It's not looking good for John Howard, with the Coalition continuing to trail in the polls. Howard needs to hold onto 16 marginal seats to remain in office, including his own seat of Bennelong. And it’s not just the polls that are against him. Even the bookies are saying the odds are long on the prospect of a Coalition win, with a one dollar bet paying an average of $4.30 against Kevin Rudd’s mere $1.20. Some voters have taken it upon themselves to personally campaign against Howard. The Wire follows one mans individual protest against Howard, who is the second longest serving conservative PM in Australian history. This story comes with an offensive language warning.

The New South Wales Government has announced that emergency powers granted to police during the Cronulla riots to prevent public disorder will be kept on the books indefinitely. However, these laws will now allow police to exercise emergency powers in private spaces, a move that has raised concerns amongst civil libertarians. Section 6A of the new legislation says that police could potentially declare an emergency zone to cover residential front yards to stop people from congregating and drinking alcohol. The Wire has the report.

Even with many countries complying with the Kyoto Protocol, the globe’s CO2 emissions look set to only be reduced by one percent between 2008 and 2012. But hopes are high that the December meeting in Bali, which will be attended by government officials from around the world, will see the hammering out of a new agreement to combat one of the greatest threats faced by humans. Much disagreement exists about who should be forced to pay or cut the most emissions. Western countries are responsible for the majority of the emissions in the atmosphere, but developing countries like China and India are set to over take The United States in being the largest emitters on the planet. But perhaps the solution lies in a third way, according to Ian McGregor, who is currently completing a doctorate looking at societies’ barriers to ecologically sustainable development at the University of Technology Sydney.

In recent days there has been some sembelance of justice for the five journalists slain at Balibo in 1975 with a coroner's inquest finding that they were not killed in a crossfire but deliberately targeted by the Indonesian army in an effort to cover up evidence of violations in East Timorese territory. However there is no such justice for victims of the Indonesian army's occupation of east Timor and the widespread bloodshed surrounding the 1999 independence referendum which has gone largely unpunished. In an effort to appease the International community, The Commision of Truth and Friendship was set up by the Indonesian and East Timorese government. However the commission has been labelled a whitewash three dozen non government organizations who have called on both governments to scrap the futile innitiative. The Wire has the report.