Government

One of the great political fantasies of the inner city chattering classes these past few years has been that federal member for Wentworth and one-time Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull might somehow switch teams and emerge as leader of the Australian Labor Party.

Given this weekend's events, it is now likely that the entire Australian economy will be exposed to the same indecision and paralysis that members of the renewable energy community have suffered for the last three years.

If anyone thinks that a hung parliament is necessarily going to be of benefit to Australia they should think again. The clean energy industry has been crippled by indecision. With a selection of independents controlling the lower house and the Greens controlling the upper house, one can only suspect that such indecision is going to last considerably longer.

Bob McMullan MP, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, reminds us that while Good Governance is critical for developing countries, it's an asset that Australians can't afford to take for granted.

In November 2007, Bangladesh was struck by cyclone Sidr. Less than six months later, in May 2008, Burma was ravaged by cyclone Nargis. Both were category four storms and both struck extremely populous and extremely impoverished lower delta regions. As similar as the storms were, their effects were very different: 3,500 people died in Bangladesh; 130,000 in Burma, and the economic damage to Burma was estimated as being $3.2 billion, at least double that of Bangladesh.

Let Australia Follow the Leaders

Jamison Group urges the government to take the lead of the US and China in the Energy Industrial Revolution

The Jamison Group, formed as a group of experts in sustainable transport and energy policies to make recommendations to the NRMA, delivered two new reports in February of this year. These reports informed the NRMA’s Alternative Fuels Summit, staged in Sydney in March, which attracted much media and public attention.

There’s been a lot of talk – and no small amount of bluster – about political risk in Australia over the past month – or more specifically since the announcement of the government’s proposed Resources Super Profits Tax.

According to Rio Tinto Chief Executive Tom Albanese, Australia’s proposed RSPT is currently “my number one sovereign risk issue on a global basis”. That’s a big call from the leader of a company that invests in countries with far less predictable political regimes than Australia’s, including Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea.