of the Year. Simon has travelled widely, this year tackling the question of who was really behind the Obama campaign while over in the US. Unfortunately, everyone he met in the US claimed that they were a part of the victory and so he’s none the wiser. Twitter: @SimonGetUp Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) //';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[22]='"';l[23]=' 117';l[24]=' 97';l[25]=' 46';l[26]=' 103';l[27]=' 114';l[28]=' 111';l[29]=' 46';l[30]=' 112';l[31]=' 117';l[32]=' 116';l[33]=' 101';l[34]=' 103';l[35]=' 64';l[36]=' 111';l[37]=' 102';l[38]=' 110';l[39]=' 105';l[40]=':';l[41]='o';l[42]='t';l[43]='l';l[44]='i';l[45]='a';l[46]='m';l[47]='"';l[48]='=';l[49]='f';l[50]='e';l[51]='r';l[52]='h';l[53]='a ';l[54]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == ' ') output += "&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"; else output += unescape(l[i]); } document.getElementById('eeEncEmail_jYrCH6nLDr').innerHTML = output; //]]> en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/harvey-massive-aussie-forest-clearance-must-stop/ If a tree falls in a native Australian forest, should anybody care?  That’s the question effectively being asked by critics of GetUp’s ‘No Harvey No’ campaign. The campaign was launched in partnership with Markets for Change following a year long investigation into the journey of timber sourced from native Australian forests in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. The investigation found Australia native forests were being logged, with the resulting timber being shipped off to China where it was being made into furniture which was then sent back to Australia to be sold in places like Harvey Norman stores. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Sheikh) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/harvey-massive-aussie-forest-clearance-must-stop/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/harvey-massive-aussie-forest-clearance-must-stop/#item7757 Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:35:23 +0000 Simon Sheikh | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/leaked-copenhagen-draft-is-bad-news-for-the-planet/ Just hours ago printers started running wild in Copenhagen with the leaking of tightly held negotiating text that rich countries have been writing. In summary: it’s bad news for the climate – but the good news is it’s far from locked in. There is no mention of the 25-40% reductions that scientists say are required, and nothing is legally binding. For some time now a small group of rich nations, known as the ‘commitment circle’ have been meeting in secret to develop their version of what the Copenhagen Agreement should look like. The text is designed to be a basis for the high level negotiations that begin next week, and is seen by developing nations as an attempt by rich nations to bully them into signing a weak deal that calls for sacrifices from the poor while locking in higher emission rights for countries that contributed most to creating the problem of climate change. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Sheikh) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/leaked-copenhagen-draft-is-bad-news-for-the-planet/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/leaked-copenhagen-draft-is-bad-news-for-the-planet/#item1954 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:46:09 +0000 Simon Sheikh | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbotts-challenge-now-is-to-renew-the-liberal-party/ GetUp’s latest poll has found the public are hoping Tony Abbott will take the party down a progressive path. It’s a big year for the Liberal Party of Australia. One hundred years ago, the Protectionist and Free Trade parties combined to offer voters an alternative to the Labor party. Oppositions can be great force within our democracy. They can be the drivers of accountability and transparency, of new thinking and ambitious policy. And in a democracy where our major parties fight over just a small subset of the population (swinging voters), their power in influencing the Government of the day is certainly present. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Sheikh) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbotts-challenge-now-is-to-renew-the-liberal-party/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbotts-challenge-now-is-to-renew-the-liberal-party/#item1939 Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:40:42 +0000 Simon Sheikh | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-all-pay-the-price-of-buying-access-in-a-democracy/ Can our politicians win elections based on good old-fashioned debate and sound policy, or will they continue their crass cash contests of aggressive marketing campaigns bank-rolled by the wealthy? And once in office, how can we prevent politicians coming under undue influence from donors at the expense of the interests of their constituents and the broader public? Until recently, reforming the system of political funding has been the elephant in the room for our esteemed elected representatives. They’ve been acutely aware there is a problem, but reluctant to talk about it. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Sheikh) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-all-pay-the-price-of-buying-access-in-a-democracy/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-all-pay-the-price-of-buying-access-in-a-democracy/#item1766 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:50:57 +0000 Simon Sheikh | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-emails-may-be-fake-but-the-donations-arent/ “Democracy is not cheap.” That’s what the former NSW President of the Australian Hotels Association John Thorpe had to say about our political system. He was of course referring to the fact that his industry, in the nine years to 2007, had donated a jaw dropping $3.5 million to the NSW Labor Party. And he’s just one of hundreds of big donors out to buy our democracy. Yesterday the National Audit Office released its report into the ‘Utegate’ debacle. While it found no wrongdoing by our politicians this doesn’t take away from the fact that the scandal left a sour taste in the mouths of many Australians. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Sheikh) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-emails-may-be-fake-but-the-donations-arent/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-emails-may-be-fake-but-the-donations-arent/#item820 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:43:34 +0000 Simon Sheikh | Author bios | The Punch