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National Interest 2009-11-13DOWNLOAD Playlist

National Interest 2009-11-13

Published: 2009-11-12 09:00:00

The round-up The National Interest round up begins in Adelaide, with a story that suggests that sometimes, rules are made to be bent. On Thursday evening, a Qantas plane on its final approach into Adelaide airport was suddenly diverted to Canberra. The problem - it was one minute past eleven - and the airport has an 11pm curfew. The plane was running late because severe weather had delayed its departure from Sydney, and according to the Advertiser, a request to federal authorities to let it stretch the curfew just a little, was denied. So with the runway in sight, the pilot had no choice but to pull out of the descent and zoom off to the national capital. The alternative could have been a fine of up to $110 000. As a former resident of Adelaide, who has lived under the flight path in the western suburbus, I can sympathise with local residents who want the curfew enforced. But it's an awful waste of jet fuel - and I can also sympathise with the passengers, who ended up landing in Canberra at 12.30am, getting to bed about two and then rising again a couple of hours later to get back on the plane to Adelaide - nice and early to beat the curfew.They don't even get frequent flyer points for all the extra air miles. When government changed in Western Austraila last year, Liberal Premier Colin Barnett was helped into office by the Nationals, who struck a canny deal to get royalities for the regions. Concerned that Perth was hoarding the benefits of the mining boom, Nationals leader Brendon Grylls drove a hard bargain to ensure that in future, the cash would be spread well beyond the metropolitan region. Well the West Australian reports that the scheme has been too successful - there's so much money that local authorities can't spend it all. An investgiation by the Auditor General found that rural shires are getting new grants before they have spent the first round of funding. The Capel Shire in the southwest of the state - population 10 000 - has just received an $1.6 million under the scheme - even though Shire chief executive Paul Sheedy says the money was "virtually unexpected and not urgently needed". But he says he'll bring forward some projects that are on the drawing board - including a sculpture, a new footpath and the installaiont of a prefabricated automatic toilet. Finally, in last week's round up, I reported the comments of a Queensland listener, who wondered why needy public housing tenants could not get subsidized ceiling insulation, when the federal government was freely dishing out cash to much wealthier households. This prompted a response from Kerry, who lives in "very well maintained" public housing in Brisbane. Since the beginning of this year, says Kerry, Queensland Housing has installed batts in the ceilings of all the forty-odd apartments in her block, and just this week they installed ceiling fans too. So Kerry reckons the person who gave us the information got it completely wrong. Well, Kerry, we're pleased you've got insulation - and a fan - and good on Queensland housing for being energy efficient. But they didn't get help from the feds. I've checked the rules, and our original informant was correct; dwellings owned by State, Territory or Local Government public housing bodies are not eligible for the insulation subsidy, nor are their tenants. However back in July, on the 'ask a question' section of the federal government's 'economic stimulus plan' website, Environment Minister Peter Garrett said he was "negotiating with the states to address "energy efficiency in public housing" and so the issue was "on the Government agenda". So we can all breathe easy. Immigration Minister responds to backlog concerns While public attention has been focussed on asylum seekers arriving in boats in recent weeks, fundamental changes to Australia's skilled migration program have gone almost un-noticed. The changes affect tens of thousands of people, many of whom are distressed and angry. Having shelled out thousands of dollars in costs and fees to apply to migrate to Australia, they've now been told that it will be years before their applications are even looked at. Applicants within Australia must wait until at the least the end of 2011 before their cases are processed; migrants applying from overseas must wait until at least the end of 2012. As we reported two weeks ago on The National Interest, their cases are on indefinite hold because of new priority processing arrangements put in place by Immigration Minister Senator Chris Evans. Harry Evans retires as Clerk of the Senate Over the next fortnight parliament will hold its final sittings for 2009 and after that Harry Evans, Clerk of the Senate, will retire. Mr Evans has been in the job for 21 years. He's seen four different Prime Ministers in the Lodge and witnessed two changes of government. Throughout that time he's been a dogged and resolute champion of the independence of the Senate and the integrity of its processes and a great defender of the Senate's right to scrutinise legislation and question the administration of government. It is a stance that has brought him into conflict with politicians of all pursuasions - and won him many admirers. Is an emissions trading scheme needed before Copenhagen? When the Senate sits over the next fortnight the biggest issue on its agenda will be the government's proposed emissions trading sytem, the CPRS or Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. The Prime Minister says he wants to go to the Copenhagen climate talks armed with this scheme so he can show the world how serious Australia is about tackling global warming. But the Coalition says there is no rush, and in any case it is internally divided over whether there really is such a problem as climate change caused by human activity. Critics maintain that even if the Government and the opposition manage to strike a deal, it will be so comprimsed by concessions to industry that it wont be worth a fig. How do we make sense of all this? Feedback Now for your feedback on last week's program and my interview with business leader Dick Warburton about corporate donations to political parties raised the ire of some listeners, who felt his recommendations for change did not go nearly far enough. Mr Warbuton said the pressure on business to pay thousands of dollars to meet Ministers at political fund raisers has become like a protection racket, feels it has to pay up, or risk falling out of favour with government. But Mr Warburton stopped short of calling for a ban on such payments, suggesting instead a voluntary cap. This wasn't good enough for Kate from Sydney. "So Dick Warburton wants donations from business to political parties for access to politicians capped? What he means is that he still wants business to have better access to decision makers than the rest of society - he just doesn't want it to COST so much! Peter, you should have asked this!!" Linda from Sydney thinks corporate donations should be banned altogether. "I believe that there should be no political donations from companies. It's an undue influence and also as a shareholder I don't want my money going to a political party that I may not approve of. I think elections should be funded by the government and that would be a fairer way of doing it, and avoid this issue of a conflict of interest." Garis from Melbourne agrees: "There need be no elegant or sophisticated analysis of this vital topic. Such payments put a knife through the very heart of democracy and a well functioning society. Politicians are there to represent all the people equally and fairly." Robert, also from Melbourne, has a similar view: "There should be no expectation that businesses pay any amount, let alone the ridiculous amounts currently quoted, to attend fund raising events so as to gain access to government ministers. Government should facilitate access by business to government. I would have no problems with an 'at cost' 'Meet your ministers' lunch every so often. Political fundraising should be totally separate." There was also plenty of comment on our discussion about Kevin Rudd's push to give Australia the best public service in the world. Rob thinks that many problems in the public service arise because most commonwealth bureaucrats are located in Canberra. "If you want good advice on policy and governance get the public servants out of the hothouse that is the ACT and into the real world. The closer to the grass roots they live the better will be the advice that they can give to government." While Jill thinks the public service needs to go back to the future: "I believe Australia had one of the best Public Services in the world twenty years ago, but continual reviews,restructures and political interference have resulted in a continual crisis management mentality. We need to restore stability and funding to all the public services and let decent people who believe in public service run and plan them. Bureaucracies are fine if the people are trained and giving the public real information and delivering real services. Let the politicians and private sector play their short-term games, but let the public service once again manage themselves and provide real competition as far as standards go." Last week we also raised concerns of the treatment of asylum seekers held in Australian-funded facilities in Indonesia. The facilities are operated by the IOM, the International Organisation for Migration, and an IOM representative responded to the criticisms. But Sally thinks it was unfair to put the IOM on the spot in this way, and we should have been talking to the Australian government. "IOM's own lobbying on these issues would be done privately and with consideration for the diplomatic minefield they have to walk through. I don't think they can say very much publicly. Perhaps having an Australian Government representative on the program would have been better if the point is that Australia should be paying more money to keep people in Indonesia. Many activists have in the past criticised the Australian Government for funding detention centres and IOM in Indonesia. More funding or less funding? How should the conditions be improved? Should camps be built? There doesn't seem to be much acknowledgement that Indonesia is not a part of Australia. Australia just can't be responsible for everything that happens there and they can't control everything that the Indonesians do." Allan from Condobellen, reckons Kevin Rudd bears responsibility for the asylum seeker problem. "He's out there destroying things that were already fixed. You don't fix something that's already working right. We weren't getting the people coming to Australia before he unplugged the hole. Now he doesn't know how to fix it!" If you've got a comment on The National Interest, then click the 'have your say' button at the top of this page. Or you can leave a quick voice message on our feedback line: 1300 936 222, from anywhere in Australia at about the cost of a local call.

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National Interest 2009-11-06DOWNLOAD Playlist

National Interest 2009-11-06

Published: 2009-11-05 09:00:00

The round-up You may have heard the Prime Minister speaking to Fran Kelly on Radio National Breakfast on Thursday about 'the greatest moral challenge' facing the world, climate change. If you were listening closely over the crunch of cornflakes then you would have heard Mr Rudd say that he may, or may not, go to Copenhagen. Apparently the prime minister of Denmark will decide, as chair of the conference, whether it is, quote, 'productive, positive and useful for heads of government to attend'. Ever alert to nuance, the long running Inside Canberra newsletter jumped on this tidbit. It notes that Mr Rudd thought attendance at Bali so important that he rushed there straight after taking office. In September he attended the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh to help lay the groundwork for Copenhagen and much has been made of Mr Rudd being appointed as assisstant to the conference chair to ensure things run smoothly. Yet Mr Rudd may not attend? As Inside Canberra says this 'makes no sense at all'. The newsletter has a theory: it surmises that President Obama is so pessimistc about the chances of Congress giving him anything worthwhile to take to Copenhagen that he'd rather not go. To cover this colossal embarrassment, Washington has asked friends like Australia to play down the importance of the meeting. Maybe. Mr Rudd is so pessimistic about the Australian Senate giving him anything worthwhile to take to Bali, that he's embarrassed to attend the climate talks. When the government decided to give away ceiling insulation it was trying to hit two birds with one stone -- targeting both climate change and the economic slow down. But as listener Pamela has pointed out in an email to Radio National there is no such thing as a free ceiling batt for residents of public housing. Pamela asked Queensland Housing why it had not taken advantage of the federal government's insulation offer and was told that the scheme was 'only for homeowners'. The state government might own the homes where public tenants live, but apparently that doesn't make it a homeowner. So concludes Pamela, the offer is open to home-owners who could afford insulation but choose to spend their money on luxuries instead; but closed to those who truly need help to warm, or cool, their houses. And thirdly -- the Tasmanian Greens say that they've been dudded. 18 months ago the Labor and Liberal parties supported a Greens' motion to set up a parliamentary committee to examine political donations in the island state. But ever since, the government has used its numbers to keep that motion out of the Upper House, effectively killing it. Greens Leader, Nick McKim, says Tasmanians will go to the March election 'not knowing who has donated how much money and to whom'. No change there. Premier David Bartlett says his government is waiting for national donation laws to come into effect. Aren't we all. It's nearly a year since the Rudd government released a green paper on the issue, but there's still no legislation in sight. More on the donations issue later in the program. Inside detention centres in Indonesia A lawyer and human rights activist has produced a report criticising the treatment of asylum seekers in Australian-funded facilities in Indonesia The report, Behind Australian Doors, details the complaints by asylum seekers about being beaten by guards in detention centres, of being forced to live in squalid residential accommodation with unclean water and little access to healthcare, even for women in childbirth. Asylum seekers can spend years in Indonesia waiting for their asylum claims to be assessed by the UN Refugee agency -- and then years more waiting for resettlement in a third country if they are found to be refugees. Political fundraising functions: democracy in action or just plain racketeering? Peter Mares: Political donations are back in the news, at least in Victoria, where it´s reported that coal company Exergen paid for a private briefing with Premier John Brumby at a Labor fundraiser shortly before a Cabinet committee was to consider its plan to export coal to India. Since the story broke, the Premier has criticised the push for a ban on political donations, saying this conflicts with the right of individuals and companies to support political causes and that it would force taxpayers to pay for election campaigns. This puts Mr Brumby at odds with Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, who has banned her Ministers from attending functions in return for donations, and at odds with the Federal government which has promised fundamental reform of campaign finance. What do business leaders think of this debate? Are the captains of big corporations happy to pay thousands of dollars to bend the ear of a Minister? Reforming the Australian Public Service Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he wants to build "the best public service in the world". A former bureaucrat himself of couse, Mr Rudd has launched a review into government administration. Submissions on the intial discussion paper can be made until the end of the month, and the public servants are being actively to encouraged to take part in online forums to discuss the issues at stake. Some interesting ideas have been floated, like "strategic policy hubs" working across departments to tackle complex, long-term, problems. Feedback There was tonnes of feedback to last week's show, including lots of herograms for Labor backbencher Kelvin Thomson, who voiced concerns about the impact of Australia's rapidly growing population on our natural environment and quality of life -- here's a sample of the calls received: 'Yes it's Ralph from Blackburn in Victoria, I just want to congratulate Kelvin Thomson on being brave enough to raise the issue of population to explain to us that this small percentage growth rate which sounds innocuous is actually going to result in such massive numbers in such a short number of time. We talk by 35 million by 2050 but it´s not going to stop there and I´d like to know what Kevin Rudd thinks the population of Australia is going to end up being.' 'I´m Betty from Newcastle and I think the person who just spoke about stabilising Australia´s population is right on the money and I just wish our prime minister would do something about it.' 'Chris Watson, I´m a soil scientist from Canberra I´m glad to hear your interview with Kelvin Thomson on the environmental implications of Australia´s rapid population growth rate. It´s not only a matter of trying to stabilise but we need to reduce our population because the issue of food and water supplies in the coming years is very serious indeed.' 'My name is George, I live in Adelaide and I want to congratulate Kelvin Thomson on absolutely saying the very, very thing that many man Australians believe, he is my hero and if he was prime minister today i would vote for him, but our current prime minister and the people who want to reduce our quality of life, I just don´t know what to do I don´t know where to vote I just don´t know how to protest enough.' 'Hello my name is Edward and I´m fully in agreement with everything Mr Thomson said. I think it´s a nonsense to announce that Australia´s population will increase by 60% over the period until 2050 without any indication that this is a good thing for the country and without any indication that planning has proceeded for the facilities necessary.' 'Hello my name is Pam and I´m ringing to support Kelvin Thomson on his views, I just heard your program and I´m sure most people feel like this because we just don´t have water and our environment is so precious and it´s being destroyed.' There were many similar comments in the National Interest guest book too -- with just one listener, Norbert, swimming against the tide. 'Australia could sustain a population of 100 million, possibly 200 million, provided that proper environmental controls are in place. This may be a big ask, but engineers are trained to implement environmentally sound infrastructure, including environmentally safe nuclear, solar and wind energy and fresh supplies of watrer from the sea.' If you missed the Kelvin Thomson interview then it's available on the website. We've also received a stack of emails from people affected by the latest changes to priority processing priorities in the skilled migration program. Here's a summary of just one story -- from Valerie in Switzerland: 'My husband and I hold a Masters degree and a PhD from Sydney Uni and we scored 145 points on the migration test, well above the 100 needed for sponsored migration to Australia. In March 2008 we applied to migrate to Australia as economists. We were getting near the front of the queue when the first changes, last December, sent us back to square one. We then got state sponsorship to migrate as statisticians. We had to pay a second visa charge of $2500 because our nominated occupation had changed. In early September a case officer asked for work references, new police checks and a new passport for our youngest child. You only get a case officer when your visa is almost finalised, so we put the house up for sale, sold the kids toys and told the school they were leaving. But after the changes of September 23rd, we're told we must wait three more years. We feel cheated.' If you've got a comment on The National Interest, then click the 'have your say' button at the top of this page. Or you can leave a quick voice message on our feedback line: 1300 936 222, from anywhere in Australia at about the cost of a local call. Response from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Last week The National Interest reported on the huge backlog in applications for general skilled migration to Australia following the introduction of new processing priorities. Since then we have received many individual stories from frustrated migrants (see the National Interest guest book for examples). We requested a follow-up interview with Immigration Minister Chris Evans to discuss the issues raised, but he was unavailable. We have renewed the invitation for next week's program. In the meantime, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship provided the following information in response to our broadcast: Australia´s migration program is more effectively meeting the needs of employers through a focus on employer-sponsored skilled migrants and those occupations in critical demand. The average processing time for employer-sponsored visas is 88 days. From 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2009, the average processing times for sponsored visa applications with nominated occupations on the critical skills list (CSL) decreased by 18 days (as compared to the cases finalised between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2009) as the new priority processing came into effect. Similarly, from 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2009, the average processing times for general skilled migration (GSM) visa applications that were state/territory sponsored decreased by 69 days (as compared to the cases finalised between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2009). Australia has long been an attractive destination for migrants and demand across the world for all our permanent visa classes is extremely high and usually exceeds the annual number of available program places. It is worth noting the effects of the economic cycle have had on the number of applications on hand. At a time of recession around the globe and with growing unemployment, it is to be expected that the supply of potential migrants would outstrip available places in Australia. Larger than normal supply of potential migrants is being driven by recession abroad and lower intake is being driven by rising unemployment in Australia. The increase in processing times is a result of these global factors. We cannot allow client service standards to determine the levels of immigration to this country. The migration planning levels are determined by economic and other interests of this country. So while Australia is still open to skilled migrants, it has adjusted its settings to operate in a more targeted way. To ensure immigration is responsive to the current economic climate and the needs of the Australian economy, in December 2008 the government announced a more targeted approach to Australia´s skilled migration program. This announcement included the introduction of a critical skills list of occupations that have been identified as being in critical demand. It is focused on medical and key IT professionals, engineers and certain construction trades. The CSL is underpinned by the labour market research undertaken by the states and territories and reflects the differing regional economies that have emerged across the country. The demand for skills in the north-west of WA is vastly different to the skills needed in Hobart, Melbourne or regional NSW. This list also takes into consideration industry demand and occupations are added and removed as demand requires. As a consequence, it is more responsive in identifying and prioritising applications from people with skills in critical shortage. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) was consulted in its development. The CSL is reviewed regularly, in consultation with the states and territories, industry and unions to ensure that it remains valid and current in the changing economic circumstances. The current ministerial direction gives priority to applicants whose nominated occupation is on the CSL. The requirements for the grant of a GSM visa have not changed as a result of this direction. For applicants whose nominated occupation is on the CSL, it is estimated that these applications will be finalised within about 12 months from the date of lodgment as these applications receive priority. For those applicants whose nominated occupation is not on the CSL, visa processing times are expected to be much longer. Former overseas students in Australia who have applied for an onshore GSM visa and whose nominated occupation is not on the CSL are generally able to continue to live and work in Australia while they await a decision on their visa application.

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National Interest 2009-10-30DOWNLOAD Playlist

National Interest 2009-10-30

Published: 2009-10-29 10:00:00

The round-up The National Interest round up begins with some good news. South Australians are recycling more bottles and cans: millions more. The number of drink containers returned for recycling in the year to August was up by more than 76 million on the previous twelve months. The reason of course is that one year ago, the South Australian government doubled the refund on bottles and cans from 5 cents to 10 cents, making it more worth your while to cash in those empties, or to pick them up off the street for extra income. Environment Minister Jay Wetherill calculates that an extra $33 million has gone in the pockets of those doing the right thing, and that 48000 tonnes of containers have been saved from landfill. Thanks to its long running deposit scheme, drink containers make up just 10 per cent of litter in South Australia, compared to 40 percent Australia wide, and there is a push to take the SA scheme national. The beverage industry is lobbying hard against the change, saying it will be a tax on consumers, but Federal, State and Territory Environment Ministers appear open to the idea, all that is except Victoria. The matter will be discussed at Ministerial meeting in Perth next week. Now, a correction. In last week's round up we made fun for the NSW state government, an easy target these days, for having used photographs of the Minnesota skyline, rather than Sydney's own tower blocks, in a campaign to promote its infrastucture investment program. The story was sourced from the Sydney Daily Telegraph, via Opposition leader Barry O'Farrell and it was wrong. As Premier Nathan Rees gleefully told parliament, the images were shot in Chatswood in North Sydney. We apologise for the error and note the views of Lisa Carty, political editor for Sydney Sun Herald who points out that the mistake obscured the more fundamental concern that the infrastructure campaign is a misuse of taxpayers' money for party political advertising. Government advertising is an issue in Tasmania too. The Labor government has copped a blast from the auditor general for using public money to spruik the proposed Gunns pulp mill. Former Premier Paul Lennon commissioned ads and an "information bus" three years ago, at a time when the pulp mill proposal was up for regulatory approval. The auditor concluded that "the only objective ... was to win hearts and minds in favour of a prominent government policy". The auditor was commissioned to look at government advertising earlier this year, after it was revealed that the Tasmanian government has spent $195-thousand dollars of public money on "community surveys",also known in the trade as opinion polls, and $1.6 million dollars on the 'Right Here, 'Right Now' Tourism campaign, which was never broadcast. While we're the subject of squandering public money, the Courier Mail has bagged Queensland's government owned corporations for going on a two million dollar wining and dining "bender" last financial year, to show their customers and staff a good time. If you read beyond the headline however, the real news is that this was a significant belt-tightening. Government corporations have dramatically reined in hospitality spending and come in well under budget on their expense accounts, could this be because of new rules forcing state enterprises to provide details of all hospitality spending, including events costing less than $5000? Cabinet decision on JSF looms The cost of building a state of the art Joint Strike Fighter just keeps going up, with the US defence force facing a bill that will be $17 billion higher than orginally expected, before manufacturer Lockheed Martin can get the planes into mass production. The Joint Strike Fighter program has been of on-going concern to to the Government Accountability Office in the United States. In March it reported that the aircraft's development was about two years behind requirements and that a fully integrated, mission-capable plane is not expected to enter flight testing until 2012. In one example of the JSF problems, only 30 of the scheduled 300 test flights for 2008/2009 actually took place. This leaves very little room for error for Australia, which is planning to buy 100 of the joint strike fighters to replace the RAAF's ageing F111s. Migration applicants stuck in two-year limbo Over recent days public attention has been focussed on the fate of 78 asylum seekers aboard an Australian customs vessel. Fair enough, drama on the high seas is always going to capture headlines, but it can distract from other developments in Australia's migration program that may shape the nation in more fundamental ways. Late last year, Immigration Minister Chris Evans established a "critical skills list", a list of occupations in high demand in Australia, and announced that migrants with those skills would receive priority visa processing. In March this year the minister trimmed the critical skills list, and then, last month, he made further changes to the priority for asessing applications for permanent residency. The result is that many migrants now face a wait of at least two years before their applications will even be considered. Federal Labor MP concerned over Australia's expected population increase Recent estimates have revised projections of population growth in Australia, it's now predicted that our population will increase from around 22 million today to 35 million by 2050. It's a prospect Prime Minister Kevin Rudd takes in his stride. He links rising population to continuing economic growth and says as long as we get planning and infrastructure right, then Australia can easily accomodate many more people. Not everyone shares this view. The government's favourite civil servant, Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has voiced serious doubts, as has federal Labor backbencher Kelvin Thomson, who questions whether population growth is inevitable or desirable. Mr Thomson has held the seat of Wills in Melbourne's inner north since 1996 and was a promiment member of the Shadow Ministry when Labor was in opposition, holding portfolios such as Environment, Regional Development and Roads, Housing and Urban Development, Human Services and Shadow attorney general. Feedback Concern over number pronunciations on last week's show prompted this remark from Arthur from Sebastopol in Victoria: "I'm an 80 year old Australian and 71 of my 80 years were spent in the 19-hundreds, not the 1-9-hundreds. So why are we giving American phone numbers, 1-300 instead of 13-hundred?" That wasn't the only language issue about which Arthur was displeased as he listened to the National Interest at 3am on Saturday morning - and Damien Carrick's discussion about geothermal energy. "I was a little sickened by the number of 'gunnas' that were brought forth from the speakers and also the KIL-uh-mee-tuh - now the unit of length is a meter and the prefix kilo for one thousand gives kuh-LOM-uh-tuh - so altogether I was not pleased this morning, Thank you." Thank you Arthur, but The National Interest fears that it will add to your ire by letting you know that according to SCOSE - that's the Standing Committee on Spoken English and the ABC Bible on pronunciation both KIL-uh-mee-tuh and kuh-LOM-uh-tuh are acceptable. Not so with the capital of Denmark - which according to SCOSE, should be pronounced Copenhagen to rhyme with hay, and not Danny Kaye-style to rhyme with car. There were lots of complaints about this in last week's feedback, which prompted this call. "Yeah g'day my names Steve, south coast of NSW, I was just listening to the three blokes whinging about he pronunciation of Copenhagen - yeh, get a life boys, - see you later." We did also receive feedback on the substance of last week's program, as well as the style - Michel from Castlemaine in Victoria disagreed with comments made bya guest about the capacity to deliver base load power from renewable energy. "Hi yes, today's interview with the geothermal generation people and it was again mentioned, unchallenged by you that there's no base load energy options in solar or wind, that has just been recently disproved by a big study in America where modern switching systems allow base load energy to be generated from wind and solar as it stands now. On top of that there is base load solar thermal, there is a solar thermal tower, called a solar tower, a German invention that has been trialled and found to be effective 24 hours a day you can check it on the web." Phillip from Melbourne thought Damien Carrick's interview about academic freedom with Carolyn Allport from that National Tertiary Education Union was excellent - but he says the issue extends beyond universities, to museums: "It's actually quite a critical issue because what happens quite often is that a museum will be so desperate to acquire a private collection that it will sign away all rights of academic comment and academic freedom to make comments about those collections and in fact there are collections in Melbuorne whereby this is the case, where there are very very significant collections are in state care but curators and other academics within the museum are bascially disbarred from kaking any real comments on those collections in exhibitions or in publications due to the arrangements with the original collectors and it's a realy burning issue in museums that it is not very well addressed in the debate about academic freedom in Australia." Stephen from Sydney says when it comes to academic freedom; actions speak louder than words. "One of the grossest abuses of academic freedom occurred when lectures given by historian Geoffrey Blainey at the University of Melbourne were disturbed by protesting students forcing their cancellation. Dr. Blainey welcomed Asian immigrants and that he supported multiculturalism but was criticising the volume of immigration at a time of high unemployment, yet the protesting mob accused him of being racist. Was his academic freedom defended by fellow faculty members? No, they wrote a letter to the Age dissociating themselves from his views claiming he was inviting others to "incite feelings of racial hatred". Did the National Tertiary Education Union defend his academic freedom? I don't recall reading that they did." If you've got a comment on The National Interest, then click the 'have your say' button at the top of this page. Or you can leave a quick voice message on our feedback line: 1300 936 222, from anywhere in Australia at about the cost of a local call.

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National Interest 2009-10-23DOWNLOAD Playlist

National Interest 2009-10-23

Published: 2009-10-22 10:00:00

The round-up While most other industrialised countries are enduring a economic downturns, the Australian economy continues to grow. It's fair to say that there's a general perception here in Australia that when it comes to Global Financial Crisis - we've dodged the worst of it. But some places are doing it much harder than others. The Cairns Bulletin reports that the tourism-reliant city has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. At 11.8%, the paper describes the figures "the economic equivalent of a natural disaster". The paper quotes the opposition spokesperson for Northern Australia, Senator Ian McDonald, who says "the stimulus package did nothing to help the industries that provide employment in the far north such as tourism, agriculture and mining." But the Cairns Chamber of Commerce president Jeremy Blockey says there are things that government can do - in particular - by creating more incentives for airlines to fly into Cairns. And apparently when it comes to regional economies there are things that government definitely shoudn't do! The National Times reports this week that as many as 20 small shows and race meeting face financial ruin due to what it describes as "botched Victorian public holiday laws". The laws demand that an entire shire must have the same day off. This prevents a shire from having a holiday in just one town within its borders. The secretary of the Nhill Agricultural and Pastoral society - Wilma Grosser said "If people don't have the day off, we can't get volunteers, and no volunteers means no show. I'm really distressed, you work your guts out to put on a good show and they do this - you wonder why you make the effort." Civil disobedience is taking some unusual forms. In Nhill, only 40 out the 400 enrolled school kids, turned up for school on show day. Job hunting during the down turn is also taking some unusual forms. The Warnambool Standardreports that prospective job seekers and prospective employers are borrowing an idea from time-poor, love-lorn Generation Xers. Graduates from the School of Beauty at the South West Institute of Tafe have been hooking up with prospective employers at a speed dating event. The aspiring beauty therapists each have five minutes to try and land themselves a job. Belinda Pitts age 20 from Warnambool told The Standard that the prospect of racing against the clock to convince a potential employer she had what it took was "a bit nerve-racking". Belinda good luck. One of the advantages about speed dating is that you get to meet a prospective love interest or job applicant in the flesh - and get a sense of who they really are. That's not always the case when governments try to put their best foot forward. The Daily Telegraph reports that an advertising campaign by the NSW government promoting infrastructure investment program was not quite what it seemed. In its TV campaign the government used images of city skylines filled with shiny skyscrapers and busy cranes. The only problem the images weren't Sydney at all the images were of a city in Minnesotta, USA. Tapping the Latrobe valley's geothermal power potential Damien Carrick: Climate change dominates the political and economic debate. Everyone is arguing about the extent to which we should reduce our carbon footprint, and how. Australia generates most of its electricity in polluting, coal-fired power plants. Most of Victoria´s electricity is produced by burning brown coal, which is even more polluting than black coal. But maybe there is another way to use brown coal to generate electricity, a way that is almost completely carbon neutral. Queensland Government responds to concerns over Archer Basin Wild River declaration Last week, The National Interest looked at the latest developments in the stoush between the Queensland government and the indigenous people of Cape York over the controversial Wild Rivers legislation. I spoke with indigenous leader Gerhart Pearson and lawyer Greg McIntre SC - who are about to commence litigation. Their legal argument is that the declaration of the Archer River as a protected river is invalid because the move effectively takes away Native Title rights. And The Native Title Act states you can't do that unless you have a consent or there is arbitation which directly addresses these Native Title isues. The reasoning goes that because Federal legislation always trumps State legislation the declaration is therefore invalid. The Queensland Minister with responsibility in this area, who was unavailable for comment last week, joined The National Interest to discuss the situation. ALP to consider legislation to enshrine academic freedom Right now, Australia is having a conversation about whether or not we want embrace a Charter of Rights. Ours is the only western democracy without a some kind of bill or charter. And unlike some countries we also have no legal safe guards in place to protect academic freedom. But this could change, with a recent commitment by the Australian Labor Party to consider legislating federally - to enshrine academic freedom. The idea is embryonic at this stage. But supporters point to long established legislation in countries such as Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa. Feedback There was a lot of comment on the discussion about bicycle riding in the Danish city of - Copenhagen. Guy wrote to say that he liked the program but was disappointed the actual bicycle lanes weren't described other than having a kerb. "There was no mention of width of bicycle lanes and how appropriate or not they are in areas with lots of intersections and whether cycling boulevards are preferred or safer in some circumstances. Nor of size of kerbs required when cars park beside bicycle lanes and whether they can disembark passengers into bicycle lanes. These are the big issues facing cycle lanes in narrow city streets, and Copenhagen has a lot of statistical data on these areas that is relevant to cities like Melbourne and Sydney." Peter from Bundaberg says that when it comes to bike riding - the problem here in Australia is that we regard cycling as Recreation or exercise not transport."Any change in perception will only occur when petrol is no longer available upon request (price is not the issue) then bikes will be seen as Transport. The various levels of Government will then be forced by every day people (not the starry eyed, evangelical zealots desperately seeking public recognition for their virtue currently monopolizing the conversation) - start listening to people who do not ride - to make the appropriate changes to laws (speed limits, dedicated lanes, priority to bikes in city centers and repeal compulsory helmet laws)." Several listeners drew attention to The National Interest´s incorrect pronunciation of Copenhagen. "This is Dennis from Cairns. I'm very annoyed at the constant mispronunciation on the ABC of the city of Copenhagen which is the English pronunciation. Yesterday on the The National Interest the announcer Damien Carrick said Copenhagen every time the Danish man said Copenhagen. It was extremely impolite and quite wrong." Dennis from Cairns was not alone. Here's what Don from Melbourne had to say." Would somebody tell Damien Carrick that the only other English speaking person who pronounced Copenhagen to rhyme with 'bargain' was Danny Kaye. The rest of the English speaking world (pretty well settled & universal) pronounces it to rhyme with Fagan (in Oliver Twist). However you pronounce it though it must be a great city for bike riding." And just in case The National Interest didn't understand the gravity of its mistake, Cameron from Melbourne pointed out that The ABC could be responsible for the derailing of up-coming climate change conference - which is being hosted you know where. "Gee, it was annoying at lunch time to hear the presenter of the National Interest say Copenhagen (short 'a') every time the Danish person said Copenhagen (long 'a' - the way most English speakers say it). It sounded appallingly rude of the presenter and completely distracted from the content of the interview on bike paths. Sorry, but the ABC needs to standardise its pronunciation of Copenhagen to the way nearly everyone says it ('a' as in 'table') especially in the lead up to the climate change talks in December or pronunciation risks being the topic and not the important subject matter of the conference." Speaking of The National Interest's (and the ABC's) power to frame a debate. One listener, who wrote in signing off as Mulga Mumblebrain from Adelaide had this to say about our story on Queensland's wild rivers. "Congratulations on reaching a new low, even for John Howard's ABC. To cover a vital controversy like the Cape York wild rivers fracas, where the Right, led by the ABC's ideological twin News Ltd, is using its coterie of collaborationist Aboriginal 'leaders' to continue its unending jihad against environmentalism, Greenies and the environment itself, with only the Rightwing point of view represented is a bad joke, a disgrace and a travesty. If you 'couldn't' get a Wilderness Society spokesman ( and personally I don't believe you, as I have heard them often) you should have got someone else to refute the rubbish being spouted, or held off until a balanced argument could be held. But that's not how the Rightwing apparatchiki at the ABC operate anymore, is it?" As promised at the end of last week's discussion, this week we heard the Queensland Government's perspective on the Wild Rivers.

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