IPCC NEEDS REVISED STATS
John Quiggin suggests ("Denial industry in full cry", 16 August) that the many dissenters from those Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believers in human activity being the main cause of temperatures increases have not survived scientific scrutiny.
The Australian Financial Review, 17th August 2007

WAKE UP TO IR'S NEW WORLD
Democrats Senator Andrew Murray argues that workplace relations agreements should be regulated by statute law not common law ("Solid law, solid judgement", 23 July)
The Australian Financial Review, 26th July 2007

FALSE PREMISE FOR AWA ANALYSIS
Steven Scott reports ("AWAs can cut pay - and union influence", July 16 ) an analysis by David Peetz and Alison Preston, commissioned by the Victorian government, showing that last year employees on Australian workplace agreements (AWAs) earned 16.3 per cent less than those on collective agreements. However, this comparison is for the median earning level and, like all average-type comparisons, it raises a question as to its significance.
The Australian Financial Review, 17th July 2007

MY HIT, YOUR MYTH
Letters from Mike Martin and Brent Howard ("Climate truths are not subject to vote", June 20 and "Moore fails to hail climate specialists", June 21) bring to mind the now dated 1967 hit song I'm a believer by the Monkees.
The Australian Financial Review, 22nd June 2007

UNDERPLAYING RISKS
Tom Allard asks (The Vicious Circle, The Age, 11 June) whether political leaders, the media and the security agencies have exaggerated the security threat and quotes Hugh White as describing terrorism as a very serious challenge but not a threat to our way of lives or values.
The Age, 12th June 2007

Absolution, please
David Bell alleges (Letters, 8 June) that, in addition to failing to prostrate myself before the scientific gods who preach the solution to global warming, I have sinned by supporting various policies that add to such warming.
The Australian Financial Review, 12th June 2007

Shortcomings of Report
While the Emissions Trading report makes some valuable points about global warming, it has two very important defects.
The Australian Financial Review, 7th June 2007

Emissions Trading Report
While the Emissions Trading report makes some valuable points about global warming, it has two very important defects.
The Australian, 6th June 2007

What about the Pillowtalk?
QUESTIONS still surround Therese Rein's decision to sell the Australian arm of her job placement business.
Herld Sun, 5th June 2007

Rudd Outcome Still a Puzzle
In Therese Rein's decision to sell her Australian job placement business I am puzzled by the different explanations of how the 45 cent gap occurred between the award and the contract entitlements of staff employed by Work Directions, not to mention what terms have actually been offered to actual and prospective employees.
The Australian Financial Review, 29th May 2007

Labor Way Unfair and Unworkable
The Australian Financial Review, 4th May 2007

Not a Fair Cop
The Age, 30th April 2007
The Australian, 30th April 2007

Beware Alarmist Believers
Your report of [Sir] Arvi Parbo's address at the launch at Parliament House in Canberra of Nine Facts About Climate Change by Ray Evans was remarkable for its inaccuracy and neglect of important points made by him and others in question time
The Australian Financial Review, 2nd March 2007

Peer Review System Fails to Convince on Climate Change when the Reviewers are of Like Mind
The Business Age, 20th February 2007

History replete with gloomy predictions
Tracy Sutherland's report ("Industry Baffled by Climate Policy: Rudd", February 3) includes a comment by Opposition environment spokesman Peter Garrett that business is concerned because it does not know where the government is going on climate change. Correct.
The Australian Financial Review, 13th February 2007

No scientific consensus
It is a privilege to have a letter published in The Age, even if it was heavily edited and took second place to the attack on free market capitalism
The Age, 5th February 2007

Fudging the Figures
The Australian, 2nd February 2007

1976 and all that
It will doubtless surprise some to recall that, after trying to persuade the Whitlam Government to adopt responsible economic policies, Treasury had to make similar persuasive attempts with its successor - and experienced not dissimilar reactions.
The Australian, 3rd January 2007

A Bureaucratic Mix-up
The Australian Financial Review, 11th December 2006

A Difference To Suit The Vic Liberals
Your editorial analysis of the Victorian election result is full of unexplained generalisations such as that the 'Liberals failed to knuckle down' or 'failed to seize the political opportunities that came their way'.
The Australian Financial Review, 28th November 2006

Climate Dissent
Stephen Mare asks ("Climate Evidence", Letters, November 3) what if I am wrong in questioning the Stern report's proposal to take urgent and dramatic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
The Australian Financial Review, 9th November 2006

Global Warming
CSIRO's Kevin Hennessy suggests (Letters,2/11) my unawareness of many scientific papers identifying causes of the past 30 years' global warming.
The Age, 4th November 2006

Stern's Gloom needs considered response
History is replete with predictions of disaster by scientists, preachers and others unless we humans restrain ourselves.
The Australian Financial Review, 1st November 2006

We bear highest tax in our history
Treasurer Peter Costello issued a press release claiming the federal government had reduced its taxes from 23.1 per cent of GDP in 1996-97 to 21.0 per cent in 2004-05.
The Australian Financial Review, 18th October 2006

Private Enterprise's Role in the State
Michael Baume rightly suggests (Opinion, September 18) that Liberal election success at the state level may depend on realising that state government is all about service delivery, not political posturing. He then argues the need for recruiting prominent people.
The Australian Financial Review, 20th September 2006

Welfare, Tax Crimps Sweden
Geoff Kitney claims (Casual style forges more ties, September 7) "Sweden has one of the best performing economies in the world growing at more than 5.5 per cent and low unemployment by European standards (about 6 per cent), despite having one of the highest tax rates in the world...
The Australian Financial Review, 12th Septmber 2006

A Spell That Works
You report the Liberal Party is meeting to examine its prolonged absence from office in the states
The Australian Financial Review, 31st August 2006

Queensland Better Off With More Private Hospitals
Building hospitals in Queensland has apparently become fashionable at election time
The Australian Financial Review, 29th August 2006

Not That Much To Treasure
Liberal senator Mitch Fifield's strong support of Treasurer Costello (Costello can become a PM to treasure, 12 July) is not surprising given that he worked for him and obtained pre-selection with Costello's backing.
The Australian Financial Review, 14th July 2006

The Accord And Employment
Quadrant, June 2006

Australia In Better Shape Than Europe
While noting that the Organisation for Economic Development's OECD's Employment Outlook for 2006 appears to support Opposition Leader Kim Beazley in his attack on Work Choices, Alan Mitchell rightly points out that the Outlook "abstracts from the interaction between labour market policies and macro-economic policies and conditions."
The Australian Financial Review, 26th June 2006

OECD Report No Argument For Labour Regulation
Excitement has been aroused in some quarters by the just-published Employment Outlook for 2006 by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The Age, 26th June 2006

Work Coices fails unskilled who want to join workforce
You are dead right when you say in your editorial ("Out with the old"): "Work Choice is hardly revolutionary".
The Australian, 11th March 2006

In Defence of the Grants Commission
Whoever heard of a government imposing higher taxes to make itself more efficient and attractive to investors? This is apparently favoured by Alan Mitchell (6 March) as the economic rationalist approach to fiscal equalisation. What he should have said is that it would be the end of that policy.
Australian Financial Review, 8th March 2006

Queensland Rail
Indeed, with QR required by the Queensland Competition Authority to allow access to its rail network and thus face freight competition from Pacific National, Mr Beattie was spurred to ask - "What's wrong with competition between the public sector and the private sector?"
Australian Financial Review, 17th February 2006

Lowering tax rates
The National Party's support for lowering tax rates rather than increasing family tax benefits as favoured by Treasurer Costello is welcome.
The Australian, 13th January 2006

One-sided view of history
Mike Steketee correctly points out ("Loans affair is not the whole story",Opinion,5/1) that the 1975 cabinet documents released by National Archives provide little indication of the traumatic events of that year and, astonishingly, nothing related to the loans affair that came to a head in 1975.
The Australian, 6th January 2006

Excessive Benefits
In Lies and Statistics (15 October) John Black refers to the alarming extent of middle class welfare identified in my report to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Australian Finacial Review, 20th October 2005

2006-07 Pre-Budget Submissions
My May 2005 report to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on "Commonwealth Spending (And Taxes) Can Be Cut - And Should Be" outlined the strong case that exists, on both economic and social grounds, for Australia to move towards a small government society.
16th October 2005

NSW Share on GST is Fair
The latest outburst certainly suggests some sensitivity about the fact that NSW does not receive back from the Commonwealth the full amount of GST collected in the state.
The Australian, 29th September 2005

So much for Social Justice
Why do the low-skilled find it so difficult to get jobs?
The Australian, 21st September 2005

Flexible work deals a success
Federal Labor shadow treasurer Wayne Swan asserts that there is no connection between labour productivity growth and more flexible contract arrangements in workplace relations (Opinion August 9) and suggests that New Zealand's experience establishes that. However, he overlooks two important points.
The Australian Financial Review, 11th August 2005

Bargaining Power
Josh Bernstein argues (Opinion 27/7) that other than in exceptional cases employees do not have equal bargaining power with employers when negotiating individual contracts. He supports his argument by referring to an 18th century judgment commenting on the position of necessitous men. But things have moved on since then.
The Age, 28th July 2005

Letter to the Prime Minister
In your reply of 10 April to our letter of 11 February you said the government is examining possible changes to "the way the minimum wage is adjusted". Comments both before and since the date of your letter by the Minister for Workplace Relations suggest that he is considering a UK Low Pay Commission model.
22nd April 2005

Low-pay Reasoning Awry
Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews says Britain's Low Pay Commission adopts economic rigour in its recommendations on the UK minimum wage (April 13). This, he claims, means that the commission "would appear to have been striking the right balance between the needs of the low-paid and unemployed". However, it is difficult to see how he reached that conclusion.
Australian Financial Review, 19th April 2005

Minimum Wage
Your editorial (8th March) states that "nobody, at least not us, argues for a US-style minimum wage that essentially creates a class of working poor". But my 1998 report to the Labour Ministers Council showed this perceived creation of the US system to be a myth.
The Australian, 8th March 2005

Whitlam and Cairns - what really happened in 1974!
On 10 December 2004 National Archives of Australia held a ceremony at which Cabinet and Treasury documents relating to 1974 were released, under embargo until 1 January 2005, to accredited journalists.
The Australian, 11th January 2005

Letter from the Prime Minister
Let me assure you that further workplace relations reform is a key priority for the government. The reform that the government has instigated since 1996 has created a workplace relations environment that has underpinned Australia's strong economic performance
14th December 2004

The 'Ayatollahs' of IR
Paul Heinrich reports an address by Bob Hawke pleading that Prime Minister Howard discuss IR reforms with the ACTU and avoid taking a confrontationist road. He also reports Justice Michael Kirby's provocative remarks to the same conference that "there is no room in this nation for industrial ayatollahs who wanted a radical overhaul of workplace relations laws".
Sunday Age, 31st October 2004

No Ayatollahs Here
Paul Robinson's report on the Centenary Convention of Conciliation and Arbitration (PM Backs Qantas on Strike Staff, 23 October) stated that Justice Michael Kirby's comment that there is "no room in this nation for industrial ayatollahs" was a veiled reference to conservative economists at the Institute for Private Enterprise.
The Age, 27th October 2004

Time to Let Bosses and Workers Make the Choices
At the Centenary Convention of Conciliation and Arbitration, Justice Michael Kirby reportedly suggested there is "no room in this nation for industrial ayatollahs" who want a radical overhaul of workplace relations laws.
Sydney Morning Herald, 25th October 2004

AIRC partly to Blame for Jobless
Larissa Andelman suggests (IR reform misguided, 18 Oct) that industrial relations reform will "hit the lowest paid, who are predominantly women and young people" and she complains about the wage of $27,000 being paid to call centre workers.
Australian Financial Review, 25th October 2004

Kirby's World
Justice Michael Kirby commented that there is "no room in this nation for industrial ayatollahs" who want a radical overhaul of workplace relations laws.
The Australian, 25th October 2004

Treasurer's Pessimism a Surprise
Australian Financial Review
20th October 2004

Look on the Bright Side
Is Treasurer Peter Costello correct in asserting that Treasury is pretty optimistic in forecasting "uninterrupted growth for the next four years" averaging 3.5 percent per annum?
The Australian, 18th October 2004

We needed China-style Float Policy
As one of three recalcitrant senior Treasury officers summoned in December 1983 to Cabinet, we were quickly informed that the exchange rate would float and virtually all exchange controls removed.
The Australian Financial Review, 15th December 2003

They want to bring down the US not just for what it does, but for what it is The USA has made plain its determination to extirpate terrorism, wherever it lurks and however long it takes. So we must expect many follow-ups to Afghanistan, with various actions in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
The Age, 12th December 2001

Australian Financial Review, 1st August 2001

Australian Financial Review, 2nd January 2001.
Greg Combet is puzzled that the new Federal Minister for Workplace Relations, Tony Abbott could find "baffling" the existing arrangements for regulating employer-employee arrangements.

Sunday Age, 9th January 2000

Figures debatable on employee hours
15 November 1999

Reform needed in subsidies to the arts
20 August 1999

Long Bow on UK
The UK labour market is performing better than Stephen Long portrays.
21 July 1999

Two letters on Police Policy
The Age & Herald Sun 21 July 1999

A Long Way to go in IR Reform
BRW 28 May 1999

Low-paid jobs the answer
AFR 7 May 1999

Finding the right employee is nothing short of hard labour
(AFR 23/4/99)

Stress? Overall we're working less
Herald Sun 12 Novembner 1998

The case for labour market deregulation
AFR 11 11 November 1998

The Right Way to Higher Wages
AFR 4 November 1998