Israel Loses the Plot

It seems that Israel is being goaded by its enemies into losing the plot. Attacking uniformed soldiers in a tank at a military base (and taking prisoners) may be unlawful, foolish, futile and immoral - but it is not terrorism. Call it guerrilla warfare, call it insurgency or cross-border skirmishing but it is qualitatively different from strapping on a bomb-belt and blowing up civilians in a cafe.

Speaking of which, blowing up the only electricity generator, destroying bridges, seizing parliamentarians and threatening to turn off the water on over a million people is collective punishment. No matter how they dress it up, that is what it is and it is unlawful, foolish, futile and immoral. Something has gone wrong with the Israeli leadership, and they need their friends and allies to tell them.

No Dignity in Soccer

With fortune hostaged to the arbitrary and uncontested whims of petty officials (The Age, Opinion, 27/6/06), this is not a game for a free and proud people. Return soccer to the slum-dwellers and peasants who know only the cruel injustice of being ruled by decree.

Pandering to the Gambling Industry

After his spirited defence of the pokies (The Age, 17/6/06), it's clear that Minister Pandazopoulos has been captured by the gambling industry. Since the ALP refuses to act, it seems pandas can thrive in captivity after all!

Family Violence and the Police

The issue of police response to family violence situations - in particular breaches of Apprehended Violence Orders - is fraught and difficult. I don't believe that police are, as a whole, mean, misogynistic, stupid or ill-informed. While individual officers may have archaic attitudes towards family violence and some unwelcome beliefs may be widespread, any review of police responses should be informed by an understanding of why such beliefs persist. For example, criminality that features cycles of abuse and reconciliation, withdrawal of statements, direct intimidation of witnesses in their homes, reluctance to see perpetrators jailed, voluntary relaxation of orders like AVOs, the use of allegations as leverage and having police act as arbitrators in broader relationship disputes is not part of the traditional police experience of dealing with violence and assault.

Certainly, the police will need to change their operations and training to meet these challenges. While we need to be clear that we regard this work as important, demonising police without recognising their perspectives will hardly help them do their jobs better.

Grapes of Wrath

We're very fortunate in Australia to enjoy good quality, affordable wine. As wine drinkers, how are we better off with a "forced" bad season (The Age, 9/6/2006) jacking up prices? As taxpayers, how are we better off with $60 million of public money flowing into the coffers of a few failing wine producing businesses? This sort of price-fixing, special pleading and corporate welfare plays well to the agrarian socialists in the Coalition's ranks. But not to market-savvy chardonnay socialists in the big cities. Regardless of ideology, gouging us on wine prices is simply barbarism.

Discrimination and Ticket Scalping

What a pity that Ross Gittins' excellent economics tutorial on willingness to pay, price discrimination and arbitrage (The Age, 7/6/2006) didn't extend to the problem of ticket scalping. As Sam Graves explains (Letters, The Age, 7/6/2006) it's just common business sense: buy cheap, sell dear. There's no problem with some people willing to pay an awful lot for the tickets, while others are less so inclined. The problem lies with Cricket Australia (more-or-less) insisting on offering all tickets at the average price, thereby guaranteeing a supply of under-valued tickets and unmet demand at the higher end of the curve. This potential for profit creates a market.

If Cricket Australia wants to engage in price-averaging, the obvious answer is for them to act like the monopoly provider they are: that is, run the auction (instead of eBay) and ensure the maximum price is extracted for each ticket so that they capture the surplus. Cricket Australia can then set about redistributing this bounty to their "family" as they see fit, without money leaking out to Pommy uni students or online auction houses.

Daylight In State Politics

I have to disagree with John Roskam (The Age, 2/6/2005) and side with the punters: state politics is indeed "parochial, narrow and overwhelmingly boring". This is not because "service delivery" isn't important. It's because there is precious little daylight between the parties. Regardless of the government-of-the-day, we're going to have VicRoads running planning and development policy (cheered on by the RACV), bureaucratic funny-buggers over hospital waiting lists, cash bribes for voters, the tail wagging the dog in education, ineptness and cruel indifference in DHS, decreasing transparency and innovative and convoluted strategies for funneling public money to the Macquarie Bank and its ilk.

The Opposition needs to open a crack and let daylight in, starting with the pokies. Not just tinkering at the edges, but wholesale reform along the lines of the pre-paid smartcards proposed by Linda Hancock (The Age, 1/6/2006). Brumby's already said no - how about it, Mr Baillieu?

Religious Instruction in Schools

Phil Bell (Letters, The Age, 1/6/2006) argues that we shouldn't get too worked up about religious instruction since the values taught are about being "responsible, caring and positive contributors to our society". Teachers "provide a variety of moral stances" and besides, students will "construct their own meaning and moral attitudes" anyway.

While this flavour of tame religious instruction may be found in some of the older establishment schools, it is sadly in the minority. The truth is that religious fundamentalism - whether Christian, Muslim or Jewish - is on the rise and every single one of these principles is explicitly rejected or under attack.

So I trust I can count on the support of Phil Bell (and others from his camp) when I call upon the government to effectively monitor - and crack down on where needed - the enforced, uncritical indoctrination of uncaring and negative attitudes, presented without alternative viewpoints.