Regional Policy
Forgive me for my sins, but I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for Tony Abbott last week when he was forced to kill stone dead a debate on the development of northern Australia just just hours after the policy was announced.
The man who has rightly been accused of turning negativity into a political artform dipped his toe in the tub of positive ideas and immediately got burnt.
The discussion paper set forward a series of ideas to stimulate growth outside established capital cites, including relocating government departments, defence facilities and investment in agriculture. It also flagged the prospect of tax incentives to attract investment and people.
Continue reading "Call me troppo but I reckon Abbott’s onto something" »
Last week’s default to onshore asylum seeker processing is not a story of government incompetence. It isn’t even a story of partisan gridlock. At its heart this is about of our collective failure to grasp what it means to live in an interconnected world. We are yet to leave our foreign policy training wheels.
My most visceral reaction to this announcement was a feeling that we’ve lost control over our ability to shape events in the national interest. The political stalemate highlights not only the Gillard Government’s current lack of an authentic asylum seeker policy, but also a broader paradigm that suggests our leaders don’t control the big decisions anymore.
But we lost control long before last week. In the 10 years of the Howard Government, there were over 13,000 asylum seeker arrivals; in the course of the Rudd/Gillard Governments, there have been no more than 5,000. The perception of asylum seeker control in the Howard era was just that – a perception of control.
Continue reading "We’re all at sea without a strong regional vision" »
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Hugo Lamb says:
In 20 years I see us looking back on this debate with shame and embarrassment. I see us, collectively, trying to forget that we participated in this as a nation. I see us telling our grandkids “oh no, it wasn’t us!” - in the same way we cleared ourselves of… Read more »
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Tom O'Connor says:
Interesting thoughts. From a resources point of view, Australia has some of the lowest levels of government debt in the world: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/BriefingBook43p/national-debt.htm. Yet we rank in the lowest third in terms of our proportional aid contribution, behind countries like the UK and France, who are in economic trouble. We barely… Read more »
Two weeks ago we were being told by the federal independent MPs that regional Australia had been neglected and was run down after years of not getting back a fair share of the riches it creates for the nation.
Today an alliance of regional towns is out spruiking themselves as alternatives to metropolitan life, by virtue of their great housing, cheaper living costs and an abundance of career and investment opportunities.
They can’t both be right. So which is the real regional Australia?
Continue reading "Would the real regional Australia please stand up" »
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KatherynRichardson27 says:
People in every country get the business loans in different creditors, just because it’s comfortable. Read more »
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rodger says:
It is an ill-thought out re-hash of a 30plus year push for decentralisation; this has been dusted off by a public servant who needs a job or a promotion. It is a gross waste of money I like Orange - Come and walk back 15-20 years. It is the country… Read more »
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