Treasury secretary Ken Henry says there is reason to be sceptical about some of the doomsday predictions sparked by the proposed resources tax changes.

In his annual post-budget address to economists, Dr Henry has argued similar predictions have been made in the past by the mining industry and have not eventuated.

He says some of the commentary around the tax has been confused and incorrect, and he has taken aim at the mining industry's outcry.

"In the last four decades numerous predictions have been made of large scale unemployment and the death of manufacturing, decrying deregulation, decrying tariff cuts and decrying mineral booms," he said.

Google has admitted that for the past three years it has wrongly collected information people have sent over unencrypted wi-fi networks.

The issue came to light after German authorities asked to audit the data the company's Street View cars gathered as they took photos viewed on Google maps.

Google said during a review it found it had "been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open networks".

The admission will increase concerns about potential privacy breaches.

These snippets could include parts of an email, text or photograph or even the website someone may be viewing.

"Well, obviously oppositions have to do two things. First of all, they have to mount an effective critique of the Government and I think we’ve been doing that. Second, they’ve got to present as a credible alternative, they’ve got to convince people that life would be different and better if there was a change and that’s what we’re doing, I hope"

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The US government has demanded immediate clarification from BP over its commitment to pay for costs caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Obama administration said it wanted to be sure BP would honour commitments not to limit payments for damages to a US statutory cap of $75m (£50m).

Meanwhile, BP says oil dispersants applied at the source of the leak on Friday have begun to take effect.

Mississippi has become the third US state to have oil wash up on its coast.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8684912.stm

We need to talk about Kevin. Not the homicidal sociopath of Lionel Shriver's grisly best-selling novel, but the Kevin who, until a few weeks ago, was the most popular prime minister of all time.

The fall has been spectacular. Flying too close to the sun, the wax in the wings melted and Icarus plummeted to earth. So contemporary wisdom would have it.

Yet there is rather more to it than that. In the past 18 months there has been a relentless media campaign to destroy the Rudd government, the most savage onslaught upon a federal Labor administration since the Whitlam years.

from Crikey .....

Guthrie wins out in unfair dismissal case, judge slams Harto & Blunden

Andrew Crook writes:

The New South Wales Government has announced it will block the proposed Bickham coal mine in the Upper Hunter Valley near Scone.

The mine has been strongly opposed by locals in the area, who say their farming activities and horse studs would be adversely affected for little gain.

Premier Kristina Keneally says the project was assessed on its merits and they did not stack up.

She says she will amend government policy to stop similar proposals in the future.

"The Government will not allow the Bickham coal mine proposal to proceed," she said.

Volunteers cleaning a beach in Louisiana

Nobody heard him, the dead man,

But still he lay moaning:

I was much further out than you thought

And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking

And now he's dead

It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,

They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always

(Still the dead one lay moaning)

I was much too far out all my life

And not waving but drowning.

- Stevie Smith

from Crikey .....

Fee gouging: banks may take it up the class (action)

Adam Schwab writes:

from Crikey .....

Ruddquake: That's not a meltdown. This is a meltdown

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

The Federal Government has fended off accusations its plan to get the budget back into the black is banking too heavily on a continuing mining boom and big taxes.

Treasurer Wayne Swan unveiled his "no-frills" 2010-11 budget last night, his pre-election pitch to voters focusing on spending restraint and conservative economic management.

The forecasts paint a vastly different picture for Australia's economic prospects than what was predicted just a year ago and the Government says its strict fiscal controls are a major driver of the improvement.

from Crikey .....

Senator Milne: a few stings in the tail of the boring budget

Greens Senator Christine Milne writes:

In his book, “Heaven + Earth. Global warming: the missing science”, Professor Ian Plimer from the University of Adelaide questions the science of human-induced climate change. A range of Australian scientists respond to the book.

But first a word from Gus.

I find it quite extraordinary that a serious scientist, atheist and sceptic, would use the word "heaven" in the title of his work. It's perverse. Being a miner as well as a professor, Ian Plimer would have massive conflict of interests should he subscribe to the "global warming" theory. Thus he does not.

TONY Abbott is under pressure to justify a claim to primary school students that it was considerably warmer when Jesus was alive than it is today.

The Opposition Leader urged year 5 and 6 students at Trinity Gardens Primary School in Adelaide to be sceptical about the human contribution to climate change, saying it was an open question.

During a question-and-answer session on Friday, Mr Abbott said that it was warmer ''at the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus of Nazareth'' than now.