June 2011
Accounting for a super mystery
We’ve all heard that the Australian Public Service’s superannuation schemes are generous, and a look at the budget papers would seem to confirm this, revealing that the Government is spending $14.1 billion on this entitlement. Put another way, public servants’ super appears to be a staggering 73 per cent of the $19.2 billion spent on
May 2011
The price of shopping online versus the shopping mall
What is the true value of the service we get when buying something at a shop? It can be quite high when the shopping experience adds to the pleasure of the purchase, such as getting you out of the house, friendly sales staff and nice food next door. The value added can be particularly high
Inconsistency a constant when it pays to advertise
While we might not ever be able to agree on whether advertising works or not, or why it is that companies who say it doesn’t are so determined to spend a fortune doing it, it is easy to answer a slightly different question: do politicians think advertising works? Based on the way they conduct election
Green jobs’ won’t save the debate
There has been a lot of talk about the need to ‘reframe’ the debate about climate change among the Australian environment groups who have tasked themselves with persuading our politicians to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, their attempts to reframe the debate have been as unsuccessful as their attempts to persuade our politicians. The
April 2011
Hiding $50b: down periscope!
The Defence establishment must find it pretty hard not to chuckle when they hear people talking about climate change policy. Climate change has been described as a fundamental challenge to democratic decision making. The problem, we are told, is that while the costs are up front the benefits are both uncertain and will arise in
High risks in carbon gamble
The only thing that big business in Australia wants more than certainty is the certainty that they will get their own way. When they aren’t certain about that, it’s amazing how much uncertainty they are willing to tolerate. It seems it’s better to have a chance of a win than be certain of a loss.
Supermarkets too big to fail
Picking teams in Australian policy debates used to be as simple as picking sides in old movies; the good guys wore white, the bad guys wore black, and the audience knew where everybody stood. But life just isn’t that simple especially when we consider the milk price war that is raging at the moment. Am
March 2011
Let the shopping spree begin
Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s decision to give U.S. President Barack Obama an iPod of Australian music speaks volumes about the ongoing evolution of the strong relationship between Australia and the United States. While successive leaders have demonstrated their warm commitment to the international relationship, it is hard to imagine John Howard, or even Kevin Rudd,
February 2011
Owning an ATM is money in the bank
Each and every day millions of Australians pay financial institutions to access their own money. Some pay more while others pay less, depending on the way they do it. Sometimes, as with EFTPOS transactions, the price consumers pay for their own money is largely invisible, being factored into the prices of goods and services. In
January 2011
Rebuilding Australia’s retail industry
For the past two or three decades we have been told that globalisation and free trade will speed up the pace of capitalism and deliver innovation and efficiency to the benefit of all. Now we have a classic case study unfolding before our eyes: the changing structure of the Australian retail industry. Change of course
GST $1000 threshold: retailers’ share in more trouble than Harvey’s image
Henry Rosenbloom, founder and publisher of Scribe, argues that while there are good political arguments for maintaining the $1000 threshold for imposing GST on imported goods, there are no reasons of “principle” for doing so. If that’s the strongest argument that can be mounted in defence of the big retailers, then their market share is
December 2010
Power to the people, simply
Most people when they get back from a week at a tropical resort are usually inclined to want to lead a simpler life. For the planet’s sake, let’s hope the entourage getting back from the latest round of climate talks in Cancun are also in the mood for simplicity. What simpler way could there be
November 2010
More pulp fiction from the banks
There is nothing more profitable for the banks than confusion about what they do. As long as they keep talking about acronyms no one has heard of and financial theories that no one understands, they can continue the enormously profitable business of borrowing money at low rates and lending it at high rates. This year
Piggy banks telling porky pies over the costs of borrowing
Australia’s banks seem to have embraced the credo that if you are going to tell a lie, you might as well tell a big one. One of the biggest is that when the Reserve Bank lifts official interest rates, the banks have no choice but to pass on the rate rise in full to their
August 2010
We don’t need stronger banks, we need stronger regulation
Don’t you just love the banks? They just give and give and give. In fact, they are so generous that, according to a recent survey by The Australia Institute, more than half of Australians who do not have a job received unsolicited offers of credit cards last year. Offering money to people in their time
July 2010
For the love of profits: Australia’s skills shortage
Big business loves rapid population growth for the simple reason that they profit from having more potential customers. Governments seem to love rapid population growth because they benefit from having more taxpayers. But neither big business nor government wants to invest in the essential infrastructure that all those extra customers and taxpayers require. While the
Banking on hasty growth
In a big Australia, there are more people, more profits. But it’s a lazy way to grow. This opinion piece by Richard Denniss, first published in The Age, argues that population growth should impose obligations on governments to invest in new schools, new hospitals and new public transport.
June 2010
Missing out
“Welfare cheat” stories have become a staple for tabloid current affairs programs in Australia. We regularly hear about the scourge of dole bludgers and those in the community who are claiming benefits but appear to be healthy. In fact, the recent Budget announced a crackdown on the disability support pension by overhauling the impairment test.
May 2010
Why we need a Resource Super Profits Tax
The Minerals Council of Australia’s advertising campaign against the Resource Super Profits Tax (RSPT) highlights its $80 billion tax payments over the last decade. Eighty billion dollars in the abstract does not really mean much. It has to be related to the mining industry’s profits and compared with other industries. Using the national accounts as
Populate or perish
Should Australia increase its population to 36 million? In this era of evidence-based policy, it seems strange that for all the government inquiries that have been held there is yet to be a major scientific, social and economic analysis of the impact of rapid population growth in Australia. While it might be hard to agree
Handicap banks to level out the field
The big banks now dominate the Australian financial system in the same way that the Melbourne Storm dominated the rugby league. They take the profits they made last year and they use them to fend off new competitors next year. They take the profits they earn in one part of their business and cross subsidise
April 2010
Time for a breath of fresh air
Back before the CPRS took the wind out of the community it was common sense to believe that early action was cheaper than delayed action. And back before anyone had heard of ’emission intensive trade exposed industries’ it was patriotic to believe that Australia should lead the world, not lag it. If we are to
March 2010
Redressing the balance for members
A lot of people in the superannuation industry are very worried at the moment. This is not because they see another market crash on the horizon; things are generally back on track in that sense. They’re worried because things are about to get much better for millions of ordinary working Australians at the expense of
A licence to print money: bank profits in Australia
Banking is an essential part of the Australian economy – almost an essential service. So why should it be “extremely profitable” to use the former RBA’s Governor’s words? Why do bankers have to be exceedingly privileged? What does that mean to those of us who need to use the banking system? And what can we
February 2010
Taking from the Banks to Give to the Worthy
Originally printed in The Age. Nearly 800 years after celebrated rogue Robin Hood and his entourage of bandits launched raids from their Sherwood Forest hide-out – redistributing wealth from a greedy and corrupt aristocracy to the starving peasantry – he has been recruited to a new campaign. This month, 350 prominent economists, including Nobel Prize-winner
Dealing with the Senate’s climate impasse
The Greens and government should at least be able to agree that some carbon price is better than none, writes Richard Denniss.
Wayne Swan fiddling as climate burns a budget black hole
According to the spin doctors, governments should never let a crisis go to waste. And of course the best crises are the ones you invent yourself. Done well, they ensure others spend a lot of time worrying about the wrong things. Of course the latest intergenerational report, like its predecessors, is full of doom and
January 2010
The great big pay disparity
The Commission’s final report reveals little inclination to seriously address excessive executive remuneration. While its recommendations aimed at reassuring shareholders have been watered down, there is a distinct lack of recommendations aimed at addressing the equity issue which the report so starkly highlights.
December 2009
Deep flaws in CPRS and so many devils in details
The scientific consensus is that climate change is an urgent problem; the economic evidence says that the costs of tackling climate change are trivially small compared to the costs of inaction; and polling shows that the vast majority of the Australian public wants to see real action. So why has the CPRS stalled and why
No urgency for bipartisan win by climate sceptics
Emission reduction targets are so weak as to be useless, Richard Denniss argues.
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