Latest Articles
In the Senate, a very queer notion of free speech
Sep 20 2024
2 mins
Researchers posit an irrefutable link between suspensions and incarceration. A harder look reveals this simply isn't true
Sep 19 2024
14 mins
Used as cudgels in divorce actions, domestic violence orders all too often reward perjurers and ruin innocent lives
Sep 19 2024
36 mins
JCU Digs Itself Into a Deeper Hole
On May 2, 2018, Professor Peter Ridd was sacked by James Cook University over his going public with criticisms regarding the reliability of various claims involving research on the Great Barrier Reef. On April 16, 2019, a court found that all the seventeen findings, eight directions, two censures and final employment termination made by JCU against Professor Ridd were illegal.
A court hearing on July 19, 2019 to determine a remedy is yet to be decided. JCU has indicated they would seek an appeal of the decision against them. In the face of the 28 illegal actions for which they have been found liable, it seems unlikely an appeal would ultimately be successful. It appears more likely to be just a use of the oft practiced legal tactic of using escalating legal costs and years of delays to force a less wealthy opponent to give up and agree to a much-reduced settlement. However, as of 1 July 2019 new legislation that provides enhanced protection for whistle-blowers has come into effect. It includes easier access to compensation and remedies if they suffer detriment following their disclosure.
It would now appear that the longer JCU drags out settlement with Dr. Ridd, the greater the risk of escalating the detriment. Clearly it should be the duty of the JCU Council to intervene and put a stop to this farce.
The very nature of the 28 illegal actions of JCU indicates that these things did not just happen as a result of some impersonal corporate procedure. Personal decision-making and responsibility must have been repeatedly involved. In view of the matters of important public interest with respect to both the Great Barrier Reef as well as academic research more generally, the personal detriment toProfessor Ridd and his family, and the interest of justice itself, a proper investigation of accountability is fully warranted.
The era of a free pass for white-collar crime and malfeasance behind a cloak of corporate anonymity is ending and universities are overdue a closer look.
The bullying of Professor Ridd and the indignities to which he was subjected would be a good place to start.
Academics and others who dare to question the majority view are brutally told the science has been settled. Many such dissenters from catastrophist orthodoxy have lost their jobs, been denied promotion, or subjected to constant harassment and ridicule. This not the way science should be done
Aug 25 2024
3 mins
There's a veritable industry of academics raising alarm about how global warming and a polluted, dying planet will leave humanity and the animal kingdom in such a state that cannibalism will be a matter of survival. I'll spurn schoolyard puns and cheap gags except for one, and that by way of good advice: don't give them a big hand
Aug 09 2024
13 mins
I thought initially that this topic was a bit of fun. But it turns out that entomophagy, as the eating of insects is called, is an essential component of the Western lemmings' race to net-zero. Need it be said that one of the biggest and most enthusiastic lemmings is our very own climate crazies at the CSIRO?
Jul 31 2024
15 mins
