Bartlett's Blog

I've had a piece published at Online Opinion where I give some of my impressions of the first week of the campaign. Obviously, this is the first federal election I've contested with the Greens, but it is the eighth I've been involved with as either a campaign organiser or a candidate - always of course from the perspective of a 'third party' trying to convince voters to reduce ...

As I noted in my previous post, this week's Newspoll saw the Greens register 16% support - the highest that party has ever achieved, comparable to the Democrats best Newspoll result of 17% back in 1990. History suggests it is unlikely that this peak will be maintained right through to election day (or even the next Newspoll) but it is part of a continuing trend of solid Greens ...

Contention over Queensland's  Wild Rivers legislation has been bubbling along for quite a while now. Unfortunately, as with many issues which become polarised, each "side" is focused on defending their position, which has meant that some important underlying issues are not getting the attention they deserve. I've just had a piece on this topic published at The Drum on the ABC's website.  It's fairly long, so they published it ...

With the UK election happening this week, I recently wrote a piece for New Matilda about some of the parallels (as well as some of the differences) between the rising third parties of the Liberal Democrats in the UK and the Greens in Australia.  You can read the full piece at this link. For space reasons, I had to leave out a couple of other points I was going ...

Items on Indian students, refugees in our region and Copenhagen Below are links to some recent pieces I have written on other sites: - some impacts from the recent  http://asiancorrespondent.com/andrew-bartlett-blog/tragic-murder-puts-spotlight-back-on-safety-of-indians-in-australia murder of an Indian man living in Melbourne; - connections between http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2009/12/19/another-failed-summit/ the failures of a UN Summit on hunger and the Copenhagen climate change summit. - articles detailing some more mistreatment of refugees in our region here http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2009/12/29/more-refugee-torment-in-our-region/ and here http://asiancorrespondent.com/andrew-bartlett-blog/dangers-for-refugees-in-region-highlighted-by-forced-deportation-from-thailand Below ...

I've posted a piece over at The Stump about the links between global hunger and climate change, and the unfortunate parallels between the less than successful climate change summit in Copenhagen and an even more dismal outcome at the recent Hunger Summit in Rome, which received far less attention.

Following are links to some posts I've written elsewhere: Focus is continuing on the conditions Tamils taken off the boat in Indonesia are being kept in. But there's even worse happening in Thailand. Regional cooperation will need to be part of our future approach, but it will a hard, slow road. From Asian Correspondent, a look at where the CPRS is at with one sitting week of the Senate remaining. Also ...

Following are links to some items I’ve had published on other sites

I had the following piece published this week at New Matilda and at Online Opinion.  One interesting aspect (at least for me) of publishing a piece on a few different websites is seeing how different the comment threads can be responding to the same piece.

Federal Labor's proposal announced recently to help address the crisis in housing affordability is as strong an indication as any that the housing issue is finally having a political impact. We have suffered through years of worsening statistics and pleas for political action from the groups who work daily with those under extreme housing stress, and yet we have received a denial of responsibility and political buck-passing in response. Labor's ...

The atrocious treatment of Dr Mohamed Haneef has drawn much comment on the fairness of our anti-terror laws and the performance of Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews. Less attention has been paid to the inherent unfairness of provisions of the Migration Act which so easily enable precisely the type of injustices meted out to Dr Haneef. Minister Andrews' management of the migration aspects of this case have been nothing short ...

I have been one of many people, black and white, who have been calling on governments for a long time to make child abuse and Indigenous issues national priorities. As was noted in the foreword of the recent Northern Territory Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse, it was via my motion that the Senate passed an all-party resolution last year supporting a national strategy ...

For a country of just 21 million, Australia has a huge impact on the global ecosphere. Domestically, the CSIRO have just estimated that our less than one third of a per cent of the world's population produces 1.43 per cent of its CO2 (more than 4 times our share proportionally) and there is much we could and should be doing to address that. Unfortunately, our government has been ...

Two weeks ago I attended a hearing of the Parliament's Migration Committee which heard clear evidence that Australian businesses in many areas are still finding it difficult to find available workers, for unskilled as well as skilled and semi-skilled work. This situation not only inhibits earnings for those businesses, it costs all Australians by keeping economic activity and earnings below capacity. A week later, I was in Nauru looking ...

People often ask me: How do Senators find the time to properly look at all that legislation? Fortunately, you don't have to be a speed-reading, all-knowing, uber-expert. The Senate Committee process allows us to ask other people who have knowledge and expertise in the areas in question, and to seek responses from government Departments to the issues raised, or it used to be until the government gained control ...

It is uncertain how long the current drought will continue, but both climate change and a global economy are with us for the long term. It is past time for us, as a country, to start making some hard choices about the future of the bush. First, we must recognise that the drought hurts many businesses other than farming. Second, we must recognise that there is a lot more ...

Sundays announcement that Democrat Senator Natasha Stott Despoja will not be recontesting her seat in next year's federal election has once again brought the doomsayers out in force predicting the demise of the Democrats. It is a bit hard to see how this announcement really could be the fatal blow for the Democrats, given that the party had already been pronounced dead and gone at least twice already ...

The problems experienced by Australians with disabilities have been years in the making and things are set to get worse if governments of all levels do not act urgently to tackle the deprivation experienced by this relatively powerless section of our community. The Institute of Health and Welfare recently announced findings that Australia is looking at a rise in the number of people with a disability due to an ...

Don Chipp, founder of the Australian Democrats, has passed away after a long battle with Parkinsons disease. Although he had been experiencing deteriorating health in recent years, he still maintained an active public profile, recently celebrating his 81st birthday. News of his passing came as a tremendous shock for members of the Australian Democrats and the general public alike. Despite his growing physical ailment, he retained an amazing passion ...

In a 1993 Industry Commission Report, housing was described as a basic human need: I would go further and argue that it is basic human right. I also believe that it is a right which is consistently overlooked, when it should in fact be the starting point in any consideration of housing policy. It is sad that dry economic bodies like the Industry Commission and its successor the ...