Recent publications
Submission to Senate Inquiry into Trade Practices Amendment (Blacktown Amendment) Bill 2009
There are a number of problems associated with legislating against geographic price discrimination. In this paper Sinclair Davidson concentrates on two problems. The first is the practical problem of cost differentials across geographic space....
122 ways towards a Nanny State
The Preventative Health Taskforce released its report on 1 September 2009. With 122 recommendations, it provides a blueprint for the Nanny State in Australia. New laws 1. Food and beverages classification 2. Junk food if self-regulation fails 3....
Preventative Health Taskforce Report - A Grab For Government Power Over Our Lives
The National Preventative Health Taskforce's report released today is a grab for more bureaucratic power, and a grab for more tax by government, said the Institute of Public Affairs, a free market think tank.
Does fiscal stimulus work? What Nobel Price winners say
We have been told that ‘you don't need a PhD in economics' to understand why fiscal stimulus packages increase economic activity. Senior government ministers, the Treasury, a host of business economists, and a legion of journalists - amongst...
20 Years On: Western liberty and Soviet tyranny
2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall-the moment which signalled the end of the short and brutal totalitarian 20th century. The movement had actually begun much earlier. The disintegration of Communist rule in Hungary...
Open letter: Institute of Public Affairs climate change research
In this letter sent to Federal senators, John Roskam and Alan Moran outline the results of the Institute of Public Affairs climate change research program, which has been going since the 1990s.
The underground Australian movie renaissance
There actually are good Australian movies, and they're popular, writes Dean Bertram. You're just never told about them. Almost two decades ago, a handful of young filmmakers were revitalizing American cinema. Included in their number were Quentin...
Volume 61 Number 2
John Roskam on the Rebellion of Ronald Reagan, Richard Allsop on wowsers, Chris Berg on the Nanny State's worst ideas, Dean Bertram on Aussie movies, Greg Melleuish on greed is great, Tim Wilson on John Brack, Sinclair Davidson on Wayne Swan and...
Wowserism may be different, but it's not dead
‘I'm not a wowser but...' Those words seem to have become the standard introduction for anyone proposing a new restriction on what should be matters of individual choice. The Rudd Government are masters of it. In an interview with 4BC last...
Editorial, August 2009
2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall - the moment which signalled the end of the short and brutal totalitarian 20th century. The movement had actually begun much earlier. The disintegration of Communist rule in...