Bjorn Lomborg
Hoover Institute fellow Bjorn Lomborg

Damn, Hoover Gracing the Australian Financial Review opinion pages this morning is John Cochrane from the Hoover Institution, attacking climate finance regulation. Extreme weather events may be a problem for people, he argues, but not financial markets, so let’s not get melodramatic. The AFR doesn’t mention that the Hoover Institution is funded by an array of right-wing donors, many of them with a history of fighting climate action, as well as fossil fuel interests like Exxon.

And, look, while we’re filling in some details about the place, the Hoover Institute count among their fellows ageless contrarian climate grifter Bjorn Lomberg and Scottish historian Niall Ferguson, who took time out from arguing there was too much regulation of banks after the financial crisis to warn his readers against believing “Greta Thunberg’s science fiction“. Cochrane himself himself has argued climate change isn’t “the end of the world“.

Get with the Times Due to incredibly strict regulation of broadcasting rights, there’s a long tradition of news outlets having to be creative with their Olympic coverage — from heavy use of still images to simply plonking a reporter near the stadium to describe to viewers an opening ceremony they can’t show.

The New York Times is our favourite so far this year, with its use of a charming little animation to illustrate how Ariarne Titmus’ gold medal race played out.

No word on whether they will create a similiar representation of Titmus’ coach Dean Boxall attempting to thrust himself into the beyond in response to her win.

Preaching in exile So Hillsong pastors and close friends of the Prime Minister Brian and Bobbie Houston are of preaching in Mexico, while most of us can only dream of such freedom of movement. Border Force told the Nine papers it wouldn’t comment on individual cases but “each application was judged on its merits”. But what could those merits possibly be? According to the Government, you can only qualify for “essential overseas travel” if your travel:

is as part of the response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including the provision of aid
is for your business or employer
you are travelling to receive urgent medical treatment that is not available in Australia
you are travelling on compassionate or compelling grounds
you are travelling for urgent or unavoidable personal business
your travel is in the national interest.

It seems the only plausibly applicable exemption is “for your business or employer”, i.e. a business trip. But of course Hillsong isn’t a business, or it would pay tax. Does this count as the provision of aid? Or is this trip supposed to be in the national interest?

Liberated liberals We have noted with some amusement the defection of several high-profile former Liberal party members jumping ship to the party most likely to get elected by accident, the Liberal Democratic party. The libertarians now claim the talents of Campbell Newman, a man who managed to fritter away a monumental landslide victory in a single term, and Ross Cameron, who — and we know this is a big call — has a legitimate claim to the title of weirdest unit in Australian politics.

The turncoats are furious at what has happened in the era of COVID — the Keynesian response of the Morrison and other Liberal governments is destroying their party of liberty and small government. This seems like a slightly delayed realisation. As we’ve long pointed out, the Liberal governments of the last eight years consistently exceeded the previous Labor government in their taxing and spending. It seems weird that it’s the response to a public health crisis that proved to be the last straw.