Government
In one of the stranger afternoon Christmas announcements by the Government (see above) late yesterday the office of Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor announced that cruise ships would now be able to visit Christmas Island.
That’s right, the destination for hundreds of asylum seekers can now be accessed in luxury aboard the Pacific Sun Cruise Ship.
Upon receiving this yesterday The Punch had to make sure that it wasn’t a joke. Check out some of these lines in the release:
Continue reading "Visit Christmas Island this Christmas says P&O" »
The evidence that the Rudd Government is more concerned with presentation than substance is building daily.
This week, it had a chance to rebut that argument via a reform entirely consistent with its lofty claim to the genes of the Hawke/Keating governments.
The Productivity Commission had recommended the removal of parallel import restrictions on foreign published books.While this was a relatively minor matter in the larger scheme of things, it was nonetheless, a key test of those reform credentials. It would mean creating losers and taking on a vocal constituency - namely, the cultural/literary elites normally well disposed towards Labor.
Continue reading "The mounting evidence of Rudd’s style over substance" »
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Z says:
@thatmosis, Sorry imm a bit slow but thanks to your comment I have just realized that we have to pay GST on ETS. So the feds have an extra 10% to play with, Is this true? Has this been factored into the budget? Would it be cheaper to shift ppl… Read more »
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Uil says:
ETS is a tax, rudd government wastes tax dollars, so you figure out what kind of damage can be done to australia if krudd is in for 1 more term. Read more »
HERE’S a big question to ponder: in general, has government worked to advance our welfare, or to retard our efforts at advancement?
Not “the government”; not any particular regime in this country, or any other, but “government” – the machinery by which virtually all human society is regulated – in general. Has it been good for us, or bad?
It is, of course, and vast and practically imponderable subject, for government in the general sense is virtually universal, just as it is accepted – again, virtually universally – that all society needs to be ordered, ruled.
Continue reading "Robert McNamara and the arguable value of government" »
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realto says:
The very good documentary ‘Fog of War’ about McNamara’s latter day revelations is on SBS1 this week, Tuesday night I think. Very definitely we will find some evidence in the future that the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Aghanistan were a mistake. The war in Iraq may have… Read more »
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watto says:
Good points formersnag. All we seem to get sold is a delusion of choice & all we get is authoritarian re-packaged Labor versions of John Howards, namely, Rudd, Rees, Rann. An unholy trinity. Like the saying goes, Beware of the Sheep in Sheeps clothing! Read more »
A few days ago, I was part of a group of 6 economists who wrote an open letter arguing for a new Inquiry into the financial system—a so-called “Son of Wallis, Daughter of Campbell.”
Put simply, so much had changed in our understanding of finance, banking and economics and so much ‘on the fly’ policy had been undertaken, that surely stepping back and reviewing our policies above the political fray would be a good idea.
We had hoped that this might get a little media and perhaps push the government into putting an inquiry onto the agenda. Our letter was a long and not particularly reader-friendly affair. But towards the end we asked the following:
Continue reading "Mad furore surrounding the so-called “people’s bank”" »
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Ben Payne says:
Banking is the most influential and least understood industry in society today – we all take money for granted, but few realise how it is controlled and its fundamental principals. Our entire free market, incentivised, profit driven corporate system is completely screwed. Humans are now second class citizens, while the… Read more »
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MikeM says:
As YT alluded to, the Commonwealth used to have a People’s bank; so did the states of NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Two of them collapsed, a third almost did and after privatisation and float, the Commonwealth Bank ended up eventually swallowing the other two. The triggering argument… Read more »
Australians are the biggest per capita users of ecstasy in the world, a statistic no one in their right mind can believe is one to be proud of.
Politicians routinely hatch solutions to the growing degradation of our collective intellect caused by the misuse of amphetamines but they routinely ignore a simple solution to the problem.
That solution will again be put to the nation’s police ministers and the new Federal Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor when they meet in Perth tomorrow. It involves the very simple step of regulating the import of presses used to make ecstasy tablets.
Continue reading "One simple way to take ecstasy pills off the street" »
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Bob says:
That is such a ridiculously naive statement to say that stopping importation of pill presses will stop amphetamine use. As far as Im concerned its the stupid laws created by ignorant fearful people in this country that have made drugs the danger that they are today because it basically just… Read more »
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Joel says:
This is insanity. Do you honestly think that making something like a pill press illegal/illegal to import would destroy the ecstasy market? Dealers would simply start using gel caps, or they would sell hits in powder form to eat or snuff. And aside from all of that Ecstasy is one… Read more »
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