It may be surprising but a lot of people in the world are happier in the midst of COVID and lockdowns than they were – although Australia is a slight exception. (more…)
Noel Turnbull
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Wanting a social marketing campaign on Covid and getting a band aid instead
There is one thing almost everybody commenting about Australia’s poor vaccine roll out agrees with – the need for an advertising campaign. (more…)
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Making atheists and doubters count in the next Census
While fundamentalist Christians are busy infiltrating the Liberal Party the Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) and other groups have launched a campaign – the Census 21 Campaign – to encourage people to tick the no religion box in the August 10 2021 Australian Census.
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What does it take to get sacked from the Morrison Cabinet?
Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away there was a concept called the Westminster principle of Ministerial responsibility – if you failed in your responsibility you resigned or got sacked. (more…)
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The difference between fake and genuine apologies
These days there are frequent apologies, non-apologies, refusals to apologise and extended qualifications of apologies with weasel phrases such as “this is not who we are” – despite the behaviour of the organisation uttering the words obviously being exactly who and what they are. (more…)
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AICD outflanks Morrison on the left
The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) doesn’t immediately spring to mind as one of the major progressive voices – except perhaps in contrast with Scott Morrison. (more…)
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Climate tipping point looms
It is ironic that the most successful film – in box office terms – about climate change and dramatic changes to the earth was made by Rupert Murdoch’s 20th Century Fox. (more…)
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Liberal Party accusations on Premier Andrews’ spinal injury
The Victorian Liberal Opposition has been clutching at straws for some time – witness their landslide loss at the last election – but now they are now sinking into desperate measures with this latest attack on Premier Daniel Andrews.
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Australian barriers to electric vehicles and batteries
There are two significant barriers to the take-up of electric vehicles (EVs) in Australia – publicly accessible charging infrastructure suitable for a large country, and Scott Morrison.
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The rich are getting richer and richer – what is Labor planning to do about it?
While Federal Labor is disappearing into a fearful huddle desperate to avoid any suggestion it would ever try to make Australia a more equitable place, the rich are getting richer and richer. (more…)
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Morrison churlishly ignores scientific achievement
Scott Morrison’s churlishness is always on show when some Australian achieves great success in any area when Morrison’s perceived political enemies lurk.
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An intellectual populist precursor
Before Maggie Thatcher, Nigel Farage, John Howard, George Osborne and Donald Trump there was Enoch Powell.
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Our Christian heritage and the culture wars
The culture war drum-beats are sounding again – pounded out by the usual suspects in the Murdoch media and among shock jocks and the Morrison Government. (more…)
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When does Scotty’s frenzied marketing become counter productive?
The majority of Australians aren’t that interested in politics. They have their life to get on with and really only get involved in issues which affect them directly – like vaccinations – or which touch a nerve as Morrison’s handling of women’s issues has with Australian women.
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Debunking misinformation and climate change
It might be surprising given the scale of the problem, but there is an emerging consensus about the current status of the science of misinformation and its debunking in respect to climate change. (more…)
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Who is Australia’s worst Health Minister? How does Greg Hunt rate?
In the past 50 years, Australia has had 23 health ministers. But who is the worst? (more…)
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Take a closer look – the art galleries among victims of the pandemic
There are many things so many of us have missed during lockdowns that it is difficult to make a list – or even start to develop one in ranked order – even though there has been plenty of time to think about it. (more…)
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A nauseating colonial cringe by our media for an upper class Steptoe.
The BBC scrapped all regular programming to cover Prince Phillip’s death. The complaints roared in from viewers, listeners and online followers who complained that it was all too much and they wanted their regular programs back (more…)
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A tale of two Morrisons
There are two Morrisons who have confronted sexism in their ranks. One, David, showed leadership. The other, Scott, showed the antithesis of leadership.
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Have unions healed their racist past?
When Federation occurred in 1901 trade unions and conservative politicians were agreed on one thing – keeping Australia white. (more…)
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Is technology the only way to solve technology-driven misinformation?
Technology-driven misinformation has become so powerful that it is impossible to reply on individuals to sift through the ‘facts’. Is technology-driven truth detection our only way out?
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How to tackle the dangerous epidemic of fake news and conspiracy theories.
The Macquarie Dictionary recently declared ‘fake news’ the word of the decade. While the epidemic of fake news and conspiracy theories shows no signs of abating, the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communications has made a significant contribution to the fight.
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Poll shows Scott Morrison shares Trump’s female problem
A new Guardian Essential poll (3 March 2021) indicates an emerging Morrison vulnerability – he shares a female problem with Donald Trump. Well, not the major Trump one – just the electoral one. (more…)
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The frightening cost of Morrison’s climate inaction
Scott Morrison loves saying he won’t take action on climate change without knowing what it will cost. Joel Fitzgibbon takes the same tack when defending his coal mining constituents. But now we have a clear idea of the cost of not taking action. (more…)
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What’s the point of Labor?
As the Labor Opposition jettisons policies on negative gearing, capital gains taxes, franking credits and climate change policies that don’t embrace coal you have to ask – what’s the point of Labor? (more…)
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How good is Morrison’s Australia? Going backwards and being left behind
After seven years of a Coalition government, household debt is the second highest of 43 countries; we ranked third last out of 35 OECD countries for wage growth and we have the third most unaffordable housing market in the OECD. But the good news is that the combined worth of Australian billionaires is 52.4% higher in December 2020 than it was a year earlier.
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Morrison’s not a miracle worker; he just got lucky with an inept Opposition Leader
Since the Coalition came to power in 2013 Australia has fallen down the Transparency International corruption index from seventh to its current 11. With endless material to attack the Coalition over corruption issues, why is the Albanese-led Opposition apparently incapable of doing so? (more…)
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Let the JobKeeper rorts roll
Where do we start when considering the $100 billion JobKeeper scheme? Should we focus on the opaque nature of the scheme in which less than 3% of JobKeeper payments have been disclosed in public company accounts and there is no way of finding out who got what and how much? (more…)
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Ongoing Trumpism Australian influence predictions probably overblown
Kishor Napier-Raman posed a question about the Australian political future when he wrote (crikey 15 January 2021) that: “The question is no longer whether Trumpian politics are on the rise in Australia, it’s now a question of how severe the damage will be.” (more…)
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Three word slogans – Part 2
One of the most successful three word slogans in recent-ish political history– the Thatcher Opposition’s “Labour Isn’t Working” – almost didn’t get seen by the client. (more…)