Garnaut

Condemnation by climate scientists of the Garnaut report is well placed.

Garnaut is an economist, and as such is concerned with the stability of the economic system. He recognises climate change, and tries to put in place a feasible plan for reduction of human activity related to warming.

The scientists however deal in objective reality: we need to radically reduce emissions now, or we're going to die. You can talk about whether other countries should be reducing their output and what is achievable, but all the while we're literally destroying the ecosphere. Preventing this destruction is something in the order of an absolute: we just need to do it, and other costs pale in comparison.

APEC exclusion lists

We are not surprised by the nature of the APEC exclusion lists, namely that they were devised with the purpose of preventing demonstrations, not at preventing riots or terrorism. Actually, probably the most surprising thing about the news story is that the lists were obtainable under freedom of information protocols at all, which in Australia are notoriously unfree. Of course, the names had been removed from the lists, but I'm still surprised they didn't manage to keep them hidden for decades.