For the moment, state and federal governments seem able to focus only on getting the better of COVID-19, the long-term havoc that will be the pandemic's legacy getting short shrift. With what may well be a full-blown depression looming, the urgency to reform education, energy policies, employment, taxation and much more has never been greater

When the plague is done vast bail-out debts will remain. Economies will need to be made, and that should mean a close evaluation of the Reef Salvation Industry, whose primary goal is its own lavishly sinecured survival. Muting those who make it their job to tell the world there is nothing to see but bleaching and destruction would give tourism a huge boost

If we are to avoid stumbling from crisis to catastrophe amid the wreckage the Wuhan virus will bequeath, the time to chart the path not merely to recovery but a revitalised economy is now. Reform isn't an option, it is an absolute necessity

As Peter Ridd argued and a court found, James Cook University is giving science a bad name. Given the burgeoning scandals surrounding various research projects, the same ones that inspired Ridd to raise his voice in protest, isn't it about time Education Minister Dan Tehan bestirred himself?

In other words, endless "threats" that garner research funding, build careers and score headlines. Bowen Reef is one of the alleged victims of hum an depradation, so Peter Ridd, Jennifer Marohasy and I took a closer look. What we found were many, varied and healthy corals, plus evidence of a timeless cycle that sees destruction followed by regrowth and vibrant rejuvenation

When even politicians on the conservative side of politics tug their forelocks before the assembled rent-seekers, profiteers, scam artists and pimps of bogus science lining up for their grants, you know Australia has a bad case of climate derangement syndrome. In comparison with New Zealand, however, we seem almost sane

When Professor Peter Ridd won his sweeping judgment against James Cook University, the immediate word from the university was that it would further drag out the fight with a costly appeal. Who decides to pursue such bloody minded folly and what are their motives? Rather than re-examine the evidence at great expense, it's the university itself which needs a thorough investigation

Peter Ridd's epic battle is far more significant than one man's ultimate victory over an institution which responded to reasoned and civil criticism with bullying and banishment. Yes, the house-cleaning should begin there, but the broom of reform has many more fetid corners of academia in dire need of cleansing

In science especially, uncertainties, conflicting evidence and verification of results need greater attention, while the pseudo-scientific claims of authority and consensus must be recognised and dismissed as irrelevant. Fortunately, the tools are almost at hand to achieve this