Ministerial responsibility. A major flaw in the ETS. Thinking long term.

Government assistance to industry. New anti-SLAPP legislation in the ACT. ACMA’s recent decision on subliminal advertising. The need for wellbeing in a climate-changed Australia.

Why we care more about the financial crisis than climate change. The 50 per cent discount on capital gains. Whether there has been an exodus from public schools to private ones.

Richard Denniss explains how an emissions trading scheme works; Josh Fear looks at financial choices; Gemma Edgar explores the possibility of a national compact between the government and NGOs and David Richardson writes about the problems of hidden unemployment.

Not only can current jobs be adapted to green jobs, Australian engineers who now go to Europe, California or China might be lured home. Eventually, every job needs to be a green job: every industry will need to readjust to the reality of climate change and play their part in cutting Australia’s emissions. At best,

Incoming Executive Director Richard Denniss shares his strategic vision for the Institute.

Clive Hamilton left the Australia Institute at the end of February to devote himself to writing. Here he pens his last comment for the newsletter.

Ross Garnaut, who will report in June to the Rudd Government on its emissions trading system, is a former trade economist now spending a lot of time thinking about how to prevent powerful industries undermining the Government’s plans. He has come up with a radical solution. Let’s have one target, a carbon budget aimed at

The science is becoming more alarming by the month, and so are the impacts of global warming itself. The demand for decisive action can only intensify over the next three years; it will require far-sighted policies to bring about a wholesale transformation of the nation’s energy economy, a structural change on a par with that

Comments this week by Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull suggest that the Government is beginning to realise the incompatibility between endless growth in the aviation sector and the prevention of dangerous climate change. Even if Australia adopts a lower target of 60% reductions by 2050, as the Labor Party has proposed, aviation could still gobble

The Prime Minister, various ministers and the fossil fuel lobby have for years claimed that cutting emissions would be economically ruinous, cause massive job losses and destroy our international competitiveness. None of these claims is backed by credible evidence and can easily be shown to be false.

Turbulence ahead by Andrew Macintosh and Christian Downie Universities and fossil fuel capture by Christian Downie Silencing dissent: The Federal Government strikes by James Arvanitakis Grassroots campaign against sexualisation of children by Julie Gale See Paris and Die? by Steve Biddulph Academic economists call for Kyoto ratification by Clive Hamilton Insuring against catastrophic change by

Who wants a nuclear power plant by Andrew Macintosh Burning up the landscape by Christian Downie Defending dissent by Sarah Maddison Mobile phones and consumer kids by Christian Downie What’s wrong with a SLAPP? by Brian Walters Muffins beat Affluenza The National Greenhouse Accounts and land clearing by Andrew Macintosh Woodchips or water? Legal protection

The Government dismissed the Institute’s report, claiming we don’t understand the Kyoto accounting rules and didn’t make adjustments for differences in methods. These claims are false (and are addressed in a paper available on the Institute’s website). Even if they were correct, the fact remains that NCAS is a black box: its data are not

The Government needs to overcome its ideological prejudice against all things environmental. Its conservative voter base will, if it hasn’t already. They realise that the effects of climate change will be felt in their lifetime and that material prosperity must go hand-in-hand with sound environmental stewardship.

Back in 1999, the Government overhauled the original Commonwealth environment laws that were introduced by the Whitlam Labor government. The old laws needed updating and the Government obliged, creating the loftily titled Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. While an improvement on the original laws, the EPBC Act has proven to be a failure, largely

Sex and Children: A volatile mix by Emma Rush Playing politics with national security by Andrew Wilkie Religion and global warming by Kate Mannix Howard’s morality play by Andrew Macintosh Howard’s politics of the past by Clive Hamilton The changing climate of business by Molly Harriss Olson Dramatic changes to Land Rights law by Sean

The recent rush of activity around climate change has led some to suggest that the Federal Government has finally got the message on the perils of global warming, but history indicates such optimism is misplaced. The Government’s announcements of the past month are just more of the window-dressing and stalling tactics that we have had

Giving free rein to the market very often leads to an erosion of moral values””the work we have done on youth and pornography and on the sexualisation of children is an illustration of that. So here’s a real contradiction in the heart of conservative politicians; it astonishes me that a moral hard-liner like Tony Abbott

Who listens to Alan Jones by Clive Hamilton Indonesia’s nuclear plans Are fossil fuel companies ‘capturing’ our universities? by Christian Downie School vouchers: update by Andrew Macintosh History wars and heritage omissions by Deb Wilkinson Rich boomer, poor boomer by Myra Hamilton Tourism subsidies are money down the drain by Christian Downie The use and

Green consumerism such as that advocated by Tim Flannery privatises responsibility for environmental decline, shifting blame from elected governments and industry onto the shoulders of individual citizens. The cause of climate change becomes the responsibility of “all of us”, which, in effect, means nobody. It is obvious why a government that wants to do nothing

In the last minutes of the 1997 Kyoto conference on climate change, Australia extracted a vital concession by insisting that countries be allowed to include emissions from land clearing in their greenhouse accounting. The Government knew that land clearing had declined sharply since the accepted base year of 1990, so even before the ink was

Quality of child care by Emma Rush New media – just more of the same by Christian Downie The nuclear debate warms up by Andrew Macintosh Losing faith in the official future by Richard Eckersley School Vouchers by Andrew Macintosh Dealing with America by John Langmore Equality of opportunity by Fred Argy A new approach

Community opposition to wind farms is heavily influenced by a network of anti-environmental activists, some with links to the fossil fuel and nuclear industries. This helps to explain why apparently independent local opposition groups reproduce the same misinformation and distortions about wind power. The truth is that most wind farm opponents don’t like the look

The Howard Government has made a mockery of the environment and heritage portfolio, turning it into little more than a pork-barrel buffet. But who would have thought that things would stoop to the level where the federal Environment Minister would use environment laws against the environment. This is precisely what occurred on Wednesday when the

Drug Law Reform by Andrew Macintosh Skip Dipping by Emma Rush The Dirty Politics of Climate Change by Clive Hamilton Gagging the CSIRO by Roslyn Beeby Bugging Legislation by Cameron Murphy

Who Drives 4WDs? by Clive Hamilton The Nationals’ Telstra Deal by Deb Wilkinson New Climate Institute Can We Withdraw From Iraq? by Barry Naughten Beyond Right and Left by David McKnight A Sick Economy? by Clive Hamilton The Senate: Now and Then by Emma Rush Corporate Control of Child Care by Emma Rush Fear and

Stuck in Traffic by Claire Barbato Government stymies advocacy by green NGOs by Clive Hamilton Wellbeing Manifesto launch Howard’s Children by Richard Denniss The ‘Left” and the Iraq War by Clive Hamilton Taxpayers Soaked by Andrew Macintosh Is the Bracks Government Serious about Climate Change? ZPG for ACT? by Claire Barbato Gross National Happiness by

Waste not want not by Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss Who is lonely in Australia? by Michael Flood Traffic fine by Clive Hamilton New Book from the Institute Relational thinking by Michael Schluter Climate Taskforce Report Released by Justin Sherrard Private health insurance by Richard Denniss