People & associates
Julie Novak
The nanny state will nag you to death
This week parliament will debate a bill to establish a national Preventive Health Agency, reminding of that classic Mark Twain observation: nobody...
Fat pay packets for state public employees unsustainable
State and territory governments will surely welcome recent news of a national economic recovery. A stronger economy will mean additional revenue...
What do we have to gain?
By all accounts, John Maynard Keynes - the Rudd Government's economic inspiration - was known for practising what he preached with make-work...
Dream policy not the right tool for the job
There is no shortage of ideas as to how to get those now on the unemployment lines off them. The challenge is to find the right ideas to implement....
Recovery comes at a cost
With an air of triumphalism, Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan recently declared that signs of a national economic recovery are due to their policy of more...
No beer, no pies, no fags - the future of Australia?
If the National Health Preventative Taskforce has its way, by 2020 Australians should be beer-refusing, meat pie-avoiding non-smokers. Bottle shops...
No nudging, please
Despite what politicians and senior bureaucrats may let on, governments are highly susceptible to the allure of policy fads. Federal Finance and...
The soprano state
The latest scandals gripping the Bligh government reveal the damaging consequences of a growing public sector with its tentacles of influence...
Voucher system would be a real education revolution
There has been so much talk about an education revolution from the federal government, one could be forgiven for thinking that we are back to the...
Time to cut cost of running government
Tasmania's demographic time bomb is ticking, THE Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's analysis of Tasmania's demographic time bomb clearly...