Month: March 1996

The mythology has been that Australians do not like dobbers. Apparently our convict history makes us suspicious of dobbers. The consequence has been that without dobbers, wrong-doers have been able to act with impunity. In particular, corruption has spread among the very people with the duty to act against wrong-doers, and confidence in the law-enforcement system has been sapped. A survey by the Independent Commission Against Corruption published this week paints a depressing picture about it. Of 515 people surveyed, 71 per cent thought whistle-blowers would suffer for reporting corruption. Given the history of treatment of whistle-blowers in Australia, their perception has foundation.

The ICAC report said people did not know who to trust when reporting wrong-doing. Given the history of corruption in the NSW police force, their misgivings have foundation. The head of ICAC, Barry O’Keefe, quite rightly said, “”We have got to create a climate in which reporting wrong-doing is acceptable.”

Fortunately, there is reason to think that this depressing state of affairs can be changed … but little thanks to ICAC. The reason is the superb job being done by the Wood Royal Commission. Justice James Wood has exposed widespread police corruption where previous inquirers, including ICAC (before Mr O’Keefe’s time), failed dismally. The Wood Royal Commission very competently gathered the evidence, forcing public confessions which in turn caused other perpetrators to the inevitable conclusion that it would be better to confess to gain a lighter sentence or immunity than trying to maintain innocence against the facts.
Continue reading “1996_03_march_leader27amar”

The move by the assistant treasurer Senator Jim Short to open the superannuation market to banks and credit unions is a welcome one. Australia’s saving base is notoriously low. Anything that gives an incentive to saving is worthwhile.

Under present rules, banks have had to set up cumbersome separate trustee-type structures as subsidiaries. This has meant costs and inconvenience. The beauty of allowing banks and credit unions to get into the business directly is that they will be able to provide over-the-counter services. Superannuation will become more accessible. Under present arrangements, bumping up superannuation contributions can be difficult. With over-the-counter superannuation accounts (or even ATM accounts), customers will be able to drop savings in easily. They will see the tax advantages very quickly. Superannuation earnings are taxed at a far lower rate than ordinary interest earnings. But once someone takes the tax advantage, they cannot later withdraw the earnings without pay the difference in tax (unless they have reached retirement). The incentive to keep the savings in place is obvious.
Continue reading “1996_03_march_leader23mar”

The new Government has a difficult task ahead in rationalising Australia’s media rules. Over the years, Labor made many decisions in favour one player or another for political reasons. Labor did not have a coherent plan or vision with the public interest in mind. Nor did it react strategically to changes in technology, let alone predict them.

Labor was further hampered by the collapse of the share market in 1987 and the subsequent bazaar of media assets on offer. Also, early in Labor term the constitutional powers over all media were not as well developed as they are now. That does not excuse the mess, but it explains at least some of it. Now there is a chance to lay down some clearer principles, with particular attention to diversity, Australian ownership and Australian content, and the quality of content.

At present five major media players have a keen interest in the new rules. Either present rules prevent them or prevent their competitors from acting. Either way it will affect the way they act.
Continue reading “1996_03_march_leader22mar”

Power craft are banned on Canberra’s three lakes, with the exception of some boats powered by tiny electric engines, two tourist boats and rescue craft. Power boats are allowed on part of the Molonglo River, just before it enters Lake Burley Griffin. Now there is a proposal for powered jet-skis on Lake Tuggeranong.

Several reasons have been put forward for the ban on powered boats. The engines are noisy; they pollute the water with petrol and oil; the wash of powered boats wrecks the shore line; they pose a safety hazard; they affect wildlife.

Perhaps some of these reasons need to be put to the test. Are the boats any noisier than the traffic that goes on roads near the lakes or over the bridges? Would they add significantly to noise and pollution that presumably comes from those on the Molonglo? Is the wash significantly different from storms? Does the experience of other waterways suggest safety and wildlife are badly affected? It may well be that opposition to power boats is a knee-jerk reaction. After all, the present motor craft do not attract much complaint.
Continue reading “1996_03_march_leader21mar”

The study by Trends showing a slight crime rise in the ACT is to be expected. Worldwide trends show that crime tends to increase with the size of the city. Those who see advantages in having a larger city, must also see some of the profound disadvantages.

None the less, the ACT still has less crime than the national average. But the Australian Federal Police is not being complacent and has made some changes in response to changes in crime patterns. Police have to undergo constant changes in approach, simply because the criminals they are chasing change their methods.

Even so, further changes in society’s approach to drugs and road traffic are needed. This week the NSW Police Royal Commission has revealed the tragic neglect of crimes against children because of police concentration of resources into the hopeless fight against drugs. When drug abuse is treated as a health problem, not a crime problem, more resources will be available to police other crimes. Moreover, a decline in crimes against property to support drug habits could be expected.
Continue reading “1996_03_march_leader20mar”

Kim Beazley was the natural to take over the Labor Party leadership. This much was known from about 7.30pm on Saturday March 2. The only question was whether he would get elected in the seat of Brand. With that done, by a narrow margin, there was no-one in the Labor to challenge him. Perhaps this says more about the lack of leadership depth in the Labor Party than about the leadership qualities of Mr Beazley. Even so, Mr Beazley is well regarded by the public and has demonstrated considerable administrative and leadership skill in several portfolios and as leader of the House.

Imagine if the Liberal Party in Western Australia had not been so riven with factional strife that it could have saved the effort of battling disendorsed independents in three key seats and concentrated on campaigning in Labor seats. Mr Beazley could well have lost, and Australian democracy would have been the poorer.

Instead of Mr Beazley taking the leadership unchallenged, the leadership would have been contested by the two who contested the deputy leadership yesterday: Gareth Evans and Simon Crean. Neither would have been entirely suitable as leader, though each has something to contribute in a lesser role. Mr Evans represents the intellectual, socially liberal arm of the party; Mr Crean represents the industrial, pragmatic arm.
Continue reading “1996_03_march_leader20maa”

The ACT has the highest gambling expenditure per head of all states and territories in Australia. The ACT gambling expenditure (net of prizes) is around $740 per person, according to a report on gambling in Australia and New Zealand in the March issue of International Wagering and Business. This is almost double the national average (close to $400).

However, the main social concern about gambling is not so much the absolute amount being spent, but its proportion of disposable income. The higher that is, the more likely the impact on spending on more important things, like family food, shelter and clothing. ACT residents have a higher income than the Australian average, more are in work and there is a lower proportion in retirement. It means the higher gambling expenditure is likely to have less affect on other things. People in the ACT are spending about 13 per cent of their disposable income on gambling, which is about the same a most other states and territories.
Continue reading “1996_03_march_leader19mar”

During Law Week last week, Justice Paul Finn of the Federal Court delivered the Blackburn Lecture. It was a seminal essay on a significant change in the approach taken by Australian courts to the rights of individuals in the past decade or so. The law stands out in a fast-moving society as being quite slow moving, so it needs acute observation to detect trends. Justice Finn noted that the pervasiveness of state power was now so great that, in the relationship between the state and the citizen, the citizen was becoming far more vulnerable.

In this new relationship the question of individual rights is not so much one of ensuring that individuals can assert rights to do things, but to ensure that the state cannot oppress vulnerable individuals. He cited the case of the High Court ruling that the government must follow the spirit of international treaties it had signed and treat refugees with children in accordance with it. The case caused some controversy, with many commentators saying that Australia was being ruled by international bodies not elected by Australians. The court saw it differently. It thought that the government should not present one face to the international community yet deal with people on its own soil contrary to that.

Justice Finn pointed also to the courts requiring all government decision making to be done with procedural fairness as a matter of common law, rather than specific statute. And he pointed to several High Court cases demanding that police engage in proper procedures to protect people charged with offences against improper conviction. Once again, the courts are helping the vulnerable against the powerful. On one side is dependence, reliance and trust and on the other is position, aptitude or knowledge. Justice Finn sees the courts as becoming more protective of the vulnerable. In this he says that, while the law and morality are not synonymous, the law can evidence strong moral purpose and has been doing so with increasing vigour in the past decade or so.
Continue reading “1996_03_march_leader18may law”

The suggestion by senior CSIRO scientist Doug Cocks last week that Australia may have enough or too many people deserves serious attention. Dr Cocks made his assertion in a book, People Policy: Australia’s Population Choices. He was driven to write the book after helping the 1994 inquiry by the Long Term Strategies Committee of the House of Representatives. That committee avoided making any recommendations about population and immigration policy.

Dr Cocks rightly points out that politicians from both sides make policies in isolation. In particular, immigration policy is not made with the best long-term interests of the nation as a whole but a s a short-term balancing act between the squeals of the ethnic lobby on one side and the environment lobby on the other. Dr Cocks rightly points out that that is no way to make worthwhile policy.
Continue reading “1996_03_march_leader18mar”

The uranium policy of the former government was a bit like the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Everyone knew it had three parts, but no-one was sure quite how they fitted into a coherent whole. Labor’s three-mines policy had no philosophic base. All attempted rationalisations failed. It permitted uranium mining and exports and even acknowledged that some uranium atoms from Australia might find their way into nuclear-weapons testing. There was no complete ban on new mines because under the policy the Olympic Dam mine at Roxby Downs in South Australia was begun. That decision was based on the fact that uranium was a necessary by-product of mining other minerals. As it happened, at the time a state Labor Government needed some projects to boost its re-election chances.

On the other hand, Labor used economic arguments to oppose new mines where other factors were involved. Labor said, for example, that new mines in Western Australia and the Northern Territory would not be economically viable.

Perhaps the foundation of the trinity of mines policy under Labor could best be described as a balancing act of keeping both the intellectual and industrial supporters of Labor in the fold and of appeasing all factions.
Continue reading “1996_03_march_leader16mar”