USA

22 December 2017

Workers in America are set to enjoy massive Christmas bonuses thanks to Donald Trump cutting the business tax rate. In one of the biggest tax cuts in history, the business rate in the US is set to drop from 35 to 21 per cent. AT & T, the world’s largest telecommunications company, will give each of its 200,000 US workforce a $1000 bonus. This flies

21 December 2017

“Australia must cut its high business tax rate so that Australian workers, consumers, and shareholders can keep more of their earned income,” said Daniel Wild, research fellow with the free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. President Trump is expected today to sign into law a reduction in the United States’ corporate tax rate from 35 per cent

2 November 2017

Later this week President Donald Trump embarks on a 12-day tour of Asia – the longest trip to the region by a US president for 25 years, taking in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. The President’s time in Asia will be dominated by the threat posed by North Korean nuclear missiles, uncertainty about his administration’s trade policies

15 August 2017

For all the furore it generated, the prickly phone call between Donald Trump and Malcolm Turnbull was a blip in Australia’s alliance relations with the US. In the mid-1950s Canberra and Washington differed over how to respond to the communist threat in Indochina. In the 60s we were at odds over Indonesia’s claim to Western New Guinea (now Papua), the

2 June 2017

Free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs has welcomed this morning’s news that the Trump Administration will withdraw from the Paris Climate Change Agreement. “America has stood up, and it is now time for Australia to reconsider its own position,” said Brett Hogan, Director of Research. ‎ “As Bjorn Lomborg has pointed out if Paris commitments are met,

19 May 2017

It’s every intelligence chief’s nightmare – a phone call announcing the unexpected disclosure of highly sensitive secrets. The stakes are high: intelligence methods potentially compromised; future access to vital intelligence on terrorist plots and other threats jeopardised; diplomatic relations with allies and partners strained; and, in some cases, the lives of agents put at risk. Alarm bells clearly rang at

12 May 2017

If you had a wound that was gushing blood onto the floor and your doctor prescribed a mop and bucket, you’d ask where he got his practicing certificate and why he wasn’t fixing the actual problem. Yet this approach is exactly how most western governments are tackling the question of skyrocketing electricity bills. In Australia, household electricity costs have increased

9 May 2017

“The New South Wales Government should be congratulated for its bold criminal justice reforms, which will improve community safety and have the potential to save taxpayers money in the longer term,” said Andrew Bushnell, Research Fellow at the free-market think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs. The New South Wales Government today announced a package of reforms to the administration

8 May 2017

Relief may be Malcolm Turnbull’s overwhelming emotion as he settles back for the long flight home from New York before a crucial budget. Returning to his home town and the inevitable protests for the first time since the inauguration, President Trump may have kept the PM waiting for a few hours. But it was worth it. Trump was welcoming, warm

12 April 2017

The US missile strike in Syria, rising tensions with North Korea, China’s creeping militarisation of the South China Sea, and recent terror attacks all highlight an important reality: Australia cannot take its security for granted. For decades Australia and its Asia-Pacific neighbours benefited from a relatively stable region in which open markets, inclusive regional institutions, uncontested freedom of navigation and