Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

At Margo's suggestion, this contribution to Aid for Who? is worth a separate debate / conversation on Indonesia: "We could save ourselves an awful lot of billions of dollars, and arguably put them to far better use, than investing them in this ‘relationship’."

The cost of cancelling Iraq's debts to Australia has been paid from Australia's foreign aid budget, a new report has claimed.

The latest update from the Democratic Audit program at ANU on how our democracy is working.

Joint press conference by Condoleezza Rice and Alexander Downer earlier this week.

Former Greens leader Bob Brown says: “While I welcome Mr Turnbull to the party, I am concerned over these branch stacks by unruly mobs of disgruntled former Liberals.”

No one strategy can do all that we need to stop dangerous climate change. We need to follow several strategies simultaneously - but which ones? And are there solutions without nuclear power?

In the old days, this type of nationalist and corporatist state with lashings of social control was called fascism. Now it's called security.

Pauline's story is of a naive, uneducated woman who was taken on rather than took a roller coaster political ride, got unjustly jailed and was set free to become a darling of the popular media. Do I recommend this book? Yes, for all its faults.

Peter Costello's speech and Q&A with journos in the pre-Budget lock-up

Mark Lynas' "Six Degrees: our future on a hotter planet" works systematically through the impact of warming the planet one degree at a time through the range of predictions for the next century. Key sentence: "none of the continent of Australia - except perhaps the extreme north and Tasmania - will be able to support significant crop production in the four-degree world because of heatwaves and declining rainfall."

IPCC WG III Summary for Policymakers available for download here [Word Doc]: "The literature identifies many options for achieving reductions of global GHG emissions at the international level through cooperation."

"My remarks today will reflect on relationships with the US and domestic issues which influence the fundamentals of Australia.  There has in recent times been a major attack on traditionally accepted Australian values.  This also impacts on our reputation in our region and in the wider world.  This is particularly damaging because the Bush government is on the way out and, within the United States, those who have supported it strongly will, in the next Administration, be regarded as pariahs." Malcolm Fraser

"An instant poll for Israel's Channel 10 sought to discover how many people would vote for Olmert if elections were held today. The answer was 0%, surely a political first in any country at any time."

April site statistics and financials.