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NEWS AND VIEWS
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FEDERAL NEWSNo surprise at protection changesMonday, 11 August 2008 - There is no reason for anyone to be surprised that the Labor government is flirting with a more protectionist industry policy than its predecessor. On several occasions during his 10 months as Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd vowed that he did not want to be the leader of a country without a manufacturing industry. Keeping tariffs for motor vehicles will be absolutely consistent with that promise. Worrying about QantasThursday, 31 July 2008 - The politicians should start worrying about the safety problems Qantas is experiencing because if something really terrible happens the mob will start looking at the changes that Governments have made over the last 20 years in the way that civil aviation is administered. more Some bemused smilesFriday, 27 June 2008 - There was much shaking of heads in wonderment throughout federal government departments this morning as public servants got around to reading the new Ministerial Staff Code of Conduct tabled in the Senate by the Special Minister of State John Faulkner. One aspect of the code in particular had the bureaucrats confused: "Acknowledge that ministerial staff do not have the power to direct APS employees in their own right and that APS employees are not subject to their direction." The general attitude in many ministerial offices is to issue orders to departments at an extremely rapid rate demanding that they be attended to immediately as if the ministerial adviser was more important than the departmental head. more Scrap the guardiansWednesday, 4 June 2008 - From memory it was Glaucon who said "Yes, it would be absurd that a guardian should need a guard" when his mate Socrates argued that as drunkenness was most unbefitting for guardians they should therefore stay off the drink. Alas such optimism appears misplaced again as the secret New South Wales Crime Commission reels from the shock of having its senior investigator arrested after an investigation. I'll go for the pessimistic Juvenal version even though the old Roman was talking about women: "I hear all this time the advice of my old friends----keep your women at home, and put them under lock and key. Yes, but who will watch the warders? Wives are crafty and will begin with them. High or low their passions are all the same." There just seems little point in having layer upon layer of anti-corruption bodies all watching the one beneath. When the ones on top are crook corruption still happens and the rights of many ordinary and innocent citizens have been trampled on along the way. Misusing by not usingMonday, 19 May 2008 - Giving members of parliament the right to say what they will within the confines of their parliamentary chambers, without fear of legal retribution, is an important component of our democratic system. This parliamentary privilege developed for just the kind of case which Greens Leader Bob Brown recently has spoken of - where a lobbyist offered him a bribe to vote in a particular fashion. more The best and the brightest - 13 of 14 missed outThursday, 24 April 2008 - Only one of the winners of the nation's most prestigious award for academic research was invited to the Prime Ministerial talkfest. If you wanted evidence that there was something peculiar about the criteria used to decide those most likely to come up with the big ideas to transform our nation then surely this is it. more Winners and losers from tax changesTuesday, 22 April 2008 - It is axiomatic that if Australia really does get the "root and branch" changes to the tax system that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is promising, there will be losers as well as winners. And, such is the way of politics, those that lose from the process will be more likely to express their anger than those that gain will be to demonstrate their gratitude. more Falling housing prices the coming problemMonday, 14 April 2008 - It is not yet John Howard's barbecue stopper but the downward trend in housing prices is getting there. Over the weekend, and again this morning, there were reports of falling prices (see our Pick of the Political Coverage) and this will become Treasurer Wayne Swan's biggest problem over the next few months. more Lack of infrastructure may be helpingThursday, 10 April 2008 - In all the discussion about the need for a greater investment in Australian infrastructure I am yet to see an analysis of what would happen to prices of things like coal and iron ore if the capacity of the nation's railways and ports had been increased to handle all of the current international demand. Presumably if we were shipping out all the tonnages that customers would like and which miners could dig up then the prices obtained would be considerably less. I am sure it will not be long before the Labor Government gives us another committee of enquiry to answer such a basic question. more Housing horror stories will spreadTuesday, 1 April 2008 - Last night it was Four Corners that highlighted the plight of people struggling with their housing mortgages. Soon it will be the turn of programs that ordinary people watch and then the political pain will really begin. more The gravy train keeps rollingTuesday, 27 May 2008 - If basic law and order is not to be a state government responsibility, then what is? A rather basic question you might think but it ignores that wonderful thing called the vote. Federal politicians are happy for their state colleagues to get the anger of the people who do not feel safe but they also love being good fellows at election time. Hence the Rudd Government's Safer Suburbs Plan which allows lots of Labor MPs to make lots of little grants to people they are trying to woo. more How to keep a promiseTuesday, 27 May 2008 - Oh what a wonderful web, as they say. The Labor weavers have come up with a pain free way of honouring an election promise to put 500 more federal police on duty over five years. There will be, explained Commissioner Bill Keelty, before the Senate Estimates committee yesterday, 30 new recruits this year, 30 next year, 40 the year after - which takes us to the next planned election with 100 extra in total - and then, hey presto, as if by magic there will be 200 new police in each of years four and five. What a truly beautiful work of deception but there will be no point, I guess, in calling in the fraud squad. The day the mood will changeWednesday, 5 March 2008 - The first really significant period for the Labor Government is not the first 100 days just gone but the time coming soon when working members of working families receive the next summary of their superannuation wealth. more Australia's Biggest LosersFriday, 29 February 2008 - And the biggest loser is . Jilkminggan in the Lower Top End of the Northern Territory. Preliminary data recently published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics puts the 273 residents of Jilkminggan as being the most disadvantaged in the country. more Tick and flickFriday, 29 February 2008 - Health Minister Nicola Roxon is promising not to tick and flick attempts by private health insurers to increase their premiums but she will surely soon wish she good give just that treatment to the election promise of her boss to end the blame game. The 18 month period which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has set for State Governments to get the public hospital system in order is clearly not going to be long enough. more Faith Based Schools and Social CohesionThursday, 28 February 2008 - The Liberal Party has been quick to seize on a report in the Melbourne Age quoting Professor Barry McGaw', the man heading up the National Curriculum Board, saying "the rapid growth of faith-based schools under the previous federal government has threatened the social cohesion of the nation..." more Praise for ASIOTuesday, 26 February 2008 - The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is continuing to show its worth with the way it is handling within Australia the inevitable tensions between the Serbian and Albanian communities over the declaration of independence by Kosovo and the Australian Government's support for that independence. more Drink Less but Worry MoreMonday, 25 February 2008 - The cue from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that we should be concerned about the evils of drink is being taken up by tabloids with alacrity with the ABC joining in this morning with signs of alacrity. more
Forget the Sham - Follow the Congressional PracticeMonday, 25 February 2008 - The first sitting day of the new Friday sham Parliament was reported as expected - shown and written about as the joke that it was. The colleagues of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who talked him out of having a proper fifth sitting day on the weeks politicians come to the House of Representatives should be hanging their heads in shame. more Watch that hairdresserThursday, February 14, 2008 - Hairdressers, along with farmers, miners and green keepers, will be subject to increased supervision as Australian Governments begin to tighten regulations concerning the use of chemicals that could be used by terrorists. The Federal Government has just released a "Draft Report on the Control of Chemicals of Security Concern" for public comment before decisions on new regulations are made by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). more Peanut butter and the nanny stateMonday, February 11, 2008 - I kid you not. Peanut eaters are about to be forced outside office buildings to eat their forbidden nuts alongside all those desperate smokers as the nanny state reaches ever further into people's lives. more A Sensitive GGMonday, February 11, 2008 - I confess to being a bit of an admirer of our Governor General Michael Jeffery with his dignified style and lack of desire to use his office to try and kid Australians that he should have a role that hopefully for most of the time is strictly ceremonial. Not for him the Sir William Deane approach of trying to influence the public debate and none of the controversy that retired politicians like Bill Hayden and Sir Paul Hasluck naturally brought with them to the job. Yet it is this very attractive and restrained approach to being Australia's head of state that occasionally brings commentators to criticize General Jeffery - like the recent column in the Courier Mail by Mike O'Connor with his description of the GG as a man who having "risen without trace . would easily head any list of least-known Australian public figures, having blended in with the red carpet with such success as to become invisible." more Money for nothingTuesday, February 12, 2008 - The Papua New Guinea Minister for Foreign Affairs Trade and Immigration, the Hon Sam Abal MP is in Australia this week to commence discussions on the future of the Offshore Processing Centre on Manus Island which has not been used to house asylum seekers since May 2004. more One Down, Three to GoWednesday, February 06, 2008 - One down and three to go; Mitsubishi has succumbed to the combination of a rising dollar with cheaper imports and dearer exports, lower tariffs, changes in the taste of motorists and a design that failed to capture the public imagination. We can now expect the remaining GMH, Ford and Toyota to put out their begging bowls to keep motor manufacturing in Australia. more The Perversity of an Interest Rate WeaponTuesday, February 05, 2008 - It always seems a little perverse to me when our system of government forces interest rates up as the weapon of choice to combat inflation. Borrowers suffer and lenders gain which, broadly speaking, is another way of saying that the poorer pay and the richer gain. more A Tasmanian HeritageThursday, January 31, 2008 - Perhaps it's my Tasmanian heritage but I have a natural suspicion of the idea that in matters of government one size fits all. Hence I have reservations about the commitment of the Rudd Labor Government to force through its plans for a national education curriculum. more That Dirty Word RegulationThursday, January 31, 2008 - Regulation is the dirty word that Treasurer Wayne Swan will need to get used to as the world-wide consensus grows that more controls are needed on the free-market ways of banks and other financial institutions. The Wall Street Journal reports that leaders of Europe 's four largest economies have agreed to push for a tougher, more-global way of regulating the world's markets and banks. Led by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the leaders are banking that, by joining together, they will be able to convince the U.S. and others to sign up. The Journal says the Europeans plan to use their agreement reached yesterday on a list of principles and objectives to strong-arm banks to promptly disclose their full losses and credit-ratings agencies to provide better explanations of complex securities. more A Thin Edge of the WedgeMonday, December 31, 2007 - I am a thin edge of the wedge man. I am wary of every intrusion of government in to my life. A little extension of power, no matter how well-meaning, inevitably leads to more of the same. The role of government tends to just keeps on expanding and was surely the origins of that saying about give them an inch and they'll take a mile. A few lines in a story in the Murdoch tabloids this morning thus troubled me more than a little. more More Government Spending NeededTuesday, January 29, 2008 - As Labor's ministerial razor gang plods along with the business of cutting spending to increase the size of Australia 's budget surplus, the head of that very economically conservative body the International Monetary Fund is calling on governments to loosen the purse strings. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the IMF, declared at the weekend that the intensifying credit crunch is so severe that lower interest rates alone will not be enough "to get out of the turmoil we are in". more Learning About Financial DistressWednesday, January 16, 2008 - When Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan popped in yesterday, supposedly for a chat about fighting inflation, perhaps the fellows at the Reserve Bank found a little time to brief them about the conference the Bank held without much publicity just before the calling of last year's election. "The Structure and Resilience of the Financial System" was the theme of the two days of talking at the end of August by a collection of economic and financial luminaries from around the world whose papers were published by the Bank when the election was safely our of the way. more The Owl Indicator Pointed the WayFriday, January 04, 2008 - I hope some of my readers copped the Owl's tip back on 26 December and took the $10 the bookmakers were then offering about Senator John McCain becoming the Republican candidate for the US Presidency. After today's Iowa Caucus votes Senator McCain is now the clear favourite among the Republican field and when betting resumes in the morning should be less than $3. more A Little Contingency PlanningMonday, December 03, 2007 - The Australian Government is going charging off down the path of global warming righteousness as Kevin Rudd sets out to honour the promises he made during his successful election campaign to take global warming seriously. That was to be expected as ratifying the Kyoto protocol so our country could play a major role in the next round of international talks on climate policy was one of the key differences between Labor and the Coalition. more Security Suffers Now Trust is GoneMonday, 30 July 2007 - Being able to trust the government - politicians, police and other public servants - takes on an added importance when dealing with national security where that very security can often depend on actions and motives being kept secret. It is a difficult task to prevent the methods needed to protect freedoms from themselves destroying those freedoms .Which is what has made the case of Mohammed Haneef such a dangerous failure for John Howard - the actions taken and the words spoken have given the impression that the Coalition Government is incapable of getting the balance right. Trust has been lost by many people and they are not just a collection of mad lefties. When The Australian says in an editorial that "what appears to be craven political opportunism at Dr Haneef's misfortune should serve as a warning beacon for everyone" then ordinary people really should be worried. more Elementary as ABC - Labor and Child CareThursday, 26 July 2007 - There are some aspects of the private enterprise system about which ordinary voters are skeptical and child care, along with health and education, is among them. The public is uneasy about the profit motive being the determining factor in what services are provided and where they are available. Yesterday's inflation figure showing that child care costs in the last year - for the fourth year in a row - rose by more than 12% will surely have increased the concern. more Dangerously Stating the ObviousThursday, 5 July 2007 - Energy security is extremely important to all nations throughout the world, and of course, in protecting and securing Australia 's interests. The Middle East itself, not only Iraq , but the entire region, is an important supplier of energy - oil in particular - to the rest of the world. When it comes to Iraq , Australia needs to support its allies, stop Al Qaeda securing a foothold, and secure oil supplies. Quite unremarkable statements I would have thought; nothing more than statements of the obvious. Yet somehow, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson, by making them this morning, has supposedly had to be rebuked by the Prime Minister for linking Australia 's involvement in Iraq with oil! more The PM Turns Climate PessimistFriday, 20 April 2007 - John Howard has shown an amazing capacity to be sanguine about long term weather predictions of world-wide rising temperatures but yesterday it was a different story when he spoke of the dire circumstances facing the irrigation regions of south east Australia if the short term prediction of a 50:50 chance of above or below average rainfall over the next month turns out on the below side. While some world leaders worry their people with fears of melting ice caps flooding coastal cities and disappearing islands, our Prime Minister's concern doesn't go past "the critical situation that we face if there is no significant rainfall over the next few weeks." more Will the River Really Run Dry?Friday, 20 April 2007 - While the Prime Minister yesterday did not release the report on contingency plans for water availability in the Murray-Darling Basin, the Murray Darling Commission's update on drought conditions did become available and it reveals irrigation in 2007/08 is much more dependent on rain and run-off than in any previous year since Dartmouth Dam was completed in 1979. more Dysfunctional DefenceWednesday, 11 April 2007 - The black tie the Prime Minister wore yesterday to announce that Australia will be sending troops to actually shoot their guns in Afghanistan may well reflect a sense of foreboding about giving an increased task to a military when a government report released last week claimed "the current range and nature of military operations is causing stress in Defence, and excessive pressures on senior people." more A Contract to Say Farewell WithWednesday, 11 April 2007 - Andrew Peacock, the former Liberal Party Parliamentary Leader, Foreign Minister and Australian Ambassador to Washington, retired back in February from his position as President of Boeing Australia.
In early March the Minister for Defence, Dr Brendan Nelson, made the surprise announcement of a decision to spend $6 billion with Boeing on a batch of Super Hornet fighter aircraft for the Australian air force. more A Justice Minister With a Sick Sense of Humour
Wednesday, 31 January, 2007 - Justice and Customs Minister Senator Chris Ellison will have a big future after politics as a comedy straight man if judged on his performance yesterday when announcing that Australian is sending two Federal policemen to Afghanistan to combat the illegal drug trade. more Courage Aplenty from PM HowardMonday, 31st July, 2006 - Giving up political power would not be an easy decision. After you have run the country, how do you find another job anywhere near as satisfying? The personal interest in leading a fulfilling life must strongly push you in the direction of staying on. So it has proved for John Howard. Forget about all the talk of the best interests of the Liberal Party and doing what the colleagues wanted. That might all be true but it is coincidental. The Prime Minister wants to keep going because he is fit and well and likes what he is doing. more Another Rate Rise to Tarnish a ReputationFriday, 14th July, 2006 - The newspaper economics experts have written this morning that the dreaded markets are putting an 80% chance on the Reserve Bank raising interest rates in March by another quarter of a percent. If that actually happens then the drop in support for the Government which should follow the leadership kerfuffle will accelerate. more Where and What the Jobs AreFriday, 30th June, 2006 - The economists and politicians are prone to talking about a shortage of skilled workers but this week's figures show that the overwhelming majority of job vacancies in Australia are for clerks, shopkeepers and warehouse workers. more Humour and Irony Are Dangerous ThingsWednesday, 28th June, 2006 - You can’t see a smile or recognise dead-pan delivery when you read things in black and white. Which is what makes irony and humour such difficult things for people in public life. When people read your remarks instead of listening to them some are inclined to take everything seriously. more ABC Tissues a New SpotlightWednesday, 21st June, 2006 - Rorting of the system of granting temporary visas to skilled workers is another growing threat to the Government. Labor is striking a real chord with its almost daily examples of unskilled workers being imported under the guise that they are skilled. more We're Doing Well in the Solomons?Friday, 12th May, 2006 - Australia 's foreign aid organisation AusAID gives itself praise in this year's Budget Papers for the work it has done in the Solomon Islands . more Interest Rate FearsWednesday, 10th May, 2006 - Australia has an independent Reserve Bank when it comes to fixing interest rates but that does not stop the Governor of the Bank and the Secretary of the Treasury having a chat together about future intentions of the Government. I expect they do that frequently in a free and rank way. more Our Team this Year, the Masses NextWednesday, 10th May, 2006 - High income earners are the natural constituency for the Liberal Party but looking after your own can be difficult in an election year. It was wise politics to give the handouts to them in this budget when the politics of envy cannot influence voting behaviour. The next budget is the one in which to target the greedy swinging voters. more A Slow LearnerMonday, 8th May, 2006 - The founder and chief executive of ABC Learning Centres Eddie Groves, who has built a company with a share market value over $2 billion, does not seem to realise that governments have the capacity to take away as well as to give. more Old Habits Die HardFriday, 31st March, 2006 - Old habits die hard among farming industry leaders: talk about being a defender of free enterprise but at the first sign of trouble call on the Government for a subsidy. The National Farmers Federation president Peter Corish has been at his lobbying station in recent weeks talking up the need of a $1 billion guarantee to cover sales of this year's wheat harvest. Having reaped the benefit of paying bribes to Iraq to sell wheat, the farmers now want to pay no penalty for the failure to sell wheat caused by those very same bribes. more A Lobbying Success on Mental HealthFriday, 31st March, 2006 - After more than a decade of neglect, mental health is beginning to enter the thoughts of politicians. Prime Minister and Premiers at the recent Council of Australian Governments meeting agreed that spending should be increased and now a bipartisan committee of Senators has called for a massive funding boost. more The Refreshingly Out Spoken Nick MinchinThursday, 9th March, 2006 - The gap between political-speak and the truth has grown so great that there is always surprise when a politician actually says something both unscripted and interesting. There is an immediate assumption that there has been a blunder and the minders start running around suggesting that the uttered words do not really mean what they seem to say and if they do then it was a personal view that counts for nothing. So it was yesterday as Canberra reacted to the unauthorised release of a tape recording of Government Senate Leader and Finance Minister Nick Minchin addressing the HR Nicholls Society at a private meeting on Friday night. more The Good News in Labor's Faction FightWednesday, 8th March, 2006 - There is some good news in Victorian Labor's very public factional fight - the maddies of the left are no longer in control. For almost all of the last 50 years, Left factions have been dominant in Victoria and their way out, doctrinaire views were a major factor in Labor being in government federally for less than 30% of that time. Now that the moderate forces - people actually interested in winning government - are in control, it is understandable that they want to get rid of people put into parliament by their leftist predecessors. more Child Support ChangesWednesday, 1st March, 2006 - The Lone Fathers Association's long lobbying campaign was rewarded as the Federal Government announced changes to aspects of the child support system. more
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The MinistryThe Importance of a Title - Monday 19 March 2007 - John Howard understands the importance of symbolism. more The OppositionThe Parliament
Departments
ElectionsThe Public Service
HistoryParty Representation in the House of Representatives Since 1901 Party Representation in the Senate Since 1901 ISSUESThe EnvironmentMurray Darling Agreement Still Leaking - Wednesday, 4 April 2007
Seeing the Trees in Climate Change - Friday, 9th February 2007 - My admiration for Bob Brown's skills as a politician keeps growing. This morning he not only began the task of winning hard core environmentalists back to his party by calling for an end to coal mining, but he managed to start the process of getting trees in to the global warming debate. more
A Dam Problem - Thursday, 1st February, 2007 - When the last major dam to provide Sydney with water was completed at Warragamba in 1960, New South Wales had a population of 3.9 million. Today the population is up 75% to nearly 7 million but there is not even a site chosen for a new storage reservoir. more Safety of Cuddly Koalas Important for Senator Campbell
The nezt big issue? Thursday, 30th November, 2006 - Environment Minister Senator Ian Campbell should be keeping a close watch on the Chiang Mi Zoo until election day because the fate of four Australian koalas will determine whether animal rights becomes an important issue in our next election. The good Senator allowed the export of the koalas, against the wishes of animal welfare groups, after Thailand provided Australian zoos with new elephants. more Nimbyism Versus Hypocrisy - Wednesday, 22nd November, 2006 - Talking up the need for nuclear power stations if Australia is to play a part in combating global warming is an interesting strategy by John Howard. moreThe EconomyThe New Motherhood Statement - Thursday, 29 March 2007 - When in doubt, relate it to jobs. Maintaining jobs. Creating jobs. That is the current Prime Ministerial message. more Howard Focussing on the Economy - Tuesday 13th March 2007 - John Howard is focussing on the economy. He told us so yesterday in Tokyo ; five times in three sentences. more
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| © Richard Farmer 2008 |
