September 2011
It’s all smiles for some, but mining boom benefits don’t ‘trickle down’
One of the most interesting features of the mining boom is the way that it is opening up old, and unresolved, political and policy debates in Australia. Do we trust that the benefits to the small group of people directly involved in the mining industry will “trickle down” to the rest of us? Should governments
August 2011
Feel pain but no gain from boom
THE mining boom in Queensland might be big but it certainly isn’t broad. While the mining industry tries to suggest otherwise, the simple fact is millions of Queenslanders bear the pain of the mining boom without receiving any of the gain. Yes, the mining industry employs people and yes, they spend some of their money
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
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
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
September 2010
The dirty topic of peak oil: get ready to reduce your reliance
Wouldn’t it be funny if we spent so long arguing about what to do about climate change that we ran out of cheap oil first? No, it wouldn’t really, it would be catastrophic. But given the government’s delay in producing an Energy White Paper and the steady backsliding on the need to actually reduce our
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
October 2009
May contain traces of mad cow
The Government wants to allow meat from countries with Mad Cow disease into Australia. And our loose labelling rules mean you won’t know the difference, writes Hilary Bambrick.
September 2009
Emissions trading: a zero sum game?
Picture this country five years from now, once an emissions trading scheme is fully operational. How will your life be different? Will higher energy prices radically change your approach to work, travel, shopping and leisure?
July 2009
Selfless winds of change
the ‘cap-and-slice’ proposal actually resembles the public’s perception of how emissions trading works more closely than the CPRS. Three-quarters of respondents to a recent Australia Institute survey said that Australia’s total emissions would go down if every household reduced its electricity use. Only 13 per cent gave the answer that corresponds to the CPRS: that
June 2009
Was the mining boom good for you?
The mining boom bonanza barely spread beyond the mining industry itself but the negative implications of the mining boom were felt very widely. This is important in view of the current suggestions that the end of the mining boom implies that Australians will have to tighten their belts. Symmetry should apply in the event of
May 2009
Climate change and employment in Australia: what history says
While it may seem appealing to wait until we know where the new jobs are going to be before we start moving away from the jobs the atmosphere can no longer support, developing such a ‘plan’ is a fool’s errand. The fact is we did not wait until we knew where photo development lab workers
February 2008
Clutter the persistent curse of the acquiring class
A study by the Australia Institute, Stuff Happens, found that women in particular find clutter distressing. They don’t necessarily have more clutter than men (the typical suburban garage would dispel that notion) but they tend to notice it more. Women are also more embarrassed by their clutter than men. The alternative to cluttering up our
February 2007
Promises, promises
There cannot be a competitive market for water while the Government continues to subsidise agriculture through such things as drought assistance and half-price water delivery. All in all, the plan looks more like a deft political move than a serious attempt to solve our water problems. It is, as Shakespeare once said, all sound and
November 2006
Sustainability Reporting: How far have we come?
Over the last fifteen years, much effort has gone into the preparation of sustainability reports. These are reports that provide information on social and environmental as well as economic matters. This has been done in the name of improved decision making, accountability and transparency. It has also been motivated by a desire to promote ecologically
October 2006
Drought relief payments: a waste of money
Our national myth is that of the stoical farmer battling the elements and never succumbing. But the $1 billion plus in drought relief granted over the last few years is an expensive means of sustaining an anachronism. Sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind, and that means refusing to pretend that if we
August 2006
A trump card in the nuclear power play
Green consumerism such as that advocated by Tim Flannery privatises responsibility for environmental decline, shifting blame from elected governments and industry onto the shoulders of individual citizens. The cause of climate change becomes the responsibility of “all of us”, which, in effect, means nobody. It is obvious why a government that wants to do nothing
April 2006
How a minister buckled in the face of a mob of locals
The Howard Government has made a mockery of the environment and heritage portfolio, turning it into little more than a pork-barrel buffet. But who would have thought that things would stoop to the level where the federal Environment Minister would use environment laws against the environment. This is precisely what occurred on Wednesday when the
March 2006
Why we should give a FCUK about advertising standards
Our state and local governments have also been cowed by the cultural and economic momentum of the marketing industry and their squadrons of boosters and lickspittles in the media. In the relentless drive to attract advertisers’ dollars into supporting public facilities and events, the guardians of public morals have lost their way, blinded by the
October 2004
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