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Second shot at power, second shot at humanity
Anne Majumdar | October 5, 2010From Christmas Island to Villawood, the news of Julia Gillard’s second shot at power would have been received with a mixture of emotions in detention centres across the country.
Firstly, relief that Tony Abbott, with his fetish for turning back boats, was not going to be the new Australian Prime Minister. Secondly, confusion at what Gillard’s reprisal of power would mean for the asylum-seeking refugees currently detained.
Asylum was the hot topic in the run up to the election, picked by both Gillard and Abbott as a major issue. Why is unclear given that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees cited a mere 1400 more refugees in 2009 than the year before, and a June survey by The Australian newspaper showed that only 10% of people saw the asylum issue to be of utmost concern.
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Big Brother Bans Blackberrys
Timothy Lam | October 1, 2010Both Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently announced the ban of BlackBerry devices.
This played out due to the fact that RIM devices had encryptions that were also effective against governments. Effectively, this ban held RIM and its users to ransom until RIM announced it would work with the Saudi Arabia and UAE governments to allow access to these communications.
India and Kuwait may follow in these steps and, in the light of recent and similarly minded proposals, so may Australia.
BlackBerry devices are secure. The problem is that they also keep communications secure from government review and intervention.
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Keep Left
Aleks Vickovich | October 1, 2010The Labor-Greens deal signifies the end of the Howard era and the emergence of a new progressive force in Australian politics.
Labor’s lurch to the Right has categorically failed.
Since coming to power in 2007, Labor’s strategy has been to pander to the prejudices of voters in marginal seats and to mirror John Howard on issues such as immigration, gay marriage and the Northern Territory intervention.
By 2010, voters – especially in the battleground of Queensland – have rejected this false masquerade by the formerly-socialist Labor Party. Losing 16 seats and its majority in the House of Representatives, Labor came dangerously close to becoming a one-term wonder.
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UncategorisedDeputy PM Launches GAP Summit
editor | October 1, 2010
As reported in The Australian, The Hon. Wayne Swan Deputy PM and Treasurer launched the Summit asserting that the NBNis crucial to the future of the Australian economy. Read the full speech »» -
UncategorisedOECD reckons Australia is doing alright
editor | October 1, 2010
Mr Jonathan Coppel, Senior Economic Counsellor to the OECD said on his return to Sydney that it’s challenging to say how we could improve Australia’s growth performance. READ MORE >> -
UncategorisedNSW Treasurer Addresses GAP Summit
editor | October 1, 2010
The Hon. Eric Roozendaal welcomed delegates to the Summit, pointing out he is one of the few treasurers in the world to "have a smile on his face". Read the full speech >> -
Findings from NAPCAN child protection survey
Rosanna Martinello | September 30, 2010Last year, NAPCAN conducted a national survey to gauge community attitudes to child abuse and neglect. Our Survey results reveal that far, far too many people say they would not take any formal action if they think a child is being abused or neglected.
We surveyed 22,000 people, which made it the biggest survey of its kind in Australia. Despite being a well-educated, interested group who were reasonably knowledgeable about child abuse as an issue, less than half the respondents said they would take action to protect the child by ringing the child protection authorities or the police. Even more alarming, if a child disclosed sexual abuse, only a third of respondents would call the police!
Why are people so hesitant to step in to protect a child?
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Old and new sources of growth: the roles of trade and investment
Jonathan Coppel | September 28, 2010I was recently very pleased to participate in GAP’s National Economic Review: Australia’s Annual Growth Summit 2010, and to return to Sydney, the fabulous city that I still call home.
However the organisers gave me a very challenging task; to describe how to improve Australia’s growth performance.
This is challenging because Australia has just clocked-up nearly two decades of consecutive growth, sailing through the Asian financial crisis and the bust of the IT bubble. And now it has even managed to navigate relatively unscathed through the deepest global financial and economic crisis in our lifetime.
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Standards underpin trade and investment policy
Damian Fisher | September 28, 2010On 17 September 2010 it was my pleasure on behalf of Standards Australia to present at the GAP National Economic Review: Australia’s Growth Summit 2010. This is a summary of my remarks which focused on highlighting the importance of Standards and how they help foster and underpin international trade and investment.
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Welcome Address to the GAP National Economic Review: Australia’s Annual Growth Summit 2010
Eric Roozendaal | September 27, 2010On 17 September 2010 I was delighted to deliver the welcoming address to the National Economic Review 2010: Australia’s Annual Growth Summit and welcome the speakers and delegates to Sydney and to the NSW Parliament. Following is a summary of that address:
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The Outlook for Australian Trade in the 21st Century
Prof Andrew Leigh | September 27, 2010Transcript of the address delivered by the Hon. Andrew Leigh MP to the Global Access Partners National Economic Review: Australia’s Annual Growth Summit on 17 September 2010.
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Getting more Bang for the Buck: Markets, Prices, Competition and the Role of Government
Louise Sylvan | September 27, 2010Louise Sylvan presented a keynote address to the GAP National Economic Review: Australia’s Annual Growth Summit on 17 September 2010. The following is based on her speaking notes.
There are three key areas – that I believe are critical for economic growth and where governments clearly play an important, influential role. The first is competition. In my view, the best way to get the most bang for the consumer buck is good competition.
That is why the micro-economic reforms of the 1980s and ‘90s were so effective in helping to increase our productivity and thus our living standards. Australian markets became much more open, products from countries with an advantage in producing them came onto our markets and spurred much stronger competition or a focus on products in Australia that could be delivered with advantage here.
