People & associates
Sinclair Davidson
Counting the costs of higher taxes
Oliver Wendell Holmes, jnr famously said that he liked paying income tax: it was the price of civilisation. Sure, he bought his civilisation at...
Government must live within its means
The Latin phrase quis custodiet ipsos custodes used to be the most important idea in our democracy. Regrettably those days are long gone. These...
Mining tax bungle: the blame game over poor policy
The 2010 mining tax debacle must still really hurt. Kevin Rudd was talking about it during his leadership challenge. His version of events is that...
A spending bonanza that lingers in the mind but not in bottom lines
Last week the government started taking credit for Australia's economic performance through the global financial crisis. Kevin Rudd claimed to be...
Private v public health care: no simple policy cure
Last week the ALP government achieved one of its goals - the private health insurance rebate will be means tested from July 1, 2012. For many this...
We'll huff, we'll puff, we'll blow the budget into surplus
Bill Clinton famously said, "It's the economy, stupid". So it is. Unsuccessful politicians might be inclined to argue, "It's the stupid economy"....
What your bookie is predicting for 2012
It is that time of year when people get asked to make a few predictions as to what will be happening in the coming year. The problem with this...
Why have an ABC at all?
Alan Kohler makes an important point about the on-going Finkelstein media inquiry. It is all about making life uncomfortable for News Ltd and...
Selling the ABC and other tricky media issues
The media talking about itself can be very self-indulgent not to mention annoying to outsiders. Yet the politics of media have exploded in the last...
Cut, cut, cut: Wayne Swan has more work to do
The tabloids have nailed Wayne Swan's budget cuts - taking money away from mums, but keeping the gold pass travel for retired politicians. It...