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. Outdoor advertising – enclosing the commons
The furore over the projection of horse racing on the Sydney Opera House raises not only the issue of the treatment of Louise Herron at the hand of a radio shock jock and her lack of support from the NSW Government, but also the broader issue of appropriation of public space for commercial purposes. Continue reading »
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GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts covered in other media. Continue reading »
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GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts covered in other media. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE & IAN McAULEY: A new “leader”, but no sight of leadership.
The Liberal Party has a new “leader”, but there is still a dearth of the leadership in the Liberal Party, which seems to be unable to deal with hard issues, such as meeting our emissions target and coping with the effects of climate change. And there are much harder problems of economic structure calling for Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. We sympathise with you Malcolm, but you should have read your mail
Re-visiting an open letter sent to Turnbull just after his narrow victory in 2016. And a suggestion how he may go on contributing to the public purpose. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Turnbull’s dead albatross: the National Party –Repost from 21 February 2018
Barnaby Joyce’s downfall has exposed the National Party as an outfit more concerned with dealing with corporate rent-seekers than with attending to the interests of its traditional rural base. It has also exposed Turnbull’s lack of resolve in dealing with deep fissures in the political alliance between the Liberals and the Nationals. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. If we can’t kill the NEG can we at least shape it into something useful?
The National Energy Guarantee can possibly be made to work – to improve the reliability of power supplies, to reduce emissions, and to reduce people’s power bills – but not in its present form. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Don’t rush to endorse the National Energy Guarantee: There’s an election in a few months.
The best outcome for electricity consumers would be for state governments to kill the National Energy Guarantee when the COAG energy council meets on Friday. Having gone nine years without a well-grounded energy policy we can wait a few months until the next election. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. How political opportunism and poor journalism brought us a dumbed-down tax debate.
Neither the politicians nor the media are helping the electorate to understand the issues around corporate taxation. Lowering the corporate tax rate for large companies would do hardly anything for Australian investors, but corporate executives, board members and foreign investors would certainly stand to benefit. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. What’s so sacred about small business?
Flowing from the Financial Services Royal Commission is a stream of stories about the bad behaviour of big business, but is that distracting our attention from the shortcomings of small business? Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Dutton’s extended police powers won’t be confined to airports
Dutton’s proposal to allow police to stop people at random at airports has little if anything to do with community safety, and everything to do with his desire to extend police powers and to help the government in its bid for re-election. Continue reading »
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Ian McAuley: Morrison’s budget: 23.9 is the new 42
Treasurer Morrison has brought down a pre-election budget. While it has little in the way of handouts, it is carefully designed to wedge Shorten between higher taxes and higher deficits, all based on the absurd idea that there is some merit in a tax cap of 23.9 per cent of GDP. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. The BCA needs to study Argentinian history, and some basic economics.
The Business Council of Australia is running a hysterical campaign against trade unions, Getup! and the Labor Party, as if corporate Australia is facing an existential threat. That’s partisan rubbish. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Strong employment growth, until you look behind the figures.
The ABS monthly employment data released last Thursday shows that since the Coalition was elected five years ago the Australian economy has generated one million additional jobs. Does this indicate success of the Coalition’s policies? Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. A warning about “team players”
Bad behaviour by young cricketers in South Africa has unleashed strong reactions, including references to a decay of moral standards in the wider society. It should also prompt us to realise that team loyalty is not an unmitigated virtue. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. South Australia’s election – Xenophon no kingmaker but still a force
At first sight the South Australian election looks like a collapse of Xenophon’s SA Best Party and a stunning victory for the Liberal Party in taking office from Labor. But the reality is a little more complicated: SA Best is still a strong political force, and the Liberal Party’s vote has actually slipped. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Labor’s superannuation changes: clever cosmetics but a failure on equity, public revenue and economics.
There is something wrong when “self-funded” retirees can enjoy a six digit tax-free income, while others who earn their income through their own efforts pay normal rates of income tax. But Labor’s proposals on dividend imputation would sustain that inequity, would compromise public revenue, and would divert Australians’ savings away from high-return quality investments. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Tax reform, not tax cuts
From an unlikely source comes a message that Australia doesn’t need “smaller government”. Rather we need tax reform to ensure we can build a social safety net, and fund world-class health and education. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Has Labor lost its nerve on private health insurance?
In his Press Club address last week Bill Shorten made some unflattering remarks about private health insurance. But every indication is that an incoming Labor government will maintain, or perhaps even strengthen, support for private health insurance. An opportunity to reform health care by phasing out private health insurance and by redirecting its $10 billion Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 8: Choice
Market-based capitalism, we are told, brings us choice. But often “choice” is within a limited range of similar products and services. In the name of supporting markets we can be denied the choice of being able to share services with one another, and the choice of opting out of markets. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 7: Capital
Former Science Minister Barry Jones complained that we tend to think of “capital” in terms of stuff that hurts when we drop it on our toes. It’s too easy to overlook other forms of capital – human capital, social capital, institutional capital and environmental capital. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 6: Jobs
Governments brag about the number of jobs created on their watch. Does our obsession with “jobs” distract us from other ways in which people can contribute to society and share in its bounty? Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 5: Competition
Competition is a means of encouraging innovation and productivity, and bringing those benefits to the community. When it becomes an end in itself, however, it can impose costs on us all. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Private health insurers frighten the ALP-A REPOST from June 2 2017
There was a recent flurry of media excitement about a supposed “secret hospital funding plan”, which turned out to be no more than an option under consideration by a think-tank. But the real (and overlooked) issue in health funding is a high and growing hidden subsidy to private health insurance, where, contrary to traditional political Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 4: Economy and environment
Arguments around climate change and other environmental matters tend to assume some tradeoff between “economic” and “environmental” objectives. But the overriding principle is about making the best use of scarce resources. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 3: Economy and society
Many public debates are framed in terms of compromises or balances between “economic” and “social” objectives. Such ordering is confused: economic policies are meaningless unless they serve social ends. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 2: The role of government
We tend to think of a “left” seeking bigger government and the “right” seeking smaller government. But such a framework can see governments simultaneously neglecting important areas while interfering where they shouldn’t. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Reframing public ideas Part 1: Leadership
Leadership is the hard task of getting communities to make progress on difficult problems requiring adaptive change. It is not to be confused with authority. Beware of the call for a “strong leader”. Continue reading »
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IAN MCAULEY. Reframing public ideas
Our capacity to understand political and economic issues, and to shape better public policy, may be helped if we break out of established but no longer functional ways of looking at public policy – re-framing in other words. Over January I will write eight articles about the way we frame public ideas. They will cover Continue reading »
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IAN MCAULEY. The finance sector: a drag on the real economy
The royal commission into the finance sector is more about detecting “misconduct” in individual institutions than exposing the ways in which the sector has misallocated investment funding and caused other economic distortions. Continue reading »