People & associates
Chris Berg
US surveillance scandal just the tip of the iceberg
More than a decade after the September 11 attacks, the US is having a debate about its monstrous national security apparatus. Finally. In that...
Labor's end: out with the old, in with the renewed
Let's say Rudd returns to the prime ministership - which seems possible - and then goes on to win the next election - a big ask, but not entirely...
At risk of an asylum seeker underclass
A reductio ad absurdum is an argumentative ploy to show a proposition is wrong by taking it to its most absurd extreme. Australia's...
Should you foot the bill for execrable waste of human resources?
Trolls like to say that trolling is an art form. To troll is to be inflammatory on the internet for the sole purpose of disrupting and offending...
Insane obsession: Australia's auto industry waste
In his foreword to the 2008 A New Car Plan for a Greener Future, Kevin Rudd observed that half a century had lapsed between the first demonstration...
When does mission creep become censorship?
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is completely out of control. The corporate regulator is an independent government agency. It...
If by a miracle Labor wins the poll, it must deal with the Treasurer
They say every political career ends in failure. But some more than others. All the evidence suggests Wayne Swan's sixth budget, released last...
Lavish parental leave has nothing to do with need
There's an easy test to see if a politician is spouting nonsense: they use the word "productivity" a lot. Productivity is an old standby. It sounds...
Aeroplane mobile switch-off ruled by fear of the unknown
Last week we learned that Mark Dreyfus, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Australia, was recently involved in "an incident" on an airplane....
Free-rein proposal by Canberra should be hobbled before the pass
If the Gillard government has its way, we'll have an extra question to answer at the federal election in September: do we want to amend the...