Who emerges as greatest reluctant Australian? The letter that arrived at his London home telling him he had been awarded an honour caused him "a little soul-searching". He is a staunch republican: what would friends and family think? Phillip Knightley: Journalist with the write stuff: Queens Birthday Honours 2005
The tax man is not high on a nation's favourite people list. But commissioner Michael Carmody has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to the community Taxing tribute
The secretary of the Department of Immigration and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), Australia's ambassador to Indonesia and the Commissioner for Taxation, who oversaw the introduction of the GST, have all been recognised in today's Queen's Birthday honours list Queen's honour for Immigration secretary
Privately funded infrastructure projects such as the Cross City Tunnel and airport rail link will be scrutinised as part of a review that will decide whether they deliver taxpayers value for money City projects face value czechs
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Victory Over Want: Debt deal just the beginning
Bob Geldof and other anti-poverty campaigners, like James Cumes of Victory Over Want initiative, have hailed an agreement by the world's richest nations to cancel the debt of more than 30 poor countries as "a victory for millions". Millions are let in on their conversations on new order:
Geldof said: "Tomorrow 280 million Africans will wake up for the first time in their lives without owing you or me a penny from the burden of debt that has crippled them and their countries for so long - money we didn't even know we were owed and never wanted in the first place, and money they could never pay."
On Saturday the finance ministers of the G7 industrialised nations (the G8 minus Russia) struck a deal worth as much as $US55 billion ($72 billion) that will immediately cancel the debt of 18 "heavily indebted poor countries", 14 of them in Africa. Another 20 countries are close to a deal to cancel their debt or could achieve such a deal in the next few years.
• Blow the revolution, let's fix it now A Calm before the Storm? [Former Australian Ambassador, soldier in WW2, economist, author of several books on economics, history, government, philosophy - and fiction Dr James Cumes ; A leading-edge economist and author of several books who Graduated in Arts (Queensland, Australia) and Diplomatic Studies (Canberra, Australia) and is a Doctor of Philosophy (London, UK) A Counter-Cultural Revolution needed in the West? James Cumes ; In this exceptional interview, James Cumes talks about his novel Haverleigh, about growing up in Queensland, fighting on the Kokoda Trail in WW2, his next books, and His special project VOW ; Google: The first step forward]
• · Malnourished students have presented to doctors with symptoms of scurvy Scurvy the new scourge of uni life ; My days in a demographic are numbered A crisis in the age of marketing ; Kate Legge finds the under-30s are challenging the orthodoxies of their baby-boomer parents Post-everything generation ; "The Lips of the just know how to please, but the mouth of the wicked, how to pervert." With today's acquittal of Michael Jackson , I am particularly struck by today's Proverb. Perhaps jurors minds were perverted by the words of some pretty crafty lawyers? It goes to show that one can pretty much buy their way out of a jail sentence. – Proverbial Wisdom Jackson not guilty
• · · Labor politicians raised the spectre of terrorists using nuclear technology to help reaffirm opposition to a domestic nuclear power industry at yesterday's NSW ALP conference Too risky: Labor stands firm on nuclear power ; In her own words, a 26-year-old woman speaks out about the breach of her privacy A matter of trust: sickened by a hospital's ill-treatment ; People respond to relatively far-fetched dangers with exaggerated demands for safety, are characteristic of our times Fear, Anxiety and the Cult of Safety
• · · · No man is an island. But Peter Rost is getting close. For the past year, Dr Rost, a vice-president for marketing at Pfizer with a history of corporate whistleblowing, has publicly criticised the industry for the price of drugs. Along the way, he has become increasingly isolated at Pfizer, the world's largest drug company. First, his staff stopped reporting to him. Then his supervisors stopped returning his calls and now he does not know whom he reports to. His secretary left, he said, and he was moved to an office near Pfizer's security department at a company building in Peapack, New Jersey Lonely life of a whistleblower; A former Iraqi police commando blew himself up in a failed attempt to assassinate the leader of the anti-insurgent Wolf Brigade Policeman turns suicide bomber
• · · · · A year ago, there would have been few takers for a bet that the French and the Dutch would reject the new European constitution. After all, France and the Netherlands were among the founders of the European Union. The constitution failed in both countries by clear majorities, leaving political elites shell-shocked Europeans vs. Europe ; Migration: Although Australia’s migration policies have evolved, Klaus Neumann finds some important parallels in three high-profile cases No exceptions ; Greg Barns reports from San Diego, where the shadow economy is being replenished daily Sunday on the border ; There is an un-American secret at the heart of American culture: for a long time, it was preoccupied by class In Fiction, a Long History of Fixation on the Social Gap
• · · · · · A seized laptop computer held the names of rich Australians drawn into a dubious scheme How a schemer lured tax dreamers Tax boss behind raft of changes Michael Carmody has managed some of the most significant changes in Australia's tax system in the 12 years he has been tax commissioner. He was appointed commissioner at a time when faith in Australia's tax system was recovering from the all-time low of the bottom of the harbour scams of the 1970s and early 1980s and shortly after treasurer Paul Keating's failed attempt to introduce a consumption tax Canberra Times 13/06/2005