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Archived news for April 2011 | Recent news
Trademark rights to extinguish plain packaging bill?
The content of the government's release on the draft plain packaging Bill offers few surprises. The government thinks stripping tobacco products of...
Learning from public policy mistakes of the GFC
In the Financial Times at the end of March, the former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan wrote "With notably rare exceptions (2008, for...
Carbon illusion we can't afford
In implementing its carbon tax the Gillard government is involved in a massive campaign of misinformation. First there is the fiscal illusion. It...
Boot-strapping on a carbon tax
Australia accounts for a trivial share of global emissions. Abatement action can only be meaningful if it is part of an international movement. But...
Free market in chains
This week Treasurer Wayne Swan effectively killed the foreign takeover of the Australian Securities Exchange. He declared it was "contrary to the...
Three wise men must end GST's 'groundhog day'
The arcane world of Commonwealth-state financial relations is, in many ways, like the 1993 movie Groundhog Day. The question as to how GST revenue...
Multiculturalism is a useless word
Multiculturalism is one of the least useful words in Australian politics. It owes all its power to ambiguity. It is divisive because it is vague....
Deregulation can save the taxi industry from itself
The regulation of Melbourne's taxi industry was a mess from the beginning. Taxis were new, smart and efficient when they were introduced in 1908,...
Do you know what I want, what I really, really want?
The annual report of the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission demonstrates the regulatory burden imposed by the State Government...