The High Court decision 'overturns 90 years of Australian law, swinging the pendulum quite to the other end, in that it recognises that engaging in public debate is a public benefit in itself'.
Topic: News
Memo to G20: trade is the key to beating poverty
Why are we still arguing about this? If “98 per cent” of “climate scientists” agree the climate is changing (not a hard thing to agree on, given the thesis is so vague), why can’t we just accept that trade is the key to poverty decline? Relative poverty, something which only becomes a political issue once a society heads beyond a threshold, is not as important in the third world as absolute poverty. Inequality, pro-growth and other such distractions are noise, which keep the West’s values held high, and the most impoverished and vulnerable within their economic confines.
Queensland’s assets are too important to trust to the government
Next year’s State Election is shaping as a referendum on the LNP Government’s privatisation agenda. But as well as asking whether they want state assets leased, voters should also ask whether last century’s government ownership model is still the best way to deliver services.
AIP in the Courier Mail
Des Houghton has a magnificent write-up of the AIP in Saturday’s Courier Mail entitled “Free radicals rally to Australian Institute for Progress to challenge the Left“. And in case you can’t read it because it is behind a paywall, we’ve uploaded it here (pdf 1.8mb).
Why on earth wouldn’t Labor support privatisation?
Labor oppositions campaigning against the privatisation of assets by state and federal governments should think again. It’s in their political and economic interests to allow them to proceed.
Say no to the coal killers
Convicted killer, now Anglican priest, Evan Pederick is the perfect poster boy for the fossil fuel divestment campaign. The convicted and self-confessed terrorist has been taken into the bosom of the Anglican Church and joined forces with other churches to divest their institutions of investments in fossil fuels (and some minerals).
No place for medieval practice in our society
Some conservative Muslims treat women as chattels.
Some conservative Muslims struggle in a liberal society and sometimes, especially among young men, contempt for the host society bubbles to the surface.
So why do liberals cry for religious freedom when that freedom leads to the treatment of women as second-class citizens and emboldens young men? I, for one, will not defend another’s right to be illiberal.
Why there’s no option but action on Australian tax rules
In the year ahead there will be a national discussion about the future of our taxation system. It will have important implications for economic growth and social policy. The discussion will only be productive if all options are on the table, and if participants don’t resort to what Robert Kennedy called “obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans”.
Don’t go too far in advocating constitutional recognition for Aborigines
“Not ready to vote” is the phrase the government has been advised to use as the excuse to delay until 2017 a referendum to recognise Aborigines in the Constitution. Could it just be conceivable that, no matter how much of our money governments spend telling us otherwise, Australians will never be ready for further constitutional recognition?
Nick Cater speaks at AIP’s first public event
The Australian Institute of Progress was honoured to host author and MenziesResearch Centre executive director Nick Cater as the guest speaker at our first public event in Brisbane on Thursday night, September 18.
