August newsletter

Three functions and our latest study

Dear ,

Brisbane City Council

We made page 3 of the Courier Mail last Friday with a story based on our analysis showing that the LNP margin in the Brisbane City Council is very slim – a first preference swing of just 3.52% away from the LNP would push them into the minority.

With local government elections in March this year, and most of our membership base living in Brisbane, some of our work will focus on the council over the next 8 or so months.

We won’t be on our own. There are some other good organisations out there doing work in the same space, most notably Ross Elliott’s Suburban Alliance, but there is also YIMBY QLD, run by Natalie Rayment.

Functions

We have three functions coming-up: our signature fundraiser, the Sir Thomas McIlwraith Lecture; a policy launch; and a book launch.

Allocating Commonwealth funds: the golden handcuffs of federation

On Thursday August 15 at 6:00 for 6:30 pm highly credentialled economist and AIP Fellow John Fallon will launch “Horizontal Fiscal Equalisation and the Grants Commission” a paper which will look at the issues of fairly allocating the GST monies to the states. Recently we saw the absurd situation where Western Australia received only 30% of its per capita share because it had a thriving mining industry. The same forces will, have and do, adversely affect Queensland. This is a must for anyone interested in crafting policies to make Queensland a better state, and Australia a better federation.

You will also get the chance to check out our new offices at 50 Logan Road, Woolloongabba where we’ve fitted out an auditorium so we can run more of this type of event. To book, click here.

Lonely Libertarian: Book Launch

Monday August 26 is the date for the launch of Ron Manners’ Lonely Libertarian. This is joint with Connor Court Publishing. Ron has been a crusader for economic liberalism all of his life and through his Mannkal Economic Education Foundation has been spreading the word about the invisible hand to, and through, a cohort of young students.

Originally a mining entrepreneur, by hard work Ron has done well in life, and now has moved from “turning ideas into gold to turning gold into ideas”. And while he calls himself the “Lonely Libertarian” he’s as gregarious a raconteur as you could hope to meet. This will be a fun evening, and again in our offices. To book, click here.

McIlwraith Lecture

Our McIlwraith Lecture this year will be on October 2, at a venue to be determined. Lecturer will be Trevor St Baker OA. Nothing is more important to modern civilisation than cheap energy, which makes Trevor an indispensable entrepreneur. Starting as an employee of NSW and Queensland government-owned electricity utilities he has developed a network of power generation and supply companies. He has also invested in renewable energy technologies. His Wikipedia entry gives far more detail. Read it and you will understand he is a worthy lecturer in this series.

Mark the date in your diaries. As soon as we have a venue tied-down I will let you know. This is a major fundraiser for us, and I look forward to seeing all of you there.

Something to think about

Nutrition hasn’t been a significant interest of the AIP to date, but it’s one of those issues I keep an eye on, so I was keen to read “The thing about fat is how much it is costing us” by Adam Creighton in yesterday’s Australian. I have a lot of admiration for Adam – he writes well-researched, rigorous columns, except for this one.

While the headline is about fat, the punchline is about sugar:

If sugar is as damaging as some suggest, eating well without it should be much easier, including consolidating the mishmash of hearts, stars, ticks and dietary tables­ that confuse as many consume­rs as they help.

He even advocates a sugar tax, after admitting that sugar consumption has fallen at the same time as obesity has risen. Which led to me doing a bit of Googling. Now I’m not saying that motor vehicle ownership is the cause of obesity, but I am saying that if you were looking for causation, you’d find something which positively correlated with the numbers of obese Australians rather than something that didn't!

Regards, Graham Young Executive Director