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