The big question about the carbon tax is not whether it’s a good or a bad idea in theory. The major issue is whether it makes sense for Australia to implement it at a time of great uncertainty, both in…
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Over the last few weeks, the cost of upheaval in the manufacturing sector has become ever more visible. BlueScope Steel is to shed 1,000 employees while OneSteel has announced the loss of 400 manufacturing…
Welcome to the latest in our In Conversation series, between Opposition Spokesman for Communications and Broadband, Malcolm Turnbull and economist, Professor Joshua Gans. This week, attention has again…
Treasurer Wayne Swan is fond of telling anyone who will listen how much he wants bank customers to “walk down the road and get a better deal”. This sums up the government’s vision for reforming the banking…
On July 19, Doctor Nefario, founder of the Global Bitcoin Stock Exchange, arrived at Seattle airport and was asked if he had enough money to cover his stay in the US. He replied that he did, but that it…
The ban on importing apples from New Zealand was lifted earlier this month, bringing to an end a restriction established in 1921. With this long history of protection from imports, it is not unexpected…
BHP copped a fair amount of flak for a leaked memo which outlined its daunting list of rules about employee behaviours. BHP’s “office environment standard” reportedly includes making staff remove post-it…
Does manufacturing have a future in Australia? This question has now been brought sharply into focus, as industry leaders and unions pressure the Federal Government to consider new measures to safeguard…
Australia’s lagging manufacturing sector faced thorough scrutiny last week, amid calls for more government support for local industries following BlueScope Steel’s $1 billion loss and its decision to sack…
The Federal Government’s new Buy Australian campaign comes amid growing concern that further layoffs will follow the loss of 1000 BlueScope jobs and that the mining boom is crushing manufacturing. But…
“God dammit, Gil,” shouted Bill Gates. “Why are you spending $400 million on this junk? Steve knows nothing about technology. He’s just a kind of super salesman. Virtually everything he thinks and says…
AUSTRALIA 2050 – Making predictions about the future is always good fun. Despite the pretensions of many social futurists who wax lyrical with certainty about what will happen, and how we will work, live…
Some facts about BHP Billiton. Its full year annual profit of $US23.6 billion ($A22.46 billion) is the largest ever for an Australian corporation and is double that of last year’s. It employs close to…
For the second time in its history, Steve Jobs will move away from running the company. If history is any judge, this won’t go well for Apple. But there are lots of reasons to think why history will be…
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy appear to hope their recent Summit will avoid further increasing Euro rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF…
The recently announced $276 million Tasmanian forest agreement agreement sets out to end the war between loggers and conservationists. But the war has been bitter, and forest industry workers have often…
Once upon a time, 30 years ago, when we still thought the steel industry was an endless and bottomless well for economic growth and employment, many of us also believed in industry policy, corporate responsibility…
In recent weeks, while global financial markets threatened to implode, looters rampaged through the streets of London, and the British Prime Minister David Cameron reflected darkly on the dangers of a…
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have announced a plan to impose a financial transactions tax (FTT) for the Eurozone, as part of an effort stem the bloc’s worsening…
Distinctions matter. Maybe lawyers devote more effort than the average citizen to making distinctions, and invest the ones they find with improbable significance, but these are occupational hazards. Even…
Last week’s resounding defeat of two private members bills seeking to end live animal exports demonstrates the myopic vision Australian politicians have for the country’s agricultural industry. This is…
If I were a shareholder in Foster’s, which is facing a hostile takeover bid from global brewer SABMiller, there are three questions that I would ask myself before deciding whether to sell my stake. First…
In a speech in Sydney earlier this week, World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, lent his support to an appreciation of the renminbi (RMB). As has become the norm, this support was couched in terms of an…
For the marketer, as it is for the human being, your greatest strength is always your greatest weakness. Qantas is the quintessential Australian airline – more than an airline, in fact. It has become a…
The stakes are high for today’s Council of Australian Government (COAG) meeting in Canberra, as it decides how to respond to the Productivity Commission’s report into disability care and support in Australia…