Australia possesses an advanced digital economy which remains shackled to a media regulation system that belongs to the past century. Our laws reflect an era when media consumption was dominated by the…
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Displaying 7301 - 7325 of 7378 articles
FEDERAL BUDGET 2011: In recent decades, the budget surplus has become a goal in itself and an obsession for governments. In the process, we have lost some perspective on what kind of social and economic…
If pre-budget statements by Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan are an accurate guide, this year’s Federal Budget is shaping up as marking a change in the direction of Commonwealth taxing and spending priorities…
In order to understand why the government has committed itself to a budget surplus, we must distinguish what is known as the structural budget balance from the cyclical budget balance. We also need to…
To understand the political uses of budget surpluses, we need to go back to the early 1980s when Australia and New Zealand governments self-imposed a fiscal straitjacket. They decided that running a surplus…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard returned from her visit to China last month having locked down a series of cooperation agreements between countries - including a $600 million iron ore deal - which many hope…
Without a strong legal foundation, any carbon pricing scheme we come up with will be on shaky ground. And right now, the signs aren’t promising. While we don’t yet have a firm idea of what will be incorporated…
The release of surveys such as the Gallup Global Well-Being Index produce vast column inches of what are fun but largely meaningless articles on how Australians are happier than New Zealanders (they are…
It has been a lousy few weeks for technology companies when it comes to maintaining both the privacy and confidence of their customers. In the last few days, Sony had admitted a recent security breach…
Debate about the controversial practice of mulesing is set to be reignited again with prominent animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announcing a new campaign targeting…
The drastic social and demographic changes of the past few decades have radically changed traditional gender roles within the family structure in Australia. In the process, they have also changed the way…
Economists and physicists may seem like unlikely bedfellows, but then opposites often attract. Their union has recently produced a peculiar baby, a field of research known as “econophysics”. Physicists…
Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz’s suggestion last month that the US dollar could be easily phased out as the de facto universal currency has some merit, but ultimately overlooks the political…
As a Dean at Monash University, I love the Melbourne model of undergraduate education. It is one of the best things to ever happen to Monash University! The University of Melbourne, Monash’s closest competitor…
When it comes to climate change policy, what does the public really want? Politicians, pundits and more than a few academics have claimed they know what’s best for Australia. There have been a handful…
The most important factor determining whether consumers avoid purchasing a product containing palm oil is not how they feel about orangutans, the environment, or anything else for that matter. It’s whether…
For some time, there has been growing disquiet that using GDP to measure our national progress does not capture what is most worthwhile in our lives. In a speech in September last year, former Treasury…
The looming confrontation between Qantas and its pilots, engineers and baggage handlers could easily become Australia’s most dramatic industrial conflict since the waterfront dispute of 1998. But it seems…
So far there have been three Intergenerational Reports by Treasury examining the challenges of an ageing population which have consistently been used to justify new policies to address a potential ageing…
Conflict of interests occur often in corporate life, where multiple interests intersect and where objectivity and professional detachment have been replaced by self-interest and concealment. Often they…
Proposals by Opposition leader Tony Abbott and NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell for greater rigour in evaluating major projects are a step in the right direction when it comes to policy-making on infrastructure…
Calls to establish an Australian Sovereign Wealth Fund have intensified with the world’s biggest bond managers, Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco) calling on the Federal Government to manage for…
A controversial and wide-ranging sex discrimination case against US retailer Walmart is currently wending its way through the country’s highest court. A 10-year-old case, Walmart v Duke, began with legal…
The Productivity Commission’s recent report on Australia’s urban water sector sets out the economic case for reform. One reform they suggest: remove water conservation measures. In Melbourne, most people…
In her paean to the virtues and benefits of paid work, Prime Minister Julia Gillard fails to acknowledge the complex intersections of paid and unpaid work in social and individual well being. Good jobs…