Opinion & Commentary
Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.
Categories
An end to benign neglect
Increasing aid to Papua New Guinea to more than $425 million for 2004-05 will enable more than 260 police and other law and order Australian mentors to be placed in PNG. This marks a new level of engagement...... Read More
Only internal reform can rescue a stagnant PNG
Papua New Guinea's GDP growth, with good weather and high mineral export prices, is still only barely above population growth, so that living standards continue to stagnate. Mineral and timber exports...... Read More
Housing wealth holds the key to closing the money gap
Ordinary families becoming rich through real estate is something to celebrate and promote, writes Professor Peter Saunders. ... Read More
Ramshackle propaganda exercise ignores reality
Francis Sullivan (chief executive of Catholic Health Australia) says Australia is facing a huge and growing problem of poverty, but he doesn't want anybody to investigate this claim (AFR, June 30).... Read More
Germans bogged down in Red-Green quagmire
Australians, who are confused by the challenges of globalisation, innovation, ageing and the need to reform economic and political institutions, can learn a lot by looking at present-day Germany where...... Read More
Motherhood as a meal ticket
Most people believe new mothers should have the opportunity to spend time at home with their baby before returning to the workforce. Paid maternity leave would enable them to do this, but the federal Government...... Read More
Pacific states stagnate
Nearly all the Southwest Pacific islands have recorded another year of per capita income decline in 2003. The exceptions are Samoa, and modest growth in Fiji and Tuvalu. ... Read More
Comparison shopping
The Coalition's packages offer a better deal for universities and students than Labor's proposals ... Read More
Cut Taxes And Watch Economy Soar
The Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry , in a recent speech to Australian Business Economists , argued for higher levels of economic growth to meet our pressing demographic challenges. ... Read More
High Earners Count Cost Of Tax
Three months ago on these pages, Professor Sinclair Davidson of RMIT University revealed that the top quarter of income earners contribute 64 per cent of all income tax. Their share has increased from...... Read More
Game of Pacific cop and dodgers
The Howard Government's decision to help the Solomons by restoring civil order to the South Pacific islands is welcome. ... Read More
Uni reform package to benefit students
In most political controversies, the Government exaggerates the benefit of its policies, and the Opposition exaggerates the drawbacks. In the current higher education debate, the Opposition is playing...... Read More
Welfare for parents increases risk of poverty
It's time to eliminate the welfare incentives that keep single parents out of the workforce, a strategy most Australians agree with, argues Peter Saunders. ... Read More
Even if it's not free, US trade deal will have some benefits
Should Australia sign a free-trade agreement with the United States? No, says John Quiggin, ARC professorial fellow at the University of Queensland and the Australian National University, because it will...... Read More
Better than the status quo
The proponents of an unfettered free market in higher education would be somewhat disappointed,' Education Minister Brendan Nelson said last week of his reform package.... Read More
Faulty index poor guide to real benefits
Measuring a country's commitment to aid and development can be a flawed process. ... Read More
Higher fees will give students more choice
During a budget night interview, The 7.30 Report's presenter, Kerry O'Brien, asked the Treasurer, Peter Costello, how he could justify letting universities charge their students up to 30 per cent more....... Read More
There's no conspiracy about poverty, there's just the facts
It's an old tactic in politics. When you want to drown out your opponent's arguments, don't address what they say, just trash their reputation.... Read More
Will Papua New Guinea be a 'failed state'?
Papua New Guinea is rich in natural resources. Yet it is facing a very difficult future. The economy has stagnated and the outlook for growth is bleak. Corruption is rife. Law and order have broken down,...... Read More
Way out for poor little rich island
Nauru - an island of 22sq km, lying near the Equator, thousands of kilometres from the nearest large Pacific island group - was named the Happy Isle by early European explorers for its mix of Micronesian,...... Read More
