IN THE 1960s asbestos mining was a very profitable business. And it created a lot of jobs. Asbestos was very useful – indeed one of the best insulating materials known to humankind. [click to continue…]
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YOU cannot unboil an egg. I know the expression is supposed to be “you cannot unscramble an egg”, and you would think that that would be more appropriate in a discussion about Cyclone Ita, but we have 22 boiled eggs in the fridge right now at home in Port Douglas. [click to continue…]
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THIS is something no financial adviser will tell you (and more on freedom of speech later). By far the best investment you can make today with totally guaranteed returns is to put a solar voltaic system on your roof. [click to continue…]
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THE real lesson from the knights and dames event is that Labor has naively believed in the march of progress. Labor has imagined that, once a significant reform has been achieved, everyone will see is merits and it will not be unwound. [click to continue…]
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OUR household has just subscribed to the wonderful BBC iPlayer app. The event has led me to suggest a plan for the ABC when it inevitably has to respond to the politically biased cuts in funding that loom in the May budget. [click to continue…]
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SO, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has almost got his trigger for a double dissolution election. It is very unlikely he will use it, at least not for a while. But it does raise the question of how the system deals with an obstructionist Opposition. [click to continue…]
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WHAT a joy to hear in the past week or so two voices of disinterested reason rising above the special interest groups. It would be a greater joy if their sensible words were listened to and acted upon. The voices were those of Professor Ross Garnaut and Dr Ken Henry. [click to continue…]
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BE CAREFUL using Twitter, you might be sued for defamation.
There, I have said it in less than the 140 character limit, but there is much more to the story than that.
Much was made this week of an award of $105,000 against a 20-year-old Orange former schoolboy Andrew Farley who used Twitter to defame a music teacher who was appointed to a position vacated by his father on medical grounds. [click to continue…]
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JOHN Howard had it right on agriculture. Tony Abbott has it wrong. The latest farm hand-out is another example of the Abbott Government’s inconsistency and justification-on-the-run when it comes to government assistance. [click to continue…]
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AUSTRALIA is ranked equal ninth with Canada on the Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International. That ranking will no doubt be in for a bit of a hiding as the Royal Commission into unions gets underway. [click to continue…]
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