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Archived news for December 2010 | Recent news
Can't compare: emissions trading and reforms from the past
It's now an accepted part of political folklore: the era of reform is over. Our boldness has gone. No longer are we able to push through major...
Good intentions don't mean good policy
Banking is risky business. Banking policy is even more risky. Good intentions often lead to increased moral hazard and expensive policy failure....
The weight of the word
Are Julian Assange and WikiLeaks really doing anything that unusual? After all, leaks are one of the foundations of contemporary journalism. Leaks...
Pursuit of climate change treaty is a waste of energy
Climate change negotiations should be put on ice. This morning Australian time, the sun will set on the UN climate change negotiations in Cancun,...
Overreaction to terrorism the big threat
Governments take terrorist threats very seriously. But the seriousness of terrorism has to be balanced against how very ineffective - even...
Murray-Darling irrigation and agricultural production are critical
Under Labor, Victorian water policy had an urban-orientation. Its focus was on reducing city usage and providing more water to Melbourne without...
Bank on basin's resilience
John Quiggin argues that taxpayers should buy 34 per cent of the water now used by Murray-Darling basin irrigators and add this to the 50 per cent...
Libs make policy sense
The front page of this newspaper last Friday provided some hope that government and opposition might yet provide some good policy. First there was...
Breaches will breed secrecy
Why such a panic about WikiLeaks? Didn't we already know that Silvio Berlusconi has an eye for pretty ladies? Or that Kevin Rudd is a control freak...
Retreat now, before the cost soars
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is strongly promoting a carbon tax to combat what she calls an "externality warming the planet". The government's army...