. = V E N T = .

Double Standards on Parks

2008-10-21T11:03:00.001+11:00

The City of Yarra wants to charge personal trainers around $40 an hour to use our parks. Meanwhile, people are welcome to park two tonnes of steel all day in the Yarra Park for a peppercorn fee of $8. In terms of damage to the grounds, exclusion of other uses, maintenance, visual amenity and public safety there's no doubt that half a dozen people in a circle flailing their arms and legs around has far less impact. The Council says it's going after the trainers because they're running a business aimed at getting people fit. But if your business is to get people to scoff pies while watching others exercise, it seems you enjoy steeply discounted mates' rates. If we're going down this path, let's have some fairness and transparency in the Council's cost-recovery model.

"Public Privacy" and Google's Street View

2008-04-10T11:16:00.001+10:00

The Australian Privacy Foundation is attacking Google's new Street View service on the grounds that photos taken in public may invade someone's "public privacy". This is one oxymoron society does not need. If someone is unhappy about his public urination being observed or photographed then surely the answer is for him to abstain. Banning others from looking is silly, wrong, impractical and against community expectations. No one complained about Brendan Fevola's privacy being invaded when he was caught and recorded urinating in a public street. By contrast, people were up in arms when Southbank management tried to ban photography there.

Public spaces are just that: public. Attempts to control what other people see in public amount to privatisation of the public sphere. We have precious few public spaces as it is without poorly thought through notions like "public privacy" eroding them further.

Keep on the Level

2008-03-27T14:40:00.002+11:00

I fear the Victorian Government is about to bullied into doing something rash about level crossings. Grade separation for even a fraction of the state's road and train crossings would cost billions. In any analysis, this is primarily a problem for motorists, not public transport users. Cars and trucks that don't stop at crossings will slam into trains (or into the paths of trains) resulting in death and injury. Motorists who wilfully drive around boom gates and get stranded on tracks face a similar fate.

Taking money away from public transport projects to make it harder for motorists to do this is iniquitous and unfair. Claiming money spent on level crossings as public transport investments is misleading to say the least. Please, if level crossings are to be upgraded, ensure it comes from the roads budget. In light of the $1 billion myki fiasco, Victoria's public transport system simply can't afford any more unwanted projects.

Unexceptional Circumstances

2006-10-25T15:50:00.000+10:00

We can't go on calling it "exceptional circumstances" when billions are spent year after year across half the farms. Instead, it should be the "Real Aussies Preservation Program" and run out of the Heritage Department.

Proximity No Measure For Compassion

2006-10-16T13:06:00.000+10:00

I reject Prime Minister John Howard's assertion that we should show the same "level of compassion" to Australian victims of drought as to victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami. That terrible tragedy in 2004 killed over 200,000 people, leaving a further 1.7 million people displaced. Whole villages were literally wiped off the map. Many of those affected live in extremely poor areas where their governments lack the capacity to support them or help rebuild their lives. Quite simply, the scale, intensity and relief required are of an entirely different character and order of magnitude.

For John Howard to equate that with a few thousand Australian families facing temporary financial hardship is nationalistic and insular. Of course, these citizens will be looked after by our well-resourced governments. But in our global age, the days when physical proximity, skin colour and accent dictate our levels of compassion are long gone.

Media Reform and Public Choice

2006-10-11T15:16:00.000+10:00

The paucity of debate on media reform has thrown up an ugly prospect: local content and diversity are goals only for policy wonks, journalists and National Party backbenchers. The rest of us just doesn't seem to care. Even that famed reader of the public sentiment, Prime Minister Howard, regards this as a "second-order issue".

It's worth remembering that the present regulation is only necessary if you believe that the public, if given its druthers, is unwilling to pay for the diversity and local content it deserves. Maybe Australians just don't wish to pay for more newsrooms and "live and local" radio with increasingly frequent ads and higher subscription fees? Is that not a valid public choice?

It's easy to dismiss the Chicken Littles' concerns as special pleading - journos want more employment opportunities while agrarian socialists want any subsidy, grant, special allowance or political favour going. But if there are real concerns that go beyond ideology or private interests, then we need to hear about them. Monica Attard on Media Watch has gone some way to highlighting problems in regional cities. Let's hear more examples of why diversity and local content are worth the steep price.

Socialise The Losses ...

2006-09-29T15:43:00.000+10:00

Frost-afflicted fruit farmers will share in a $5M government payout (The Age, 29/9/2006), rewarding them for not taking out crop insurance. Does this mean all Victorians can look forward to Bracks underwriting their busineses?

Bailing Out Rural Businesses

2006-09-28T14:30:00.000+10:00

The Age opines that frost-affected stone-fruit farmers took "the sensible, and expensive, precaution of watering the ground" (The Age, 28/9/2006). What about that other sensible precaution - buying crop insurance. Too expensive? Or not taxpayer funded?

Commercial Risks in Agribusiness

2006-09-27T17:36:00.000+10:00

What a study in contrasts. Premier Bracks denies 138 tobacco farmers access to taxpayer largesse on the grounds that the decision to cancel their contract with BATA is "a commercial arrangement" (The Age, 27/9/2006). Meanwhile Federal Agriculture Minister McGauran promises that farmers hit by losses of $70M from frost-affected stone fruit crops are "likely to receive help" (The Age, 27/9/2006).

Frost is a very common event. As such, farmers' losses stem from their reluctance to insure their crops, not the frost itself. Isn't that decision to self-insure a "commercial arrangement" too? Or perhaps they just cannot buy insurance at a price they'd like? This is, after all, how Mr Howard justified the Federal Government bail-out of farmers in Queensland after Cyclone Larry hit their uninsured banana crops. Of course, farmers won't take out insurance when they know the Federal Government will step in and use taxpayer funds to underwrite their businesses.

This social agrarianism is further evinced in the state Nationals' bid for several billion dollars worth of taxbreaks and pork-barrelling under their proposed "Country First Fund". We should demand healthy, happy and prosperous rural communities. This means rural businesses should be viable without taxpayers picking up their insurance bills or letting them shirk their tax obligations. Conservative politicians have let farmers cash in on the rural gerrymander with debilitating long-term consequences.

Having a Spray on Water Reform

2006-09-22T14:47:00.000+10:00

Arrant nonsense and unfair representations are acceptable in scathing sarcasm, as long as the point gets made. Or, at least, it's a funny read. Professor Sharan Beder's ugly spray on water reform (The Age, 21/9/2006) achieves neither. Instead, she makes spurious and unsupported allegations about the calamity that would ensue if market-based reforms were adopted. Could politicians, regulators and consumers tolerate water being "harvested from gutters" (including "syringes and doggy poop"), industrial waste water (with heavy materials) being "poured down the drain" and partially-treated sewage being sold unknowingly to consumers "at five times" the price? These are not just mischievous rhetorical flourishes, but agitprop deliberately designed to spread fear and muddy the debate.

What's really going on? Professor Beder clearly wants to continue the present regime of subsidies to farmers (regardless of how efficiently they use water). She also wants to subsidise poorer households by keeping water artificially cheap for everyone. Market-based reforms will get in the way of those goals. It's fine to support the status quo, but Professor Beder needs to explain how the present system is both socially fairer and more environmentally sustainable. Exploiting fear of change and willfully poisoning public opinion is a disgraceful way to advance her cause.

Doctors' Fatigue Kills

2006-09-14T15:09:00.000+10:00

The suicide of young doctor Chanh Thaow, following a similar case last year with Lachlan McIntyre, is tragic (The Age, 12/9/2006). We need to question the ability of the medical fraternity to deliver necessary reforms for doctor training. Many friends of mine have come through this process, and I'm sure I'm not alone in being gob-smacked at the ridiculous hours they work and the extreme pressure they're placed under. I doubt any other workers would tolerate the treatment afforded to young doctors.

To an outsider, the medical working environment, with its rigid heirarchies and absolute control, seems a throwback to the 19th century. It's like they're trapped in a bubble. Indeed, the arrogant and dismissive reaction of one small part of the system - the College of Surgeons - to outside scrutiny speaks volumes about their capacity to change (The Age, 12/9/2006).

These entrenched attitudes don't just affect doctors' welfare. Last financial year, The Age reported on 122 "sentinel events" (or serious medical errors, 34 resulting in death) in Victoria's hospitals (The Age, 31/5/2006). It's reasonable to attribute at least some of these mistakes to the stress and fatigue borne by young doctors.

For too long the medical fraternity has had carte blanche to regulate itself like no other group in society. It's time to for them to open up.

Water-Saving Tips or Rinse and Spin?

2006-09-01T14:48:00.000+10:00

The Age is to be commended for the handy guide to how Victorians can save water (Focus, The Age, 1/9/2006). Sadly, domestic usage comprises just a few percent of our state's water consumption, with many times more used in irrigation.

In the interests of water-saving, rather than spin, we should have seen "Lobby your MPs to remove wasteful subsidies to farmers, implement market-based measures (such as water trading) to ensure water gets to where it's best used and create incentives for businesses to invest in water-saving infrastructure."

Farmers won't cover their irrigation systems while they're getting artificially cheap water. And Victoria won't become drought-proof by shaving another couple of percent off state consumption.

The ACCC and Compulsory Competition

2006-08-25T14:10:00.000+10:00

Just as well Graeme Samuel and the ACCC are looking out for my interests by blocking the roll out of a fibre-optic network. Telstra's refusal to build it is nothing more than a unreasonable dummy-spit. What business could be unhappy about a couple of bureaucrats with a spreadsheet setting prices for competitor access to its investment? Without the ACCC's steely intervention, Telstra could have tricked me into handing over monopoly rents for a high-speed internet connection!

In this same spirit of competition regulation, I look forward to picking up a cost-controlled Subway sandwich from McDonalds' drive-through network, The Bulletin in next weekend's Age delivery (at government-set prices) and a DVD from the regulator-mandated "Blockbuster Booth" at the back of my local Video-Ezy.

Outsourcing and IT Careers

2006-08-21T12:59:00.000+10:00

It would be a shame if young Australians reading your report on outsourcing/offshoring (The Age, 21/8/2006) concluded that there are no longer careers in IT. On the contrary, when an input to business (like the IT function) gets cheaper, businesses will buy more.

Writing software and monitoring hardware can be done overseas, but the analysis, project management, design, integration and other high-value work will continue to be close to the client, right here. Further, Australia is paid to educate thousands of Indian IT professionals. The global trade in services is not a zero-sum game but an opportunity to bring people together and enrich lives.

Just The Facts, Ma'am

2006-08-17T14:23:00.000+10:00

Of course history requires interpretation! When astronomers are debating (and voting on) a bald fact like the number of planets in the solar system (The Age, 17/8/2007), surely we can handle subjectivity around supposed facts like "Australia was discovered in 1770" or "Australia fought in Vietnam to stop communism".

I doubt that the educated, conservative politicians who push the idea of a "neutral" view of our past are really that naive. More likely, they are seeking political advantage by exploiting suspicion of teachers.

Commercial Tendering of Political Access

2006-08-15T14:35:00.000+10:00

I object to The Age headline "Bracks ministers sold to business leaders for $7500 a head" (The Age, 15/8/2006). This is misleading and unfair - those ministers were rented out at a competitive daily rate, in a transparent commercial transaction. Victoria's taxpayers had every opportunity to submit a rival bid.

AFL And Fair Comment

2006-08-11T11:55:00.000+10:00

If the AFL is so concerned about having its brand "trashed", why doesn't it look at coaches' reluctance - or inability - to sanction players for off-field misbehaviour and criminality?

The Prescription For Medical Marketing

2006-08-07T14:17:00.003+10:00

It's difficult to imagine that repeated, international, multi-billion dollar marketing initiatives routinely fail - yet that is what doctors ask us to believe when they claim immunity to infection from "Big Pharma's" spin. This over-confidence (and unreliable self-diagnosis) is expected, since doctors are experts in human physiology and disease, not business, psychology or the pathology of this insidious strain of advertising.

What's more worrying is the lack of self-awareness or understanding of their own susceptibility. This means that many doctors unwittingly expose themselves to dangerous exposure levels without taking reasonable precautions.

The remedy? Since the contagion is so deeply ingrained, simply cutting it out would jeopardise the entire system. Without surgery, we'll have to fall back on early broad spectrum inoculation for trainee doctors, ongoing monitoring of the population and, if wanton recklessness persists, quarantining the carriers.

Eddie's Performance Management

2006-08-04T13:38:00.000+10:00

Eddie won't be "boning" Chris Tarrant and Ben Johnson; they'll have to play on since they "owe" fans and the club. In other news, Family Feud, Dancing on Ice and Business Sunday will air indefinitely in prime time, since they "owe" viewers and advertisers.

A Vision for Docklands

2006-07-29T14:25:00.000+10:00

In the past, wandering around down at Melbourne's docks would give you an insight into the workings of our entire nation: bails of wool going out and bolts of cloth coming in, along with grains, livestock, manufactured items, fresh produce, all manner of people bustling about. An interface, a place of connection, with commodities shipped in from across the whole world and more heading out, drawn from across the continent.

For our future, we could have a "digital docklands" or "neural hub", where people can likewise wander around and experience our "creative commons" as it unfolds, with live feeds piped in from around Australia. With so much of our content already online - or soon to be - there's no shortage of digital goods in transit to draw on. A place to showcase a modern nation's cultural artefacts, with contributions from the arts (gigs, exhibitions, multimedia installations), academia (lectures and seminars), commerce (presentations and meetings), politics (interviews, hearings and Parliamentary sessions) and, of course, families and individuals (websites, podcasts, blogs and photo galleries).

This would be the challenge for our architects, planners and designers: to provide an accessible physical space in which visitors and residents could navigate this constantly-changing cacophony of audio, video and text. Melbourne's Docklands would be restored as the place where people can experience Australia connecting with the world.

Henry Kaye's Legal Broking Business

2006-07-28T12:50:00.000+10:00

So Henry Kaye wanted to start a legal broking business (The Age, 28/7/2006)? Makes sense. He has a lot of experience with broken laws and making other people broke, resulting in broken marriages and broken lives.

Gambling, Taxes and Fair Bets

2006-07-24T13:15:00.000+10:00

I welcome the Liberals joining the Greens in having a policy of fewer pokies (The Age, 24/7/2006). However, the raw number of machines is not the issue, it's the profitablity of the industry. As long as two or three big businesses (and the state) can make abnormal profits (and taxes) by milking the punters, we'll have inadequate policies to grapple with problem gambling.

That's why I support the introduction of BetFair and its ilk; online, highly-competitive, person-to-person gambling drains the industry of these profits (and taxes). This means the Government will again be able to act in the wider public interest, not just for the gambling companies.

Collective Punishment for Lebs

2006-07-19T14:41:00.000+10:00

Embassy support is reserved for real Aussies. Those Lebanese-Australians didn't seriously think they were going to shirk collective punishment for what they did in Cronulla last year, did they?

Fair's fair, mate.

Grossi Miscarriage of Justice

2006-07-18T13:59:00.000+10:00

A high-profile Melbourne restaurateur got pissed and tried to drive home. He went to court and lost his licence (The Age, 18/7/2006). The Age soft-peddles this crime with whimsy, bonhomie, a sympathetic ear and cute kitchen puns.

Publicists must be up in arms at this journalist's blatant incursion into their profession. Can we assume that The Age editorial staff won't be seeing any bills at Grossi Florentino?

Australian Embassy Under Siege

2006-07-17T14:13:00.000+10:00

Some have criticised Australia's embassy in Lebanon for "pulling out" at the first sign of trouble. Sadly, this is to be expected since Beirut is now extremely hazardous.

So we can surmise that Foreign Minister Downer had either a) credible intelligence that Israel was deliberately targeting the Australian Embassy (unlikely), or b) a well-founded fear that Israel's policy of systematically bombing and shelling anything and everything in Beirut jeopardised our officials (likely).

In which case, why isn't Downer publicly decrying such wanton and reckless destruction as illegal and immoral? Speak up, Mr Downer! If it's unacceptable for Australia's diplomatic corps to be exposed to such risks, then it's unacceptable for the defenceless citizens of Lebanon.

Israel's Moral Calculus

2006-07-14T13:01:00.000+10:00

Any armed conflict demands awful moral calculations, weighing up the death and suffering of combatants and civilians from opposing sides. But not for Israel. They have a simpler approach: non-Israeli's (militant or civilian) count for naught.

We've seen dozens of innocent Palestinian civilians killed as reprisals for two Israeli soldiers and scores of Lebanese civilians killed for eight Israeli soldiers. Millions punished for the crimes of a few. Crucial civil infrastructure wiped out in very poor, damaged countries. Israel has regularly - for years now - shown us it is comfortable killing and maiming a dozen civilians to assassinate one militant.

Why on earth should they be trusted with nuclear weapons?

Ditch The Yarra (Car) Park

2006-07-10T14:16:00.000+10:00

The present state of Yarra Park (sadly, better known as the MCG carpark) is a disgrace. Even with the little rain we've enjoyed, almost a quarter of the ground is bare and churned up by vehicle traffic. With the completion of the MCG redevelopment and the Commonwealth Games long behind us, it seems that the slippery, muddy and deeply rutted surface is now a permanent feature. (If not for the traction afforded by imbedded bourbon cans and beer bottles, it would pose a hazard for pedestrians.)

Clearly, the relative merits of public enjoyment of parklands versus subsidised car parking for footy patrons - who willfully refuse to use either train station - has already been determined. The City of Melbourne should bite the bullet and just pave over the remaining patches of muddy lawn and operate a proper - and profitable - parking service. Artificially cheap parking and useless parkland is the worst of both worlds.

Israel's Terrible Logic

2006-07-06T14:44:00.000+10:00

The Israeli fighter jets over Gaza are not just inducing sonic booms; they're inducing nose-bleeds, panic attacks and miscarriages in the civil population (The Age, 6/7/2006). The logic is supposedly that heavily-pregnant women and young children will rise up and force Palestinian terrorists to stop firing missiles at Israel. That serious Israeli security chiefs would advance such a notion is so fanciful that we can safely dismiss it.

No, far more likely - and sinister - is that this program of collective punishment is designed to pressure the terrorists into giving up out of guilt at what's happening to their fellow Muslims. A strategy based on an appeal to the consciences of psychopathic criminals is designed to show up the complicity of Palestinian civilians - and hence the validity of their continuing punishment.

Israeli politicians must make clear that Israel distinguishes between Palestinian civilians and terrorists; lumping them in together will simply make Israel's defence forces the chief recruiter for Hamas.

Israel Loses the Plot

2006-06-30T13:54:00.000+10:00

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

2006-06-27T14:22:00.000+10:00

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

2006-06-17T13:56:00.000+10:00

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

2006-06-14T15:14:00.000+10:00

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

2006-06-09T14:25:00.000+10:00

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

2006-06-07T16:34:00.000+10:00

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

2006-06-02T14:19:00.000+10:00

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

2006-06-01T14:55:00.000+10:00

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.

Protecting Manufacturing From "Creative Destruction"

2006-05-30T14:06:00.000+10:00

The missing ingredient in Martin Feil's analysis of outsourcing (The Age, 30/5/2006) is workers - all workers, that is. At the risk of being dismissed as a "globalist", I don't see the imperative to be concerned about low-skilled workers in a first-world country at the expense of low-skilled workers in much dire straits in the developing world. The unstated assumptions of protectionists - selfishness, nostalgia, populism, nationalism and mercantilism - are neither persuasive nor attractive to me and many other "globalists".

Constantly changing economic circumstances - including "creative destruction" of comparatively weak enterprises - are inevitable and desirable. While our governments should do more to minimise the fallout through investing in skills, retaining a "sheltered-factory" mindset for workers unsuited to jobs in the service economy is not the answer to our balance-of-trade problems.

Rather than subsidising the local manufacture of shoes and the like, we should be ensuring that political liberalisation and freedom goes hand-in-hand with economic growth in our offshore partners. The whole world benefits from a prosperous and free global community, including workers in advanced economies.

State Must Limit Damage From Religious Education

2006-05-29T14:23:00.000+10:00

Despite her protestations, Education Services Minister Jacinta Allan cannot shirk her responsibilities for education outcomes in this state (The Age, 29/5/2006). Religious educators should not be allowed to impose their values on students without regard to the impacts on the community as a whole. For example, if some children are to receive instruction in school that homosexuality is impure, wrong, sinful and godless, we will see an inevitable rise in youth suicide, homophobia and gay-bashings. Similar teaching practices will see a rise in misogyny and sexism, sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies. All have a fallout much wider than the school community in which they are taught.

It is not acceptable for the Minister to duck these issues and leave it to future governments to pick up the pieces. Religious schools need clear direction that they must operate within the common value systems of the wider community.

Struggle to the Summit

2006-05-24T16:35:00.000+10:00

You don't get to the top of Mt Everest by stopping to help other climbers. Even those found dying under a rock (The Age, 24/5/06). No, it's "eyes on the prize" for Mark Inglis and his party of 40 climbers - and death for Briton David Sharp for making a mistake.

I'm sure the Macquarie Bank would welcome Mr Inglis to their senior executive team, where his "devil take the hindmost" management philosophy will be embraced with gusto.

Mobile Phone Radiation A Boon

2006-05-19T13:24:00.000+10:00

With a degree in communications engineering and a mobile phone tower less than 10m from my backdoor, I'm not at all worried about the current fuss. In fact, I'm grateful for the year-round tan and lower heating bills. The only downside is storing the microwave popcorn in a lead-lined box.

Schools To Duke It Out

2006-05-18T14:35:00.000+10:00

As an outsider to Melbourne's curious private school system, I must confess to a giddy rush of Schadenfreude ("shameful joy") upon hearing of the looming stoush between Scotch College and St Kevin's College over CityLink's expansion (The Age, 18/5/05). Two of Melbourne's most prestigious schools, sectarian differences, powerful Old Boys, a zero-sum game, history repeating ... this has it all.

My only hope is that the matter is not resolved amicably over a glass of port in a walnut-lined backroom on Collins St. Fortunately, reported comments suggest the prospect of the two principals duking it out behind the boat sheds in the time-honoured fashion - with their respective Parents' Committees standing in a circle clapping them on - is tantalisingly close. Game on!

Banana Appeal

2006-05-16T12:24:00.000+10:00

They're not paying $3 per banana in the Phillipines. The Government ban is propping up a few hundred voters in Queensland at the expense of the developing world - and our breakfasts! Let the free market work.

Sperm Donors and Identity

2006-05-15T15:22:00.000+10:00

Yesterday's editorial supports stopping anonymous sperm donation on the grounds that people have a right to know their genetic legacy and that secrets can destroy families (The Age, 15/5/06). This is despite acknowledging that the new policy has seen a drop-off in the number of men willing to donate sperm - inspiring a recent Comedy Festival show (from Matt Black) about sperm scarcity and encouraging the audience to donate sperm (The Age, 25/4/06)!

The implications for an evaporation of the state's sperm donor pool are obvious - and undesirable. When seen in light of research that suggests anywhere from 3% to 30% of children are unknowingly (to them) fathered by an unexpected male (The Age, 29/6/05), surely the principled stance against anonymous donation becomes untenable? Or does The Age support universal, mandatory genetic testing of lineage at 18 on the same grounds as for children of sperm donors? No, the state needs to butt out and leave families to work these things through as they see fit, as they have for millennia.

Medical Marketing Works

2006-05-10T14:15:00.000+10:00

Ruth Brown, of Waverly, believes her GP's extensive training has inoculated him against marketing tactics like a free "plastic pen or a notepad" (The Age, 10/5/05). The reality is that global pharmaceutical companies employ very clever and highly-motivated psychologists to help market their products, spending far more on marketing than R&D. Furthermore, Big Pharma's return to investors is historically amongst the highest of any industry, so they are very effective at their work.

The logical consequence of Ms Brown's view is that these shrewd people are repeatedly throwing away billions of dollars for no good reason. In light of this, perhaps we should accept the alternative view - that doctors (like everyone) underestimate the impact of marketing. Therefore, steps to curtail the intrusion are warranted.

Howard, US and WMD

2006-04-28T14:43:00.000+10:00

My thanks to The Age for reminding us of the quote from Prime Minister John Howard in 1996 after the terrible Port Arthur massacre: "I am determined that large numbers of weapons of mass destruction will be taken out of circulation and that Australia will be a safer place. It's time to bite the bullet and take a stand so Australia does not go down the path of the US with its gun culture." (The Age, 28/4/05)

Inappropriate cliches aside, how refreshing to hear a PM wary of blindly following US folly. Not to mention a PM successfully finding and removing WMDs! What the hell happened? Clearly, his inexperience in foreign affairs was showing. Now, after ten years in the job, the Man of Steel has given us Iraq, the "Free" Trade Agreement and no Kyoto. It's time for some less experienced leadership.

Parental Controls and the Media

2006-04-25T15:21:00.000+10:00

Geez, it's getting tough to be a parent. With all those junk-food ads on telly and porn sites on the internet, it's harder and harder to delegate child-rearing to a trusted grey box in the corner (The Age, 25/04/05)!

Children are neither discerning nor worldly media consumers. Lobbyists believe the answer is a (futile) attempt to render media safe for unsupervised children. Why not just ask parents to supervise their kids' use of media (including judicious use of the mute or "Close Window" buttons)? Parents and kids will get to know each other better, while parental patience will provide a natural brake on screen time. Plus, it's the best way to inform developing young minds about how advertising and consumerism work. This will help contain that modern curse of "pester power". Older children, once successfully "inoculated" against the worst excesses of consumerism, can begin enjoying TV and the web unsupervised.

Our media has to serve the interests of all Australians, including grown-ups. Let's not allow a few vocal, lazy or ill-informed parents in search of a conscience-soothing quick-fix hijack the future of media.

Water Future Soured

2006-04-21T14:00:00.000+10:00

The Bracks Government's water strategy is doubly flawed. Shielding our biggest water users - farmers and industrialists - from the fair market price of water through subsidies encourages profligacy and discourages investment. To compound this, the Government limits its waste compliance regime to domestic users, who use just a few percentage points of our state's water supply. Business users are exempt from these measures and instead opt into a voluntary program (The Age, 21/4/05).

Any strategy that relies on the individual consciences of (often financially desperate) small business people - especially where they can't monitor their competitors' waste and so assume the worst - is headed for disaster. Mr Thwaites, please reconsider and at least signal to business that you are serious about this issue.

Speeding to the Polls

2006-04-11T14:00:00.000+10:00

When scotching free public transport, Bracks pointed out that we'd all vote for free beer too. No doubt Doyle's already talking with the brewers about that - plus new "tolerances" for drink-driving.

Improving the Quality of Residential Tenancy Databases

2006-04-06T14:34:00.000+10:00

The Victorian Law Reform Commission's report on Residential Tenancy Databases (The Age, 6/4/05) concedes that these "blacklists" have an important role to play in reducing risks (and hence prices) in the private rental market. However, they are operated for the short-run benefit of landlords and real estate agents and so tend to accrue "false positives" ie erroneously listing good tenants. This is of concern to the entire community, as these wrongly-excluded tenants will end up taking up space in our public housing system - or face homelessness.

Given the present ineffectiveness of the National Privacy Principle's Data Quality provisions, the VLRC's position is that the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) should take on the role of regulating these lists, approving each addition or modification to the private databases. This is unwieldy, costly and will simply drive underground dodgy practices.

As these private operators are trading in informational goods, a second (unexamined) option is to enforce "merchantable quality" under Section 74D of the Trade Practices Act. While "quality" is subject to judicial interpretation, the law states that if you paid for goods "not fit for purpose", you are entitled to seek redress. Why can't this apply equally to databases?

Market Failure in Child Care

2006-04-05T14:52:00.000+10:00

Congratulations to The Age for presenting a series of informative articles and opinion pieces about our crisis in child-care (The Age, 4/4/05, 5/4/05). Quality journalism is crucial to explain the issues to those of us outside the system.

It's clear that there is an ongoing, systemic "market failure" to meet supply with demand. Frustratingly, none of the reporting pin-points the reasons for this. Why, for example, are cheap child-care places rationed by placing tens of thousands of parents in queues for months or years, rather than the fairer and cheaper solution of different prices? Why aren't new child-care places provided to well-known areas of unmet demand?

Contrast the situation with, say, health clubs and gyms. The market manages to deliver a huge range of service/price/location mixes - why not for child care? What's holding it back? Is there a shortage of staff, onerous government regulations, lack of marginal votes or anti-competitive behaviour? Or is everyone - regulators, parents and operators - simply stalled, waiting for a major policy overhaul?

These "big picture" questions, essential for fixing the mess, are best asked of policy wonks and professional economists. To further public understanding, could The Age please seek their expert comment next time?

Victorian Law Reform

2006-03-31T11:47:00.000+11:00

Attorney-General Rob Hulls has directed the Law Reform Commission to find out why criminal cases linger in our courts for so long (The Age, 29/3/06). It's going to take them two years to report back! I hope Hullsy's sense of humour extends to the deliciously ironic.

Smartcards - Just For The Poor

2006-03-30T12:55:00.000+11:00

There is no inconsistency between the Liberals' policies for the mid-80's Australia Card and the present smartcard (The Age, 30/3/05). The original Australia Card concept would have caught all transactions, including those relating to income and tax, whereas this is all about catching welfare fraud. The Libs understand that their core constituency can only go so far with generous capital gains tax concessions and negative gearing. After that, they need, well, more room to maneuver, and tracking income and tax transactions would stifle financial creativity.

Think I'm being too cynical? Watch as Howard's centerpiece "middle-class welfare" (non-means-tested funding for high-income earners through, for example, the Family Tax Benefit scheme and private health insurance rebates) is exempted from the smartcard proposal. They'll come up with some excuse: it's either too difficult or an invasion of privacy or just plain unnecessary.

The Liberals believe in civil liberties for the tax affairs of the wealthy - and a "tag and release" program for people on the dole.

Bananas - A Bell-Weather for Freedom

2006-03-27T15:42:00.000+11:00

Bananas are a fantastic food - healthy, portable and delicious. They should be enriching the nation's breakfast cereals, custards and smoothies. Instead, we're told that 20 million Australians have to go without for a year as a sop to a few hundred Queensland farmers in marginal seats (Sunday Age, 26/3). What kind of a free-market party dictates to us our basic fruit purchases?

Perhaps the kind that outlaws grown-ups from including a raft of provisions in their commercial agreements. Or the kind that is desperately trying to kick out the only effective liberal in Parliament in favour of an apparatchik. Maybe the kind that cops criticism from right-wing think-tanks for setting up a Stalinist-style command-and-control economy.

It's telling that when the Berlin Wall came down the most popular purchase for the East Berliners, newly-freed from Stalinist control, was the humble banana.

Sugar Farmers Are Happy as Larry

2006-03-22T14:33:00.000+11:00

They say every cloud has a silver lining. One ongoing headache for the Howard Government is finding new and politically-palatable ways of shunting huge chunks of cash over to Queensland's sugar farmers. Remember the half a billion they got after the US Free Trade Agreement? Remember Howard's sneaky ethanol plan? Remember that for more than ten years governments of all stripes have been telling (and paying!) sugar farmers to sell up, modernise or change crops?

Now Howard and his agrarian-socialist coalition partner have found the perfect vehicle in Tropical Cyclone Larry "compensation". The farmers could have bought crop insurance, but were not prepared to pay the fair market price (Business, 22/3/06). Why would they when Howard's on the radio stating that it's an uninsurable risk?

Effectively picking up the insurance tab for Queensland's sugar farmers is just the latest method by which the Coalition shores up their support with taxpayer largesse.

Bullbars in School Safety Zones

2006-03-09T15:43:00.000+11:00

The new road-safety campaign highlights graphically the difference that just 5 km/h can make. What about the gruesome impact of strapping a hundred kilos of steel on the front of vehicles, in the form of unnecessary and selfish bullbars? They turn injuries into fatalities more effectively than 5 km/h. From an economic and engineering point of view, there is no justification for bullbars on urban roads. However, politically, it seems untouchable.

A palatable compromise is to exclude bullbars from School Safety Zones. Not only are motorists used to observing special restrictions on these well-signed areas, but the good sense involved is obvious: little kids, distracted parents and cyclists abound. Surely a bullbar-free pick-up and drop-off for the kids is not too much to ask from those intrepid annual bush-bashers.

Jury Fails to Uphold Family Violence Principles

2006-03-07T15:46:00.000+11:00

In light of a recent jury decision to acquit Claire MacDonald of murdering her husband, the community needs to pause, reflect and affirm the basic principles of justice. The Victorian Law Reform Commission, in its Review of Family Violence Laws (1/3/2006), suggests values such as "ensuring the safety of all people", "preventing family violence" and "promoting non-violence".

It is hard to reconcile these values with the jury's decision in the case of a person setting up, stalking and shooting their spouse from a "sniper's nest". This killing is clearly family violence of the worst degree. Regardless of how awful, abusive, even criminal a person's behaviour was, they have the right to access the courts and not be summarily executed. Suggestions by some that he deserved it or had it coming have the moral force of the view that a woman in a short skirt deserves rape.

I hope this verdict does not encourage others to solve their problems by killing. No one deserves to be gunned down while fixing a car in a paddock, or bashed to death in their sleep for that matter. We must make clear that our community will not tolerate family violence - especially lethal vigilantism.

Tax Reform: Loopholes THEN Cuts

2006-03-06T14:44:00.000+11:00

There's one common thread in all this zeal for tax reform. Whether it's Malcolm Turnbull on the Right, or Bill Shorten on the other Right, reformers argue for paying for tax cuts by closing the loopholes, lurks and dodges available to the super-rich. I'm worried that politicians may - even inadvertently - over-estimate their effectiveness in increasing compliance and reducing avoidance. There's a real risk we'll just end up with more tax cuts for the rich. Let's close these loopholes first, ascertain how much has been saved and then make the cuts that we can afford.

Abbott's Return To Form

2006-03-01T14:23:00.000+11:00

I slept terribly on Monday night, confused by feelings of respect for Tony Abbott after hearing him on Lateline talk up multiculturalism. Thankfully his appalling gaffe in Parliament about the ALP's ethnic groups meant I slept soundly on Tuesday night.

Liberty and Taboos

2006-02-22T15:06:00.000+11:00

David Irving's Austrian jail sentence has justified the Iranian newspaper's disgusting retaliatory competition. Sadly, the free-speech arguments propping up the publishing of those inflammatory Danish cartoons cannot bear the weight of Europe's biggest taboo: denying the reality of the Holocaust. I'm appalled that it's taken a hateful Iranian newspaper to show up the double standards of European law.

This paves the way for anti-Semites to claim that it's mere coincidence that Iran's sworn enemy, the Jews, had to be offended in order to point out this hypocrisy. The Iranians can now claim with a straight face that had the cartoons been published in Texas they would have called for taboo-busting material mocking the faked Moon landings!

Olympic Glory for Internet Spammer

2006-02-17T14:18:00.000+11:00

Our Winter Olympic gold medallist, Dale Begg-Smith, made his fortune through an internet business that delivers spam, viruses, trojans, hijackers and other malware to vulnerable computer users. His website (now taken down) brags about 20 million pop-ups per day. Oh and he also has a business flogging pop-up preventing software!

As someone who has wasted many hours ridding computers of these infestations, is it churlish of me to suggest the IOC Anti-Doping Agency test him for sampling his clients' wares? No blood or urine required: a 30cm ruler would suffice.

CFA and Back Burning

2006-02-14T13:57:00.000+11:00

The CFA is allowed to burn private property without permission, review or compensation (The Age, 11/2/06)? No wonder arsonists and pyromaniacs keep trying to join the service!

AWB and Corporate Donations

2006-02-09T15:02:00.000+11:00

We're right to scoff at AWB executive Charles Stott's impoverished definition of "donations" as requiring a "potential benefit in the future" (The Age, 9/2/06). This is not foremost in most individual's minds when donating. But what about companies? Corporate philanthropy - whether cash donations or staff fence-painting days - provides numerous "soft benefits" such as brand building, community goodwill, team bonding, political lobbying, employee morale and tax concessions. Indeed, it's difficult to reconcile purely altruistic donations with corporations law: directors must maximise shareholder value or risk jail. (Of course, what shareholders do with their dividends on disbursement is up to them.)

In light of this, which publicly listed company can honestly claim to make donations without any possibility whatsoever of "potential benefit in the future"? Perhaps BHP and AWB should be judged by the standards of their peers.

Howard Government Scandal-By-Numbers

2006-02-08T15:25:00.000+11:00

After ten years, I think I've figured out the Howard Government's winning formula for running a scandal. Once the story breaks a new line is adopted each week until the issue peters out: "We didn't know", "We weren't told", "We didn't ask" and "We didn't have to ask". If it's still running after a month, use "The public has moved on".

Sadly, this pattern will continue to work until the electorate understands that "we didn't know" means "we can't run the Government". Ministerial responsibility demands that ministers should not be able to shield themselves with ignorance.

Heffernan Is A Disgrace

2006-02-07T17:16:00.000+11:00

The best way to deal with disgraceful bullies like Bill Heffernan is to stand up to them. I hope Parliament House has bike sheds, so senators can take him around the back and set him straight.

Something Stinks

2006-02-02T15:19:00.000+11:00

Some inner-city property owners - by-and-large a wealthy bunch - have figured out how to get richer: dump their poo in our river (The Age, 2/2/06). Whether their actions are deliberate, negligent or accidental the effect is the same. They're ducking their costs and passing them on to everyone.

Is the State Government going after these law-breakers? No, it can only stand back and sprinkle taxpayer largesse on a few lucky farmers. After all, running down infrastructure and leaving poorer neighbours (and future generations) to pick up the tab on environmental damage has been the winning formula of successive governments at all levels.

This is one case where I'd welcome a little government hypocrisy.

Police Censoring Public Art

2006-01-30T16:36:00.000+11:00

How many complaints about our city's awful billboard advertising do the police need to (illegally) remove them?

Scalping Subsidised Commonwealth Games Tickets

2006-01-24T14:44:00.000+11:00

The anti-scalping laws for Commonwealth Games tickets suggests there is a thriving demand at above face-value prices. Yet the taxpayer subsidy on each ticket is probably between $500 and $800. In other words, laws were passed to stop people paying the fair price of the tickets! Surely this means the State Government - and Chairman Ron Walker - have botched the pricing?

No doubt their defenders would cry "affordability". Well, if they wanted to make the Games affordable for people on low-incomes then means-testing would have targeted these families. But I suspect many families would rather have kept the hundreds of dollars as cash rather than as cheaper tickets. Instead, the Victorian Government has ingeniously put families in the position of having to buy tickets to get their own money back. This bolsters attendance figures, which will be used to justify the whole endeavour. Pyramid marketing scammers would be proud!

Productive Healthcare

2006-01-19T15:16:00.000+11:00

No doubt the Productivity Commission's report into Australia's healthcare will trigger the usual objections by the doctors' union. This is natural, as any union must put its members' interests first. However, I know enough doctors to believe that the vast majority are motivated by a deep-rooted sense of compassion and care. And they are not so naive as to ignore the costs of red tap, bureaucracy, pointless demarcation disputes and bully-boy tactics - often targeting junior doctors in the public hospitals - which they frequently encounter.

I believe Australia's medical fraternity will recognise the AMA's Choong-Siew Yong's remarks (referring to other health professionals as "doctor substitutes") for what they are. I call on doctors to see past their short-term interests and the institutional legacies of their profession; to embrace the contribution other healthcare workers can make; to honestly examine the report's recommendations and work to put the health outcomes of Australians first.

The Industry Assistance Scam

2006-01-13T16:44:00.000+11:00

Kraft (and others) must be grateful for our gullible politicians. Who else would use our taxes to buy jobs - with investors pocketing a hefty margin?

VicRoads and the Segway

2006-01-12T23:15:00.000+11:00

Hardly surprising that an omnipotent VicRoads seeks to bully Victoria Police over Segways - this safe, affordable, eco-friendly and humanised transport doesn't require glorious freeways!

Abortion Minimisation Through Cruelty

2006-01-09T14:45:00.000+11:00

Warren Truss' remarks that medical abortions should be disallowed as "the easy way out" (The Age, 9/1/06) implies women should instead have to endure the relative trauma of surgical abortion. The unspoken rationale behind this cruel misogyny is that those dirty sluts need to be cut and made to bleed for their sins. What a disgrace from a supposed Christian!

The Value of Heritage

2006-01-08T16:02:00.000+11:00

The essential work of heritage groups - controlling other people's stuff without actually buying it - can only have legitimacy if based on the broadest community support. Tom Harley, chairman of the Australian Heritage Council, implicitly acknowledges this when he justifies his group's activities by citing research that "92% of Australians value heritage as a core part of national identity".

I'm concerned that a tiny, cosy clique of well-connected and monied people are poorly placed to determine the community's interests. There is a real danger that these self-appointed guardians' values will be out of kilter with the broader community, resulting in waste, delays, corruption and other harms.

So rather than relying on bland motherhood statements about values, heritage lobbyists should get us to put our money where their mouth is. If they can't purchase and preserve particular assets through tin rattling and fund raising, then surely this is the fairest and most transparent signal from the community that we regard the property's heritage to be of little value?

What stronger claim to broad community support could there be than Australians ponying up to preserve the heritage that matters most to us?

The Wisdom of Packer

2006-01-04T15:26:00.000+11:00

Kerry Packer minmised tax because governments "are not spending it that well that we should be donating extra." So, which wise and prudent investor will spend his billions instead? *cough* One.Tel *cough*

Sydney's Shock Jocks

2005-12-20T17:20:00.000+11:00

I can't decide which is more shocking: broadcasters spewing hatred for money, or Sydney-siders listening to them for entertainment.

Sydney's Rioting Bogans

2005-12-15T13:59:00.000+11:00

I can't help thinking that last weekend's ugliness in Sydney would have been avoided if RU486 were available 25 years ago.

Internet Nanny versus Obesity Champion

2005-12-13T16:39:00.000+11:00

It sounds easy enough: Tasmanian Senator Guy Barnett persuades fellow Coalition MPs of the necessity of building a populist yet costly and ineffective virtual moat around Australia. To protect unsupervised kids from the evils of the Net, of course.

But this means going head to head against the ideology of Health Minister Tony Abbott, the man whose passion for individual parental
responsibility is legendary, for whom the answer to odious children's advertising is for parents to simply to turn off the telly and who denies that governments should interfere with the marketplace selling a legal product. So could Senator Barnett lobby Cabinet to roll Tony Abbott on the question of parents fobbing their responsibilities onto the state? Fat chance.

Perspectives on Singapore's Hanging

2005-12-09T14:01:00.000+11:00

With a week past since Singapore's execution of Van Nguyen, I'd like to clear the air about some remarks I made to His Excellency, High Commissioner Joseph Koh, in the heat of the moment. Just because Singaporeans understand citizenship differently to people in democracies doesn't mean they don't value it. It's probably just a coincidence that founder Lee Kuan Yew's son was made PM-for-life (after his dad's 30-year rule) while his other children control public life. For all I know, Singaporeans enjoy the clarity that comes with having just two opposition party members in their Parliament. And the government may well employ a light touch as sole media proprietor, only stepping in to prevent confusing ideas about civil liberties spreading. So I was unfair to suggest that Singaporeans' lack of revulsion at the State killing citizens stems from ingrained obedience to one-family rule.

Arts Degrees and the Peacock's Tail

2005-12-02T15:51:00.000+11:00

The single best thing for liberal arts and humanities in Australia's universities is for wealthy Asian businessmen to be convinced of the high status of their offspring earning a BA.

You see, any old middle-class family can cobble together the few bucks required to send their son off to become an accountant or pharmacist. But, as the British aristocracy and American industrialists will tell you, it takes serious wealth to send your daughter (or even better, eldest son!) to university to study something entirely useless. Since there's no pay-off or return on investment, it's the ultimate signal of immense financial security.

"He's going to be an optometrist, you say? Good salaries I hear. Our Hsien Hsien is off studying anthropology and Ancient Hebrew - totally useless for a job, of course. But what's a doting father to do? Luckily, our factory is doing especially well ..."

Howard Locks in 2006

2005-12-01T14:57:00.000+11:00

Anyone who doubts John Howard's mastery of politics and tenacity to hang on would be well-advised to consider his reaction to next year's handover. By hurling his party off a precipice in the polls he ensures Costello won't even want the job - at least for another 12 months. Now we find that he forced Costello to appoint a tax-dodger to the Reserve Bank (House on the Hill, 1/12/05). What amazing forethought and discipline for Howard to bury this "sleeper" nearly three years ago, timed brilliantly to "go off" just months ahead of any leadership challenge. By souring the prize and crippling his rival, Howard has locked in 2006. He really is the consummate political animal.

Coalition's Agrarian Socialism

2005-11-24T14:25:00.000+11:00

So the fishing industry needs to be bailed out with taxpayer largesse (The Age, 24/11/05), causing prices to rise because it's "the law of supply and demand". But if those laws aren't working presently, I fail to see how doling out hundreds of millions of dollars of our money will make them kick in.

Why doesn't the industry raise cash by levying all those Tuna Barons and Abalone Earls who, in effect, just won a lottery? Or maybe, given the recent bumper crop (The Age, 24/11/05), the wheat farmers could return their massive free hand-outs to fund the bail out? Let's ask the astute business minds of the "re-trained" Queensland sugar farmers for ideas!

I detect the fishy odour of National Party agrarianism: "privatise the profits, socialise the losses".

Singapore Government Means Business

2005-11-22T14:20:00.000+11:00

Punishing shareholders for the actions of their Government is usually morally fraught - who would want to see BHP smacked down because of Australia's foreign policy?

By a great co-incidence, the Singapore Government that sets the death penalty is also the majority proprietor of a number of businesses, such as Optus (63%), Singapore Airlines (57%) and SP AusNet (100%). This introduces enormous moral clarity to the situation, allowing meanginful, direct consumer action to take place without unwelcome side effects.

Interested consumers can find out the moral culpability (as a percentage) of businesses at this website: http://www.temasekholdings.com.sg/, under "Our Investments".

Hanging is Singapore's Shame

2005-11-18T14:45:00.000+11:00

I defy any member of humanity to support executions after reading that atrocious bureaucratic letter urging Mrs Nguyen to make her son's funeral arrangements. Singapore's rulers have blood on their hands.

Hubris from Coalition Ministers

2005-11-16T16:29:00.000+11:00

After winning the Senate majority, Howard counselled against the perception of hubris. So the emergence of Soviet-style "political cadres" second-guessing government officials does not look good. Education Minister Brendan Nelson uses them to personally review thousands of ARC research funding decisions. In a similar vein, Health Minister Tony Abbott's office exercises absolute discretion with the abortion pill RU486.

In both cases, established arms-length processes are over-ridden by ambitious ideologically-driven politicians pandering to their political base as part of a protracted leadership contest. This might help them in the short-term, but voters eventually tire of arrogant ministers who prioritise pet peeves over the public interest.

Taking the Piss?

2005-11-14T16:03:00.000+11:00

Taking the piss is an established and effective weapon against all forms of extremism. Brack's doesn't want it banned as sedition - he'll just ban it as vilification instead!

The French (Cultural) Connection

2005-11-09T13:32:00.000+11:00

Chunky gold chains, ghetto-chic brands, immaculate goatees and pimped-out rides blaring Snoop and Dre - those French "radical Islamists" are more Ali G than Osama bin Laden.

Double Standards for Medical Guilds

2005-11-08T15:10:00.000+11:00

While Howard and Andrews are sticking it to blue-collar labour with their dodgy IR reforms, it's a different story for professionals. Famed union-busters Abbott and Costello are rolling over for the pharmacists' union on supermarkets (The Age, 8/11/05) after dismissing Productivity Commission recommendations at the behest of the doctors' union. Will the pair get their teeth back - or has the dentists' union got to them too?

Public Transport's Divine Comedy

2005-11-07T14:58:00.000+11:00

While I'm blessed to live in public transport Heaven - just a few minutes walk to Jolimont and Richmond stations and three tram routes - I frequently travel to the Other Place (Monash University at Clayton). En route I suffer the cruel torments of delays, cancellations, mis-connecting buses and crowded, airless carriages. The Brumby/Batchleor Government has squandering our taxes on corporate welfare, novelty train stations and bogus "fast" rail. But we cannot ignore the role of comparatively low ticket prices in our infernal network.

How many other commuters would also gladly pay extra for improved service? Just think of it as buying indulgences to avoid the Purgatory of the Jolimont railyards!

BetFair is Good News for Probity

2005-11-04T15:01:00.000+11:00

Those of us who believe that gambling has been a net loser for this state should welcome the introduction of UK gambling outfit BetFair. With their much lower margins and higher returns to punters, BetFair will drive down the profitability of Victorian gambling. Not only will this help wean our government off taxes, it will reduce incentives for collusion, lobbying, secret deals and other "rent-seeking" rife in the industry. Minister Pandazopolous' spurious arguments about the integrity of football matches and his churlish threats highlight just how captured by the big incumbents our politicians have become.

I'm more worried about "fixing" between politicians and industry groups than any horse race. By squeezing out profits, BetFair will increase the probity of this dubious duopoly.

Civil Liberty Erosion for Aspirationals

2005-11-03T11:59:00.000+11:00

So the erosion of civil liberties in Howard's anti-terror laws isn't getting traction with the aspirational voters. Let's try this: suppose the word around your outer-suburban development is that you had the pool built with black money. The tax office gets wind of it and, lacking enough evidence to charge you in court, simply jacks up your mortgage interest rate by 5%. You have no rights of appeal and if you whinge to Neil Mitchell or John Laws about it, they'll take away your right to commercial telly so you'll have to watch the ABC and SBS. Terrified yet?

Public Transport Shame

2005-10-27T15:03:00.000+10:00

How about shame-based ads for our public transport operators and regulators? A red-faced mandarin in a chauffeured limo passes a broken down overloaded tram: "Do you keep your bonus if we get out and push?"

Do You Keep Your Bonus If We Get Out and Push?

6:30pm on Monday, 21st of November, 2005.

(Image Courtesy of The Age)

Fear About HECS Isn't Helping

2005-10-26T13:59:00.000+10:00

In my frequent encounters with student politicians, I only ever hear one response to the question of paying for academics: tax the rich. Well, guess what! That's exactly what HECS does. Graduates pay a modestly higher rate of tax (typically just a few percent) once they start earning around the average income. If their income falls below the threshold - like when they're backpacking across Asia - the repayments stop. And at no penalty since the loan is (in real terms) interest free.

I worry that young people are frightened out of taking up this great deal because of misinformation about "crippling debt" from well-intentioned politicians and activists scoring political points. Running a scare campaign is no way to effect change in public policy.

Mental Health - More of the Same?

2005-10-24T15:23:00.000+10:00

Professor Patrick McGorry's call for "more of the same, but dearer" in mental health (The Age, 24/10/05) sidesteps an opportunity to step back and critically examine the current approach. By any definition, our model of psychotherapy-drug-hospital is failing the people it is meant to be helping. In order to "focus on best buys" and "prioritise capacity to benefit as a key criterion for investment" we need to ask: are psychiatrists the only answer? Can we improve the efficiency and effectiveness of responses by involving other practitioners and approaches? Do psychologists, nurses and counselors have a role in getting out of the diagnose/medicate loop?

Since these questions might break the medical fraternity's stranglehold on the prescription pad and Medicare rebate forms, it is unlikely they will be asked. Psychiatry has had over a hundred years of unfettered control - now we need to hear from other voices.

The Core of Intelligent Design

2005-10-21T15:55:00.000+10:00

We should not be too quick to dismiss Intelligent Design as "unscientific" (The Age, 21/10). At its core, ID claims that the complexity of the natural world absolutely requires an intelligent designer - not just that one is convenient or even plausible. In other words, ID states that it's impossible to explain life without introducing supernatural beings (aliens, ghosts or gods). In much the same way that earlier scholars insisted on the existence of phlogiston or the ether, this proposition is falsifiable and hence (in the Popperian sense) scientific.

So IDers have tried finding impossibility with the mammalian eye. They've tried it with winged flight. They've even tried with consciousness and language. In all cases, naturalistic explanations exist (even if unproven), falsifying the IDers claim to necessity.

Absent an example of something "too complex" - such as a giant black obelisk on the far side of the Moon (Arthur C. Clarke) - I'm comfortable sticking with natural explanations.

Productivity and Ideology

2005-10-19T16:17:00.000+10:00

As a card-carrying economic rationalist, I've been confused by Howard's claim that dropping the price of labour will increase productivity. How could the output per unit of input (ie each hour of labour) increase when you're just making people work longer for a lower hourly rate? Where's the incentive to invest in proven productivity-boosters like training and technology?

Then Tony Jones, on Lateline last week, quoted John Howard as saying that owners should be able to run their capital investments 24/7, 365 days a year without penalty. That's when the penny dropped: I was thinking like a worker (or economist), not a capitalist.

To an ideologically-driven right-wing politician, the unit of input is a dollar invested, not an hour worked. So, yes, Howard's plan to deliver continuous cheap labour to owners could increase the total output per investment, as the mills and call-centres work night and day. But that's chasing profits at the workers' expense, not lifting productivity!

We need to do more to challenge Howard about the real goals of his reforms.

Time For Australia's Viking King

2005-10-17T14:34:00.000+10:00

Now is the time to cut over to the Danish monarchy. With no constitutional impediments, a decent, down-to-earth, middle-class royalty and an Aussie blood line, we'd finally get royal barracking during The Ashes!

Fresh Approach, But Still Blaming Men

2005-10-13T14:45:00.000+10:00

I welcome Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward's fresh look at some of the issues that plague society (The Age, 13/10/05). When women engage in personally destructive behaviour such as starving themselves, choosing bad partners, wasting time and money on appearances or putting career ahead of family, we understand this to be the fault of society (read: men).

But when men engage in personally destructive behaviours such as risk-taking, health neglect or emotional withdrawal, it's not down to society: apparently it's men's innate "masculinity" at fault. So regardless of the social ill, it's men and masculinity to blame!

Illiberal Industrial Relations Reforms

2005-10-11T13:02:00.000+10:00

The proposal to retrospectively ban unfair dismissal agreements exposes the Government's real IR agenda. All that small-l liberal rhetoric about individual choices, letting "a thousand agreements bloom" and not getting in the way of the employer/employee relationship comes to nought.

Instead of forcing workers to work weekends and longer hours to make up the cut in their hourly rate, what is Kevin Andrews doing to upskill the workforce? At every opportunity he talks about the labour shortage of 300,000 workers, about how employers are clamouring for better quality employees - how are his policies for cheaper labour going to drive productivity? Certainly not through encouraging investments in people!

America's War on Abstract Nouns

2005-10-06T14:50:00.000+10:00

America's penchant for declaring futile Wars on Abstract Nouns (Poverty, Drugs and now Terror) is its way of salving the unbearable hypocrisy of lofty ideals and base actions.

Dawn Fraser and Money For Life

2005-10-05T15:30:00.000+10:00

Dawn Fraser got paid to help a convicted fraudster fleece the elderly. It's a black day when we can't trust paid endorsements for financial services from someone who swam really fast fifty years ago.

Christians Are Not Immune to Extremism

2005-10-04T15:24:00.000+10:00

This is not the time for the ideological smugness shown by Bill Sherriff (Letters, The Age, 4/10/05). Sadly, "Christian beliefs" are entirely compatible with "the cowardly use of hidden bombs". From abortion clinic bombings in the US (Southern Baptists) to the sectarian bombings in Northern Ireland (Catholics and Protestants) to the Phalangists in Lebanon (Maronites), terrorists have been drawn from - and motivated by - all the flavours of Christianity. Indeed, as all religions are susceptible to extremism, it is dangerous and arrogant to claim that any one faith is inoculated against brainwashing.