Category: Uncategorized

HE DID not have to do it — the Oxford 10-quid MA and Pommy 10-quid immigrant. But there we were, second-year students at Bill Mandle’s place in Downer, or should I say Upper Downer, crowded under a Hills Hoist with a mass-produced cut-canvas hood for just these circumstances – an autumnal downpour in Canberra in March. Continue reading “Glad to be part of Mandle’s history”

I HAVE just returned from my first sailing race. Well, I say “I” advisedly, because I did not take the helm. As readers of this column might recall that I bought a 46ft (14.3-metre) Beneteau yacht about two years ago when partially retiring to Port Douglas. Continue reading “Beware the aged scare”

AFTER this Budget, the ABC should take the Tories at their word. The yapping conservatariat say the government broadcaster should not unfairly compete with, and replicate the work of, good commercial broadcasters. The ABC’s response should be – what do the commercial broadcasters cover comprehensively so that there is no need for us to do it? Well, it is not politics, arts, science, foreign affairs, defence, education, religion, children’s programs or even finance. No, it is sport. Continue reading “Solution for ABC Budget cuts”

CHRISTOPER Pyne, of all people, put forward an excellent proposal to help clean up Australian politics.

“I don’t believe that the trade-union movement or corporate Australia should be able to donate to political parties,” Pyne, the Education Minister, told the ABC last Sunday: “I think only individuals should be able to donate to political parties.” Continue reading “Stopping the corporate donation rot”

THIS week’s Commission of Audit’s recommendation that the states be allowed to raise income tax – as they do in the US – and to effectively re-privatise the health system are spots of crass stupidity in a report that otherwise contains some fundamental truths and some worthwhile remedies. Continue reading “Privatisation: the good, bad and ugly”

MALCOLM Fraser and Margaret Thatcher were fond of likening government to a household. A household that spent more than it earned was headed for trouble, they argued. They had a point, up to a point. The conservative side of politics has extolled the virtue of fiscal rectitude. And it is a worthy cause. Without it, society’s ideals cannot be met. But there is more to house-keeping and government budgeting than ensuring you are on the right side of Micawber’s equation*. Continue reading “More than Micawber to good government”

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. Continue reading “Useful but lethal — Coal is looking more like asbestos”

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. Continue reading “Ita reveals the business case for acting on climate change”

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. Continue reading “A secret no financial adviser will tell you”

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. Continue reading “Benighted Labor failed to create a true Order of Australia”