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Australia a low-tax country; the industries that cried wolf; high stakes in gambling reform

May 2, 2011

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Australia: a low-tax country

The federal budget will be handed down in a fortnight’s time and the Treasurer Wayne Swan has taken to the airwaves to warn us it will be lean and “unpopular”. Predictably, the Government has decided a tougher approach to long-term welfare recipients, in particular those on the Disability Support Pension, is what’s needed to help it achieve its surplus goal.

The industries that cried wolf

As a child, the story of the boy who cried wolf would have kept many of us from telling fibs or raising a false alarm. Yet, in the adult world of business it seems Aesop’s fable doesn’t carry much weight, or at least when it comes to discussing the impact of putting a price on carbon.

High stakes in gambling reform

No doubt inspired by the success of the mining sector in its fight against the Government’s Resource Super Profits Tax , ClubsAustralia recently tried to flex its muscles by launching a $20 million campaign against the Government’s proposed gambling reforms instigated by Independent MP Andrew Wilkie . Yet, a recent survey by The Australia Institute, commissioned by UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide, found overwhelming support for the proposed pokies reforms which would require gamblers to set a spending limit before playing.