By Philip Siefert

A large organisation can replace upwards of 20,000 round-trip, short-haul flights annually with video meetings, saving 2,200 tons of CO2 from being released into the environment.

For companies to "go green," they need solutions that positively impact the environment without raising costs or sacrificing productivity.

However, to make an impact, we all need to take personal action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The longer we wait the more difficult it is going to be.  The point is to get started doing something now.  So I say, accept that this rebellion is real and realise that the time for taking action on global warming is not tomorrow, not even today, but this very minute.

The key to engaging enterprises in this endeavour is to identify CO2 reduction programs that do not raise costs or sacrifice productivity.  It is possible to be environmentally responsible and stay competitive, without breaking the bank.  Companies must be presented though with workable steps that they can take today to reduce their carbon footprint.

By Divonne Holmes à Court  

We're not doing enough to equip parents with the best information to make parenting a little easier and a little less stressful.

One of the most significant events of Kevin Rudd's term in office so far has been the recent 2020 Summit in Canberra. Over a busy two days, hundreds of people spent time together to discuss the best ideas and solutions for our country's future. Some ideas were smarter than others, but one of the most interesting themes to emerge was around prevention. We're all aware that acting now helps avoiding problems later - the 2020 summit discussed that investing in prevention today has a much better long term payoff than waiting for the problem to occur down the line and then trying to cure it.

But looking ahead to the future is hard and planning for it can be even harder. I only started thinking about the future when I became a parent for the first time.

By Craig Scroggie 

As Web 2.0 technologies and the threat landscape continue to evolve, it's now more important than ever that both private and public sectors join forces.

Last week, I participated in the Over the Horizon Visionary forum which was held as part of National E-security Awareness Week. The forum was attended by a number of industry representatives from across Australia and aimed to promote discussion on the government's future e-security policies. One of the discussion groups at the forum focused on how the public and private sectors can partner to better educate the public on safe Internet practices.

Many in the group, including myself, agree that there needs to be a working partnership between the public and private sector to educate and equip Australian PC users.  By working in collaboration and building a strategy around education, the public and private sector can help make the Internet a positive and safe place to learn, communicate, and socialise.  

By Lindsay Tanner

A ‘one-in', ‘one-out' approach to new Federal legislation requires that a Minister seeking to impose new regulation must try and find offsetting reductions in regulatory burden.

There can be no doubt we're facing turbulent economic times. Our inaugural budget was designed to put downward pressure on inflation as well as delivering on our election commitments and setting the Australian economy up for the longer term. 

We're addressing Australia's future challenges by funding our election commitments to improve productivity through an education revolution and by tackling the infrastructure bottlenecks which are holding our economy back.

As I pointed out last week at the Australian Trucking Convention we're also prepared to tackle the deeper structural issues effecting our capacity to compete on a world stage, and we especially see deregulation as an important a tool for improving Australia's productivity.

By Dr Martyn Wild

Our kids might understand and recite the safety messages we tell them, but this rarely has much impact on their everyday behaviours.

The cybersafety discussion is more important today than it has ever been. Not simply because of the scare stories that are emerging with ever-increasing frequency (only last Thursday [5 June] we witnessed large numbers of Australians, including at least one teacher and a police officer, identified in the worst type of child exploitation). But more so because, (i) children are changing their use of the Internet; and (ii) their parents are evidently not taking responsibility for the implications that arise from that use.

New data arising from studies very recently conducted in the UK and Australia tell us that 57% of parents are not aware how to keep their children safe online, what actions to take to minimise potential adverse impacts on their children's well-being or even what to do at times of crisis.