Scott Morrison is probably like many fundamentalist Christians – picks and chooses the bits of the Bible that suit his religion.
His attitude to refugees is rather different from the Bible’s injunctions about neighbours but then he probably has a distinctive definition of neighbours which excludes refugees from countries we invaded, gays (he dodged the legalisation of marriage vote in Parliament) and climate change campaigners.
New forms of climate denialism focus on imagined costs and sadly not real costs.
Using cost-benefit analyses allows us to measure the cost of climate change through the calculation of the social cost of carbon (SCC) which puts a monetary value on climate change harms by adding up all the future damages from the emission of one tonne of carbon dioxide now.
Whenever there is a well-informed leak from Scott Morrison or his office there is always a purpose – normally tactical.
In this case, on the plane back from the US, someone told reporters that Morrison was re-considering going to Glasgow for COP26 in October.
Now there are a variety of possible explanations for the leak.
Barry Jones gave the Inaugural Jean McLean Oration at Victoria University on 15 September 2021. It was entitled: The Democratic Crisis: Whatever happened to courage, principle, commitment, accountability?
He paid tribute to Jean McLean’s long career as a social activist, anti-war campaigner and supporter of Timor Leste. This is an edited version of the speech. The full speech is at The Truth and Integrity Project website.
It is easy to see Scott Morrison as just a salesman and huckster. But there are two ways to get deeper insight into Scott Morrison – one theological and one philosophical.
Both feature a special relationship between words and performance and the belief that the performing of words causes actions.
Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton have put the Chief of Army, Rick Burr, and Chief of the Defence Forces, Angus Campbell, in an intolerable position.
Both officers have fine service records and have shown great leadership in negotiating a series of complex and confronting issues.
Yet they are constantly over-ruled by the PM and the Defence Minister, not for any mistakes, but to accommodate the political views of two unprincipled politicians.
A new campaigning group, the Truth and Integrity Project, has been launched.
It’s a totally voluntary not-for-profit organisation which aims to mobilise Australians who are angry, concerned and disgusted with the state of Australian politics and government.
The Truth and Integrity Project aims to reach out to all Australians – whatever their differences – to promote a successful Australia where truth, integrity, policy and decency are the core of politics. It aims to:
One of the great transformations in Australian society has been the growing awareness of the need to respect and engage with Indigenous culture and knowledge.
Yet there are many who still resist what they see as ‘black armband’ history. As for reconciliation and recognition the Morrison Government attitude to the Uluru Statement from the heart, and embedding a Voice to Parliament in the Constitution, echoes the Howard Government’s vote (one of only four countries) against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
The US prides itself on having the greatest warriors backed by the mightiest assembly of military power in history. So why do they keep losing the endless wars they have been involved in since WWII?
Scott Atran, emeritus director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research puts it down to misunderstanding the will to fight by its opponents.
There are moments when only the word gobsmacked is appropriate. One of them is reading Professor Judith Sloan’s recent Spectator piece about JobKeeper.
Sloan is an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research at the University of Melbourne; Spectator columnist; Murdoch media columnist; and, normally reliable culture warrior ready to excoriate the ALP and progressives.