Dominic Meagher

At least they didn’t think it was aliens this time.

They might be disappointed to learn that “continued” is not really the right word

Wow, that was hard…

letmegooglethat.com?q=wind+farms...

One of the campaigns that got Albanese elected was raising the minimum wage by $1.
But:
one AUD is 5.57 HKD, and
Australia’s minimum wage is 24.95 AUD, which is 138.98 HKD (more than 3x HK’s)

Could explain the much smaller exploitative migrant service industry here.

YouTube video by Htwo The History of Rocket Jumping

Ahh, back to the 90s 😋

youtu.be/CERTo_ZC8XA?...

Did they think it was aliens?

I don’t think that redeems the situation
😂

‘Build more houses’: RBA call to arms as mortgages hit record highs In five years, the average new mortgage has soared almost 50 per cent to record levels. The Reserve Bank says the country needs to build more homes.

Capital gains tax discount should not be available for buying existing residential property.
The tax discount should only go to investments that add to Australia’s productivity, not just changing the owner

www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

I visited some colleagues in Zhuhai a while ago & they put me up in a hotel that had a full wall-sized floor to ceiling black & white photo of Avril Levigne.
This was closer to 2020 than 2002

2018: Amended Food Safety Law again
2019: Another amendment focusing on harsher penalties for breaches.

It was clearly a national priority for good reason. It’s obviously racist to argue that it’s racist to critically discuss a topic like that.

Not just amongst the public - the central government was seriously concerned about it, too.
- 2009: Food Safety Law introduced
- 2010: Established the Food Safety Committee in the State Council to coordinate food safety regulation
- 2015: Amended the food safety law to better resource enforcement

Liberals plot mass resignations paving way for leadership challenge Liberals are bracing for a wave of frontbench resignations as soon as Wednesday to pave the way for Angus Taylor to mount a leadership challenge against Sussan Ley.

What are the chances that the Liberals will learn their lesson if their polling continues to fall under one of their lead delusionists?
Does this generation of their party room even have a path to reality?

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

Guess what happens when the government does everything it can to stop investment in renewable energy?

Business investment collapses & electricity prices explode.

Australians bearing the brunt of ‘second-best’ climate plans One of the nation’s leading economists says Australians are paying the price for a political class that is “far from brave” when it comes to climate policy.

Productivity commission is complaining that policy uncertainty over climate is holding back business investment & economic growth
“The ongoing policy uncertainty created by decades of these circular arguments has, and continues to, increase the costs of action,”
www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

I can say for sure that Duolingo’s Chinese program sucks. It’s way worse than their Spanish, French, German, Italian or Japanese programs. Completely hopeless at all levels.

There's some really good Japanese resources. This is one of the best in my view. Wouldn't be impossible to do something similar in Chinese: cijapanese.com

15 years ago I still would've said Beijing, but I don't think that path is as sensible as it was.
I did something similar to you - BLCU in 2003, which was supposed to be 12 months but ended up being 3 until SARS closed the uni, then 9 self directed, mainly in Yunnnan & Shaanxi. But today I'd go TW.

The White House has released a subtext that says "it's time to panic, we're losing, and we have no idea what to do about it"

My suggestion: go to Taiwan for 6-12 months. If you can't do that, wait until you can.

It doesn't need voters to think that climate change is the top issue: their efforts to rationalise a view that doesn't align with reality keeps twisting them in insane knots that drive away their supporters.

‘I’m up for the job’: Ley on defensive as Hume warns of electoral oblivion Record low polling has rattled the Coalition, fuelling agitation within the party for “something” to change.

The right has to deal with its rejection of science if they want to move on from being a fragmented failure.
Climate change is physical reality & our need to minimise it is economic reality.
Until they accept this, they won't be taken seriously.
www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

Details of Jeffrey Epstein post-mortem released in latest files Twenty new photos released on Friday show Epstein in the immediate aftermath of his death.

New details on Epstein’s “suicide”
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Samantha’s ex-partner isolated and abused her. He’s the first man in NSW to serve jail time for coercive control In public the Sydney man was the picture-perfect partner, but behind the scenes was manipulative and controlling.

Fantastic to see this sentencing.

What a vindication of so many people (mostly women) who campaigned for years for these laws & the cultural change needed to enforce them

This behaviour is extreme & beyond unacceptable

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

Principles, politics and pragmatism: a chance for a carbon levy and a gas profit tax? An upstream carbon levy would be elegant climate policy but the real game is on the existing policy mix for now, writes Frank Jotzo in this guest post

Extremely sensible comments from Frank Jotzo on Aus climate policy & priorities
(but I would say that wouldn’t I, since he’s my boss)
Truly though, it’s rare to see this much political awareness in academia.

‘Best policy’ is limited to policies that can exist

theenergy.co/article/poli...

Trump invited Albanese to join his Board of Peace. He may be disappointed Resistance to joining Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is hardening within the federal government as questions grow about how it would operate.

I know some people are concerned about this "board of peace". I don't think there's any prospect of our joining it. www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

Trump today is re-writing history again, saying that economist “predicted confidently” that his tariffs would crash the economy.
Economists were never confident that his tariffs would even exist (and most of what he talked about never did)

Here’s a reminder 👇

Taylor picked as Liberal right's leading man as stalking of Ley begins One Liberal source told the ABC a challenge to Sussan Ley's leadership is now a "matter of when, not if".

This has to be a joke.
When Australia was dealing with the biggest terrorism attack in our nation’s history, where was Angus Taylor?
He was on holidays for weeks, then came back after it was all over and acts like he’s going to be the leader.
Give me a break.

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...

Just bought the ebook & looking forward to digging into it.

I tried to buy directly from the publisher but it just demanded that I chose another currency without offering any such option.
I bought from Apple Books instead.

Last-ditch deal sees government give states extra $25b in hospital funding Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has bowed to mounting pressure from the states, promising an extra $25 billion for public hospitals.

Just noting that this new hospital funding is more than 2x AUKUS, bringing total public health spending to nearly 20x AUKUS
(Not counting NDIS)

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...