Crispin Hull

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd’s proposal for four-year fixed terms is like deciding to buy a new stove for the kitchen. Like a stove, elections are the working part of Australian constitutional democracy, but not its totality.

As you look at removing the old stove you realise it is attached to cupboards, so you will probably need new cupboards – not just either side of the stove but matching ones for the whole kitchen. That would then mean a new sink, dishwasher and splashbacks. So you may as well re-tile the floor and repaint. The power points, light switches and light fittings would complete the job.

Rudd thinks that Prime Minister John Howard has been playing games with the timing of this election. He argues that the uncertainty of the date has been highly inconvenient – for politicians and their staff who have spent the past couple of weeks thinking they might have to return to Canberra for a parliamentary sitting. He is right. Business and the public service would also like more certainty with election dates.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 13 October 2007 four year terms”

The attacks early yesterday morning Australian time by the United States and Britain on Afghanistan mark the first salvo in their war against terrorism.

The leaders of the two nations, President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, justified the attacks by the killing of about 6000 people in New York and Washington by suicidal hijackers who forced passenger jetliners into the World trade Centre and the Pentagon. The attack in the US was horrific and it killed thousands of innocent people. The US and its allies are right to seek to bring to justice those who perpetrated the deed. No-one has admitted responsibility for it. The US says it has evidence that it was done by Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist network. It says that that network is supported by the Taliban government of Afghanistan.

In ordinary circumstances where a crime has been committed a nation can seek extradition of those allegedly responsible. That was not possible here. The US asked the Taliban to hand over bin Laden. They have refused. They have admitted that he is in their territory and it would obviously be in their power to do so.
Continue reading “2001_10_october_leader09oct war”

This week the boot was on the other foot in the long-running tussle over freedom of speech.

First, to some history. Let’s rewind to 1994.

Labor was apoplectic. The High Court had just delivered its judgment in Theophanous v Herald Weekly Times.

The court held that the Constitution required freedom of political communication. It meant that strict state defamation law would not apply to comments in a letter to the editor of the Melbourne Herald by then RSL leader Bruce Ruxton. Ruxton said that the Federal Labor MP and chair of parliamentary immigration committee, Andrew Theopanhnous, had been favouring Greek immigrants.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 6 October 2007 defo unions”

The bigger the lie and the more loudly it is proclaimed, the more people believe it.

We all know who most people think is better at running the economy: the Liberals, by a country mile.

The Libs seem to have persuaded the masses that they are low-taxing, and that only they can “manage” the economy by running surpluses.

But the truth is not so obvious.

In the past Labor has been notorious for running up debt for pet ideological projects and social welfare. The Libs are less notorious but have been equally spent money in favour of mates rather than the economic good – industry welfare, exchange rates and interest rates.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 29 September 2007 high tax”

A fine for $810 million sounds like a lot of money. That is what Microsoft was fined for anti-competitive conduct. The fine by the European Commission was upheld this week by the European Court of First Instance.

There have been lots of oohs and aahs, particularly in the US, over the fine, but it is pretty paltry amount compared to the massive and richly undeserved profits Microsoft has made from the misuse of its monopoly position. Microsoft’s profits are about $15 billion a year.

Comparatively, it is the equivalent of an average Australian worker being fined $3000 – little more than a severe traffic fine.
Continue reading “Forum for 22 September 2007 microsoft”

Like horses, computers get viruses. Imagine, then, if something akin to what has happened to the horses happened, not to computers, but to poker machines.

Now, I know that as poker machines are not connected in the way computers are they cannot get viruses. But it is an interesting hypothetical.

What if clubs had to “shut down” their poker-machine rooms, preventing patrons from using them? Would there be such a clamour as has happened with the equine flu? Would there be talk of “an industry” making “losses”?

I suspect not.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 8 September 2007 virus and economy”

When John Howard contested the 1996 election he was fortunate enough – as he has so often been – not to have had to offer much in the way of policy.

Nor did he have to agree with any elements of Keating Government policy for fear of being wedged by what the majority of Australians saw as a smelly dead cat.

Upon winning, therefore, Howard had a blank cheque and no statements to come back to haunt him, with perhaps one notable exception – the “never ever” GST.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 1 September 2007 promises”

Prime Minister John Howard thinks Australia should have more tax changes. Treasurer Peter Costello thinks that non-investment housing should not be part of the tax system and so has ruled out an industry proposal to make interest payments on principal residences tax deductible.

Costello said this week that mortgage interest on the principal residence had never been tax deductible. But in fact was deductible for a period in either the late 1960s or early 1970s. It was means tested and eventually eroded by the high inflation of the Whitlam period.

Yes, Australia does need tax reform. But you have to wonder whether either side of politics is capable of doing a reasonable job. It may be that our tax system, so laced with perks and favours, is beyond change because it would mean stripping some of those away with obvious electoral consequences.

A lot of the Costello-Howard tax changes have been economically inefficient but politically very effective.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 25 August 2007 tax changes”

I am in an invidious position this week. I want to talk about sources, note-taking and not relying on memory in the light of the Peter Costello dinner with the three senior press gallery journalists in 2005.

The trouble is I made a boo-boo in last week’s column which might somewhat tarnish my credibility. The correction and apology appear at the bottom of column.

Ok, go and have a sneak preview, but promise you’ll come back.

So you are back.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 18 August 2007 jurno sources”

Competition squash, unlike Parkinson’s bureaucracies, has a two-way movement.

Professor C. Northcote Parkinson, you will recall, devised Parkinson’s Law – “that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.

He also devised the Peter Principle – that people in bureaucracies keep getting promoted until they get a job at which they are incompetent and are promoted no more. This is why most bureaucracies have so many incompetent people in senior positions.

In competition squash (and other racquet sports), however, as the ravages of age and unfitness take over, you can get demoted to your level of competence.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 11 August 2007 the political racquet”