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 –

The rise of anti-globalization sentiment, including in Australia, poses a big challenge to mainstream politicians who’ve been trumpeting the virtues of free trade for decades.

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

Unburdened by evidence, anti-wind campaigners used the South Australian blackout to kick off a debate about renewables while others waited for facts. First published by the Guardian Australia – here. Normally natural disasters are off limits to politicking, at least in the period straight after the event. So it was pretty awful watching politicians and

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

Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to merge the environment and energy portfolios could lead to a breakthrough in the toxic climate politics of climate first triggered when he was rolled by Tony Abbott in December 2009. Full article on Guardian Australia – here. Dan Cass, Strategist, The Australia Institute @DanJCass

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

It was a “sleeper” issue in the recent election, and led to the defeat of some high-profile Liberal candidates.  But now the debate over penalty rates for work on weekends and public holidays shifts to the Fair Work Commission.  The economic arguments in favour of cutting penalties (as advocated by lobbyists for the retail and

First published by New Matilda. The world seems particularly chaotic this winter. The climate news is diabolical, with fears about melting of the Arctic permafrost and the ancient ice stores of the Himalayas. There is a Royal Commission into the brutal treatment of children in prison in the Northern Territory. And that is before we

Adam Giles, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, should know better than making solar and wind the scapegoat for energy price rises (‘Call for summit on energy crisis’, 18 July).  New energy management technologies will allow renewables to provide cheaper and better power than old ‘baseload’ technologies. As your editorial points out (‘SA energy madness’),

Reporter Michael Owen was a little too emotive when he described renewable energy as ‘untrustworthy’ (‘Warning of an energy crisis to hit nation’, 16 July). The accepted term is ‘variable’ and it has become clear that our energy system can readily handle high levels of variable generation. Variable generation will work better still in our

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)

Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to merge the environment and energy portfolios could lead to a breakthrough in the toxic climate politics that was unleashed when Tony Abbott rolled him in the December 2009 leadership coup. Or the new super-ministry and its new minister Josh Frydenberg could be set up for failure. It depends entirely on whether

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

During the campaign, Labor and the Coalition understandably made strong pitches to win majority government in their own right, ruling out deals with minor parties or independents. In a way, this was a legitimate pre-election pitch from both sides attempting to win government alone. But that was then. This is now: the electorate has, more than likely,

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

The inevitable shift from coal to clean energy is becoming big news in regional electorates and across the country at this election. Local member and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has endorsed the White Rock Wind Farm in Glen Innes, saying, “if we are going to go down the path of renewables and I believe

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 rapid rise of renewable energy technology has taken the world by surprise. Renewables have gotten cheaper faster than expected, while battery storage development is shaping up to radically change the way power our lives, from home, to work to the way we travel.    But this global phenomenon will play out locally, and in

This opinion piece originally appeared in the Australian Financial Review. Elections are only the start of policies, that’s why proper scrutiny needs to be given to senate candidates and parties. Technically this election is about whether the parliament should pass two pieces of obscure industrial relations legislation. Politically, of course, the election is more about

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