Abbott can't shake the stink of the tobacco lobby

Wednesday, 08 June 2011 00:00

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As every smoker knows, one of the worst things about the tobacco habit is the smell - it clings to you no matter what you do. That's the problem the Liberal Party now has. They've been in the pocket of the tobacco lobby for so long that they can't shake off the stink, no matter how hard they try.

The Liberal Party's last-minute turnaround on plain packaging of cigarettes, after much huffing and puffing, won't help them escape from the clutches of the tobacco companies who fill their party coffers. The question for Mr Abbott is: when will he kick the habit of taking money from the tobacco companies?

Tibetan strategy to outmaneuver Beijing

Friday, 13 May 2011 00:00

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Set in the foothills of the Himalayas, Dharamsala is the seat of the Dalai Lama and the headquarters of the eight Tibetan exile settlements in India. To establish their refugee status in India, each of the 180,000 Tibetans is given a personal audience with the Tibetan spiritual Leader.

Finding the spirit of Australia

Sunday, 17 April 2011 00:00

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More than 96 years ago Australian and New Zealand troops congregated in a convoy of ships that were gathering off the coast of Western Australia, they were from all states and New Zealand, they were all volunteers. In late 1914 Australia had only been a Single country for 14 years, before that it had been a series of Colonies. Many of the men considered themselves Queenslanders or Victorians rather than Australians, Even though they were designated the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps it probably meant nothing to many of them.

Biased Boycott Sinks NSW Greens

Saturday, 02 April 2011 00:00

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THE campaign for an international boycott of Israel, led locally by senator-elect Lee Rhiannon of what I call the "watermelon faction" of the Greens - green on the outside but red on the inside - is designed to delegitimise Israel as a prelude to its destruction.

The boycott campaign, which its activists like to call by the less threatening, disembodied acronym "BDS", is a tactic designed by extremist organisations such as Hamas to mask the strategy of the "one state solution", a single state between Jordan and the Mediterranean.