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Defining investment in the federal budget
Language matters, and the Gillard Government is acutely aware of this as demonstrated by the manner in which it abuses it when discussing aspects...
If by a miracle Labor wins the poll, it must deal with the Treasurer
They say every political career ends in failure. But some more than others. All the evidence suggests Wayne Swan's sixth budget, released last...
Surely PM is having a lend of us
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, in promoting the case for Budget deficits, says, "Imagine a wage earner, John, employed in the same job throughout...
Lavish parental leave has nothing to do with need
There's an easy test to see if a politician is spouting nonsense: they use the word "productivity" a lot. Productivity is an old standby. It sounds...
Burn the boats and ditch the life raft
Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey must burn the boats. The Coalition must promise to not increase taxes and not impose any new taxes if elected. That...
Fear taxpayers to take up disability levy slack
Prime Minister Julia Gillard this week framed the fiscal scenario surrounding the Budget as one in which the growth in government revenue...
A hollow victory for the anti-austerity crowd
Prime Minister Julia Gillard informed us yesterday that the budget deficit will be much worse than predicted. Her speech has been greeted with the...
The last thing we need is an increase in taxes
Nothing quite sharpens minds more than the realisation that Australia's fiscal problems are substantive and becoming entrenched. After repeated...
Hanging out each others' washing
As the vast amounts of newspaper ink spilt around the country attests, the primary focus of attention on recent labour market statistics has been...
Instead of the state, globalisation has withered
Arguably the most pervasive economic phenomenon of our generation is globalisation, entailing the integration of people, capital, ideas and...