- 1996. During his first year in office John Howard closed down the Australian Spaceguard program.
At the time Australian astronomers were finding one third of Near Earth
Asteroids (NEA). It is possible (but fortunately highly unlikely)
that
during the past ten years a NEA has passed through southern skies
un-noticed that will impact the Earth in coming decades. In
2002 91 scientists from around the world signed a letter
calling on Howard to reinstate the Spaceguard program. These
experts, who had nothing to gain personally from this action, were
dismissed as "fear mongering" by Science Minister McGauran. McGauran
has shown the same disdain for other scientific research in Australia, which has been
decimated by funding cuts. Scientists and universities now fear
to speak out in support of fellow researchers who lose funding.
- In 1997 I expressed disgust with the Howard government stance on global efforts to cut Greenhouse gases. The government is obviously heavily influenced by interests that have no regard for the future. There has been a deliberate campaign to undermine the Kyoto protocol (see the news links on that page).
- 1999. Introduction of a Goods and Services Tax - a tax on skills and an extra burden for small business trying to compete with overseas corporations.
- Responding to a windfall in revenue from GST in the transport sector by savagely cutting staff and road safety research funding in the Department of Transport and Regional Services.
- Human Rights - March 2000: In yet another snub to the rest of the world, the Howard government came out with a stinging attack on UN's Human Rights officials, following a report that is critical of indigenous issues. I, like many Australians, am ashamed of this response to justified concerns. Howard has refused to say "sorry" for past actions by Australian governments. Update June 07 New Scientist ($): Time to heal a troubled nation - While Australia has one of the longest life expectancies in the world at 80, it's really shameful that an indigenous person's life expectancy is only 63. We have high rates of diabetes, and cardiovascular and lung disease. Infant and maternal mortality - two of the most important indicators of a population's health - are at least three times higher than for non-indigenous people, and getting worse + 10 Jun 07: Howard to blame for Canada's Indigenous rights backflip: report
- Sep 01 The terrorist attack in the USA: CARL SAGAN'S WARNING ABOUT THE REPTILE WITHIN US. Plus comments on subsequent events. Politicians have aroused the reptilian instincts of fear and territorialism (see next item) to quash rational thinking and criticism and press ahead with highly questionable military actions.
- The Howard government's incompassionate treatment of boat people, in a desperate and successful effort to get re-elected, has even been noticed by the editors of New York Times - xenophobia and mis-information were factors in that election. Election 2004 was no different.
- May 04: The latest shameful act is the inequitable sharing of oil resources with East Timor. Oxfam rarely comments on political issues but the situation in East Timor is grave - Australia encouraged political independence from Indonesia and now denies one of the poorest nations of Earth the chance for economic independence.
- Creation of an illusion of prosperity by allowing Australia to become addicted to cheap imports (goods and services) - at the expense of escalating foreign (and personal) debt, loss of local businesses and unrealistically high residential property values. Also relying on export policies that result in severe environmental degradation (such as loss of native forests and over-use of water resources). See The elephant in Australia's economic living room - there's an obvious and scary trend in the debt to GDP ratio: it's growing exponentially...The assets to liability ratio...is illusory. Australians, of all people, should know that assets are often purchased with borrowed money and that it's motivated by the belief that the assets will increase in price...The numbers look great - so long as you ignore how they're being financed. Update 19 Sep 07: Deeper in Debt - Australians are addicted to debt but we can't afford to keep borrowing at current levels forever...New Scientist 16 Jul 08: Economic theory just isn't up to scratch"...a tale of greed and lax oversight fuelling a wave of speculative investment that was both unrealistic and unsustainable. 15 Sep 08 SMH: Lehman bankruptcy shakes world financial system. SciAm Jan09: Blackouts and Cascading Failures of the Global Markets Feedbacks in the economic network can turn local crises into global ones...
- 17 Feb 07 ABC (Aust): Human rights education is a human right - by former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser - Since the terrible attacks in the United States on 9/11, 2001, governments in many places, including Australia, have played on the politics of fear and unfortunately and more tragically on the politics of division.
- 24 May 07 SMH: PM a short-sighted fear-monger: Amnesty
