2020

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May62020

Use detention centres to help deal with covid19

HEALTH & EDUCATION, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, National Civic CouncilMay 6, 2020

by Peter Westmore Having put in place a range of emergency measures to deal with the covid19 epidemic, the measured response of the Commonwealth and state governments – meeting as a national cabinet – is showing results, as the increase in the number of confirmed cases has slowed down. If this trend continues, emergency and intensive-care wards in Australia will be able to handle the number of cases that emerge, unlike the situation in many other countries. This is not to say that the crisis is over, far from it. But the restrictions that governments have imposed on tourism, mass…

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Apr292020

A national disgrace: Our great land sale

RURAL AFFAIRSApril 29, 2020

Foreign purchases of prime agricultural land up 180 per cent in three years Foreign-owned land equates to eight times the size of Tasmania Foreign non-tax paying entities out-bid locals for land by 10-25 per cent To what extent have foreign buyers made inroads into purchasing Australia’s prime agricultural land? Head of the NSW Farmers’ Federation Water Taskforce Xavier Martin shed light on this at the NCC National Conference on February 8. Citing data from the Farm Weekly newspaper, Martin revealed that only 1-2 per cent of Australia’s land mass is “Grade A”, or highly productive land. Between 2016 and 2018,…

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Apr292020

The very young can still be ‘taken care of’ during the covid19 outbreak

LIFE MARRIAGE & FAMILYApril 29, 2020

As the covid19 pandemic cripples the world economy and causes unprecedented social dislocation and disruption, opportunistic bureaucrats and politicians are using the crisis to ram through pet policies. Freedoms are being removed; new laws being introduced with little or no debate; and officials make up their own rules imposing them on citizens without any mandate. Some actions by over-zealous police and officials have been absurd but in the long term relatively harmless, such as incidents in Australia where police have fined a man for eating a kebab in a park or a young woman for taking a driving lesson with…

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Apr292020

Australia needs an economic reset after covid19 crisis

ECONOMICS, POLITICSApril 29, 2020

by Patrick J. Byrne As the first responsibility of government is to protect citizens from harm, the Prime Minister’s $130 billion wages package – to help feed families and keep people in their homes and jobs – is an important move in the right direction. However, the covid19 crisis has highlighted Australia’s vulnerability to fragile global supply chains, after four decades of privatisation and deregulation of trade, finance and industries. These policies have left the country heavily dependent on imported manufactures. This vulnerability stems from what economist Dani Rodrik calls “deep globalisation” (or deep global integration), which followed the breakdown…

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