IPA Review- April 2012

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Research at the IPA, Peter Gregory. If you’ve been reading your Hey… What did I miss? (and if you haven’t, we’re very sad) you’ll know that 13 February was UNESCO World Radio Day. As you are no doubt aware, this is the day meant to ‘encourage decision-makers

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Research Fellow at the IPA, Richard Allsop. The Slap is full of swearing. As Danielle Williams, the Book Club Leader at the Sydney Writers’ Centre, advised potential readers ‘if you’re easily offended by swearing (and real swearing!) then this isn’t for you’. She explained that most of

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Director of Climate Change Policy and the IP and Free Trade Unit at the IPA, Tim Wilson. Following on from his earlier bestseller, professor Ian Plimer has continued his substantial contribution to climate change scepticism through ‘How to Get Expelled From School: A Guide to Climate Change

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Melbourne based writer, Sam Hearne. Can a good Christian be an entrepreneur? Christians have long debated what constitutes a moral economy and what is the role of the state and the individual. There have been many lay participants in this debate including Dorothy Day, Bob Santamaria to

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Director of the North Australia Project at the IPA, John Shipp. The ‘fundamental shift in the structure of the international system’ brought about by the resurgence of China is a familiar story. An occasionally neglected part of this story is that such a state of affairs was

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Research Fellow at the IPA, Chris Berg. David Marr’s new book, Panic, has a thesis that I am predisposed to like. He argues that Australia’s political culture is dangerously susceptible to outbreaks of hysterical fear. Yet he is more correct than even he is willing to acknowledge. Marr

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Research Fellow at the IPA, Julie Novak. In many ways France is a representative case for much of what is wrong with the European model of economic development. With a willing embrace of welfare statism at home and a compliant attitude towards European regulations encroaching into its

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Executive Director of the IPA, John Roskam. If Ian Harper had been American instead of an Australian, and if he been a professor at the University of Chicago instead of the Melbourne Business School, Economics for Life would have been a hit on The New York Times

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by BBC health correspondent, Nick Triggle. Like a bloodied fighter who won’t give in, the government in England keeps slugging away in its battle over reform of the National Health Service. The administration-a coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats-has found itself trading blows with unions, academics and

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by federal member for Mayo and Coalition spokesman on scrutiny of government, Jamie Briggs MP. It is easy to denigrate ‘free trade’ because like democracy, it is not perfect. Developed countries unwisely continue to protect politically-sensitive markets. Developing countries, in too many cases, fail to apply the same

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by freelance writer and advertising creative director, Rowan Dean. There was a time in the late 1980s when there was only one thing worse than admitting you were a conservative at heart. And that was admitting you worked in advertising. Of all the vocations guaranteed to earn you

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by cabinet minister in the Howard government, and Fellow with the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, Dr David Kemp. Infringements on freedom of speech are hard to justify, and they should be. The public debate that grows out of freedom of speech is the fundamental social

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Member of Helmet Freedom and a former Investment banker, Luke Turner. Australia is one of only two countries in the world with national all-age mandatory bicycle helmet laws (MHLs). Introduced by state and territory governments under threat of cuts to federal road funding in the early 1990s,

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Research Fellow at the IPA, Richard Allsop. It seems we used to get a lot more infrastructure before we had the word ‘infrastructure’. Indeed, these days we rarely hear the word ‘infrastructure’ without ‘backlog’ following close behind. The word ‘infrastructure’ came into common usage amongst urban planners,

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Director of Education Standards Institute and author of ‘Australia’s Education Revolution: How Kevin Rudd Won and Lost the Education Wars’, Dr Kevin Donnelly. Australia’s education system is overly bureaucratic and overdue for real reform. As a result of the federal Labor government’s education revolution, teachers and schools

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by Researcher at the IPA, Peter Gregory. Over the past two decades, much has been made of so-called ‘market-based’ solutions to extreme poverty. The prevailing view is that poverty alleviation schemes premised upon market forces, such as micro finance, offer additional benefits in comparison to traditional charitable or

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by journalist with ‘The Australian’, Christian Kerr. If 2011 was Julia Gillard’s year of decision and delivery. 2012 needs to be Tony Abbott’s. Here’s hoping he has more success. The opposition leader needs to decide if he is going to be a populist, political opportunist-or a leader, a genuine alternative prime minister.

This article from the April 2012 edition of the IPA Review is by editor James Paterson. The Finkelstein Report into Media and Media Regulation is not just a massive threat to freedom of the press. It’s also a blatant attack on free speech. It’s remarkable that in the twenty first century, in a liberal democracy like Australia, that a senior,