Posted: 11:53 am on 16th April 2012
Yesterday I debated the merits of federal systems of government with Joel Fitzgibbon, Federal Member for Hunter and Professor AJ Brown on ABC Radio National Sunday Extra. Fitzgibbon argues for the abolition of the states; Brown opts for a middle path he calls ‘intelligent federalism’; and I think the only workable form of federalism is competitive federalism, which I believe is far better than one-size-fits-all centralism. The so-called cooperative federalism…
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Posted: 8:00 am on 1st April 2012
In his new book, Coming Apart, Charles Murray worries about the consequences of the formation in the United States of a culturally distinctive upper class – enjoying all the benefits bestowed by high intellects, high incomes, and high status professions – that has limited knowledge and understanding of the lives and attitudes of middle America. In Australia, this aspect of the culture wars is usually discussed in political terms of…
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Posted: 8:00 am on 26th March 2012
While Australia’s federal system has often been described in these terms, this was actually how Paul Keating pointedly referred to the seat of our federation. Beyond being the butt of the same pithy line, the parallels between Canberra and Australia’s federal system are limited. Australia’s federal system continues to be an effective means of dispersing political power and ensuring that far-flung regions are not at the mercy of a distant central…
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Posted: 8:00 am on 13th February 2012
Throughout economic history, people have fretted about where the jobs will come from to replace those lost in declining firms and industries. We never seem to learn the lesson that they have always come from somewhere, as long as the private economy was allowed to get on with doing what it does best. At times, concerns about declining industries are heightened by the general economic climate or the high profile…
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Posted: 8:00 am on 12th February 2012
The debate over foreign investment in Australian agricultural land has seen the merger of capital xenophobia with the age-old myth that the world is going to run out of food. The suggestion is that we need to lock down our agricultural land to secure future food supplies. The merger of food security and xenophobia as an issue has a long history. Sir William Crookes’ 1898 ‘The Wheat Problem’ predicted not…
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