AFTER the Florida shootings, Australia was again mentioned sporadically as an example of how to do gun control. Buy back the guns and destroy them. Ban a huge range of high-powered guns. And strictly control purchases of weapons and how they are stored. Too easy, you would think. The vast majority of Americans know what is needed. But getting there is far more difficult in the US than in Australia. Nonetheless there is another aspect of Australian political life which could be quite helpful in the US. Continue reading “Money not argument is the answer to NRA”
Month: February 2018
Better to kick banks while they are up
NOW that the banking Royal Commission is under way, it is a good time to reflect on the Australian financial system over the past decade and be grateful that we are kicking the banks while they are up, not down. Far better to have obscenely profitable banks than grotesquely bankrupt ones. Continue reading “Better to kick banks while they are up”
Cigarettes, weapons – anything for jobs and exports
THE Australian Government should consider setting up, or at least subsidise, a major domestic and exporting cigarette industry in Australia, even if the subsidies go to foreign companies or that the domestic industry is run by foreign companies. It would create jobs and promote exports. If the demand for the product can be boosted both here and abroad, the jobs created would outweigh any downsides. Continue reading “Cigarettes, weapons – anything for jobs and exports”
Great Barrier Reef needs more than denial or despair
WE WERE out of internet range, anchored on No Name Reef, when the Federal Government announced its too-little-too-late $60 million package “to secure the viability of the Great Barrier Reef”. No Name Reef, sometimes called Cormorant Reef, 200km north east of Cairns, had a reputation for spectacular coral.