25 October 2023

ESG is a shaky framework to guide investment and has no place in compulsory super funds without explicit consent of the beneficiaries, argues IPA Adjunct Senior Fellow Sinclair Davidson. The use of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment strategies within the context of compulsory Australian superannuation raises significant concerns. The concentration of investment funds under the control of the union

20 May 2023

While Australians have been distracted by the Voice to Parliament, nuclear submarines, and the Budget, ASIC recently followed through on its threat to crack down on superannuation funds engaged in the esoteric offence of ‘greenwashing’, launching its first prosecution. Greenwashing is the (apparently) deceptive practice whereby business organisations, or investment funds, claim that their products or services are environmentally friendly,

23 April 2023

A report that recommended profound changes lacked any evidence to show it was not a set of solutions in search of a problem. The long-awaited review of the Reserve Bank, released to the public last Thursday, had few surprises yet had surprising omissions. For a report that recommended profound changes to the central bank, it lacked any evidence that these changes are,

9 May 2022

In 2010, the then Rudd government introduced a 40 per cent tax on mining companies. The tax took the form of a virtual co-investment that saw the Commonwealth attempting to finance risky assets at the long-term government bond rate. It was economically illiterate and no doubt contributed to the demise of Rudd’s prime ministership. It seems there is a bit

27 September 2021

Universities have lost touch with Australians, and now is the right time for the Federal Government to push through reforms, writes IPA Adjunct Fellow Sinclair Davidson. One of the consequences of the COVID pandemic is that the Coalition Government (in office, never quite in power since 2013) has finally felt empowered to do something about Australian universities. Of course, ‘doing

17 May 2021

I saw this on Twitter. It led me to a Guardian piece: ABC demands rightwing thinktank correct ‘misleading’ claims on public trust The ABC has demanded the Institute of Public Affairs correct “erroneous and misleading claims” the public broadcaster said the rightwing lobby group made to a parliamentary committee… “The IPA has a responsibility to the federal parliament, and in particular,

22 January 2021

The out-going Trump administration finally woke up to a nasty little rort that the Australian government was planning on running against United States tech giants operating in Australia. On Monday, The Australian reported that US trade officials had written to the Senate and ‘respectfully requested’ that Australia abandon plans to introduce a de facto (albeit unconstitutional) tax on Facebook and Google. This

19 January 2021

After my AFR piece on the weekend, their ABC have responded. Sinclair Davidson writing in the Australian Financial Review has presented a basket case of inaccuracies about the role of the ABC and its value to Australians. A basket case of inaccuracies.  Heh. That’s a bit rude. But warming to the theme: Mr Davidson, a professor of economics at the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, is

15 January 2021

There is good reason why former communications minister Richard Alston may have thought the ABC has a high-quality media of record while growing up in the 1940s and 1950s. For the times, it probably was. But, as Alston pointed out in these pages, those times are long gone. When the ABC was first established in 1932 the world was very different –

7 August 2020

It is pretty clear what Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews wants: the overwhelming majority of Victorians to remain in their homes for, at least, 23 hours a day. Go out for exercise, and shopping, if you must. Don’t go out between 8pm and 5am at all. If you don’t know, the answer is “no”. Stay at home is the very clear