The Dead Roo

Another Democrat bill is at the senate inquiry stage and well worth looking at. It proposes a scheme for trading EECs (Energy Efficiency Certificates), and allows even domestic consumers to join in the fun.  So far, it looks like I’ll be putting in a short message of support.  No, not carbon trading, efficiency […]

The majority parts of the senate committee report on the NT emergency response (to an opportunity for a land-grab) are scandalous in that they misrepresent almost all the submissions I’ve read.
You’d think the main part of the report (the Committee’s View) would mention something about the contents of Anderson/Wild "Little Children Are Sacred" report, wouldn’t […]

There are only a few hours left to send your thoughts to the public inquiry (yeah, announced today, report required by Monday) on the Howard NT Land-Grab in response to the Anderson/Wild report on child abuse in NT Aboriginal Communities. No time. Gotta rush.
Send a note to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee […]

Rudd and the ALP have been unbelievably quiet on many issues.  Is this (disgusting) tacit agreement with Howard on so many issues or is it (dishonest) "non-core silence"?
I’d rather it was a non-core silence in the hope that the ALP would act in government with greater respect for the traditions of the rule of law, […]

The work for an Oz Human Rights Act continues at www.humanrightsact.com.au.  The draft act is well put together (is ready for a "First Reading") and has some pretty good backers, including former Senator Susan Ryan and former PM Mal Fraser.  They’ll be needing help soon, so I urge Dead Roo readers (apart from the rabid […]

I outlined in an earlier post what I saw as vilifying pictures of Haneef published in the Murdoch press, and today I find the Murdoch press still publishing them, and I found a picture on the website, this time on the home page of The Australian.
I’m very interested in people’s votes as to the most […]

I’m talking of Florida, not Washington.  The Economist 2007-07-12 reports in Greening Florida that Charlie Crist, Florida’s Republican state governor, has just announced that he will sign into law some of the toughest emissions standards in America, reduce GREENHOUSE-GAS EMISSIONS to
80% below their 1990 levels by 2050. New Jersey also adopted a similar law.  Make’s […]

While I’ve tried to keep an eye out for it, the Peace Commission and Non-Violence Act 2007 went through first reading a couple of weeks ago.  It doesn’t appear to have gone through the House, so I think it won’t be long before it’s referred to committee and there’s a call for public submissions.
Now it’s […]

It’s fairly clear that the current government doesn’t want public (or even Senate Committee) scrutiny of bills, if even the resources available to Microsoft can’t get a submission in within the time given to the public.
The ALP Minority Report to the Content Services Bill 2007 (designed to keep internet porn from unsuspecting minors) details the […]

Give the ruckus the citizenship testing bill raised in the media and blogosphere, I’ve gone through the submissions in a fairly long review here.  In general, most were extremely skeptical of the test, and the powers the minister is arrogating.
However, if you want to be shocked, it’s worth reading the Australia for Australians submission, from […]

The Australian Government Architecture Reference Models (AGA RM v1.0) distributed through AGIMO (a part of DOFA - Finance and Administration), and launched 2007-06-18 by Gary Nairn (Special Minister of State) is a grave disappointment, and shows that DOFA either:

Thinks senior management and executives in Australian agencies are stupid
Don’t have a clue what Australian agencies actually […]

New calls for public comments on the AccessCard have been made, with submissions open until 2007-08-21.
At first glance, very few of the recommendations from the Senate Inquiry have been included in the redraft.  This is not surprising as it has not been that long ago that it was sent back for redrafting.
Well, at least […]

With any scandal about ministers (see for example the issues with Thwaites getting freebies at ski lodges The Age 2007-06-15 Political Hubris), a Premier of Victoria should ask themselves one simple question:
What would Dick Hamer (Lib), Lindsay Thompson (Lib) and John Cain (ALP), all extremely honorable premiers, do?
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After the hoo-hah about the citizenship went down, the Citizenship Testing bill has been sent to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, and you are able to make comments. You’d better
be quick, because (again) the window for submissions is tiny. (Sent to committee 2007-06-13, advertised later, closes 2007-07-06).
You can get details about the bill […]

For all his blathering on about "western values", Howard’s Australia would not pass the "national citizen test" for Europe, the home of "western values".
I was just going through bits of the EU treaties relating to the establishment of a EU constitution, (see a map, and the preamble on values).  My guess is Howard would hate […]