Economy
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JOHN AUSTEN. Infrastructure summit – reported highlights
Is there such a thing as bad or wasteful infrastructure or is it like motherhood, all noble and good? Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. High speed rail – where to? Competing with airlines or cars?
This article proposes a change in focus for the high speed rail debate. Rather than seeking to compete with airlines, rail should contribute to settlement that eases pressures on capital cities. This change of focus does not require ego stoking thousand kilometre distances at 350kph plus speeds, but trains for comfortable commuting between second tier Continue reading »
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GREG WOOD. FTA’s and Australian democracy and future governance.
Andrew Robb’s response to concerns that Australia’s recent spate of free trade agreements were being negotiated in secret was to claim that trade negotiations have always been conducted that way. That comment contains a splinter of truth but a plank of misinformation. Once, not lately, trade ministers routinely informed Parliament on Australia’s aims, progress, and Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. Broadband: It’s buggered in the bush
Last week’s Broadband for the Bush conference held in the rarefied atmosphere of Brisbane’s State Library revealed just how disillusioned people living in rural, regional and remote Australia have become with the state of their telecommunications services. Chief among the concerns expressed by farmers, welfare agencies, government officials and Indigenous leaders was the limitations of Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. A Royal Commission into banking and the private health insurance industry.
In this election campaign the issue that triggered a double dissolution – restoration of the Australian Building and Construction Commission – has hardly scored a mention. That contrasts with the 1974 double dissolution election, called by the Whitlam Government in response to the Coalition’s use of its Senate power to thwart the government’s most important Continue reading »
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MARK GREGORY. Labor’s NBN plan shows it listened to critics of the current broadband rollout.
Labor’s broadband plan includes few surprises and fulfils Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s commitment to responsibly increase the construction of fibre to the premises (FTTP). At the same time, it would ensure the completion of the National Broadband Network (NBN) is not delayed further. It shifts the focus back to providing Australia with broadband infrastructure that Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. The difference in the economic policies of the major parties.
In the din of distractions about political trivia, many in the media have lost sight of, or fail to understand, fundamental differences in the economic policies of the two main parties. That is their approach to distribution, or redistribution. Although politicians may accuse one another of heartlessness or of ignoring the poor, almost all politicians Continue reading »
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FAZAL RIZVI. Migration Ain’t What It Used to Be
That Asian-Australians are making a substantial contribution to the Australian economy is a fact that can no longer be contested. This contribution is of enormous significance, especially as Australia seeks to become integrated into the regional economy. The issues of how this contribution might be mapped and enhanced are examined in a report released by Continue reading »
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PAUL BUDDE. The more fibre the better.
You can’t turn the clock back and in the case of the NBN that means you can’t undo those parts of the Multi-Technology-Mix (MtM) without immediately destructing billion of dollars. While it is a pity that the original plan – providing fibre-to-the-home to 93% of the population – can’t be continued the next best thing Continue reading »
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WARWICK ELSCHE. Shorten should play to Labor’s strength.
For more than 60 years, since opinion polling became important in shaping election strategies, there has been for the Australian Labor Party one awkward but stubborn consistency. Rightly or wrongly the Australian Electorate, with very isolated and brief exceptions, has always preferred and trusted the non Labor side of politics, the Liberal-National Party Coalition, Continue reading »
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PETER WHITEFORD. Where is social welfare in the election campaign.
The federal government’s largest single ticket spending item – welfare – has failed to rate a mention in the election campaign. It is the $152 billion elephant in the room. It accounts for around 35 per cent of total government spending. And it affects – in one way or another – most Australian adults’ Continue reading »
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ROD TUCKER. How do Labor and the Coalition differ on NBN policy?
As hinted in earlier announcements by Shadow Communications Minister, Jason Clare, Labor’s much-anticipated policy for the National Broadband Network released Monday commits the party – if elected – to move away from the Coalition’s fibre to the node (FTTN) network and transition back to a roll-out of fibre to the premises (FTTP). This was the Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Free Trade Agreements. The Abbott and Turnbull Governments were told but wouldn’t listen. They went further and attacked those who expressed concerns.
The ink was hardly dry on the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) before we learned about labour market exploitation under the agreement. Continue reading »
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PAUL BUDDE. Can we please cut out the political NBN noise?
With all the kafuffle around the NBN it is very difficult for most people to see the big picture in all of this. The issue has been so incredibly politicised that it is almost impossible to cut through all the noise. I will stick to what I believe is at the heart of the Continue reading »
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ANDREW LEIGH. Why the government’s company tax cut is a carnival sideshow.
In the 1890s, Texan cowboy Clark Stanley began marketing a new product at medicine shows. A man who could kill rattlesnakes with his bare hands, Stanley promised people that his rattlesnake extract would bring relief from rheumatism, sprains, swelling, back pain and toothache. It wasn’t until 1917 that Stanley’s operation was finally shut down, with Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN and LUKE FRASER. Urbane transport policy. Part 3 of 3
This article is the third in a series about transport. The first two dealt with topics raised by the Prime Minister; mass transit, 30-minute cities etc and noted some challenges for the Commonwealth.[i] Urbane Transport policy. Part 1 of 3 Urbane transport policy. Part 2 of 3 The articles draw on public information – Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. A jaded slogan: economic plan for jobs and growth.
Malcolm Turnbull’s supporters have been praising him for keeping on his message, which at least has the virtue of simplicity: my government has a national economic plan for jobs and growth. Beauty is truth, truth beauty, and this is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know, as John Keats more elegantly Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR and BERNIE SHEPHERD. Will we really get Gonski?
So the election is in full swing and the word ‘Gonski’ is once more up there in lights. You have to feel a bit sorry for David Gonski. His achievements are indeed stellar but his name has become a proxy for just one: a major review into schools. Actually it has become a proxy for Continue reading »
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Michael Keating[i]. From Deficit to a Balanced Budget
The issue of budget repair has not been addressed adequately in the current election campaign. See below an earlier article by Michael Keating on various revenue and expenditure items that need to be considered. John Menadue A Report by the CEDA Balanced Budget Commission The Committee for Economic Development of Australia, which has a long Continue reading »
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Is this the vocational education and training system we need?
Hearing or reading about vocational education and training (VET) today, we expect it to be another story of rorts and wrongdoings. And it is an horrific story, a story of for-profit private providers accessing public funding and not delivering the education and training students expected. It is a story of a number of private providers Continue reading »
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DAVID PEETZ. The penalty rates time-bomb is ticking.
A looming decision on weekend penalty rates presents problems for both major parties in the lead-up to Australia’s federal election. The Fair Work Commission seems likely to hand down its decision in the controversial case soon after the federal election. Nobody knows what the commission’s decision on penalty rates in the retail and hospitality industries Continue reading »
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JOHN DWYER. Restructuring the governance of health care in Australia. Part 1
Part One. Structural reforms for better health outcomes from a redesigned more cost-effective health care system. The most important pre-election health care initiative has received very little publicity. Labor has committed to establishing a “Healthcare Reform Commission” if elected. While not likely to generate much discussion in one’s local pub it represents an acceptance by Continue reading »
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JOHN DWYER. Restructuring the governance of health care in Australia. Part 2
Part Two. Structural reforms for better health outcomes from a redesigned more cost-effective health care system. There is broad agreement that in the near future our General Practitioners and their teams will earn the majority of their income from capitation payments that will require, for the first time in our Primary Care system, the documentation Continue reading »
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MUNGO McCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull and NBN leaks.
Malcolm Turnbull is all very holy about the independence of the Federal Police following last week’s raid on ALP offices and homes over embarrassing (to him) NBN leaks. Why, the government had absolutely nothing to do with the cops, the Prime Minister asserted virtuously. Bill Shorten should be ashamed of even thinking such a thing. Continue reading »
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FAZAL RIZVI. The benefits to Australia of our Asian diasporas which now constitute over 17% of our population.
That Asian-Australians are making a substantial contribution to the Australian economy is a fact that can no longer be contested. This contribution is of enormous significance, especially as Australia seeks to become integrated into the regional economy. Continue reading »
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IAN VERRENDER. Election 2016: Who would want to inherit this budget mess?
This election isn’t one that anyone would want to win. The global economy is uncertain, our debt is rising, and it seems we’ll be relying on luck rather than management to avoid a recession, writes Ian Verrender. It was hardly the kind of message an incoming Prime Minister would wish to hear. Not long after Continue reading »
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TIM SOUTPHOMMASANE. Bamboo ceiling and race relations.
Many of us have good reason for thinking that the state of our race relations is under challenge. We frequently see stories about people being racially vilified on public transport, and our recent public debates are punctuated by controversies about race. We know racism is a reality in contemporary Australian society. About 20 per cent Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM: Rituals of irrelevance and distraction.
So we have at last reached a marker along the long trek to the election. The Pre-election economic and fiscal outlook (PEFO) was announced at the end of the second week, which is supposed to mean just where we and our political masters see the state of the nation. PEFO was, like all its predecessors, Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM: Tax – in the eye of the beholder.
The dementors of Newscorps couldn’t believe their luck. When the hapless Duncan Storrer rose to ask why rich people were to receive tax cuts while the poor, like himself, did not, the man ticked all the boxes. He was obviously a victim, and presumably a whinger. And he was not only an invited guest of Continue reading »
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JOHN KEANE. Money, Capitalism and the Slow Death of Social Democracy.
In this article, John Keane speaks of the slow death of social democracy but suggests that there may be possibilities that social democracy could embrace Green movements, intellectuals and parties that have common interests. See extracts from article below and link to the full article in The Conversation. Continue reading »