In a post-truth world, the ability of an industry to generate its own “alternative facts” is likely to be an asset in the short term and a liability in the long term. Indeed, for those who crave certainty and value continuous disclosure, the willingness of some firms to move well beyond simply putting a positive spin on

Malcolm Turnbull is using Donald Trump as a celebrity endorsement for his plan to give corporate Australia a $50 billion tax cut. But, like all dealings with people who are famous for being famous, the risks can be greater than the returns. Take Trump’s views on free trade. First published by the Australian Financial Review

When politicians spend taxpayers money flying themselves to fundraising parties or flying to their own weddings, we leave it up to the politician to decide if their claim is “outside of entitlement”. First published on The Guardian – here When it comes to income tax we allow people to claim $300 worth of tax deductions without receipts because

Is it any wonder that voters who don’t believe politicians’ travel expense claims are fair dinkum won’t believe their claims about the benefits of economic reform either? Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. —First published by the Australian Financial Review here— While much has been made of “the optics” of the government

The notion of evidence-based policy in Australia is dead. While it’s been in poor health for some time, it was finally killed by the Coalition backbench last week and replaced with “gut instinct” and “the pub test”. First published by the Australian Financial Review – here When Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was recently quizzed

Just as market forces were about to push the price of housing down in Australia, the Treasurer stepped in with some new regulation. Phew. Some first home buyer’s nearly snatched a good deal, but luckily the Treasurer was there to protect the property developers from the oversupply their building bonanza created. [First pubished by the

In the modern version of “the battle of ideas” political interests trump political ideology nearly every time. Take, for example, the alleged supporters of “small government” who have been strategically silent as the Australian resource industry pushed for a $100 billion, wholly government owned, nuclear waste dump in South Australia. First published by the Australian Financial Review

When Tony Abbott promised to shed more than 13,000 full time jobs from the public service there was a deafening silence from the Australian business community about the impact of job loss on Canberra communities and families. Likewise, you could hear crickets when Campbell Newman sacked 10,000 teachers, nurses and other Queensland public servants.

Now that the tram war has finally been won, it is probably time to get back to arguing about renewable energy again. Regardless of whether the Canberra Liberals stick with their new-found support for the ACT’s 100 per cent renewables target or not, the hard right in the Federal Coalition has already made it clear

The ACT election result is further proof that Australian conservatives have a tin ear. Either that, or because they spend so much time telling voters scary stories about taxes and public debt that there is simply no time to listen to what the voters are really want. First published by the Australian Financial Review –

Does the Prime Minister think ACT energy policy is visionary or vapid?  First published in the Australian Financial Review – here Australian policy debate is like a drunken mob looking for a spilt pint to fight over. Even before South Australia’s lights came back on the culture warriors were out blaming wind turbines for causing

Successful investors let their winning bets run while quickly cutting their losses. But while the strategy of “spreading your bets” and “failing fast” might work for venture capitalists, it doesn’t work well for prime ministers. A chief executive that shuts down an underperforming factory is decisive; a PM who abandons Tasmania or regional Western Australia is divisive.

First published in the Australian Financial Review – here. For the past decade the 10 per cent of the business community that profits from causing climate change has made 90 per cent of the noise about the dangers of introducing effective climate policy. But now, as the market cap of the mining sector has withered

The ultimate irony of neoliberalism is that the buck no longer stops. It just keeps going and going. The company at the heart of #censusfail, IBM, was once paid more than $1 billion to deliver what started out as a $6 million contract to upgrade the Queensland Health Department’s payroll system. For decades we have

First published in the Australian Financial Review – Here The first order of business for the Turnbull government when Parliament returns next week is to cut the dole for new recipients from $263.80 to $259.40 per week. That is less than the tax free allowance politicians receive for each night they spend in Canberra. It

If Arrium Steel closes in Whyalla around 8000 people in a town of 22,000 will be looking for work. On average, of every 100 Australians who lose their jobs 30 will still be looking for a new one 12 months later. Unfortunately, the average is much higher when job losses are concentrated in a particular

The folk who predicted the carbon price would give us $100 legs of lamb, that China’s demand for coal would keep rising, and that NSW would run out gas are at it again. Wind energy, we are now told, is ruining the economy. Run for the hills! (First published in the Australian Financial Review – Here)

The Business Council of Australia and the Liberal party just lost a debate with Bill Shorten about the economy. Badly. The days where expensive suits and even more expensive modelling were enough to win a public debate about “what the economy needs” are over. The days where newspaper editors could shift votes are over. The days where governments can deliver unpopular

Britain will now decide which Germans can invest in, or travel to, the UK and the circumstances in which they can do so.  The Brexit decision provides clear evidence of the tension within conservative politics between strident nationalism and economic rationalism. And as the business community is discovering, there are enormous economic risks when conservatives

It is hard for the benefits of a company tax cut to “trickle down” to workers when employer groups insist on building dams to capture the gains for themselves, writes Richard Denniss. First published on The Drum – here. The Turnbull Government’s claim that a company tax cut will trickle down to benefit workers rests

It is hard to claim a mandate for something you barely mention, but just as the Turnbull government has stopped talking about the Australian Building and Construction Commission, the business community has now made a TV advertisement for the company tax cuts that, wait for it, doesn’t mention the company tax cuts. It wasn’t meant to be

After three long weeks of election campaigning neither the Prime Minister nor the Treasurer has explained how the $48 billion centrepiece of their “economic plan” will be funded. Sure, they love being asked about it, as such questions allow them to say “jobs and growth” a lot. But the actual answer is yet to pass their

The centrepiece of the Turnbull government’s ‘plan’ for the economy, and its plan to win the upcoming election, is based on some heroic assumptions. There is no strong evidence to support the government’s claim that cutting the company tax rate will boost “jobs and growth”. And there is no strong evidence that the public will