Infrastructure
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LAURIE PATTON. Labor spells out its NBN rescue plan
Labor’s communications spokesperson, Michelle Rowland, has outlined a very sensible approach to fixing the dud NBN. In fact, should the Coalition retain office it would be well advised to adopt Labor’s plan. Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Fast rail – apologies please from perpetrators.
A recent post said politicians should not ‘bite the bullet’ on high speed rail – but apologise for money wasted; unrealistic expectations fanned; incompetence. It suggested a start with Newcastle – a city dudded by bureaucrats. Better still would be policy that doesn’t just provide fodder for TV satires; instead infrastructure proposals should be examined in Continue reading »
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JACK WATERFORD. Can Thodey, or Shorten, stop bleeding in the public service? (Canberra Times online 30.3.2019)
It was hard to avoid the feeling this week that Terry Moran has a much better take on the problems of modern government and public administration than the review of the public service commissioned by Malcolm Turnbull last year. And Pearls and Irritations is “ Australia’s best website focused on policy issues’ ! Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. Fair trade or exploitation – the ‘warehousing’ of Internet domain names.
auDA – the company managing our Internet domain name registration system – is engaged in a reform program. This follows a review by the communications department which called for major governance changes. auDA has released a discussion paper and has called for public submissions on a range of proposed policy and operational changes. This is being accompanied by a consultation Continue reading »
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MICHAEL WEST, JEFFREY KNAPP. Conflicts of Interest”R”Us: KPMG pursues PwC back into insolvency (Michael West).
The Big Four, the relentless architects of global tax avoidance, have returned to the insolvency business, despite selling out of it 15 years ago because of overweening conflicts of interest. When it became known last year that the bosses of PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG had been getting together for cosy dinners, and given the Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. NSW infrastructure: who is fit to govern?
Readers of Pearls and Irritations may have followed the transport infrastructure fiasco in NSW under conservative governments led first by Mr O’Farrell, then Mr Baird and now by one-time Transport Minister and Treasurer, Ms Berejiklian. Several reports last week put an exclamation mark to the debacle and raised questions about the fitness of either side to Continue reading »
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PATRICIA & DON EDGAR. The Farce Called ‘Community consultation’.
Yarra City Council touts community consultation as part of its resident-friendly credentials. But our recent experience suggests the process is a farce. It demonstrates why public disillusionment with government and a bureaucratic process is at an all time high for transparency is completely lacking. Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. High speed rail – Please don’t bite the bullet.
The Federal Opposition recently got media attention for high speed rail by exhorting Australia to ‘bite the bullet’. Australians should indeed ‘bite the bullet’ on high speed rail – by demanding public apologies for failures: large amounts of public money wasted; false expectations fanned; bureaucratic misbehaviour rewarded and aversion to a reasonable approach urged by Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Some Coalition legacies that a new government must confront
There are several major issues that dominate public life today and require resolution. Those issues are –the growing existential threat of climate change, the dire consequences following the Iraq invasion, tax cuts during the mining boom that result in continuing budget deficits and debt increases, the NBN debacle, hostility to refugees and asylum seekers, and Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. As PM, Bill Shorten could help offer cheaper cars without any cost to the budget
The Australian Motor Industry Federation and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries have successfully lobbied the Australian government to continue restrictions on the imports of second-hand vehicles. We are paying a large price for protecting an industry that no longer exists,our auto manufacturing sector Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. The Liberal and National parties have deserted country people on climate change, NBN and more.
Both the Liberal and National parties are taking a drubbing from country voters. A while back it was New England and Lyne. More recently it has been Indi and Wagga Wagga. Continue reading »
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JOSEPH E STIGLITZ. How Can We Tax Footloose Multinationals? (Project Syndicate)
Apple, Google, Starbucks, and companies like them all claim to be socially responsible, but the first element of social responsibility should be paying your fair share of tax. Instead, globalization has enabled multinationals to encourage a race to the bottom, threatening the revenues that governments need to function properly. Continue reading »
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GARY McLAREN Is an NBN quick fix possible?
The National Broadband Network went from a nation building project to political football after the 2013 election. Is it now too late to save? How much of the billions spent can be salvaged? How much needs to be spent to remedy the fundamental flaws? Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Transport for an incoming NSW Government.
NSW faces an election in March. This note – to help an incoming government – draws on transport matters identified in Pearls etc. It won’t be in the incoming government’s briefs. Never mind – people who matter read Pearls! Continue reading »
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RICHARD DENNISS. Our regulators fail to protect the vulnerable from the greedy. Let’s find out why. ( A repost from 19 September 2018)
Neoliberalism’s best trick was convincing us that ‘empowering’ citizens to shop around would deliver better services at a lower cost. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. We are paying an enormous price to keep Christopher Pyne in Parliament
The Coalition Government ended our car manufacturing industry which had an Effective Rate of Protection of 8%. It employed 200,000 people. We are told by the Government that the void in SA will be filled by building the new French submarines in Adelaide. The won’t. There will be only about 2000 new jobs in SA Continue reading »
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LUKE FRASER. The roads that ate the Australian economy – Part 1 of 2
Australia’s current approach to road spending will soon generate up to $20 billion every year in new public sector debt – making it impossible for any new Commonwealth government to benefit from much-needed tax reform and revenue increases. This also cooks the goose of the road freight sector which Australia’s economy relies upon, while the Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. We are paying to protect an industry that no longer exists.
We see it almost every day in the media; rent-seekers extracting benefits for themselves through political influence and lobbying at the expense of the broader community. It has very little to do with markets. It is about political favours for the powerful. No wonder that more and more people around the world are concluding that Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. WestConnex inquiry report.
The Parliamentary inquiry into WestConnex is the type of thing that should happen before any major infrastructure project starts. However, it let the project off too lightly. Continue reading »
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ROSS GITTINS. Don’t assume more expressways and trains will fix traffic jams. (SMH 1.12.2018)
When Marion Terrill, of the Grattan Institute, set out to find out how much commuting times had worsened in Sydney and Melbourne, she discovered something you’ll find very hard to believe. But it would come as no surprise to transport economists around the world. Continue reading »
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LUKE FRASER. Best of 2018: Canberra has abandoned roads to inflationary spending and policy chaos.
Botched State road projects, toll road fee hikes and congestion grab big headlines and make good sport for critics of State governments. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. The Best of 2018: Sydney Metro: A Forty Billion Dollar Deception?
Like all our big cities, Sydney needs better public transport. The Government’s responsibility is to secure this with the best system, for the best price. But as a minimum, new investments cannot be allowed to threaten the productivity and growth potential of our existing public transport system and its commuters. Sydney Metro Rail is starting Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Public inquiries into NSW infrastructure projects.
The former NSW Opposition Leader proposed a judicial inquiry into WestConnex and Sydney Light Rail. The new Opposition Leader wants public inquiries into major infrastructure projects. The NSW Transport Minister called this a ‘hairbrained idea’ saying projects are already subject to ‘independent oversight’. He is wrong. Continue reading »
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Coalition energy and climate policies hit rock bottom at year’s end
The federal Coalition government has achieved what most would have assumed impossible at the start of 2018: its position on climate and energy policies has worsened and shifted even further to the right. Continue reading »
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TONY SMITH. The unacceptable road toll.
We should not accept that it is inevitable that people will die on our roads. While drivers must behave responsibly, governments need to take actions which might seem radical in a society obsessed with cars. Continue reading »
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LUKE FRASER. Canberra has abandoned roads to inflationary spending and policy chaos
Botched State road projects, toll road fee hikes and congestion grab big headlines and make good sport for critics of State governments. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Newcastle Port – another botched privatisation -A repost from 5 September 2016
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has taken legal action over the terms on which the NSW Coalition Government in 2013 privatised Port Botany and Port Kembla and imposed severe restrictions on Newcastle Port. Our mainstream media has shown scant interest in this episode of ‘crony capitalism’ which lessened competition, disadvantaged the Hunter region and Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LEEDER. Private-public partnerships – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Partnerships between public agencies and private providers demand unusual degrees of vigilance of both parties to ensure that the contract between them explicitly states – in great detail – their individual expectations and accountabilities. Values will differ. The agreement should, if possible, be tested component by component before “going live.” Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. NSW farce rail
NSW Premier Berejiklian says her Government will ‘deliver a fast rail network slashing travel times across the State.’ Work will commence in the next term of Government and won’t wait for the Commonwealth – NSW will go it alone! Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. Time to ditch our dud NBN – beaten by the ‘All Blacks of Broadband’
The contrast could not be any starker. As warnings emerged that Australia’s telcos are seeing their profits squeezed by the end of NBN Co’s short-lived wholesale price discount (with the likelihood that retail prices will rise), across the ditch came word that New Zealanders are about so see their broadband speeds greatly increase while the price Continue reading »
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