How ratepayers for Ipswich City Council, one of the country's fastest-growing cities, 'lost $78 million'
Authorities in southern India have demolished two luxury lakeside apartment complexes that were built in violation of environmental rules.
Residents of the high-rises in the state of Kerala watched as their homes and investments imploded in seconds.
The Supreme Court ordered the demolition last year, after a committee found that they were built in breach of rules protecting coastal areas.
Two more skyscrapers were set to be razed on Sunday.
In total, some 343 flats - home to about 2,000 people - were expected to be destroyed over the weekend in what has been described as one of India's largest demolition drives involving residential buildings.
The H2O Holy Faith complex, containing 90 flats, was the first to be brought down on Saturday. It took just seconds for the 19-floor building to be destroyed in a controlled implosion.
India demolishes Kerala skyscrapers over environmental violations
'It's astonishing when you start looking into it': The rise of the sand mafia
Modern society is built on sand, but it's a finite resource. The global demand for it is fuelling a sinister black market organisation: the "sand mafia".
Of the 69 rulers of the unified Roman Empire, from Augustus (d. 14 CE) to Theodosius (d. 395 CE), 62% suffered violent death. This has been known for a while, if not quantitatively at least qualitatively. What is not known, however, and has never been examined is the time-to-violent-death of Roman emperors…Nonparametric and parametric results show that: (i) emperors faced a significantly high risk of violent death in the first year of their rule, which is reminiscent of infant mortality in reliability engineering; (ii) their risk of violent death further increased after 12 years, which is reminiscent of wear-out period in reliability engineering; (iii) their failure rate displayed a bathtub-like curve, similar to that of a host of mechanical engineering items and electronic components. Results also showed that the stochastic process underlying the violent deaths of emperors is remarkably well captured by a (mixture) Weibull distribution.
That is from a new paper by Joseph Homer Saleh, via the excellent Kevin Lewis
ABUL RIZVI.-Where have Dutton and Pezzullo been hiding?
The culpability of Dutton and Pezzullo for the bushfire crisis. Continue reading
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MICHAEL KEATING. Dwelling construction is still falling despite record low interest rates.
Monetary policy has lifted the prices of the most
expensive dwellings, but this impact is yet to flow through to the rest
of the housing market. This experience reinforces doubts about the
effectiveness of monetary policy when inflation and therefore interest
rates are very low. Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Housing
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PAUL COLLINS. A New Era of Fire Part 2
Never before have we experienced fires like the present. They
challenge us to re-assess our whole approach to living in Australia.
With global warming a reality, we now face some pretty stark options. Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate
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KEN HENRY.-In these dreadful times,spare a thought for the wombat.
The iconic wombat has faced numerous challenges since white
settlement of the Australian continent. And the events of recent months
have elevated several threats. Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate
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MELISSA PARKE.-“Support for Palestinian rights is not anti-Semitic” (The West Australian 8.1.2020)
I had but dipped my toes back into federal politics via a bid
for Julie Bishop’s former seat of Curtin when the campaign was over. Continue reading
Posted in Human Rights, International Affairs, Politics
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CAMERON LECKIE. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is mired in the past.
The latest fearmongering by ASPI on the military threat posed
by the Russia – China partnership is not helpful to either our future
security or prosperity. Continue reading
Posted in Defence/Security
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JOHN TAN. About Hegemony, Leadership ….. and Assange?
There has been one global hegemon since WWII, a commander
with enough soft and hard power to make all the rules that matter, and
to enforce them. Continue reading
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MICHAEL KEANE A Digital Civilization: China Reimagined
In the Chinese political lexicon being civilized means
‘fitting in’ with the national plan, accepting the party-state’s
directives and guidance, and obeying laws. This ‘harmonious society’
model, represents a collective response to uneven social development. Continue reading
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PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 12 January 2020
The dismal failure of the Madrid COP meeting in December
starts the round up for 2020, and no one should be surprised by
Australia’s disgraceful performance in Madrid when they see the
government’s latest greenhouse gas emission projections to 2030. In
better news, the highest court in the Netherlands has required the
government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25%. Nothing about the
fires themselves, just a couple of observations about reactions to them.
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Posted in Environment and climate, Politics
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SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
We’re back, with links to writings, broadcasts and happenings over the last three weeks. Continue reading
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PAUL COLLINS. Bushfires and the Culture War. Part 1
The bushfire culture wars have already begun. For some the
current crisis is apocalypse now, for others it’s just an extreme
example of business as usual on our incendiary continent. Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate
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JON STANFORD.- Second rate leadership.
Australia is now a confident, wealthy nation that has the right to expect its leaders to rise above the second rate. Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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JOHN TULLOH. Beware of whom you threaten, Mr Trump.
There is no tougher nut to crack in the Middle East than
Iran. It is ferocious in its Shia Islamic nationalism. It has a proud
historical heritage going back 2500 years to Cyrus the Great and the
fabled Persian empire. Continue reading
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MICHAEL WEST.-Who Pays: should ordinary taxpayers foot the bill for bushfires or the fossil fuel giants who pay no tax?
Five of Australia’s top coal companies – Peabody, Yancoal
Sumitomo, Citic and Whitehaven – racked up $54 billion in total income
over the past five years and paid zero income tax in Australia,
according to Tax Office corporate tax data. Fossil fuel companies
should foot the bill for the fires, not ordinary taxpayers.
MICHAEL THORN,- The cricket trifecta-booze,junk food and betting.
Cricket Australia’s gift to fans this Christmas was an unhealthy serving of booze, betting and junk food ads. Continue reading
Posted in Health
3 Comments
MIKE SCRAFTON. The re-election of Donald Trump
The biggest question in geopolitics is; will President Trump
be re-elected? This issue will be prominent in the private councils of
Heads of Government in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. However, the American
presidential election will be determined by domestic issues that swirl
around a collection of policy issues as well as identity and values.
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Posted in International Affairs
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JOHN MENADUE. A Repost: Drug policy reform series
Attached is a collection of articles on drug policy reform,
which were published as a series on Pearls and Irritations between 6 and
11 August 2018. This series is designed to draw attention to this
important issue, and to the failure of our current policies. Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform
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TONY SMITH. Gladys for Prime Minister? Winning friends in a crisis
It has been interesting to watch the various leadership
styles on display during the bushfire crisis. In contrast to the Prime
Minister’s pathetic attempts to dominate, New South Wales Premier Gladys
Berejiklian has displayed integrity, administrative ability and
empathy. Indeed it seems a pity that she is not Prime Minister.
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Posted in Politics
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NICHOLAS KEARNS.- Bushfires. If this is the future we have no future.
Dr Strangelove warned us of a “Doomsday Machine” that would destroy the entire planet. Continue reading
NOEL TURNBULL. It’s not the marketing – it’s the marketer
Scott Morrison has failed a fundamental marketing test-communicating authenticity. Continue reading
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CAVAN HOGUE – The Trumpet shall sound, And we shall be razed!
Australia’s response to US Trumpeting in Iraq has been muted
and said nothing about whether we agree in principle that it is
acceptable to assassinate foreign nationals in other countries. Russia
in Britain? Continue reading
Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs
6 Comments
AMANDA MEADE.-The Australian newspaper downplays bushfires in favour of picnic races.( The Guardian 4.1.2020)
And the Herald Sun relegates bushfires to page 4 while the Courier Mail brings good news via’Onion Oricle’
Read how the Murdoch papers deny climate change and largely ignore the fires.
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MIKE SCRAFTON. Crisis and the Transformation of Government Administration
Today, there are four simultaneous and momentous crises
before which modern democracies seem impotent; global warming,
population growth, wealth inequality, and a dangerous geostrategic
shift. This brings me to the Thodey Review.
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JOCELYN PIXLEY. Are the Liberals “born to rule”?
Australia’s tragedy has brought a scandal about hard issues: Morrison separated politics from government too publicly. Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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CHAS SAVAGE.-Global warming and action in good faith.
Meaningful action to prevent global warming requires joint
action through time. In this sense, we require a focus on outcomes—the
goal of limiting warming to two degrees Celsius—and what must be done to
realise this. Justice, of course, requires a sharing of the burden,
because only a sharing of the burden will prompt and sustain action. Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate, Politics
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BOB DEBUS: OUR LAND AND OUR WAY OF LIFE
Between late 2001 and early 2003, during the so-called
Millennium Drought, eastern Australia experienced unprecedented periods
of bushfire. Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate, Politics
3 Comments
JOHN WOINARSKI. Fire and nature
The future has come – and it is not good for Australia’s
natural environments. Drought, heat waves and wildfire, all linked
manifestations of climate change, have subverted (and continue to
subvert) the viability of many of Australia’s species. Across vast
areas, we are losing much of our nature. Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate
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ALAN PEARS. My Climate Action Conundrum – beyond weak targets and Kyoto carryovers
I’m all for being a team player. I pay taxes to help run our
economy and society. I do volunteer work to support a caring society.
But when a key player in the team lets us down, I feel torn. Do I keep
contributing, because most people are still working together? Do I call
the laggard out and pursue alternatives that are not undermined by the
failure of one player? Or a bit of both? My carbon accounting conundrum
is simple: if I save energy, invest in solar or take other
emission-reducing actions, my personal emissions go down. But
Australia’s, and global emissions don’t. Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate
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GEOFF MILLER: Trump, North Korea, Iran.
Trump’s decision to order the assassination of Iranian
General Soleimani is understandably dominating coverage and analysis of
world affairs, completely overshadowing consideration of Kim Jong Un’s
end of year statement, even though it had been somewhat anxiously
awaited. Continue reading
LAURIE PATTON. Catch 22.0 – We wouldn’t need inquiries if public administration wasn’t so broken – UPDATED
Predictably, we are seeing calls for a Royal Commission into
the bushfires that have Australia in crisis mode right now – either in
the genuine hope of finding answers or finding someone to blame. Continue reading