If you had the opportunity to ask the CSIRO and Federal Treasury to model a net zero climate plan what would you do?

If you are the Morrison Government that’s a no brainer. You ignore them and give the $6 million job to McKinsey.

 We only know the opportunity existed because it was revealed at Senate Estimates that the CSIRO had applied for a tender to conduct modelling work in relation to the Coalition’s net-zero plan but was rejected. We only know about the Treasury omission because of evidence to the same committee. read more

Scott Morrison lurching out of the crowd to put his hand on President Macron is an indication of a profound truth about Morrison – he is a phony.

The photograph we saw of the event was taken by his personal photographer and it’s not hard to guess how the photographer got this seemingly innocent shot and was then able to distribute it to the Australian media. read more

The Crime of not Knowing Your Crime by Karen Throssell is a genre bending book which explores a great injustice.

The book uses a mixture of poetry, memoir, documentary, polemic, tribute and the exposure of a scandal to tell the story of her father Ric Throssell, the extraordinary Throssell family and the decades long persecution it faced. read more

In the 1950s, Australians were constantly being told to be aware of the dangers of communist infiltration of our institutions. At the same time, DLP ads featured threatening arrows emerging from China and racing towards the heart of Australia.

Nineteen-fifties laws, including when we could drink, what we could do on Sundays and what we could read, had been shaped by 19th-century Christians. In 1959, there was also a Christian revivalist movement epitomised by the Billy Graham crusades. read more

Around the world statues are toppling, names of institutions are being changed and apologies for historic wrongs proffered.

But in Port Melbourne an ugly anomaly exists. It’s Princes Pier. The Pier is now a sort of pier its past length only obvious by rows of old wooden pylons which once supported most of the pier stretching out into Port Phillip Bay. read more

Two new surveys provide perspectives on who we trust, who we distrust and what communication channels we trust.

Trust in State governments and the Federal Government has declined in the past year according to a survey by the consultancy SenateSHJ as part of their Togetherness Index which looks at what communication elements contribute to social cohesion within the community. read more

Someone or other (not the blog) was taken by the recent Doing a Morrison blog post and its sort of Strine patois.

So much so that it has now been, if not immortalised, at least elevated to a place in the Urban Dictionary.

The Dictionary entry defines it  (with suitable examples) as:

“A range of tactics for dodging your responsibilities, including (but not limited to): going missing when the going gets tough; passing the buck; and talking your way out of a tight spot with an empty promise. read more

Scott Morrison may be about to commit to net zero – but it’s going to be too little too late.

Other countries and Australia’s States have already realised we need to move on to bigger targets even earlier. NSW and Queensland aim to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030. Victoria aims to reduce emissions by 45-50% by 2030 read more

G’day mate. Don’t you reckon Scott Morrison is a try hard with all that bullshit about how he’s really a true blue, fair dinkum Aussie?

He might be the boss cockie but he’s got Buckley’s of persuading us that he hasn’t made a dog’s breakfast of vaccines, JobKeeper and stacks of other things. read more

The Morrison Government may be dragging the chain on both measuring the social cost of carbon and acting on climate change but a global coalition of business people and academics has released a ground-breaking Real Carbon Price Index to track the progress the world is making towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. read more