Crispin Hull

The resignation of the Italian Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero has been unfortunate, coming as it does such a short time after the otherwise triumphant introduction of the euro common currency in 12 of the 15 EU member countries. Mr Ruggiero, a former head of the World Trade Organisation, was the most pro-European minister in Italy’s centre-right Government.

Mr Ruggiero resigned after several anti-euro comments by other Government Ministers. These in turn followed several anti-Europe decisions. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi side-lined Mr Ruggiero from any part in deciding whether Italy should join a multi-Euro plan to develop the Airbus military transport aircraft and as a result Italy backed out of the deal. Mr Berlusconi tried to block an agreement to put in place a cross-Europe arrest warrant, before backing down. And Mr Berlusconi introduced a law which would make it harder for magistrates to track money involved in financial crime.

It may be that these events can be seen merely as Mr Berlusconi returning what he saw as a cold-shoulder treatment by other European countries when he came to power. Most European Governments are left of centre and even those from the right are much more European and internationalist than Mr Berlusconi.
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The South African Development Community last week refused to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe. The decision will give Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe an element of legitimacy he does not deserve. Moreover, most of the 14 nations who make up the community are being somewhat hypocritical. These were the nations who pressed for sanctions against South Africa in the apartheid years in order to change a regime that was undemocratic, racist, illegitimate and a serial breacher of human rights – just like Mr Mugabe’s Government.

Malawi’s Foreign Minister, Lillian Patel, explained the community’s opposition to sanctions by saying they would only hurt the poor. It was a lame excuse. Already people are starving the Zimbabwe. Mr Mugabe’s corrupt and arrogant Government refuses to acknowledge this. He refuses to allow foreign aid teams in to help feed the poor. At this stage the poor have little to lose and everything to gain by whatever pressure the international community can bring to bear to force a change of ways by Mr Mugabe to see him out of office. Mr Mugabe’s policies have destroyed the country’s capacity to feed the poor and to earn foreign exchange for people to get a better life.
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ACT Pedal Power has called for the end to bullbars on cars on ACT roads. Pedal Power, the cycling lobby group, argues that bullbars are illegal under the Australian design rule that states, “”No vehicle shall be equipped with any object or fitting, not technically essential, with protrudes from any part of the vehicle that it is likely to increase the risk of bodily injury to any person.” The ACT Government’s view is different. Urban Services Minister Bill Wood says that his advice is that the design rules do not make bullbars illegal and that if the rules were to be changed to preclude bullbars, it would have to come from the Commonwealth.”

The two positions raise some major issues about traffic regulation in Australia. Technically, road rules are matters fro the states and territories, but a large amount of work has been done in the past 10 years towards increased uniformity and greater recognition of each other’s demerit points and licence suspensions. That work should not be undone lightly. With increased mobility, more people drive interstate so there is a public and safety interest in uniformity. Different rules invite confusion and more accidents. A difference in vehicle specifications invites inconvenience. If there were to be a ban on bullbars in the ACT, would interstate drivers have to remove them at the border.
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The Minister for Workplace Relations, Tony Abbott, made a thoughtful appeal yesterday for Australians to feel better about Australia. In doing so he quite rightly pointed to many things about Australian society that were worth celebrating and admiring. He also attacked doomsayers, the intelligentsia who portray Australia as the “”arse end of the earth” and “”fairly loathsome”, and those who have a “”legitimacy anxiety” and “”chronic defeatism”.

Mr Abbott – speaking to the Young Liberal federal convention — quite rightly pointed to Australia as being one of the freest, fairest and most prosperous nations on earth – a nation with clean streets, clean environment, a volunteer spirit and where people can get to know each other. And he points out that in many ways Australia is getting better – the rich have got richer at about the same rate as the poor have become richer. We have more jobs, higher wages, lower taxes and fewer strikes than a decade ago. The suicide rate is down. We have run a large, non-discriminatory immigration program based on merit and humanitarian principles. We did an excellent job in East Timor, upholding principles of self-determination and helping a desperate neighbour in need.
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Australia faces the prospect of both under- and over-reaction to the recent bushfires. On the criminal-justice front, NSW Premier Bob Carr and ACT shadow attorney-general Bill Stefaniak have been quick to grandstand. As they have in past with spates of criminality they have happily grandstanded to call for tougher penalties. But as the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdrey has pointed out, present law provides for an adequate range of penalties and juvenile programs to deal with the arsonists. They have committed terrible crimes, but political grandstanding about rubbing noses in ashes and higher penalties will not bring the lost houses, bushland and farmland back, not will they do any more to deter future arsonists. It is just easy talk. And it will make any difference to fires not caused by arsonists.

On the science and technology front, there is talk of considering the purchase of some new helitankers and talk about reconsidering funding research into how fire behaves and how best to fight it – but no commitment. There has been some talk about putting powerlines underground, which would end fires caused by sparks that spray when powerlines touch in high winds – but no action.
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The economic orthodoxy of fighting inflation at all costs has indeed been costly for Argentina. As Eduardo Duhale – the fifth president in two weeks – took power this week, he will inherit a bankrupt economy. That is not hyperbole. The definition of a bankrupt is one who cannot pay their debts as they fall due – precisely Argentina’s position. But unlike an individual who can declare bankruptcy, deliver up their assets for part payment of the debt and start afresh, a nation has to struggle on with the debt burden. How Mr Duhale does this is a matter of major concern for those who cherish the ideal of political and economic liberty. The rioting and violence in the streets in Buenos Aires in the past week which is a direct result of the economic failure has threatened those liberties.

At the behest of the heavily-US-influenced International Monetary Fund, Argentina began a classic reform program about four years ago. It cut tariffs, privatised state enterprises, welcomed multi-national companies, cut government spending and pegged the peso to the US dollar. For a time, things looked good. Foreign investment poured in.

The fear of inflation in Latin America is perhaps more pronounced that elsewhere because in the past inflation has run riot on occasions as governments just printed money in an attempt to meet welfare spending and often to keep corrupt payments running. So pegging the peso seemed a good idea at the time. But it was not. The enemy was not inflation – that was a mere symptom. The real enemies were unrestrained government spending and corruption. A floating exchange rate is an important way for an economy to self-correct, especially when combined with the intelligent application of monetary policy. Australia is a good example. We may well moan about the falling value of our dollar, but it has prevented some of the horrors of the Argentinian situation.
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This Christmas-New Year we have seen heart-breaking images of people outside their destroyed homes; valuable farmland and precious bushland burnt-out. Perhaps as many as 200 houses have gone up in smoke.

This holiday 46 people (and probably more by the end of today) have died on Australia’s roads. Perhaps 10 times that suffered injury. It is a much worse toll than the bushfires, yet it has had scant attention – ironically because it has been eclipsed by the bushfires. Forty-six grieving families have lost a love one – not a house that can be rebuilt.

There are now signs that the significant falls in the road toll achieved in the late 1980s and early 1990s are not continuing. Although 2001 with 1749 dead was better than 2000 with 1817, the large reductions of a decade ago are not apparent. Victoria had a horror year on the state’s roads last year, with 451 deaths. It was the worst result since 1991 when there were 503.
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The Indian Government is rightly angry at the December 13 attack on the Indian Parliament that left 14 people dead. It was an attack at the heart of Indian democracy and made. However, India’s response, especially in the past few days, has been misdirected – ironically from the very pressures of democracy which arise when voters demand action and bay for blood. The attack was a terrorist attack organised and led by people who want an end to Indian rule over Kashmir – the only territory in India with a Muslim majority.

India, however, has repeated its old line – that Pakistan sponsors Kashmiri terror against Indian rule and is seeking the incorporation of Kashmir into Pakistan. About 30,000 people have died in Kashmir violence since a rebellion against Indian ruled erupted 11 years ago.
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On attaining government in 1972, Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam set up an inquiry into accident compensation headed by Justice Woodhouse. Woodhouse had earlier conducted an inquiry in New Zealand.

The inquiry recommended an overhaul of the common-law system of awarding damages to those injured in public places, workplaces and through medical negligence. Legislation was drafted, passed the House and was knocked back by a conservative majority in the Senate. And now 30 years later, the conservatives want the system overhauled – for different reasons.
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People love something for nothing. And they hate missing out on it.

The astonishing roller-coaster in the housing industry is a good example of it. And, according to figures issued this week, the roller-coaster continued. Indeed, the Australian term Big Dipper might be more appropriate.

The Big Dipper has been caused by Governments messing around with the market, in particular with the First Home Owner Grant to a lesser extent by the pernicious levels of stamp duty.

The scheme was introduced on July 1, 2000. Under it, every first-time purchaser of a dwelling got $7000 cash. The theory was to compensate them for the introduction of the GST.

The scheme was flawed from the start. Dwellings were exempt from the GST, so there was no need for the grant to apply across the board. There might have been an argument for a grant to people constructing new dwellings because the GST was to apply to the labour and materials in construction, whereas the wholesale sales tax it replaced applied only to some of the materials.
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