Peter Westmore

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Article author Peter Westmore

Peter is the former national president of the National Civic Council and on the News Weekly editorial team.

May182019

TECHNOLOGY The wheels come off Tesla’s electric dream

Science & TechnologyMay 18, 2019

After years of over-promising and under-delivering, America’s latest technology darling, Tesla, now has a highly uncertain future. Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, has promised that his electric cars will revolutionise transportation: first through emission-free transportation; then, through self-driving Teslas which would change the way people live and do business. The dream was always based on hype, which Musk provided in spades. At its simplest, electric cars are not “emissions-free”, if only because it takes huge amounts of energy to manufacture electric vehicles, including their high-tech batteries. Further, the power that drives them comes from the electricity grid, which, in Australia…

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May182019

COVER STORY Green energy policies freeze out the poor

Cover Story, Energy & EnvironmentMay 18, 2019

The increase in renewable energy (solar and wind) has pushed up electricity prices and, inevitably, increased the number of disconnections of poor families who cannot afford the rising price of electricity. “Blow wind, and crack your cheeks.” – King Lear In Western Australia, a recent report by the state’s Economic Regulation Authority revealed that almost 20,000 West Australians had their power disconnected in 2017–18, a rise of about 20 per cent over the previous 12 months. In addition to the rising price of usage, the report identified the state government’s increase in daily fixed charges as one of the main…

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May42019

NATIONAL AFFAIRS Labor to people traffickers: “We are open for business”

National AffairsMay 4, 2019

Because of the extraordinary success of the Coalition Government since 2013 in stopping the trafficking of boat people to Australia, the issue is unlikely to figure highly in the current election campaign, despite the fact that over 300,000 illegal immigrants are currently living in Indonesia. The Coalition’s policy of tow-back worked; Labor’s won’t work. But the policies of the Australian Labor Party, while professing to maintain Australia’s border security, will undoubtedly lead to a resurgence of people trafficking into Australia. If you read the first line of Labor’s policy, it seems unequivocal. It says: “Labor’s policy on asylum seekers is…

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Apr202019

FOREIGN AFFAIRS New Middle East alliance will challenge Saudis

Foreign AffairsApril 20, 2019

A leading American strategic analyst has drawn attention to a new political alliance of Turkey, Iran and Qatar, which is challenging the dominance of the Saudi regime in the Middle East. The analyst is Yossef Bodansky, the Israeli-born director of research at the International Strategic Studies Association, and former director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the U.S. House of Representatives. He is an expert in Middle Eastern politics and Islamist terrorism. In a recent article, he wrote: “A new bloc is emerging in the greater Middle East with the declared objectives of dominating the…

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