On the need to be really noisy on climate – it will work wonders for support…and more outlook tips for climate and sustainability in 2026 Joel Makower, who runs Trellis in the US, and Sydney based sustainability stalwart Bruce Precious both had some views to share about the outlook for the year ahead. Meanwhile the army wants to sell so...

On the need to be really noisy on climate – it will work wonders for support…and more outlook tips for climate and sustainability in 2026.

thefifthestate.com.au/columns/news...

Canadian PM Mark Carney’s Davis warning was not that alliances are obsolete but that strong partnerships depend on agency – the capacity to speak, shape outcomes & act collectively when norms are under strain.
Au does not lack credibility, capability or standing. We need to use these capabilities.

The case for up-to-date bushfire detection and suppression Bushfire experts say Victoria’s firefighting strategy is in urgent need of upgrading, given its overreliance on back-burning and underinvestment in early detection.

Backburning should be used much more judiciously - & then only as a last resort. -#ANU
Load reduction burning actually increases fire fisk & intensity for a range of forest communities.
Much better early detection & up to date equipment are needed.
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/22579/...

Live Updates: In Munich, Rubio Calls Europe a Friend but Says It Must Change

C Stelzenmuller, Bookings scholar of US-Europe relations
“Rubio’s civilizational decline reference to not wanting allies to be ‘shackled by guilt and shame’ is a direct lift from the ‘Schuldkult’ (cult of guilt) rhetoric of the German hard-right AfD.”
Chilling stuff.

www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02...

Appalling.
Superstition & bigotry have taken the place of science, research & expertise in the US.

Hey, Senator Canavan, you can’t push the RBA governor around When Michele Bullock was pushed to her limit in a Senate committee hearing on Thursday, she pushed back. And rightly so.

Accusing your political opponent of gilding the lily is one thing. But Canavan had accused the person who’s singularly most important to the day-to-day operation of the Australian economy of lying to the public.
It commanded & received the level of contempt it deserved
www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

Lucia missed social cues. Finding out why changed her life NSW GPs will soon be able to diagnose ADHD under reforms to make it easier and cheaper for people to get treatment.

“But it’s only a problem if it’s a problem,” Dr Will Errington said. “Some people can have symptoms of ADHD and get along just fine [without a diagnosis or interventions].”

www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

In 2016, the former NSW Coalition government loosened land clearing laws and released the NSW Biodiversity Values Map.
In the following eight years, 13,880 hectares of land marked on the map as high-biodiversity were cleared.

‘On extinction path’: Land clearing laws failing native species An area of high-biodiversity land in NSW equivalent to four Sydney Harbours was cleared between 2016 and 2023, new research says.

Land clearing in the state of NSW has undermined decades of investment in river restoration & catchment management, with 33,682 hectares of riverbank corridors cleared between 2010 & 2023, the Wentworth Group of eminent scientists has said.

www.smh.com.au/environment/...

Under NSW state law, councils can require developers building in their area to pay a levy to contribute to the cost of infrastructure – but only that which is deemed “essential”, mostly roads & water systems.
A cap on these contributions was introduced in 2012 & has not been adjusted for inflation.

Greenfield homes, empty streets: The ‘ridiculous’ reality of Sydney’s new sprawl In some of the city’s fastest-growing areas there will be no pool, no library and no meeting hall as cash-strapped councils struggle to afford essential services.

Blacktown City Council, Sydney’s largest in area, is at the forefront of the region’s suburban growth.
But at Friday’s Sydney Summit, CEO Kerry Robinson warned the new greenfield areas were being built with “no pool…no library, there is no meeting hall. Not one.”

www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

Opinion | An Elegy for My Washington Post

What Bezos has done to the #WashingtonPost in recent years is tragic. It will never recover while he is in control.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/o...

‘We’ve Fought Side by Side’: Danish Veterans March Against Trump’s Comments

Danish soldier, Lance Cpl. Soren Teigen, at the front of a huge group of veterans angry at Trump’s comments belittling the sacrifices of NATO allies in recent wars.

“I don’t blame US soldiers in any way — we’ve fought side by side, & we still do…of course it hurts.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/w...

Who would forget the NY Post’s “most controversial cartoon that appeared to depict president Barack Obama as a chimpanzee in 2009. The publication…featured two police officers standing over a chimpanzee they had just shot.”

In creating this likely loss-maker, Rupert & Lachlan Murdoch have one-upped a conga line of billionaire businessmen in the procession to curry favour with Donald Trump.

Will Murdoch get rewarded for his expensive gift to Trump? The decision to launch a print newspaper defies industry trends, but it will beef up Rupert Murdoch’s conservative bona fides.

Rupert & Lachlan Murdoch celebrated the birth of a “baby” this week – the California Post, a fledgling US conservative tabloid newspaper – sister for the New York Post, cousin to Fox News & the Wall Street Journal.

www.smh.com.au/business/com...

Trump, Greenland and the end of NATO ANALYSIS: The US president’s erratic campaign to acquire Greenland forces Europe to strategise for NATO’s demise, and Asia to think about the limits of American power.

“The primary fact is not in dispute: Trump & his successors are powerless to stop Asia’s gradual shift away from American primacy & towards some kind of power balance…

Australia’s role in these circumstances is not to pick a side but to back itself.”

www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/22448/...

Here we go…

Ok - got it.
The point I was trying to make was that Brooks is rightly horrified by Trump & his cronies - but he was more focused on what he saw as the Democrats failures to counter them than he was with virtually the entire Republican machine that put its weight behind Trump & legitimised MAGA.

I’m not “STILL saying the left is just as bad as the right” & never have done.
This accusation is not dissimilar to the old chestnut “have you stopped beating your wife? Answer Yes or no!”

“…But after one cultural moment, voters tend to hunger for its opposite, which in this case means leaders who project integrity, unity, honesty and hope.”

And Epstein was a very poor choice to illustrate the catastrophizing of conspiracy theories- because what Epstein clearly did was shocking - & catastrophic for many.
But I think the point we was attempting to make had some basis.
“Right now, the dark passions are ascendant.”

If Brooks has had any association with Epstein, he should most definitely have declared that in the article. And he overlooks the fact that Epstein was initially raised as a wildly wielded weapon by MAGA supporters who had no qualms at all about introducing deranged conspiracy theories.

“Right at the heart of the Coalition’s current problems lies the very regrettable partisan approach the Liberal Party’s leaders took following the Bondi terror attacks on December 14. They were joined by several retired politicians and much of the media.”
Malcolm Turnbull is not wrong

How ETU shooters foiled a national park ANALYSIS: The Electrical Trades Union has used its political leverage to keep Victoria’s Central Highlands open for hunting, in the midst of a national backtracking on forest conservation.

The Invasive Species Council says: “the shooting lobby have delayed, undermined & stopped effective feral deer control for decades…
If the [Vic] gov’t is serious about protecting wildlife, they need to stop pandering to the shooting lobby.”

www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/21225/...

I'm not aware that Brooks was ever personally charging towards perdition - I think not.
But there has been a remarkable - indeed alarming - lack of conservative writers & politicians who have been prepared to speak clearly about Trump & MAGA. They have allowed the US to slip rapidly into "perdition"

Opinion | $25 Billion. That’s What Trump Cost Detroit.

It is a critical part of every chief executive’s job to anticipate the future. Failing to recognize and adapt to change can be the difference between thriving or disappearing...
But it is pretty difficult to futureproof your company against stupid.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/o...

Opinion | The Sins of the Moderates

NY Times writer David Brooks - a moderate conservative who has struggled to come to terms with MAGA. (no paywall)

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/o...

Opinion | Trump Is Falling for a Trap We Could All See Coming

It was the uniquely dangerous blend of nationalism, authoritarianism & militarism that prompted the world to establish new laws governing the use of force after WW II.
Trump ignored those rules in removing Maduro from Venezuela, just as Putin ignored them in Ukraine

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/o...

Trump Pulls Out of Global Climate Treaty

Trump withdraws the US from the foundational 1992 agreement by ALL nations for action to reduce the heating of our planet.
He thinks he can bend the laws of #physics to his will.
#ClimateChange
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/c...