The Prime Minister’s recent warning on water shortages in the Murray-Darling Basin has led to some actions that should have been taken six months ago, reports Patrick J. Byrne. With only 360 gigalitres of water left in the main storages, Mr Howard warned that irrigation farmers might have zero water allocations next season. In reality,…
If John Howard beats Kevin Rudd at the coming federal election, unions may never again be determining players in Australian political life, writes Joseph Poprzeczny. The reason federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, left last week’s ALP national conference with virtually all he wanted is easily explained. Love or hate Rudd, the sizeable cohort of union…
Teachers want clear, succinct and teacher-friendly syllabuses, or road-maps, in key subjects, writes Kevin Donnelly. Has Australia’s curriculum been dumbed down? Not so, according to Ms Pat Byrne, president of the Australian Education Union. In a speech given at the AEU’s federal conference earlier this year, Ms Byrne argues that any talk of falling standards…
ABC’s John Curtin – a missed opportunity The ABC television film on John Curtin (starring William McInnes) was welcome, for any new light on the life and deeds of our illustrious predecessors is welcome, but it was in some ways an opportunity missed. Curtin was to die in early 1945. Concentrating upon his career until,…