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Broadband Internet – Getting the Framework Right
Chris Berg | May 1, 2009This blog was originally published at Online Opinion 4th January, 2007, and is re-published here with the kind permission of its author Chris Berg and the Institute of Public Affairs.
The United Nations last month released a report on broadband policies for developing nations. Unfortunately, its recommendations provide little more than advocacy of futile, centralised, national "plans" to increase Internet availability and use.
Similarly, policy makers across the Australia are formulating grand plans to resolve this county’s broadband crisis.
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The Winds of Change Will Not Wait for Rudd’s Broadband
Chris Berg | April 30, 2009This article is re-published here with the kind permission of it’s author Chris Berg, Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs and Editor of the IPA review. It was first published at Crikey.com.au on 7 April, 2009
The failure of the National Broadband Network tender to find a sensible and willing private sector company is not surprising. But the failure cannot be blamed on the global financial crisis — the economy may look pretty dismal, but the government’s broadband policy was never very good anyway.
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How Peter Costello looks from London
patrickcallioni | April 30, 2009Peter Costello and Gordon Brown have a lot in common, it's strange the media doesn't seem to have noticed?
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Leveraging opportunities for low-carbon innovation
Andrew Jones | April 30, 2009Any policy prevarication and lack of coherency in a supportive innovation framework would undermine Australia’s potential to succeed in the global carbon market.
Many organisations are overwhelmed by having to make seemingly large adaptations in the transition to the carbon economy. While I’m convinced it needn’t be so scary, there are a host of issues that need to be addressed and explored in the short term to enable an appropriate transition.
Certainly, there will be some teething problems whilst we calibrate what the carbon market will look like in Australia and in the context of an emerging framework. However, with the right design, the end result should be of net economic benefit to the Australian economy overall. This has been attested to in the Garnaut review.
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Difficulties for Women on the Rise
Yu Dan Shi | April 29, 2009Recent studies from around the world paint a clear picture: developing women in business is worth the effort.
Being interviewed for the The McKinsey Report, one female CEO reflected that thirty years ago she never would have imagined women’s development in business would have progressed so slowly.
Although the first phase of the battle has been won on the twin fronts of equality in educational opportunities and workforce participation, the barriers to women’s career development have persisted.
Three recent reports from: McKinsey & Co UK, The European Diversity Commission & The Institute for Employment Studies may shed some light on why this is so.
In Australia, women now experience equal or greater representation in the fields of law, economics and business. However, at the senior executive level this figure falls to an average of 10.7%, dwindling further to only 2% of those sitting in the CEO’s chair.
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Give up on the ‘booze police’
alison gordon | April 28, 2009The resurrection of the proposed alcopops tax legislation after it was defeated in the Senate is just another waste of time.
Not that I’m a pessimist, but I am wondering how many of our good fellow citizens agree with me when I say that no matter what you, or I, or the government does, we will never be free of the serious social and economic problem that is binge drinking.
All good intentions aside, the resurrection of the proposed alcopops tax legislation after it was defeated in the Senate is sadly another waste of time, as has been proven in other countries which have tried a similar approach and failed miserably.
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Maslow’s “Heirachy of Needs” for Society
patrickcallioni | April 27, 2009There are many layers to a healthy society, of which the economy is only one.
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Top 10 themes from RSA Security Conference as seen by iTnews
Malcolm Crompton | April 27, 2009For all those Mac fans who think that they are immune from vulnerabilities, think again.
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A day of quiet contemplation
Douglascomms | April 25, 2009ANZAC day is a commemoration, and not a celebration.
6.45 am – My little girl comes out into the kitchen and asks me what I'm doing.
"Making ANZAC Biscuits," I say.
So far so good…
She sits up at the table and rubs her eyes.
"Why do we celebrate ANZAC Day Mum?"
Oh dear, there's that word again. It's the word that causes arguments in my house every 25th of April. Celebrate…
"Darling, we don't celebrate ANZAC Day, on ANZAC Day we commemorate the terrible things that happen in wars, and remember the people who die in wars."
She's quiet for a while, I think I've escaped.
"So ANZAC Day is a special day because Australians did something special on ANZAC Day?"
Oh oh, here we go, this is the bit that I just can't lie to her about.
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Some observations on the NHHRC’s Interim Report
Just Stoelwinder | April 24, 2009A social insurance model, based on the principles of the recent Dutch healthcare system reform, might be an answer to fixing Australia's health.
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China’s quest for resources
Warren Reed | April 23, 2009When it comes to undertanding our resource exports, Australia has a patchy perspective.
Banner headlines like ‘China’s bid for nuclear supplies: Australian uranium sought’ (The Sydney Morning Herald, April 22) attract a lot of attention these days.
Most Australians react positively, recognising the benefits for our national accounts at a time of global economic stress. Understandably, the issue of Chinese ownership of key resource deposits is raised in the next breath. Nothing wrong with that, though it’s usually to the exclusion of reporting and debate on the broader China picture. Regardless of what we sell to that country, there’s much more to what China’s doing than just our relationship with it.
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The Code: Principles to Underpin a National Regulatory Framework for the Financial Sector
patrickcallioni | April 22, 2009Having asserted Australia financial sector needs a new regulatory framework, Patrick Callioni looks at the how we might begin.
