Policy Spring 2002
Vol. 18 No. 3 (Spring, 2002) Policy Magazine Spring 2002 issue.-
FEATURE: Taxing Time
| 09 Sep 2002
Is Self Assessment Working?
Under the self assessment system for income tax, taxpayers and tax advisers have to decipher complex, convoluted and constantly changing income tax laws while the ATO acts as armchair critic. The system defeats its purpose of aiding tax compliance and should be reformed.
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FEATURE: Insuring Against Negligence
| 09 Sep 2002
Medical Indemnity in Australia
Recent tort law reforms may claw back some of the costs of rising insurance premiums. But a combination of constraints on negligence law and an expansion in the role of contract law would arguably offer the best outcome for both medical practitioners and patients alike.
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FEATURE: The Fracturing of the West?
| 09 Sep 2002The West seems to be dividing between the forces of liberal democracy and the forces of transnational progressivism, signalling a long struggle between entrepreneurial liberalism (Anglo-American style regimes) and bureaucratic collectivism (continental European models of governance.)
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FEATURE: Australia's Security Dilemma
| 09 Sep 2002Australia's alliance with the United States is being challenged by the potential risks and benefits of neutrality versus allignment. Yet the lessons of history indicate that defence of Australian security does not begin or end at our shoreline.
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INTERVIEW: Back To Human Nature?
| 09 Sep 2002Francis Fukuyama, internationally renowned philosopher and author of the recently released book, Our Posthuman Future: Consequence of the Biotechnology Revolution, talks about the innate desires of human nature for recognition, belonging and community.
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COMMENT: Why Civility Matters
| 09 Sep 2002Few would disagree that civil behaviour is both a moral virtue in itself and a public good. But can governments play a role in upholding civility without impinging on our liberty?
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COMMENT: Refugee Policy
| 09 Sep 2002
Justice not legalism, good faith nor fear, should lead Australian government policy on refugees and asylum seekers, for those who are fleeing persecution have suffered enough. The Howard government's policy to stop asylum seekers coming to Australia is at odds with the requirements of classical liberalism.
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COMMENT: The Equality Project
| 09 Sep 2002A steadfast commitment to equality of outcomes is one of the Left's defining characteristics. But it is politically unrealistic, for those who are fleeing persecution have suffered enough.
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REVIEW: The Poverty of Debate
| 09 Sep 2002
The Ends and Means of Welfare: Coping with Economic and Social Change in Australia by Peter Saunders (Cambridge University Press, 2002.)
Reminiscent of 1970s socialism, author Peter Saunders calls for tighter labour market regulation and an increase in welfare spending to reduce poverty and 'inequality', dismissing the merits of self-reliance through work as a moral end in itself.
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BOOK REVIEW: The Limits of Politics
| 09 Sep 2002Australian Constitutional Law: Foundations and Theory by Suri Ratnapala (Oxford University Press, Melbourne 2002.)
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BOOK REVIEW: Blaming Ourselves: September 11 and the Agony of the Left
| 09 Sep 2002
Blaming Ourselves: September 11 and the Agony of the Left Edited by Imre Salusinszky and Gregory Melleuish (Duffy & Snellgrove, Sydney, 2002.)
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BOOK REVIEW: The Record of Global Economic Development
| 09 Sep 2002The Record of Global Economic Development by Eric Jones (Edward Elgar, 2002.)
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BOOK REVIEW: Free Trade Today
| 09 Sep 2002
Free Trade Today by Jagdish Bhagwati (Princeton University Press, 2002.)
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BOOK REVIEW: The Price of Prosperity: The Economic and Social Costs of Unemployment
| 09 Sep 2002The Price of Prosperity: The Economic and Social Costs of Unemployment Edited by Peter Saunders and Richard Taylor (UNSW Press, 2002.)
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BOOK REVIEW: Balance ("Conversations With Petr Hajek About What Has Been, Is and Will Be")
| 09 Sep 2002
Narovinu, Hovory s Petrem Hajkem, nejen o tom co bylo, je a bude (Balance: Conversations with Petr Hayek About What Has Been, Is and Will Be by Vaclav Klus (Rabbit and Rabbit, 2001.)
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SCHOOLS BRIEF: I, Pencil
| 09 Sep 2002Making pencils would not be possible without free markets, a simple truth that is often used to defend private enterprise.
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LETTERS: Sanctions Against Iraq
| 09 Sep 2002A difference of opinion?
