More Political Competition
According to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, increasing competition among supermarket giants will help deliver lower grocery prices: "If it is more competitive, more transparent and people are getting a fair go, better outcomes will be seen at the supermarket checkout". The ACCC also notes that competition encourages innovation. But where enhanced market competition can lead to improved consumer outcomes, enhanced political competition...
“Fight!”
In the aftermath of the attempted assassination of the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, mainstream media urged us all to “cool the temperature” of political discourse. While I am all for a more civil political discourse, forgive me if I find it a bit rich coming from the same media that has spent the best part of...
How Sunk Cost Fallacy Drives Authoritarian Policies
Sunk cost fallacy is the tendency of people to stick with a decision or course of action that isn’t having a positive result because the person has invested time, money and/or resources that cannot be recovered and do not want to feel that they have wasted them. In many cases, sunk cost fallacy can even drive people to double...
Carpet Call: The Imperfect Gift of Religious Freedom
John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) is a clever guy. As Robert McCall (aka Denzel Washington) says in the movie Equalizer 2 to Miles, a troubled teenager: ‘It takes talent to make money, Miles, but it takes brains to keep it’. Regardless of one’s taste in music, there’s no doubting John Lydon had talent – and brains. ‘Imperfection is...
CFMEU Should NOT Exist in the First Place
In light of recent scandals surrounding the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), it is time to consider a more fundamental issue: the very existence of unions in modern society. Unions like the CFMEU are outdated organisations that do more harm than good to the people they claim to protect. From a libertarian perspective, unions disrupt voluntary...
Out of Proportion
Recent elections in both the UK and France highlight major flaws in their electoral systems, with lessons for Australia. Compare the pair: UK Labour (2024 UK election) National vote share: 33.8% Seats won (% of chamber): 63.38 Australian Labor Party (2022 Australian Federal election) National vote share (2pp): 52.13% Seats won (% of chamber): 51 How can an electoral system be considered fair when one party (Labour)...
The Contradictions of Environmentalism
There is an unresolved contradiction at the heart of environmentalism: are humans special, or not? That may seem like a pretty basic question, but from it flow a raft of challenges to environmentalist thinking. For most of human history, the answer was taken as a given: of course humans are special. Creation myths around the world, Christian, Babylonian, Hindu or Māori,...
Childcare – Why should you pay for it?
Starting before they are born, our governments spend a lot of money on children. The Commonwealth budget for education alone is $67 billion, and in NSW $24 billion. Add the other states and territories, plus health care, and as the saying goes, pretty soon you’re talking real money. While our society obviously values children highly, it is rare that anyone questions...
The Coming Populist Revolt
Populism occurs when the masses revolt against the elites’ view of the world. Elite opinion does not often deal directly with popular opinion, that is, with the people who have to pay for elite opinion. When elites get it wrong, the masses revolt through the ballot; the Voice referendum being a good example. The question is, when is the...
Can libertarianism become a brand in Australia?
Dean Russell, a staff member at The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), was the first to propose that America’s classical liberals and individualists rebrand themselves as “libertarians.” In an article published by FEE in 1955, Russell wrote: “Let those of us who love liberty trade-mark and reserve for our use the good and honourable word ‘libertarian.’” That good and honourable...
