tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19591774987609141542026-05-07T06:33:35.427+10:00Climate, environment, clean energy, politics and civil society.<br>Progressive issues, views and public interest campaigns.Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-29253736102783187422014-04-27T13:57:00.000+10:002014-04-27T13:57:15.751+10:00

The federal government's threat of further job and funding cuts to the CSIRO - among Australia's premier scientific truth-finding research organisations - fits neatly with the recently reported comments of Federal Attorney-General George Brandis in claimed defence of freedom of speech for climate change deniers.As reported by The Guardian, Brandis used an interview in online journal Spiked to

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-38581101947562963742014-01-08T10:25:00.000+11:002014-01-08T10:25:29.306+11:00

Here's the unedited version of my letter in today's Age in response to yesterday's editorial and coverage of the violent death of a Melbourne homeless man last weekend: The failure to treat with dignity and respect the city crime scene of last weekend’s fatal stabbing of Mr Wayne Perry sounds a profoundly sad note that should also be heard as an urgent call to action to respond to the needs of

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-11633138573381229262013-07-08T12:10:00.000+10:002013-07-08T12:10:23.908+10:00

Those who read Saturday's coverage in The Age of Lord Mayor Robert Doyle's proposals to revamp Queen Victoria Market might be interested in my response in today's letters in the paper: We are entitled to scepticism of Lord Mayor Robert Doyle's grand plans to revamp the Queen Vic Market. Coming hot on the heels of Doyle exempting himself from a Council planning decision due to developer

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-36694915313205704292011-09-19T08:34:00.006+10:002012-02-18T14:27:31.959+11:00

John Brumby made a good case for carbon pricing and low-emissions economic opportunities in his Saturday opinion piece in The Age. In it he makes an admission that State and Federal Labor need to act on, not just acknowledge. Standing in the way is the "Carbon Party". Here's my letter, published today (scroll to "Green initiatives are totally cancelled out"). It's good to hear former Victorian

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-9565297117369926032011-06-08T21:21:00.001+10:002012-02-18T14:27:59.725+11:00

Two letter-writers in yesterday's edition of The Age wrote about the "invisibility" of workers affected by a carbon price, despite many projections - including by the ACTU - of projected gains in green jobs in the shift to a low-emissions economy. Today's edition carries my letter in reply, which questions why those opposing a carbon price are so concerned about selective estimates of job losses

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-77105563538950515922011-04-12T16:15:00.001+10:002012-02-18T14:28:28.183+11:00

Today's edition of The Age carries my letter, "Bigger issues than an ailing ALP", responding to Michael Pearce's excellent opinion piece on the future of Australian Labor ("Should the ALP labour on, or is the party over?"), which questions the ultimate survival of the party. There follows my edit of the longer version I submitted, which makes my point more clearly - that sustainability is a

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-47397696545889661072011-03-25T19:15:00.002+11:002012-02-18T14:29:03.952+11:00

Friday's edition of The Age carried my letter responding to Julia Gillard's opinion piece the day before calling for the rejection of "extremists" following Wednesday's rally in Canberra against the proposed carbon tax. The rally, attended by federal Coalition leader, Tony Abbott, featured offensive placards attacking the prime minister. Abbott has drawn much deserved criticism for his

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-89516036325108537612010-12-08T08:30:00.001+11:002012-02-18T14:29:29.991+11:00

Today's edition of The Age carries my letter ("Unity on warming") responding to an opinion piece by Barry Jones in yesterday's edition of the paper. Jones made an important point about the need to link the separate economic and scientific approaches to climate change - something that, despite its progress on the climate issue, the federal government is still failing to do, including in a recent

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-89379347893642027752010-07-28T19:08:00.001+10:002012-02-18T14:30:43.644+11:00

Today The Age published my letter responding to yesterday's page one article, "Brumby plan exposes Gillard", and the paper's editorial, "State reclaims leadership role on climate". It seems the Premier has turned greener in the lead-up to the Victorian State election in November, but at the moment he's mainly looking good compared to dismal federal climate proposals by Labor and the Coalition,

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-60662682834031162692010-07-08T08:29:00.001+10:002010-07-08T08:30:12.036+10:00

Today's edition of The Age carries my letter responding to Ross Gittin's piece in yesterday's paper, "It's time to raise the bar" (The Age, Comment &amp; Debate, 7 July 2010, p.8; online in a slightly different version). Gittins questions the role of the deliberate creation of green jobs in emissions reduction. He thinks the jobs will flow as we move away from fossil fuels. He's right, of course

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-21843696512135250452010-06-15T21:12:00.005+10:002010-06-15T21:24:07.011+10:00

Today The Age published my letter responding to Malcolm Turnbull's remarks on emissions trading at Saturday's Deakin lecture on the politics of climate change. My response referred to Clive Hamilton's excellent opinion piece on the Resources Super Profits Tax and the newspaper's strong editorial on Australia's quest for oil in deep water in the context of the Gulf of Mexico disaster. As usual,

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-87488287139822416242010-05-31T18:26:00.001+10:002010-05-31T18:28:31.718+10:00

Today The Age published my response to Saturday's page one story, "Taxpayers fund mine tax defence". Essentially, I argue that if a resources ad campaign is justified, a climate campaign is justifiable on the same grounds, but it isn't in the offing &#8211; why? Here's the letter: I support Labor’s campaign to explain the Resources Super Profits Tax. While any exemption of a Government campaign

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-49826968275867146832010-05-07T17:41:00.002+10:002010-05-07T18:09:29.360+10:00

Today's edition of The Age carries my letter responding to yesterday's page one coverage of the reaction by the mining industry to Kevin Rudd's proposed resources tax.Here's the edited letter, followed, as usual, by the letter as submitted:RIO Tinto chief Sam Walsh thinks he's making a case against the new resources tax when he says that $7.5 billion of iron ore, alumina and coal projects are

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-46612372259799242142010-04-09T07:33:00.004+10:002010-04-09T07:58:02.262+10:00

Following Karen Kissane's piece on Black Saturday, An appetite for revenge, The Age has today published my letter (scroll to "Policies fuel danger") arguing that, amid scrutiny of the chaos of failures during the fires, we should not lose sight of the urgent necessity for better climate and energy policies to reduce long-term bushfire risk.At present, Christine Nixon appears to be the focal point

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-36548264643097621412010-04-04T09:21:00.004+10:002010-04-04T13:31:55.972+10:00

Last week's edition of The Sunday Age carried Stephen Cauchi's story, "Melbourne's Earth Hour enthusiasm dims". The story notes the lower engagement with the event by Melbourne residents, and Clive Hamilton's fear that the event risks tokenism.While this may well be true for some, it certainly isn't the case for many climate advocates for whom the event is part of sustained local campaigns -

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-5099054908037975242010-04-01T08:58:00.007+11:002010-04-01T11:23:51.324+11:00

Yesterday's edition of The Age carried Peter Costello's muddled opinion piece dismissing the climate crisis because he thinks it has fallen below the prime minister's pragmatic political radar - as if climate were an expendable pawn in a cynical political game.Costello's argument rests on an egotism that suggests an issue's importance or lack thereof is decided at the often uninformed whim of

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-85769081958505090012009-11-30T06:55:00.005+11:002009-11-30T07:13:54.342+11:00

In response to last weekend's coverage of strong Labor polling in Victoria, I wrote in response to The Sunday Age, which yesterday published my reply:Time to get up and go greenAS ONE who believes the Brumby Government to be deeply flawed, I nevertheless welcome its strong performance in your poll. That's because, with the prospect of a massive 62 seats for Labor if the swing were repeated at

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-9581397620195675012009-11-09T02:33:00.005+11:002009-11-09T03:23:43.410+11:00

Today's edition of The Age carries my letter in response to the paper's coverage of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's recent address to the Lowy Institute on climate change. It was edited a little, but captured the essential point that Rudd needs to match his rhetoric - which was quite strong against the sceptics - with stronger actions he must take to Copenhagen. The unedited letter with

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-52896183589411878272009-10-13T06:15:00.007+11:002009-10-13T07:09:59.417+11:00

With Bushfire Action Week upon us, it was good to see the Victorian Government announce a range of improved communication measures and finally urge early evacuation in the face of high-level bushfire risk. What they must also admit, however, is that climate inaction by Australia and other developed nations has given us more bushfires we can't defend.To reduce our long-term risk, our current

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-11096434824543781342009-09-22T06:36:00.004+10:002009-09-22T07:05:58.650+10:00

The Age recently reported that, on Kevin Rudd's New York visit to the UN and G20 talks, Australia's PM was pushing to 'restore momentum' in climate change negotiations, lest the December climate negotiations in Copenhagen become a 'wall too high to scale'.Judging by Australia's 2020 emissions targets, I suggest that, far from breaking down the wall, Rudd is more concerned to be seen as heroically

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-30383927191035654062009-09-08T06:49:00.006+10:002009-09-11T23:14:01.499+10:00

I haven't caught up with last night's Four Corners program on carbon capture and storage as yet, but the synopsis seems to indicate it views the problem as a lack of investment in what is, in my view, a speculative and slow technology that won't solve our emissions emergency any time soon (see update, below).With Victoria's marginally lower winter emissions receiving positive courage, I thought

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-71810480613100098952009-08-30T04:33:00.005+10:002009-08-30T05:26:38.073+10:00

Following my recent article for ABC Unleashed on the interim report of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, today's Sunday Age has run my letter responding to Michael Bachelard's excellent piece, 'Smoke and mirrors', published last week. My letter was kindly run without edits as follows:Michael Bachelard’s tough scrutiny of the Premier’s bushfire spin is most welcome as a call to face

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-63758879448534036672009-07-14T10:28:00.005+10:002009-07-14T10:55:42.795+10:00

Today's edition of The Age carries my letter responding to a report that Al Gore thinks passing Australia's weak climate law might help achieve an international climate agreement in Copenhagen in December.Gore's suggestion seems to reflect the kind of incrementalist view currently dividing environment groups in Australia. The argument is that we should support any step forward in the hope that

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-8441386621634378132009-06-16T07:31:00.008+10:002009-06-16T10:37:47.806+10:00

Following coverage of the letter threat to the CEO of the Hazelwood power station, The Age published my letter today arguing that the Victorian Government is trying to spin this unfortunate incident against environmental activism as such (See 'Don't fall for this spin on greenies' on The Age Letters page).Here's the letter, with a small grammatical correction that didn't make it into the

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959177498760914154.post-55100677239186105412009-05-31T11:26:00.005+10:002009-05-31T13:13:46.748+10:00

The Sunday Age today published my letter on the failure of the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission to even utter the words 'climate change' in public hearings so far.The letter (scroll down) was commenting on a piece in last week's edition by Michael Bachelard, which reported on public hearings of the inquiry, and in particular the quiet departure of the 'stay or go' policy as a response to

Darren Lewin-Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817515820171237980noreply@blogger.com0