Writer

Ian McAuley
Ian McAuley is a retired lecturer in public finance at the University of Canberra. He can be contacted at “ian" at the domain “ianmcauley.com” .
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IAN MCAULEY. Dutton’s new super ministry: will it make us safer?
The Government’s proposed “Home Affairs” mega ministry, if it concentrates resources and public attention on Islamic terrorism, could make us less safe from other threats to our public safety. Continue reading »
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IAN MCAULEY. The National Party’s Dämmerung – an awakening for representative democracy?
The National Party represents a declining demographic with values out of step with most Australians. In most democracies it would be sidelined as a fringe group. It holds disproportionate political influence only because we are not facing up to the need to break from our dysfunctional polarised political system. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Australia’s economy: she’ll be right mate – or will she?
A few good economic indicators and Coalition disunity are distracting us from fundamental structural weaknesses in the Australian economy. Continue reading »
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IAN MCAULEY. Comrade Abbott – Comrade who?
It is understandable that members of the Parliamentary Liberal Party are furious with Tony Abbott. But they fail to realise that his behaviour is a manifestation – admittedly a stark one – of traits that are embedded in the Liberal Party. Continue reading »
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IAN MCAULEY. This time, let’s get electricity pricing right
Consumers are understandably annoyed about recent electricity price rises. But that does not mean they would necessarily react negatively to a price rise associated with adoption of the Finkel Report recommendations. People are more likely to accept a price rise serving a public purpose than a price rise flowing through to rent-seekers and paying for Continue reading »
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IAN MCAULEY. Learning from the UK election
There are many local factors explaining the comparative fortunes of Theresa May’s Conservative Party and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in last week’s UK election. Issues around Brexit are unique to the UK, and May’s campaign was inept. But Corbyn’s comparative success, in defiance of the assumptions of the media and self-appointed policy elites, carries a Continue reading »
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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 productivity improvements to reduce its costs, has become an increasingly bloated overhead, whose growth has Continue reading »
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IAN MCAULEY. There’s more to Morrison’s conversion on debt than appears at first sight
There is nothing novel about Treasurer Morrison’s discovery that government debt is all OK provided it’s applied to funding useful assets. But it may be an indication that the government is disillusioned with monetary policy as a means of stabilising the economy, and is moving back to fiscal policy. Continue reading »
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IAN MCAULEY. The budget – still tough on the young
The Commonwealth’s budget has a Keynesian boost for a sluggish economy, and is based on an optimistic, or even heroic, assumption that economic growth will deliver a fiscal surplus within a few years. We have heard similar claims from treasurers, Labor and Coalition, ever since 2009. The Government’s other claim is that it is “fair” Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Doing without private health insurance
Every year the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reports on competition and consumer issues in private health insurance (PHI), and recent reports show increasing consumer dissatisfaction with PHI. Most complaints relate to unexpected charges when claims are made and confusion over terms and conditions. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. The Liberal Party’s French Connection
The political future of Kelly O’Dwyer, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services (presently on maternity leave) is uncertain, as Liberal Party members in her electorate move to disendorse her. On one level this conflict can be seen as the shenanigans of Liberal Party faction wars, but at another level it reveals a deep malaise in Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Capital gains taxes: Keating got it right in 1985
Most commentators on the crisis in housing affordability correctly attribute the problem, in part, to the Howard Government’s decision in 1999 to “halve the taxation of capital gains”. But that was only one aspect of the 1999 change: the other was an end of indexation. The combined effect was to shift investors’ incentives to favour Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Can we please have a more intelligent debate about corporate taxes
The simple explanation behind the Commonwealth’s proposal to cut corporate taxes is in terms of a struggle between the interests of business and of the broader community, but it is also about the Coalition’s determination, under pressure from vested interests, to wind back the economic reforms of the Hawke-Keating Government. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. The National Electricity Market: What happens when economists get involved with electricity
John Menadue has asked me to write about the National Electricity Market – the NEM. I should be qualified to do that: my first degree and my first years of professional work were in electrical engineering and in my later professional work I taught public economics. Who could be better qualified? But let me apologise Continue reading »
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IAN MCAULEY. Warning from Colin Barnett: Privatisation is on the nose
The WA Government’s proposal to privatise Western Power – the government-owned electricity utility – was one of the factors contributing to the extraordinary anti-Liberal swing in Saturday’s Western Australia election. Privatisation of electricity has also been an issue in the eastern states. While the coal lobby and climate change deniers have blamed South Australia’s blackouts Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. South Australia’s Electricity Problems: Jay Weatherill Should Follow The Coalition’s Example
Spare a thought for the people of South Australia. Large parts of Adelaide blacked out for up to 18 hours without notice. Trams stopped in their tracks across busy intersections. A bitter and partisan debate in state parliament about responsibility for the chaos – the electricity supplier, the federal government, other states putting their own Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Pauline Hanson’s youth support
A recent survey has found surprisingly high levels of support for One Nation among young voters in George Christiansen’s electorate in northern Queensland. At first sight this seems incongruous with the Brexit and Trump votes, which showed younger people were more supportive of mainstream parties of the centre-left. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. What lies beyond capitalism?
This a review of Wolfgang Streeck’s book ‘How will capitalism end?’. Communists of the world, relax! Don’t spend your efforts trying to bring down capitalism, because it’s going to bring itself down. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country – Introduction
John Menadue – introduction to Ian McAuley Series. Many have been surprised and even horrified by the Brexit and Trump results. These events are likely to be followed by similar outcomes in elections in other countries this year. Serious issues have been raised – a wave of anti-globalisation, an alleged swing to the right, blaming Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 1 – Who’s been left behind?
In “developed” countries the benefits of 35 years of economic growth have been unevenly distributed. Many people who once had well-paid manufacturing jobs and many who live in the country have fallen behind. While this has been most starkly manifest in the US, it is also happening in Australia. Continue reading »
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Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 2 – The response of those left behind
It would be hasty to attribute the Brexit and Trump votes to a “swing to the right”, or to an ill-informed electorate. The most compelling explanations are in terms of protest votes. People’s anger of electorates has given an opening for political opportunists. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 3 – Globalization takes the rap, unfairly
Globalization has been only one of the developments that has led to widening inequality and social exclusion. Countries that have globalized have also introduced a raft of neoliberal domestic policies, against which people are reacting. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 4 – Issues re-framed
Contrary to some interpretations, the trend in “developed” countries is still towards social and economic liberalism. But there is a strong reaction against the social exclusion that has accompanied liberalization. The economic models that guide public policy are not up to the task of dealing with exclusion. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 5 – How we lost trust in government
We have lost trust in our governments and in mainstream political parties. Politicians, the media and corporate interests have been responsible for alienating governments from the people who elect them, creating fertile ground for populists. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 6 – Who exploited discontent and how
A turning point in Australian political life was the 2013 election when Abbott set about destroying what remained of trust in government and of trust in social and political institutions, including traditions of dispassionate and objective inquiry. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 7 – The left went AWOL
Contrary to right-wing conspiracy theories, there is no significant “anti-business” force in Australia. In fact the left has never been weaker: the traditional unionized left has been weakened by structural change, and the “progressive” left has dealt itself out of contention by abandoning economics. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Brexit, Trump and the Lucky Country 8 – Don’t wait for a “leader”: we need leadership.
We have many hard issues to confront but our present political elites are adept at avoiding them. It’s futile and dangerous to wait for a “leader” who will solve our problems. The task of leadership is one that falls on anyone who has voice. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Holden cars, AWA TVs, Chesty Bonds underwear: Manufacturing and globalisation
Ian McAuley argues that it has not been globalisation and trade that has been the biggest factor displacing jobs in manufacturing. It has been automation. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Opportunity Knocks: The Economics Of A Trump Victory
There’s ever reason to believe Donald Trump policies will hurt Australia. But there’s some important differences and insulation. Trump’s election has energised Australia’s far right. Abbott, Abetz, Bernardi, Canavan, Christiansen and Hanson have all said, in one way or another, that Trump’s victory vindicates their own policies. On the day after the election the Telegraph portrayed Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Mein Drumpf: Hitler, Donald Trump And A Shot Across The Bow For The Left
We’re not sure who first said “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme”, but it’s an apt reminder of the similarities between the forces that have propelled Trump into the US presidency, and the forces that brought Germany’s National Socialists to power in 1933. Trump claims, correctly, to be part of “an incredible and Continue reading »