Articles & Columns

When we work out how to manage power we can work out how we manage power. It’s something I’ve contemplated a lot. In a world dependent on us being plugged in, what we plug into matters.

Australia’s major science campaign to study one of the fastest retreating glaciers in East Antarctica, is already being described as a landmark project.

The collapse of Splendour in the Grass before it reached the starting gates has been blamed on a lot of things, including the cost of living, Taylor Swift, the weather, ticket prices, millennial laziness, Kylie Minogue and inadequate government support. The event joins a growing list of major music events to be cancelled. So what do taxpayers owe music festival culture in Australia, if anything?

The NSW Labor government marked its one year in office this week with a jubilant statement of achievements issued from Macquarie Street HQ.

If you’ll forgive the earnest tone, I’d like to propose a toast. To a friend who’s almost always there when you need them most. To a system that aims to treat people fairly and respectfully. 

There is something profound about being seen. Being accepted and loved for exactly who you are. It’s life changing. It’s simple. It’s transformative. But some people don’t get to experience this. Nearly half of transgender Australians have attempted suicide.That data tells the very real impact of discrimination, stigma and lack of access to gender-affirming surgery. I write this as a woman who was born a woman, who identifies as a woman. I’ll admit, that even in that gender role, that fits within the societal binary, I’ve had my own challenges.

Marine heatwaves are killing coral and denuding reefs of their colourful beauty – but in a world where everything is food for something else, these heatwaves also pose a major threat to biodiversity.

The ancient idea of democracy is under threat around the world. Today, there are only 63 democracies compared to 74 autocracies, and many of these democracies are highly problematic.

A new regime of social repression is imposing itself over the Byron Shire. Supported by local conservatives, the NSW National Parks Wildlife Service is attacking diversity and a particular minority group in Byron Shire – naturists.

Some good questions were raised by residents at last week’s Council meeting – and were ‘taken on notice’ by Mayor, Michael Lyon.

‘I feel so powerless,’ a friend said. It’s an understandable sentiment in the face of tragic situations out of our individual control, but there are things people can do to effect change, especially when we come together as a community. 

Everyone’s banging on about the Kate Middleton Mother’s Day family photo scandal. Where’s Kate? Well it’s obvious. The royal family are lizards and they ate her. Shapeshifting reptilian overlords don’t always have a lot of self-control, nor are they very good at Photoshop. Lizards have to eat you know.

When scientists first discovered the chemistry of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, PFAS, in the 1930s, they didn’t know we’d be struggling to remove them from the environment and human bodies nearly a century later.

Tasmanians go to the polls next weekend, in an early election brought on by Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockcliff, whose party has fractured during its ten years in office but is currently warning voters not to elect a Labor minority government, which he's been calling a 'Coalition of Chaos'.

The rezoning of high-value agricultural land for future housing – some on floodplains – is likely to be rushed through at Thursday’s Council meeting with last-minute tinkering – see page 1.

Between One Mile Beach and Big Rocky Island, just south of Nelson Bay, lies the stunning Samurai Beach, a part of the Tomaree National Park. 

COVID-19 reversed earlier trends toward longer life expectancies. During the pandemic, life expectancies globally dropped by 1.6 years according to a new study published in the Lancet medical journal.

One in 12 people over 65 are living with dementia. Dementia is not a specific disease, but is a general term for the impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interfere with doing everyday activities. It’s actually no longer called dementia, but Major Neurocognitive Disorder (MND).

Thanks to years of political inaction, Australia is one of the few countries in the world not to have a New Vehicle Efficiency Standard. The European Union, New Zealand and China have one. Even the United States has a standard, which means new cars in Australia use 20 per cent more fuel and create 20 per cent more pollution than their American counterparts. With the Albanese Government about to introduce legislation to correct this situation, the Coalition is busily dusting off the 'war on utes/the weekend' rhetoric.

Two years ago this week, it’s fair to say the entire north coast was in shock and struggling to comprehend the extent of what just happened.