Carbon emissions trading

The federal government wants to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by implementing a carbon trading scheme. This will raise the prices of energy and energy-intensive goods and services for consumers. Yet, at the same time, it wants to give $9 billion to heavy polluting industries to "cushion" the effect of the scheme. This is great for those companies that churn out most of our greenhouse gas emissions, but what on earth is the point? If the aim is to preserve jobs, why spend oodles of money to subsidise jobs in these industries when it would be cheaper and more productive in the long-run to assist both labour and capital to switch to greener industries?

This kowtowing to business lobbies is ridiculous. The point of a carbon emissions trading scheme is to reduce emissions in a way that encourages efficiency and innovation by users of carbon. Doling out billions to heavy polluters defeats the point entirely.

Stimulus package

It seems that Nick Xenophon has unwittingly called Malcolm Turnbull's bluff. The package urgently needed to stimulate the economy and mitigate the severity of the coming economic downturn and rise in unemployment has been defeated in the Senate. Malcolm Turnbull took a political gamble by resisting the package, hoping that the crossbenchers in the Senate would let it pass, so that he could turn around later and blame the government when unemployment worsened or government debt rose (since no-one would know exactly how much extra unemployment the package would have avoided).

Of course, the type of stimulus used and long-run debt accumulation are important problems, yet the amount of debt as a proportion of GDP that Rudd has proposed pales into insignificance compared to the debt/GDP ratios of most other developed countries. Furthermore, Turbull's alternative package would have been less stimulatory (with tax cuts spread over time) and still require substantial government borrowing.

Now, if the package continues to flounder in the Senate, the Coalition will be conveniently blamed by Rudd when the economy inevitably does turn sour. That will also be counterproductive, reducing the possibility of cooperative policymaking to deal with the recession as it hits.

Hopefully the legislation will pass on the next attempt, as action is urgently needed on the fiscal policy front, according to most economists. It's been a long time since the last recession, but surely we don't forget how bad these things are, and how important it is to tame them early on?

Mardi Gras parade

The 'assimilation' and 'gentrification' of gay culture into straight culture that Elizabeth Farrelly laments is the cultural consequence of a much more important development, the growing social tolerance and acceptance of non-straight people. Gay people are now more visible in the Western suburbs and in the media precisely because of this growing acceptance. Perhaps that has blunted the edge of gay culture, but in the grand scheme of things it's a most welcome development.

The State Government's bizarre proposal to move the Mardi Gras parade to Homebush, on the other hand, most certainly is not. Oxford Street may not be the geographic centre of Sydney's gay population anymore, yet the symbolism still remains. Sure, Oxford Street is run down now but it's still the Golden Mile, however tarnished, that thousands have marched up defiantly to claim many of the rights that are now taken for granted.

Interestingly, this is the first year that any government has offered any funding to the event, despite its status as one of Sydney's largest which attracts thousands of people (and dollars) from all over the world. It seems the State Government wants to move it to Homebush and continue to offer funding, not because of a deep seated love for the event or gay people, but out of a desire to make more money out of it for itself. To capture, commercialise and tame it. To fence it into a stadium where people can be charged money to gawk at the show. The Mardi Gras organisers only considered it because they need the money.

Yet gay Sydney will never let that happen. Gay culture may be going straight but it's not dead yet. There are still rights to be fought for (and parties to be had). If the State Government tries to move the Mardi Gras parade it will still find people marching up and down Oxford Street.

Turnbull's claims

Malcolm Turnbull is absolutely right when he argues that, "somebody has to stand up for the taxpayers of Australia and ensure that we do not impose staggering levels of debt on future generations."

I suspect that Kevin Rudd agrees with this. That is why he is not proposing big tax cuts, as the Coalition would like, and instead wants to make direct payments that have a more up-front stimulatory effect on the economy. Tax cuts would permanently shrink government revenue and prolong the amount of time the budget is in deficit.

Rudd is also acting now, before the recession really hits and unemployment rises skywards, so that a moderate amount of debt is incurred in order to reduce the severity and (hopefully) the length of the coming recession. Once the economy is on the path to recovery this debt can be paid off. By contrast, Turnbull wants to hold back and tinker around the edges until the recession is fully upon us. Then, presumably, the fiscal stimulus needed (and thus total amount of debt) would likely be much bigger that what Rudd is proposing for now.

So I agree with Turnbull's statement. Rudd is standing up for Australian taxpayers, workers and businesses. His scheme is not perfect but then no policy is. It should be implemented immediately.

Commercial property loans

The Rudd Government's scheme to take over commercial property loans that are at only a small risk of being called in by foreign lenders at first looks bizarre. However, this is just another way for the Government to look like it is doing something to fix the financial sector and revive the economy by pouring taxpayer funds into a black hole. If this is the best they can up with, the public won't take long to see through it.

Harry Triguboff

Harry Triguboff isn’t paying his land tax and doesn’t agree that two separate houses are indeed just that. Is this the same Mr. Triguboff who, only recently, declared that his company’s donations to NSW Labour used to be very good investments? How strange that he is willing to make large donations to the ruling party but, when it comes to paying what he owes in tax to the state of NSW, he is fighting tooth and nail. How strange that the state government has had to cover some of the costs of providing infrastructure for new Meriton developments, yet that company’s managing director refuses to make a fair tax contribution according to the law. Who does this man think he is, a property developer?

Farming

If the aim of Kevin Rudd's new stimulus package is to stop the economy sliding into recession, create jobs and help address future challenges, why on earth is he giving $950 to drought affected farmers, when most of them will already receive $950 as workers earning less than $100,000?

It's been clear for a long time now that large swathes of Australia are being farmed when it is not environmentally or economically viable to do so in the long-run. The Australian environment is fragile and our topsoil among the world's thinnest, yet the expolitative farming mindset continues.

Kevin Rudd should be spending this money on helping these farmers to retrain and relocate, so they can work in more sustainable sectors when the economy does pick up. Now is the time to take action. Instead, we have a thinly veiled form of protectionism in an attempt by the government to prop up an unsustainable industry.

Job search assistance

The welfare system the Howard Government left us is starting to show major cracks. The point of the Job Network is to help people to find jobs and to minimise the length of time they spend in unemployment. However, the current rules seem to be effectively extending unemployment spells (and the corresponding erosion of skills) by holding back assistance for trivial reasons.

If the unemployment costs of this downturn are to be minimised, the Rudd Government needs to act straight away to fix up welfare and job assistance rules to ensure they are fair, as well as making sure they operate in ways that are in the long-term national economic interest.