-
Subscribe to our weekly and daily Pearls and Irritations newsletter!
-
Most viewed recently
- JOHN MENADUE. Tugging our forelock again and again to our dangerous ally. An update
- MUNGO MACCALLUM. Hollow man starts his honeymoon.
- JENNY HOCKING. ‘A tawdry distortion of history: How the Palace airbrushed Sir John Kerr’s Memoirs’
- PETER JOHNSTONE. Archbishop rejects top woman theologian – business as usual.
- MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison prepares for war
-
Recent posts
- PETER WILKINSON. Witness of truth wins justice in Pell appeal 23 August 2019
- NOEL TURNBULL. They did what they were trained to 23 August 2019
- DUNCAN GRAHAM Raising the racist flag 23 August 2019
- JOHN AUSTEN. Infrastructure Australia’s ‘believe it or not’ audit 23 August 2019
- MICHAEL SEAN WINTERS. The Pell verdict: Various shades of justice | National Catholic Reporter 23 August 2019
Categories
- Arts and Reviews (50)
- Defence/Security (952)
- Drug Reform (30)
- Economy (1,296)
- Education (269)
- Environment and climate (560)
- Health (640)
- Housing (99)
- Human Rights (459)
- Indigenous affairs (90)
- Industrial relations (37)
- Infrastructure (211)
- International Affairs (2,151)
- Asia (427)
- Links (10)
- Media (618)
- NBN (84)
- Politics (3,455)
- Refugees, Immigration (673)
- Religion and Faith (685)
- SERIES: Freedom, opportunity and security (60)
- SERIES: Making housing affordable (15)
- Sport (58)
- Technology, start-ups and new media (7)
- Tributes (57)
- Uncategorized (227)
Archives
Recent comments
- J.Donegan on MARK BUCKLEY. Conservatives in Australia
- Anthony Pun on MIKE SCRAFTON. The conversation about China
- Anthony Pun on JOHN MENADUE. From little things, big things grow, but problems can arise.
- Anthony Pun on RALPH REGENVANU. Vanuatu will host the next Pacific Islands Forum. We want to know if Australia really wants a seat at the table (The Guardian, 20 August 2019)
- Klaas Woldring on IAN McAULEY. Tuvalu, climate change and Westminster
Tag Archives: Productivity Commission
IAN MCAULEY. Australia’s finance sector: a bloated overhead?
Rather than capricious and populist measures such as the government’s levy on the big five banks, we need a thorough and far-ranging consideration of the role of the finance sector in our economy. This sector, which should have benefited from … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
Tagged Banking, Finance, Ian McAuley, Productivity Commission
3 Comments
TOM BURTON. Data rights for all.
A proposed new legal right for consumers and businesses to control and access the data created about them is set to be one of the major reforms of this decade. Not everyone is supportive.
Posted in Economy, Media, Politics
Tagged big data, data rights, data sharing, open data, privacy, Productivity Commission, The Mandarin, Tom Burton
Comments Off on TOM BURTON. Data rights for all.
MICHAEL WEST. Australia’s march to corporatocracy.
Confounding the familiar government narrative of reckless spending binges by Labor, the Coalition actually has the record of greater profligacy when it comes to showering billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money on external consultants.
GREG WOOD. The TPP is dead – so scotch ISDS
With the Trans Pacific Partnership’s (TPP) demise, Australia should take the chance to reconsider its approach to international trade negotiations. Certainly we should never again sign an agreement with wide ranging Investor State Dispute Settlement provisions (ISDS) which are definitely … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, International Affairs, Politics
Tagged cigarette plain packaging, Greg Wood, Heather Ridout, Hong Kong, investment protection, Investor State Dispute Settlement provisions, Philip Morris, Productivity Commission, Robert French, TPP, Trans-Pacific partnership
Comments Off on GREG WOOD. The TPP is dead – so scotch ISDS
ANDREW FARRAN. To TPP or not to TPP? – Trade negotiators need to get back to first principles,
If the compounding mess of the global trading ‘system’ is to be overcome, trade negotiators need to get back to first principles.
Posted in International Affairs
Tagged Andrew Farran, Australia/US Free Trade Agreement, Fair trade or free trade, GATT, Productivity Commission, TPP, WHO
Comments Off on ANDREW FARRAN. To TPP or not to TPP? – Trade negotiators need to get back to first principles,
CHRIS BONNOR. Reports on schools: lift the bonnet … and ration the petrol.
A couple of reports out on schools this week are urging policy shifts, but in different directions. The latest offering from the money-doesn’t-matter brigade comes from the Productivity Commission in its draft report Lifting the bonnet on Australia’s schools. … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Politics
Tagged McMorrow, Productivity Commission, school equity, Schools funding
Comments Off on CHRIS BONNOR. Reports on schools: lift the bonnet … and ration the petrol.
Kim Williams. Fair use does not mean free: Copyright recommendations would crush Australian content
As someone who has spent my life running organisations that take risks, invest billions and innovate to provide the best of local and international content to Australian consumers, reading the Productivity Commission’s draft report into our intellectual property arrangements was … Continue reading
Posted in Arts and Reviews, Economy, Media
Tagged copyright, Kim Williams, parallel publishing, Productivity Commission
Comments Off on Kim Williams. Fair use does not mean free: Copyright recommendations would crush Australian content
David Peetz. Productivity in the Construction Industry: Did it surge under the Coalition’s Reforms?
On 7.30 recently the Prime Minister dismissed the Productivity Commission’s findings on productivity growth in the construction industry in favour of those from a small consultancy firm. He used it to support a claim that the previous Coalition government’s legislative … Continue reading
John Menadue. Preferential trade deals – gigantic foundation stones or pebbles?
Malcolm Turnbull has described the TPP as a ‘gigantic foundation stone’ that will deliver ‘more jobs, absolutely’. The World Bank now tells us that the TPP will be more like a pebble than a foundation stone. See following article by … Continue reading
Ray Markey. The myths surrounding penalty rates.
The article below by Professor Ray Markey was posted before the release of the recent Productivity Commission Report on penalty rates. Following the release of the report, Professor Markey commented as follows: ‘The Productivity Commission report presents no new evidence … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
Tagged penalty rate myths, Productivity Commission, Ray Markey
Comments Off on Ray Markey. The myths surrounding penalty rates.
John Duggan. The effect of healthcare privatisation on patient outcomes
Recent actions by the Federal Minister of Health and her predecessors indicate the government’s aim to shift hospital care from the public to the private sector. Associated with this is the developing perception that private hospitals are superior just as … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Politics
Tagged Australian Health Data, efficiency of health systems, John Duggan, Minister for Health, Productivity Commission, profit versus not-for-profit hospitals
Comments Off on John Duggan. The effect of healthcare privatisation on patient outcomes
John Menadue. The government just does not get it on Free Trade Agreements.
I hope readers are not getting tired that I have said many times that the government continues to exaggerate the benefits of bilateral FTAs, most recently with Japan, Korea and China. With so little to show after two wasted years … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, International Affairs, Politics
Tagged AFR, Bill Carmichael, DFAT, Free Trade Agreements, Productivity Commission
Comments Off on John Menadue. The government just does not get it on Free Trade Agreements.
John Menadue. The nonsense about Free Trade Agreements
In his tormented defence of his government’s performance, Tony Abbott highlighted some of his so-called achievements. They included the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Japan, ROK and China. Most of the work in preparation for these agreements had been done … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, International Affairs, Politics
Tagged Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, FTA, Productivity Commission
2 Comments
John Menadue. Health Policy Reform: Part 3 – Principles for reform
In Part 1 of this series I described the areas in our health sector that need reform. In Part 2 I spoke of the obstacles, particularly those imposed by vested interests in the health sector to protect their own interests … Continue reading
John Menadue. Penalty rates and Liberal lobbyists.
There is a campaign underway to cut weekend and holiday penalty rates particularly in the restaurant and hospitality industries. True to form the Australian Financial Review says that weekend penalty rates are a relic of times past. A report leaked … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
Tagged Joe Hockey, John Hart, North Sydney Forum., Penalty rates, Productivity Commission, Restaurant and Catering Australia
Comments Off on John Menadue. Penalty rates and Liberal lobbyists.
John Menadue. The media, our region and the PM’s visit.
The Prime Minister’s visit to Japan, the Republic of Korea and China, highlighted for me the problems of media reporting and understanding our region. I have posted blogs on our media. See April 17, 2013, ‘Media failure: the tale of … Continue reading
The Holden mess gets worse. John Menadue
Yesterday I posted a blog ‘Taunting Holden to Leave’. Let me add to the continuing story of this major stuff-up. The Abbott Government, through Industry Minister Macfarlane asked the Productivity Commission to advise on assistance to the car industry. He … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
Tagged Fringe-benefits-tax-on-executive-cars., Holden, Industry-Minister-Macfarlane, Joe Hockey, Productivity Commission
Comments Off on The Holden mess gets worse. John Menadue
Another misleading story about hospital costs
The head of Ramsey Health told us in the AFR today that the “Productivity Commission report on public and private hospital systems found that the private sector was 30% more efficient” It did not. Last year the CEO of the … Continue reading
Posted in Health
Tagged hospital costs, Productivity Commission, Ramsey Health
Comments Off on Another misleading story about hospital costs