Carbon Emissions Price, Asylum Seekers, Linux-Related Matters, Unitarians and Seminary

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Earlier this week the Carbon Emissions Price was passed by the House of Representatives, and is certain to pass the Senate. The big issues relating to this is how (a) it is not a tax, despite the conservative media reports and (b) how it deals with the matter of externalities and (c) how it deals with reducing Australia's growing inequality problem. I am currently writing a brief piece on these issues.

A day later the amendments to the Migration Act, the so-called "Malaysian solution" were dropped. I received a 'phone call from the National Secretariat to say that my submission would be considered as it "does disclose an arguable case". Later that morning the parliamentary caucus met and decided not to proceed with the legislation, especially after it became clear that Tony Crook from WA would not support it (I wrote to Tony congratulating him on his principled stance).

Later in the day made a submission to the Federal government's Advisory Council on Intellectual Property against "innovation software patents". Software patents are particularly anti-innovative as they are effectively a patent on mathematics and a typically used do derive nuissance monopoly profits. Was also asked for comment by IT Wire on the passing of Dennis Ritchie, the co-author of the C Programming language and the UNIX operating system, two venerable elements of computer science. On the same day, received comment in the same journal for LUV's planned chapter in Shepparton.

Last Sunday conducted the service for Nigel Sinnott's excellent address on "Why Truth, Reason, Dissent and Skepticism Matter" (which I'll post soon), which argued quite cogently that by itself each could could be problematic but in combination were useful. At the beginning of the week completed my first assignment on Hinduism and attended the Chicago-based 'phone conference afterwards. Next assignment is on Buddhism.

Comments

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I think Abbot's promise is wishful thinking. There's is almost no chance that he'll have the numbers to repeal the legislation, and as for his recent call for businesses to boycott emissions, that will mean that other businesses will pick up permits on the cheap.

The reality is that business is less concerned about price than they are concerned about rules. They want consistency. Tax legislation (as Labor found with the GST) is very hard to unravel at times.