Economy
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JOHN AUSTEN. Road spending incurs billion dollar new debts annually – nobody notices (Repost from 27 June 2016)
It’s traditional that election time in Canberra brings out the road lobbies who ask for ‘all that extra cash’ which governments raise from fuel excise to be ‘put back into our roads’. The problem is that the facts no longer bear this out. Australia is spending more on roads than it collects from fuel excise Continue reading »
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Big business influence wanes as public rejects ‘bizonomics’
In this article in the Fairfax media on 24 July 2017, ROSS GITTINS refers to the debate in Pearls and irritations about neoliberal economics. John Menadue The collapse of the “neoliberal consensus” is as apparent in Oz as it is in Trump’s America and Brexitting Britain, but our big-business people are taking a while to Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE: Privatisation is costing consumers and damaging economic reform. (Repost from 26 July 2016)
‘Privatisation is costing consumers and damaging economic reform’ said Rod Sims, the Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, recently. He added ‘Poorly regulated privatisations are driving up prices and have little to do with economic reform … this situation is getting worse and as the main concern of governments with privation is maximising Continue reading »
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JIM COOMBS : Bean Counters Stand Up and Be Counted
Budget problems arise for governments who don”t control spending. Where are their financial advisers when gross overspending takes place. No business could survive the profligacy of our government’s spending. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. The litany of failed privatisations. (Repost from 20 March 2017)
Ideologues ,the self interested bankers and accountants and lawyers still persist with their fixation with privatisation despite the fact that it is failing in one area after another and the electorate shows very clearly that it does not want it. Continue reading »
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GEOFF DAVIES. The chasm between the society we are offered and the fair go we want
There is widely perceived to be a gap between our stumbling political system and the wishes of the Australian people. However those who look a little deeper into our Australian hearts see not just a gap but a yawning chasm. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. Why Blame Neo-Liberal Economics: A Response
My previous article on Why Blame Neo-Liberal Economics, which argued that neo-liberal economics was not a main cause of increasing inequality, drew an unusually large and mostly critical response. While it is not feasible to respond to all the detailed points that my many critics have raised, in this response I propose to focus on Continue reading »
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Road reform, bureaucracy-style: no economic benefit, higher prices for users and an easier ride for unaccountable agencies
From time to time our newspapers pen articles about road reform. They raise the need for spending to be more efficient and less guided by the electoral pork-barrel and for more value to be visible to motorists. The call for efficiency is particularly understandable as tax revenue become scarcer: the Westconnex motorway project in Sydney 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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JOHN AUSTEN. Does Infrastructure Australia understand its ideas for public transport franchising?
A recent report by Infrastructure Australia recommends franchising state public transport services, with Commonwealth incentives for so doing. It claimed that this would realise around $16 bn of financial savings, which could be spent on infrastructure. The report assumed there to be inherent but undisclosed inefficiencies in state government services, without providing evidence of such Continue reading »
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CHARLES LIVINGSTON. Victorian pokies “reforms” may impose big costs on population
The Victorian Government has announced that it will extend existing poker machine licences until 2042, freezing the total number of machines available in pubs and clubs at 27,342 (there are another 2,658 at Crown Casino). The Minister made much of this in her announcement, lauding this as a ‘harm minimisation’ measure. Yet these ‘reforms’ may Continue reading »
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JOHN QUIGGIN. Governments are buying up where the market has failed. Is this the end of privatisation?
Australian governments are back in business. Every couple of months, it seems, we hear of a new venture into public ownership of business enterprises, or an expansion of existing enterprises. Most recently, Victoria’s Labor government has announced the purchase of a sawmill in Gippsland to stave off the threat of closure. Last year the South Continue reading »
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MICHAEL WEST. Goldman Sachs & News Corp tax tricks as Canberra claims battle won
Peering at the local accounts of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Goldman Sachs … is the government’s claim to have sorted multinational tax avoidance correct? As they gaze down from their glass eyries, partners of the Big Four accounting firms must be chuckling. Continue reading »
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TIM COLEBATCH. One census, three stories
In the broad picture, the 2016 census has confirmed things we already knew about ourselves. But burrow down into the detail, and you’ll find much that will surprise you. Continue reading »
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GILES PARKINSON. Garnaut: CET may be useless without higher emission targets
Leading economist professor Ross Garnaut says the clean energy target recommended by the Finkel Review could be useless in meeting current emission reduction targets, because technology change and coal retirements will get us there in any case. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. The Belt and Road Initiative and Australian Foreign Policy: A Golden Opportunity
The Australian Cabinet recently turned down an opportunity to join the world’s greatest infrastructure project. The rhetoric and the approach disclose much about how Australia is failing to adjust to the realities of the 21st Century. Continue reading »
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TONY MAHER. Energy future debate needs to put people first
Without bipartisan support for the key planks of energy policy, we will continue to have electricity shortages, higher than necessary prices and investment decisions being made by governments based on populism. Workers shouldn’t be used as a pawn in a political game by politicians. Workers should be centre stage – changes to the energy system Continue reading »
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Moral hazard in modern democratic politics
While all Western democracies accept the need for social safety nets, conservative governments point to moral hazard to justify less generous public provisions, while progressive parties prioritize more assistance to the needy over additional minor inconvenience to the better off Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LONG. Reserve Bank boss Philip Lowe urges workers to push for pay rises
It wasn’t quite Karl Marx, but, for a central bank boss, it was heady stuff: The Reserve Bank governor, no less, exhorting workers to demand higher pay rises. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. Why Blame Neo-Liberal Economics?
The claim is frequently made that neo-liberal economic policies are responsible for an increase in inequality. However, no supporting analysis is ever offered to sustain such claims; the obvious reason being because they reflect the author’s imagination and prejudices. 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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BISHOP VINCENT LONG. Fashioning a more equitable and participatory society
On 16 June 2017 Bishop Vincent Long spoke at the Sydney launch of Race Mathews’ book Of Labour and Liberty: Distributism in Victoria 1891-1966. This is a transcript of his speech, in which he suggests Whitlam would have been appalled to see how governments internationally have allowed neoliberal economics to undermine social equity today, with Continue reading »
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BRIAN TOOHEY. Building submarines in SA simply sinks Australian dollars
Despite claims to the contrary by the defence industry minister Christopher Pyne, this sector is not driving growth in the economy or jobs. A defence economics specialist Mark Thompson has debunked these claims in a careful analysis just released by Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Thompson concludes, “If we are going to use defence spending to Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Who can we trust?
In the series “Fairness, Opportunity and Security” last year I drew attention to the pervasive loss of trust in institutions . Essential Research revealed that the six least trusted institutions were: the news media, state parliaments, trade unions, business groups, religious organisations and political parties. The three most trusted institutions were all public: the ABC, Continue reading »
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MICHAEL WALKER. Three strategies unions are considering for their survival
There are three strategies unions, in danger of lsing their relevance, can consider for their survival: Teaming up with other community groups, aligning with particular professions and finding members online. Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Infrastructure misuse and mistakes – the Hume Highway.
The value of infrastructure depends on how well it is used. Australia’s main infrastructure problem is misuse of what we have; a symptom of an absence of sensible policies, advisory failures and lobbying to build monuments to keep the concrete flowing. This article, about the Hume Highway, is the first in a series on this Continue reading »
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JOHN QUIGGIN. The OECD joins the backlash against unfettered globalisation
The OECD, in a recent report, has recognised that globalisation has many dimensions. Its enthusiasm for globalisation is undiminished, but it does acknowledge that the costs of globalisation “have been larger, more localised and more durable than previously thought, and that this is one source of disaffection with globalisation”. In a challenge to conventional wisdom Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. The Finkel Report and Malcolm Turnbull – compromising at the expense of the planet.
It has little if anything to do with the real issues around climate change: it is all about satisfying Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce, George Christensen and Eric Abetz. Continue reading »
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GILES PARKINSON. Finkel decoded: The good, the bad, and the very disappointing
The Finkel Report on the future of the national electricity market falls short of its opportunity to redefine energy markets. It has been focused on trying to find a pathway through the toxic energy politics in Australia, and accommodating the Coalition’s modest climate targets, rather than seizing the moment and outlining what can and should Continue reading »
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DUNCAN MACLAREN. May’s Folly: the Brexit election result
The people who will suffer most from economic meltdown likely to follow from the UK election will be the country’s poorest and most vulnerable as funds dry up for public services, jobs disappear as firms move to the EU and as the UK’s international reputation for sound, stable government that attracts investors plummets. Continue reading »