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Stop dodgy koala-for-coal carbon offsets deal

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Wednesday 12th August 2026

Federal Parliament should disallow a controversial new method for making carbon credits, according to a working paper released by the Australia Institute today.

The working paper by University College London Associate Professor Fergus Green takes aim at a proposal by the NSW government to sell carbon credits in return for creating a national park to protect koala habitat.

The Senate will vote on a disallowance motion on the “Improved Native Forest Management” (INFM) on August 18, put forward by the National Party.

The Australia Institute has also released new polling showing overwhelming public support to protect koala habitat regardless of whether carbon credits are involved.

Australians overwhelmingly (82%) say that governments have an obligation to protect koala habitats (3% think governments have this obligation only if they are paid to do so)

This includes three in four Liberal (77%) and One Nation (73%) voters.
Most Australians (59%) agree that protecting forests should not be used to justify continued fossil fuel pollution. (25% disagree; 17% don’t know)
Most Australians (57%) support the Minns Government’s decision to ban coal and gas companies from buying carbon offsets from the Great Koala National Park. (23% oppose; 20% don’t know)

“Australia’s carbon offset system is already plagued with integrity problems, and this method takes it from bad to worse,” said Louise Morris, Head of Fossil Fuel Transition at The Australia Institute.

“Appalling”: Wilkie slams government’s response to gambling inquiry

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Wednesday 12th August 2026

Andrew Wilkie MP, Independent Member for Clark, joins the Australia Institute’s Noah Schultz-Byard to reflect on the government’s gambling reforms, making polluters pay for the damage they do to the climate, and the state of Australian politics.

This episode was recorded live as part of the Australia Institute’s webinar series on Wednesday 5 August.

If this episode raised issues for you, you can call the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858 for free, professional and confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Or visit Gambling Help Online at www.gamblinghelponline.org.au.

If you or anyone you know needs help, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or online at www.lifeline.org.au.

The NSW koalas-for-coal shakedown – and what it reveals about the carbon offset market

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Wednesday 12th August 2026

‘Nice forest you’ve got there. It’d be a shame if somebody messed with it.’

This isn’t a line from a mobster movie, it’s effectively what the NSW government is saying to the koalas and people of NSW.

The NSW government is proposing to make a Great Koala National Park to protect forests in the north east of the state. In fact, making the Park has been NSW Labor policy for more than a decade, but it has recently taken on a new twist.

The Minns government now says that the koala park will happen if, and only if, it can take the rights to the carbon in the trees to sell on the carbon market.

If this sounds dodgy, that’s because it is. The NSW Labor government first promised to make this national park as far back as 2015, without selling carbon offsets. They promised it again in 2023. Now they say they will need some protection money for those trees.

Demanding payment to do something you had already promised to do is not good public policy. In the language of the carbon market, it does not provide “additionality”.

It is, in plain language, a shakedown.

And while the person doing the standover work is the NSW Premier, the mob bosses are the big polluters – coal and gas mines.

It is these industries that need, not only carbon offsets, but specifically carbon offsets in NSW.

Arab Barghouthi on his father Marwan’s Unwavering Commitment to Palestinian Freedom

— Organisation: Free Palestine Melbourne — Wednesday 12th August 2026

The son of imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti spoke to David Marr on ABC’s Late Night Live Tuesday about the upcoming Palestinian elections, and how his father’s release could finally see an end to Israel’s apartheid regime in his homeland. During the interview, Arab Barghouthi urged the international community, including Australia, to ensure Israel does not sabotage the November […]

Defending Democracy Against the Reactionary International

— Publication: Perspectives Journal — Tuesday 11th August 2026

We know the tactics that have been deployed to undermine our democracies. But who is behind them?

David Adler is the Co-General Coordinator of the Progressive International, a left-wing political international with over 70 member groups, including trade unions, political parties, peasant organisations, and social movements, that mobilizes progressive forces around the world. The Progressive International is a relatively new organization, developed to counter the so-called ‘Reactionary International’: the decades-old networks of right-wing institutions, organizations, money, and political power that have sought to undermine working-class democratic power.

Mamdani’s Scapegoats

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Tuesday 11th August 2026

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who exemplifies the growing red-green alliance in the United States—he is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and a follower of Twelver Shiism, the apocalyptic state religion of Iran—has been in office for little more than seven months. But he’s already made it clear what this confluence of radical ideologies means in practice: manufacturing scapegoats and fomenting class, racial, and religious hatreds. In this, Mamdani is following a political playbook used by both Communist and Islamist regimes to advance revolutionary aims.

The Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 Was First and Foremost a Liquidity Crisis: Lessons for the Data Center Financial Crisis Debate

— Author: Nathan Tankus — Publication: Notes on the Crisis — Tuesday 11th August 2026

The Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 Was First and Foremost a Liquidity Crisis: Lessons for the Data Center Financial Crisis Debate

This is a Premium piece of Notes on the Crises.

Statements on Monetary Policy

— Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) — Tuesday 11th August 2026

The Statement on Monetary Policy sets out the Bank's assessment of current economic conditions, both domestic and international, along with the outlook for Australian inflation and output growth. A number of boxes on topics of special interest are also published. The Statement is issued four times a year.

Statement by the Monetary Policy Board: Monetary Policy Decision

— Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) — Tuesday 11th August 2026

At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate target unchanged at 4.35 per cent.

Nixon Is Back

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Monday 10th August 2026

With the 52nd anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation, his reputation is experiencing a resurgence—especially among younger generations.

For example, in just the past month and a half, at least a half-dozen articles have examined Nixon’s legacy. There was Tim Rice’s Daily Wire article, “How The Kids Learned To Love Richard Nixon,” which ends with this sentence: “Maybe Nixon wasn’t a relic come too late, but a visionary come too early. Maybe his time is now.” Frontier Magazine published a cover story by Blaze Media Editor-in-Chief Christopher Bedford, “The Once and Future Nixon.” Then there was Philip Wegmann’s full-page Wall Street Journal feature, “Young Conservatives Have an Unlikely New Icon: Richard Nixon,” which characterizes me as “the main architect of modern Watergate revisionism.”

International law is under attack. Australia can stand up for justice.

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Monday 10th August 2026

Human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry’s findings of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the Trump administration’s attacks on the institutions of international law, and how the Australian government could act in support of a genuinely rules-based international system.

This episode was recorded Friday 7 August.

More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest Vantage Point essay from Australia Institute Press, is available now. Use the code ‘FOOLME’ on a four-edition Vantage Point subscription to receive a free copy of Richard’s book, Econobabble.

Guest: Chris Sidoti, Commissioner, UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

Gaza’s Board of Pieces

— Author: Chris Hedges — Monday 10th August 2026

08/09/2026 Market Update: The Rally Delivered. Now Comes the Harder Question.

— Organisation: Applied MMT — Monday 10th August 2026

08/09/2026 Market Update: The Rally Delivered. Now Comes the Harder Question.

(Note: Below is a summary of the Market Update Video for 08/09/2026, click here to watch the video update)

Market Update Preview

August opened with a massive rally, taking us to nearly 7,800. Coming off a last week of July where the headlines looked genuinely dicey and every feed was piling into the bearish narrative, this is about as clean a vindication of the flows process as you get. The macro headlines said one thing; the flow data said another; the flow data won.

So the question shifts. It's no longer "does this hold" — it's "when does this get dangerous." My read: too soon to be overly cautious. There's still wind in the sails, flows stay strong through August into mid-September, and there's nothing stopping another leg from here. But the pieces for a more substantial reset are quietly assembling, and I walk through exactly which signals I'm watching and roughly when I expect them to align.

Fund People, Not Projects

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Monday 10th August 2026

For 80 years, American science has operated under the Vannevar Bush model that was established in the wake of World War II. In his 1945 report, Science, the Endless Frontier, Bush argued that the government should fund “curiosity-driven basic research,” with panels of peer scientists choosing which projects deserved financial support. His goal was not merely to subsidize scientists’ intellectual whims without regard for visible applications, but to secure American technological supremacy by developing fundamental knowledge before its practical uses were apparent. In practice, however, Bush’s vision mutated into a bloated, risk-averse bureaucracy split between government and universities, stifling the very innovation it was designed to foster.

After eight decades, the weaknesses of Bush’s project-grant model are clear. As the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) points out in its new report, academic researchers spend up to half their time writing, formatting, and defending grant proposals rather than actually doing science. Moreover, because review panels naturally gravitate toward proven concepts, researchers are incentivized to propose incremental work that is guaranteed to succeed, often because they have already accomplished it.

Marsha Blackburn: Tennessee's Beacon of the Status Quo

— Author: Betsy Phillips — Monday 10th August 2026

The Republican nominee for governor — whose party has run the state for decades — promises a 'beacon of freedom'

What’s the point of EVs?

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Monday 10th August 2026

On this episode of What’s the Point?, Richard Denniss explains why electric vehicles have surged in popularity, and why EVs should play a central role in energy security.

Host: Richard Denniss, co-Chief Executive Officer, the Australia Institute // @richarddenniss

Host: Anna Chang, Managing Editor, The Point // @annachang

Climate Integrity Summit 2026 tickets.

Order More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest Vantage Point essay from Australia Institute Press.

Show notes: https://thepoint.com.au/opinions/260411-an-economists-advice-on-why-ev-range-anxiety-is-overrated

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

Youth mental health decline coincides with increased economic pressure: new report

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Sunday 9th August 2026

A new report from The Australia Institute has found young Australians’ mental health has declined sharply.

The decline coincides with increased economic pressure faced young Australians, especially around housing, education, health costs and income support.

Since 2001, tertiary education fees have increased by 150%, rent and out-of-pocket medical expenses have doubled, while minimum wage rose by 19% and Youth Allowance by just 10%.

Key points:

The proportion of young people reporting a mental health disorder rose from 26.4% in 2007 to 38.8% in 2022.
The decline among young people is far higher than that reported by older cohorts.
Financial stress and labour-market insecurity are linked to poorer mental health.
Clinical services alone cannot fix preventable economic stress; Improving economic conditions is a far more efficient and effective way to protect young people’s mental health.

The report points to evidence linking financial stress with anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges, and notes that unemployment, underemployment, job insecurity and low job control are associated with poorer mental health.

“Young Australians are not just feeling a bit worse — the data show a sustained and substantial decline in mental health,” said Luke Slawomirski, Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Australia Institute.

“Australia’s youth mental health crisis is not occurring in an economic vacuum.

Why the Iran War Won’t End Soon (w/ Alastair Crooke) | TCHR

— Author: Chris Hedges — Sunday 9th August 2026

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

The United States and Israel’s attacks on Iran have inflamed West Asia to the point that it has turned “into a matrix of smaller wars taking place across the region, all of which are interconnected, but all of which have quite separate agendas,” describes Alistair Crooke of Conflicts Forum, a former diplomat who served in the Middle East and who authored, “Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution”. In this episode of the Chris Hedges Report, Hedges and Crooke explore the wide-reaching geopolitical and economic ramifications of the war on Iran and what options remain for the Trump administration, which has been forced multiple times to walk back its threats of escalation.

Covering Crime with Scandal

— Author: Sarah Kendzior — Friday 7th August 2026

Hello, readers! I'm writing this in advance as I'm away on family business. According to my publisher, there is a $2.99 sale this week on my April 2020 book, Hiding in Plain Sight. I’m sharing excerpts because this book, unfortunately, never goes out of style. It covers Trump, Epstein, Kushner, and transnational organized crime in US institutions from the 1970s onward.

If you’d like to support my continuing research, the best way is to subscribe here:

A Defense of the President’s Strategy in Iran

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Friday 7th August 2026

America is engaged in negotiations to end the war in Iran on terms favorable to the United States. It is difficult to believe this will be achieved through negotiations alone, however hopeful President Trump is about the prospects. Like many Americans, the president wishes to bring this war to a close. After all, America is not the policeman of the world. Nor are we the protector of the Middle East.

When the United States spends the blood and treasure of the American people, we do so for the good of the American people. This is both the beginning and the end of President Trump’s strategic view of the war in Iran. Although other very high-priority policies must be carried out—the deportation of 25 million illegal aliens that came during the Biden Administration, for starters—this war must be prosecuted to a satisfactory conclusion for the United States.

President Trump does not see the war in Iran as a diversion from America’s true interests, as many of his critics on both the Left and the Right insist. He sees it as one front in a larger world war that America did not choose but needs to fight and win.

Leaving the Postwar Myth Behind

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Thursday 6th August 2026

Every political community needs its story. It needs an account of itself, its heroes and villains, its founding wounds and saving deeds. The public does not merely remember these things but also reinforces them by making them a template for education, teaching the young what is noble, what is shameful, what must be revered, and what must never be permitted to return. This is not simply propaganda. It belongs to political life. No polity can live by disembodied ideals alone, and no people can endure without memory, piety, gratitude, and shared attachments.

The difficulty begins when people start to forget that their sacred story, however reflective of the truth it may be, is nevertheless a parable or a narrative about justice, not justice itself.

The American postwar consensus is such a story, and one that has been generating a fair amount of controversy of late. This consensus is not merely the historical fact that the United States and its allies defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, or the moral fact that this was a good thing. Nor is it merely the institutional settlement that followed the war: Bretton Woods, the United Nations, NATO, the national security state, the administrative welfare state, and the open-ended commitment to upholding the liberal international order. At its deepest level, the postwar consensus is how America came to understand itself under Franklin Roosevelt.

Confused about interest rates and inflation? You’re not alone

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Thursday 6th August 2026

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor go back to the basics of inflation, living costs and interest rates to show that how they interact really isn’t all that basic.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 6 August 2026.

More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest Vantage Point essay from Australia Institute Press, is available now. Use the code ‘FOOLME’ on a four-edition Vantage Point subscription to receive a free copy of Richard’s book, Econobabble.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek

Show notes:

How the Epstein Network is Privatizing the Government & Building Out the Surveillance State (w/Whitney Webb) | TCHR

— Author: Chris Hedges — Thursday 6th August 2026

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

Under the radar, the billionaire class is building the infrastructure and models necessary to create a dystopian future in which cities become billionaire fiefdoms - completely privatized, governed by dictatorial CEOs and financed by subservient taxpayers. The buildout of data centers is one essential part of the effort to construct a totalitarian capitalist society, which is already advancing.

Call For Nominations For The 2026 Australian International Political Economy Network (AIPEN) Journal Article Prize

— Publication: Progress in Political Economy — Thursday 6th August 2026

We are pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the 2026 Australian International Political Economy Network (AIPEN) Richard Higgott Journal Article Prize. The prize is awarded annually for the best article published in the broad field of International Political Economy (IPE) by an Australia-based academic.

The prize will be awarded to the best article published in IPE as deemed by a selection committee of IPE scholars. The award will be given to any article in IPE, understood in a pluralist sense to include the political economy of security, geography, literature, sociology, anthropology, post-coloniality, gender, finance, trade, regional studies, development and economic theory, in ways that can span concerns for in/security, poverty, inequality, sustainability, exploitation, deprivation and discrimination.

Unpaid Work Won’t Fly: How Air Canada Flight Attendants Organized

— Publication: Perspectives Journal — Wednesday 5th August 2026

In 2025, Air Canada flight attendants said “enough is enough” to unpaid work that had become increasingly a part of their jobs. Shanyn Elliott is a flight attendant and the Chair of the Mobilization Committee for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Air Canada Component. She organized workers in a strike that disrupted their employer operations, in defiance of the Carney government’s ‘Section 107’ back to work order.

In the end, flight attendants forced their employers back to the bargaining table to end unpaid work and negotiate for fair wages.

The workers’ right to negotiate with bosses is a fundamental democratic right — one that some governments and corporate bosses refuse to realize. It takes organizing for collective action to win these rights back for the working class.

The State Department’s War on Far-Left Terrorism

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Wednesday 5th August 2026

The obituary for the Trump State Department’s efforts against “Far-Left Terrorism” (FLT) may have been premature. The Washington Post—from its lofty position as stenographer for the federal bureaucracy—declared the State Department’s Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism a flop before it even began. Anonymous sources lined up to chortle that it was a waste of time and was intended only as public spectacle. According to the credentialed experts popular with the Post, the threat of far-left violence exists only in the minds of the president and his supporters.

Catastrophe at Cambridge – Jason Arday and the Scandal at DEI | The American Mind Podcast

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Wednesday 5th August 2026

The American Mind’s podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host.

Catastrophe at Cambridge – Jason Arday and the Scandal at DEI | The American Mind Podcast

Jason Arday, who rocketed to academic stardom as the youngest black professor at Cambridge, now faces claims that his PhD thesis contains plagiarism. That’s not all: huge portions of his story seem likely to be fabricated, from a supposed brain surgery days before his defense, to an appearance on the documentary Seven Up. But is Arday really the problem? It seems the institutional decay goes much deeper. This week, hosts Spencer and Mike discuss the necessity of a reckoning in the academies. Plus: is America having a Catholic moment? Or is she an irrevocably Protestant nation?

The post Catastrophe at Cambridge – Jason Arday and the Scandal at DEI | The American Mind Podcast appeared first on The American Mind.

A Hidden Geopolitical Threat to the Global Financial System? Oddities in the U.S.-Japanese Yen Intervention

— Author: Nathan Tankus — Publication: Notes on the Crisis — Wednesday 5th August 2026

A Hidden Geopolitical Threat to the Global Financial System? Oddities in the U.S.-Japanese Yen Intervention

This is a Premium Piece of Notes on the Crises.

Is Australian climate policy finally heading in the right direction?

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Wednesday 5th August 2026

On this episode of Follow the Money, Leanne Minshull and Rod Campbell join Glenn Connley to discuss dodgy carbon credits, the Great Koala National Park in New South Wales, the federal government’s upcoming review of the Safeguard Mechanism, and the demise of Climate Active.

This episode was recorded Tuesday 4 August.

More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest Vantage Point essay from Australia Institute Press, is available now. Use the code ‘FOOLME’ on a four-edition Vantage Point subscription to receive a free copy of Richard’s book, Econobabble.

Get your tickets for the Australia Institute’s Climate Integrity Summit 2026 at the Parliament of New South Wales on Tuesday 15 September.

Guest: Leanne Minshull, co-Chief Executive Officer, the Australia Institute // @leanneminshull

Guest: Rod Campbell, Research Director, the Australia Institute // @rodcampbell

Trump's Phantom Enemies - Read by Eunice Wong

— Author: Chris Hedges — Tuesday 4th August 2026

This article is read by Eunice Wong. You can find her work at www.eunicewong.actor.

Text originally published July 22, 2026.

Pedro Sánchez’s Kingdom

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Tuesday 4th August 2026

In the middle of April, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez summoned the world’s leftist statesmen to Barcelona for what he called a Global Progressive Mobilization. There are not many leftist statesmen to choose from these days. But Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico and Lula of Brazil rallied round Sánchez, and so did the representatives of activist philanthropies—Bill Gates’s people and George Soros’s, too. Various agitators came for environmental and sexual causes, with their earrings and keffiyehs and polyglot t-shirts.

Birth Tourism’s Next Evolution: Commissioned Citizenship

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Tuesday 4th August 2026

When the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order in Trump v. Barbara, it settled for now in the courts who becomes a citizen at birth. It did not settle—and could not settle—whether American citizenship may be bought and sold.

It remains well within the power of Congress and the president to shut down the contracts, clinics, agencies, and visas that convert foreign money into American citizenship—without amending the Constitution or defying the Court. Until the Court revisits the issue, the political branches are solely responsible for overseeing the marketplace, and they have no excuse to delay.

If you doubt that such a marketplace exists, meet the Simpson triplets.

Nearly 20 months ago, Kyla Simpson of St. Augustine, Florida, gave birth to triplet boys as a gestational surrogate for an intended parent she had never met: a single man in China. He never came. Not during the boys’ two months in the NICU, not through the year and a half the Simpsons raised them, and not even when one of the triplets died of RSV.

2026 Annual Henry George Commemorative Dinner and Address

— Organisation: Prosper Australia — Tuesday 4th August 2026

Join us for a night of intellectual discourse and celebration at the 135th Annual Henry George Dinner and Address, to be held on Thursday, September 17th, 2026, at Graduate House, Melbourne. Prosper Australia’s Executive Committee invites you to join us as we pay tribute to the legacy of influential 19th-century economist and social reformer, Henry George. The Henry George Dinner […]

The post 2026 Annual Henry George Commemorative Dinner and Address first appeared on Prosper Australia.

"From Austerity to Resilience" MMT Q&A with Stephanie Kelton

— Organisation: Modern Money Lab, YouTube — Tuesday 4th August 2026

NSW Govt fails to act on own review, leaving LGBTIQ+ people without protections against hate, community says

— Organisation: Equality Australia — Tuesday 4th August 2026

August 4, 2026 - Equality Australia says the NSW government has failed to act on the clear recommendations of its own review, denying LGBTIQ+ communities equal protection from hate.

Attorney-General Michael Daley released the findings of Justice John Sackar KC’s review into NSW hate speech protections on Tuesday and dismissed its key recommendation that protections be extended to all communities targeted by hate.

“The NSW government is choosing to ignore the key recommendations of its own review, leaving LGBTIQ+ people exposed to harm and undermining social cohesion for everyone,” said Legal Director Heather Corkhill.

“All forms of hate and vilification are harmful, whether they are driven by racism, homophobia, transphobia or any other form of prejudice.”

The government said that expanding the existing racial hatred offence to cover other attributes raised complex questions about freedom of expression and religion.

“The government has already shown it can balance these rights when it comes to racial hatred. Claiming that the same approach cannot apply to other communities is disingenuous, creating an inconsistent legal framework and a hierarchy of protections,” Ms Corkhill said.

Fred Lee's 'grandiose' project: Towards a unified heterodox model?

— Organisation: Modern Money Lab, YouTube — Tuesday 4th August 2026

“Quiet, piggy”: how the Trump administration projects misogyny abroad

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Monday 3rd August 2026

Linda Robinson, author of Women in Power: Fighting for Democracy in an Age of Authoritarianism, joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the misogyny of the Trump administration, how Big Tech enables its spread, and the stark realities facing women in politics.

This episode was recorded Friday 31 July.

1800RESPECT is the national domestic, family and sexual violence counselling, information and support service. Call 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732, chat online or video call via their website.

More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest Vantage Point essay from Australia Institute Press, is available now. Use the code ‘FOOLME’ on a four-edition Vantage Point subscription to receive a free copy of Richard’s book, Econobabble.

Guest: Linda Robinson, Senior Fellow for Women and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations // @lrobinson

Fauci Tyrannus

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Monday 3rd August 2026

Appearing before Rand Paul’s Senate committee on July 29, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who headed the federal government’s response to COVID under Presidents Trump and Biden, refused to answer any questions, even though Biden gave him a preemptive pardon “for any offenses against the United States…in any manner related to his service” to the government between January 1, 2014, and January 19, 2025.

Certainly Fauci has much to answer for, starting with severe errors in judgment—whether criminal or not. As Dr. Scott Atlas and his coauthors put it in a 2024 report, “[A] calm, proportionate response would have applied the lessons from past influenza pandemics and used existing pandemic response plans. Instead, from the moment the virus was detected in America, the public health community and politicians spread an outsized message of fear and doom.” Public health officials “overlaid enormous economic, social, educational, and health (including substantial non-COVID excess mortality) harms on top of the virus itself, which nonetheless worked its way through substantially all of the population.”

Divisions in the Core of Global Capitalism? Italian Labour and ‘Free Trade’

— Publication: Progress in Political Economy — Monday 3rd August 2026

The global labour movement has been divided over ‘free trade’. Many unions in the Global North, especially in export-oriented sectors, supported such agreements to secure markets and jobs, while unions in the Global South opposed them, having experienced job losses and deindustrialisation. In my new article, ‘Divisions in the Core of Global Capitalism? Italian Labour and “Free Trade”’, published in the journal New Political Economy, I demonstrate that a split has opened up in the core of Global Capitalism. Against the background of drastic deindustrialisation, Italian trade unions have moved to an explicit anti – ‘free trade’ position, while especially the export sector German and Scandinavian trade unions continue their support.

Historically, support for ‘free trade’ was part of a post–World War II national consensus in Italy, including also trade unions. Given Italy’s shortage of raw materials and advanced industries, export-led growth was seen as essential to finance necessary imports. Similar to trade unions in other European countries, this pro – ‘free trade’ position first changed in 2014 and 2015 during the broad mobilisation against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. As most tariffs between the EU and the US had already been removed at that time, the danger of removing non-tariff barriers such as health and safety regulations, the key focus of TTIP, was clear.

Time to give Pacific workers a fair go – new poll

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Monday 3rd August 2026

Under the PALM (Pacific Australia Labour Mobility) Scheme, workers from nine Pacific Island nations and Timor Leste work in Australian agriculture (doing jobs like fruit picking), food processing (many in abattoirs) and the care sector (aged care).

However, the scheme has been identified as a modern slavery risk because PALM workers are tied to a single employer. Poor living and working conditions, under payment, access to superannuation and proper healthcare have all been identified as problems.

The scheme, which was originally lauded as a win-win for Australia and its Pacific neighbours, is now heavily lopsided in Australia’s favour, with workers forced to hand over a large portion of their earnings in tax and expenses, locked out of Medicare and blocked from changing jobs by their employers, even if things turn bad.

Now, a poll of 2,230 Australia voters, conducted by YouGov, reveals significant support for giving workers the right to change employers if they’re underpaid (68%), not given enough hours (78%) or housed in expensive, overcrowded or substandard accommodation (81%).

66% of respondents support PALM visa holders being given access to Medicare while they are working in Australia.

Don Corleone Trump

— Author: Chris Hedges — Monday 3rd August 2026

AusPATH Endorses APA Policy Statement on Affirming Evidence-Based Inclusive Care for Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Nonbinary Individuals, Addressing Misinformation, and the Role of Psychological Practice and Science AusPATH Endorses APA

— Organisation: Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) — Sunday 17th March 2024

This policy statement affirms APA’s support for unobstructed access to health care and evidence-based clinical care for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary children, adolescents, and adults.

Furthermore, this policy statement addresses the spread of misleading and unfounded narratives that mischaracterize gender dysphoria and affirming care, likely resulting in further stigmatization, marginalization, and lack of access to psychological and medical supports for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary individuals.

https://auspath.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/APA-statement-on-affirming-evidence.pdf

Statement on NHS England Interim Clinical Policy: “Puberty suppressing hormones for the purpose of puberty suppression for children and adolescents who have gender incongruence/dysphoria”

— Organisation: Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) — Friday 15th March 2024

The Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) was established in 2009 and is Australia’s peak body for professionals involved in the health, rights and wellbeing of all trans people – binary and non-binary. The AusPATH membership comprises over 600 experienced professionals working across Australia.

The NHS England has recently released a Clinical Policy advising that “Puberty suppressing hormones (PSH) are not available as a routine commissioning treatment option for treatment of children and young people who have gender incongruence / gender dysphoria.” In this policy document, it is stated that a Policy Working Group commissioned by the NHS has concluded “that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty suppression hormones to make the treatment routinely available at this time”. They recommend “that access to puberty suppressing hormones for children and young people with gender incongruence/dysphoria should only be available as part of research”.

AusPATH has significant concerns about this decision by NHS England, and the negative impact that it is likely to have on young gender diverse people in the UK. It is our opinion that the NHS England is undertaking an enormous and unprecedented public health experiment on children with no safeguards.

AusPATH calls upon Australian Health Ethics Committee to conduct a thorough review of doctors’ conflict of interests

— Organisation: Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) — Thursday 14th March 2024

The Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) was established in 2009 and is Australia’s peak body for professionals involved in the health, rights and wellbeing of all trans people – binary and non-binary. The AusPATH membership comprises over 600 experienced professionals working across Australia.

AusPATH firmly stands by the ethical responsibility of medical professionals to offer unbiased, evidence-based care to all individuals, regardless of personal beliefs.

Recently, it has come to our attention that two doctors, utilising their professional status, have publicly called for the cancellation of the Orange Rainbow Festival. Their statements, invoking their medical credentials, have misrepresented research and practice surrounding gender-affirming care.

AusPATH calls upon the Australian Health Ethics Committee to conduct a thorough review of the conflicts of interest among doctors who let their personal moral or religious judgments influence their professional obligations. Healthcare professionals must prioritise the well-being of their patients, adhering to the highest standards of evidence-based care without letting personal biases interfere.

AusPATH response to Elkadi, J.; Chudleigh, C.;Maguire, A.M.; Ambler, G.R.; Scher,S.; Kozlowska, K. Developmental Pathway Choices of Young People Presenting to a Gender Service with Gender Distress: A Prospective Follow-Up Study. Children 2023, 10, 314.

— Organisation: Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) — Wednesday 1st March 2023

https://doi.org/10.3390/children10020314

The Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) was established in 2009 and is Australia’s peak body for professionals involved in the health, rights, and wellbeing of all trans people – binary and non-binary. The AusPATH membership comprises over 450 experienced professionals working across Australia.

Elkadi et al (2023) recently published a research paper in the journal ‘Children’, entitled Gender Distress: A Prospective Follow-Up Study (heretofore referred to as “the study”). The AusPATH board and its membership have serious concerns about the misrepresentation of data presented in this research, as well in the choice of language used throughout the paper, which demonstrate a clear agenda of the research team to undermine the provision of gender affirming care to transgender children and adolescents. This response will outline our major concerns with this research article.

AusPATH has concerns about the methodology used and reporting of data in the study. The headline reporting of an “overall desistance rate” of 22.1% of participants does not accurately represent the cohort as, from the authors’ own published data, the following can be seen:

AusPATH statement about the Interim Service Specification for the Specialist Service for Children and Young People with Gender Dysphoria (Phase 1 Providers) by NHS England

— Organisation: Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) — Wednesday 16th November 2022

In August 2022, AusPATH issued a position statement about the interim report of the Independent Review of gender identity services for children and young people. NHS England has now issued an interim service specification for “Phase 1” services pending establishment of new regional services in England. https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/specialised-commissioning/gender-dysphoria-services/

AusPATH has major reservations about this interim service specification.

We Should Have a Nashville History Month

— Author: Betsy Phillips — Monday 3rd August 2026

From visiting the Nashville Public Library to taking a Nashville Sites tour and going fossil hunting, here are 10 ways to celebrate our history

What’s the point of the Reserve Bank of Australia?

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Monday 3rd August 2026

On this episode of What’s the Point?, Richard Denniss explains the purpose of the Reserve Bank of Australia and whether it’s fulfilling that role.

Host: Richard Denniss, co-Chief Executive Officer, the Australia Institute // @richarddenniss

Host: Anna Chang, Managing Editor, The Point // @annachang

Climate Integrity Summit 2026 tickets.

Pre-order More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest Vantage Point essay from Australia Institute Press. Use the code ‘FOOLME’ on a four-edition Vantage Point subscription to receive a free copy of Richard’s book, Econobabble.

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

Is This Peak Hot-Weather Urbanism? (Singapore)

— Publication: Not Just Bikes — Sunday 2nd August 2026

Still Hiding in Plain Sight

— Author: Sarah Kendzior — Sunday 2nd August 2026

Hello readers! There is a $2.99 sale this week on my book Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America. Hiding was published in April 2020 and was a national bestseller. Then multiple entities tried to censor it, either tacitly (as described here) or overtly. Hiding is a history book that covers the rise of Trump and the decline of the US from the late 1970s to 2019. It has unfortunately stood the test of time. Written before Epstein’s 2019 arrest and alleged murder, it was the first book to cover Trump, Epstein, and transnational organized crime.

And now it’s on sale! I’m told the eBook deal will last all week. I encourage you to get it while it’s cheap — and legal! I will make almost no money off this sale despite earning out my advance. That’s how book publishing works now. If you’d like to support my work, the best way to do it is through a subscription to my newsletter: