Steven Gaskell writes – Australia’s Labor government has made a historic move: it has formally recognised the State of Palestine. Foreign Minister Penny Wong framed the decision as a step towards peace and a two-state solution. The headlines blared “Australia recognises Palestine” but almost none of the mainstream outlets bothered to mention the fine print. […]
Australia Recognises Palestine – But With Strings Attached the Media Won’t Tell You About
Australia Recognises Palestine – But With Strings Attached the Media Won’t Tell You About
26 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, International law, politics - Australia, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror, West Bank
Tasmania’s unstable electoral system
25 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, politics - Australia, Public Choice Tags: Tasmania
Tasmania’s electoral system, particularly its implementation of the Hare-Clark proportional representation method, has frequently faced criticism for its tendency to produce unstable governments. This instability largely arises from the system’s inherent design, which promotes a fragmented parliament and necessitates coalition-building and negotiations that may ultimately compromise governmental efficacy and stability. The Hare-Clark system, in theory, […]
Tasmania’s unstable electoral system
Emotions and Policy Views
07 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, behavioural economics, economics of information, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
I would call this a story of negative emotional contagion: This paper investigates the growing role of emotions in shaping policy views. Analyzing social citizens’ media postings and political party messaging over a large variety of policy issues from 2013 to 2024, we document a sharp rise in negative emotions, particularly anger. Content generating anger […]
Emotions and Policy Views
How did the Australian pollsters go?
02 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
Now we have a final result for the Australian election, we can look at how the Australian pollsters did. This shows the primary and then TPP vote for each pollsters’s final pre-election poll. The final TPP result of 55.2% to 44.8% was greater than all the polls. Four had it 53 to 47, so were […]
How did the Australian pollsters go?
He should have apologised
19 May 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - Australia, property rights Tags: defamation, free speech
The ABC reports: There are concerns that former Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto will be bankrupted after being ordered to pay costs of $2.3 million after losing his defamation battle with Moira Deeming. … The Federal Court order handed down on Friday morning, raises the prospect Mr Pesutto will be bankrupted and forced out of…
He should have apologised
Oldest known Australian hominin fossils to be reburied
21 Mar 2025 1 Comment
in economic history, economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia Tags: archeology, evolutionary biology, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Once again we have a conflict between science and the unevidenced claims of superstition. This time it’s from Australia. Some of the “Willandra lakes fossils” from New South Wales, which include the famous “Lake Mungo remains” (three sets of hominin fossils that are the oldest ones known from Australia), have been or are scheduled to […]
Oldest known Australian hominin fossils to be reburied
The splintering of political extremists
21 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Political parties on the extreme left and right tend to splinter due to a combination of ideological rigidity, personal rivalries, and strategic disagreements. Here are some key reasons: 1. Ideological Purity and Sectarianism 2. Leadership Conflicts and Personality Clashes 3. Strategic Disagreements 4. External Pressure and State Repression 5. Reaction to Success or Failure 6. […]
The splintering of political extremists
Labour Energy Price Lies In Australia
16 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - Australia Tags: solar power, wind power
By Paul Homewood h/t Dennis Ambler Sounds like Australia’s Labour have been telling the same porkies a Britain’s! Jo Nova has the story: As the Opposition point out the Labor government went to the last election telling us 97 times how they would make our electricity $275 cheaper, but with the […]
Labour Energy Price Lies In Australia
Share the “Deep Internal Conflict” of the Green Aussie Billionaire who Just Bought a Private Jet
15 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - Australia, transport economics Tags: climate activists
“… so I can run a global business from Australia, and still be a constantly present dad …”
Share the “Deep Internal Conflict” of the Green Aussie Billionaire who Just Bought a Private Jet
Spot on
14 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, political change, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Women’s rights vs men’s demands
09 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, property rights Tags: conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
It’s still International Women’s Day in some parts of the world. There are still people who believe their feelings about their gender can trump biological facts. There are still people who risk their jobs if they question gender ideology. But there are also people fighting back, among them is Sall Grover: The founder of a […]
Women’s rights vs men’s demands
Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism
05 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, budget deficits, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, health economics, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, unemployment Tags: economics of pandemics
That’s the title of a 2024 book by a couple of Australian academic economists, Steven Hamilton (based in US) and Richard Holden (a professor at the University of New South Wales). The subtitle of the book is “How we crushed the curve but lost the race”. It is easy to get off on the wrong […]
Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism
Conspiracy theories and science denial
26 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: conjecture and refutation, conspiracies theories, philosophy of science
Conspiracy theories and science denial are two phenomena that often intersect, influencing public discourse and societal trust in authoritative knowledge sources. This essay explores their connection, elucidates the psychological and social mechanisms underpinning them, and provides examples to demonstrate how these two manifestations of skepticism reinforce each other, often with deleterious consequences. The Connection At […]
Conspiracy theories and science denial
Must watch – Gigi Foster on lockdowns at PAEC
17 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, econometerics, economics of natural disasters, health economics, politics - Australia Tags: economics of pandemics
Future unemployment will be (mostly) voluntary unemployment
14 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - Australia, unemployment
A shortage of electricians means that those willing to endure long shifts and live on remote sites can potentially earn up to A$200,000 (US$124,000) a year — double the national average salary and not far off the average MP salary. “It’s a cup half full/half empty life. You do 12-hour shifts, there’s the heat, the […]
Future unemployment will be (mostly) voluntary unemployment
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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