Covid Election Wins Could Be Catching

Walking the covid election tightrope: Marc Hatot, www.pixabay.com Election days in New Zealand and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) were carried out last weekend in the Pacific region’s usual civilised fashion. Voters had to run the gauntlet of volunteers handing out how to vote cards, but safe to say no-one carried assault rifles or acted in a menacing way. Both elections resulted in clear Labor victories, which ought to be a portent for Australia’s Government….

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Mental Health Challenges Aplenty in 2020

Over the past six years, I have written at least 20 blogs about mental health and my particular affliction, anxiety/depression. The Black Dog Institute says one in seven Australians will experience depression in their lifetime. It carries the third-highest burden of disease (in terms of cost to the community), in the country. So if it has never affected you, be aware. The Black Dog can sneak up on you, as we can see: One in…

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Australia’s most over-analysed Budget

We’d been out to dinner on Budget night, so turning on the TV later, I caught the last comment from Lee Sales: “That completes our first hour of this special Budget coverage.” Budget analysis is a challenging topic for extended television viewing. The ABC borrowed David Speers from Insiders (wearing a blue suit and maroon socks), who took over to talk to a bank of television sets, splitting this up with breath-taking interludes (“Crossing now…

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Native forests recover from bushfires

We were at least one kilometre into a bush walk at Blackdown Tableland National Park in central Queensland before realising it was recovering from a bushfire. Such is the extent of regrowth since September 2018, it is only when you see trees that have been completely hollowed out by fire that you become aware. She Who Bush Walks pointed out what she called ‘epicormic growth’ which is what occurs when buds buried beneath the bark…

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