Latest Articles
Senate obstruction not to blame for lurking ‘zombie’ measures
The Turnbull Government has abandoned Abbott-era policies to cut government spending on welfare, health and education. These were the so-called “zombie” measures that had been lurking in budget papers since 2014 but not legislated. Supposedly the Senate was to blame
Read More
Gonski funding: give money to the parents, not the schools
by David Leyonhjelm When I proposed that childcare subsidies be reduced where household income exceeds $250,000, and eliminated where it exceeds $350,000, the major parties wet their pants. I had the government over a barrel so it said nothing, but
Read More
Don’t be nostalgic for John Howard: he was a big-spending, big-government PM
Over the last decade we’ve had a succession of disappointing governments led by disappointing prime ministers delivering disappointing budgets. We now also have disunity in the Liberal Party and the rise of conservative voices outside it. It is unsurprising there
Read More
NBN monopoly screws everyone equally and should be privatised
NBN monopoly screws everyone equally and should be privatised In the time before Kevin Rudd, what customers were willing to pay determined our internet speeds, the technologies employed and the companies that wanted our business. Then we had Kevin 07.
Read More
Leyonhjelm: Start the budget from scratch
There is an old joke about a tourist in Ireland who asks a local for directions to Dublin. The Irishman replies: “Well sir, if I were you, I wouldn’t start from here”. Treasurer Scott Morrison could find some insight from that
Read More
The Greens and Labor stopped thousands of same-sex couples from getting married.
There’s a theory doing the rounds that the same-sex marriage lobby resisted the proposal for a plebiscite in February because they thought they would not have won. It’s not a theory to which I subscribe. The polls have always shown
Read More
Our high minimum wages stops low-skill workers getting jobs
There are around 524,000 Australians currently looking for full-time jobs, plus a further 224,000 looking for part-time work. As many of these people know only too well, the unemployment benefit for those over 22 is $535.60 a fortnight for singles
Read More
Stamp duty — it’s stopping you buying a home
While Premier Gladys Berejiklian publicly wrings her hands about housing affordability in Sydney, she knows quite well that the high costs of buying and renting are substantially due to her own desperate addiction to three revenue streams. The first of these
Read More
Drugs are a problem, but not a crime
The use of illegal drugs such as ice is an important community concern. The police, medical services and communities struggle to deal with the aggressive and hyperactive behaviour of ice addicts as well as the crimes they commit to fund
Read More
Try not to be poor, because government is full of middle-class naggers
According to the most recent Global Wealth Report by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, Australia leads the world for having the largest proportion of adults who can be described as middle class, and also the smallest percentage of people who
Read More