And we're off! Prime Minister John Howard has set the date for the Australian Federal election as November 24th, meaning we're up for a long six-week campaign. With Kevin Rudd leading the PM by between 16 to 18 points (depending on who you read) in recent opinion polls, this election seems the most likely to provide a change of Government since Howard was first elected 11 years ago. Antony Green's usual excellent election guide is up and running here, along with an excellent calculator which shows which seats are up for grabs dependent on a 2 party preferred swing. You might also want to check out the Vote-O-Matic, a fun but entirely disposable quiz which aims to help you decide who you'll vote for. [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 on Oct 13, 2007 - 603 comments

Female koalas indulge in lesbian "sex sessions", rejecting male suitors and attempting to mate with each other, sometimes up to five at a time, according to researchers.
posted by ibmcginty on Feb 26, 2007 - 63 comments

[Newsfilter] Australia's far north has been hit by a tropical cyclone, named Larry, likened by some to have been powerful as Hurricane Katrina, and considered worse than Cyclone Tracy, which virtually wiped Darwin off the face of the map just over 30 years ago.

The ABC has captured some stunning footage which shows the worst affected town of Innisfail both during the storm, and in its aftermath. [Win Broadband, Real Broadband]. [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 on Mar 20, 2006 - 38 comments

Bush administration tries to silence NASA's chief climate expert James Hansen from granting interviews about global warming. Meanwhile, a new study by Australian researchers confirms that global sea levels are rising, and may make island nations like Tuvalu and the Maldives uninhabitable by the end of the century. [via RawStory]
posted by digaman on Jan 28, 2006 - 40 comments