For a country of just 21 million, Australia has a huge impact on the global ecosphere and there is much we could and should be doing to address that. Unfortunately, our government has been a standard bearer for the “business as usual” lobby - preferring to deny, delay and dodge any movement to address the issues. 

If the 2007 election is about Australia’s future, then science is a major blank spot on the campaign maps of both sides of politics.

Tackling climate change is like ending slavery. Climate change threatens to wreck the lives of hundreds of millions of the world's poorest, least powerful people.

A comprehensive eradication program to rid Macquarie Island of rabbits, rats and mice is being delayed by a dispute between the Tasmanian and Federal governments over who will foot the bill.

Pirate fishing and poor management are threatening to crash fish stocks in the Asia-Pacific region over the coming 10-20 years.

We must assure ourselves that the National Water Initiative deals with real problems and needs, that its objectives can be secured, and that the whole approach is continually reviewed in the light of experience and feedback.

Australia’s food security is under threat if we end the moratorium on GM crops.

Sir Nicholas Stern has told us that Australia needs to set a target of at least a 60 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on 1990 levels by 2050. That target has to apply to the transport sector where, according to the Allen report a few years ago, Australia was on track towards a 67 per cent increase in emissions by 2050.

How many people who are fat 'choose' to be so, and if the number is high, why do all the diet companies do so well?

If nothing is done to curb aviation emissions, we won’t be able to meet the targets that are necessary to deal with global warming.

Geoscience is the main discipline underpinning the current $100bn resources boom and the economic growth flowing from it. Geoscience is therefore a strategically vital discipline for Australia.

Those opposed to GM crops grasp at any argument to deny our farmers the freedom to choose.

Distorted economics, coupled with ideologically driven decision making, is threatening Australia's natural heritage, according to the CEO of the CRC for Australian Weed Management.

Carbon trading experts have commended an Australian government report that discusses future policies for greenhouse gas reductions.

The apparent failure of the latest Australian government's tender for market-based water recovery is a stark warning that like oil, politics and good water policy don’t mix according to Professor Quentin Grafton, an environmental and resource economist at The Australian National University.