Inside This Issue Volume 57 • Number 1 • March 2005

2 Editorial 27 What’s a Job? Ours is a compassionate society, but is our compassion being It seems that being a corporate executive has become pretty well directed? Mike Nahan dangerous. They are being targeted by powerful regulators, unions and non-government organizations. Ken Phillips 3 The Self-Employment Revolution The condition of Australia’s old industrial relations system 28 A Philosophy of Liberalism has dominated the policy debate following the 2004 federal A personal reflection on a busy life and on the importance of election. John Roskam individual responsibility. Andrew Robb AO 6 Taxes, Health and Federalism 30 Education Agenda The Howard Government’s victory in the Senate, which Is education too politically correct and are students in danger comes into effect in July 2005, has led to a renewed push for of being indoctrinated? Kevin Donnelly reform. Mike Nahan ENVIRONMENT INDEPENDANT CONTRACTORS 8 Wake Up: They’re Misleading You 32 The Workforce of the Future Climate change is one of the defining issue of our times and A contractor is someone who contracts. The sanctity of the Kyoto Protocol is, in many ways, an historic agreement, contract is one of the three pillars of our common-law worthy of extensive and serious debate and reporting. system. Bob Day Andrew McIntyre & Chris Berg 35 Independent Contractors and Tax: The Facts 12 Waterkeepers’ Claims Sunk by Facts Some people claim that independent contractors and their It will come as no great surprise to those who have taken clients use non-employment to avoid tax and other statutory a serious interest in the Yarra River’s health that a constant obligations. It’s a claim that doesn’t match the facts. improvement, in fact, has taken place. Alan Moran & Mike Ken Phillips Nahan 14 37 The ABC’s Paralysis on Bias The Lost Battle of Queensland Farming When the Titanic hit the iceberg, the directors of the White The Eureka Stockade is such a fascinating event in Australian Star Line no doubt had some thinking to do. What will the history that it has since been reinterpreted by countless ABC do with Four Corners? Christian Kerr groups to suit their various political arguments. Michael Thomson 39 The Politics of Political Mothers and Wives 16 Once upon a time, it was generally childless women or Campaigning Against our Cultural Heritage those who had adult children who became active in politics. Banjo Paterson, perhaps more than any other writer, created Margaret Fitzherbert and defined our cultural heritage. Jennifer Marohasy 41 Letter from London 18 Global Transaction Strategy Great Britain now has laws just like the ‘banning orders’ of When the United States finally went to war again in the the apartheid regime, or the measures used with dissidents in Persian Gulf, it was not about settling old scores or simply the Soviet Union, or in Burma. John Nurick enforcing UN-mandated disarmament of illegal weapons or a distraction in the war on terror. Thomas P.M. Barnett & 42 Free Enterprise Online Henry H. Gaffney Jr. Stephen Dawson 23 What is Labor Thinking? 44 BOOK REVIEWS The dismal result for Labor at the 2004 election was easy Andrew McIntyre reviews State of Fear by Michael Crichton; to predict. The electorate was not about to swap the steady Gary Johns reviews The Case For Israel by Alan Dershowitz. hand of an experienced leader for the volatile fist of a recent arrival. Gary Johns 47 Around the tanks 25 A Constitution that Deserves Better Mates If constitutions had emotions, ours could be forgiven for feeling just a little frustrated. Greg Craven R E V I E W Editor: Mike Nahan. Associate Editors: Chris Berg & Andrew McIntyre. Production: Chris Berg. Proofreading: Stephen Dawson Designed by: Chris Berg. Printed by: Pinnacle Printing, 288 Dundas Street, Thornbury VIC 3071. Published by: The Institute of Public Affairs Ltd (Incorporated in the ACT) ACN 008 627 727. Level 2, 410 Collins Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000. Phone: (03) 9600 4744. Fax: (03) 9602 4989. E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.ipa.org.au Illustrations, Front Cover and Inside Cartoons by Chris Berg Unsolicited manuscripts welcomed. However, potential contributors are advised to discuss proposals for articles with the Editor. Views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IPA. Reproduction: The IPA welcomes reproduction of written material from the Review, but for copyright reasons the Editor’s permission must first be sought. FROM THE EDITOR From the Editor

Ours is a compassionate society, but is their own children. our compassion being well directed? Activists are also lobbying to elim- As individuals and groups, Austral- inate trout from Victorian streams, to ians are extraordinarily willing to help exclude beekeepers, firewood col- others in need with cash and kind. lectors, horse-riders, power boats, 4- Nothing shows this more than the wheel drive vehicles and motorcycles response to the Asian tsunami, with from our national parks; to stop the around $300 million donated by indi- harvesting of native timbers, and to vidual Australians and corporations, restrict the growth of pine and native and over $1 billion pledged on their timber plantations. behalf by governments. It is estimated Jennifer Marohasy (page 14) and that, in 1997, 8.6 million Australians Michael Thompson (page 16) discuss donated $2.8 billion to non-profit some of these campaigns. organizations, and in 2000–01, Aus- These campaigns, which together tralia’s business sector provided $1.4 constitute an attempt to shut down billion to non-profit organizations Mike Nahan rural Australia, are being waged by through gifts and sponsorships. wealthy, unduly influential, urban- This is all fine and good. Indeed it large agricultural business. Water- based groups. Few of these groups is an important underpinning of a free keepers Australia’s link with the com- have more than a handful of mem- society. munity is weak and it is, for the most bers. The lion’s share of their funding We are a very affluent society part, composed of a small network of comes from governments seeking to with expectations that companies and deep Green activists working behind buy ‘the green vote’ and from gullible individuals will lend a helping hand. We a new façade. It focuses on political urban elites. have rightly become less enamoured and legal action rather than directly Unfortunately, they are being suc- of government solutions. Moreover, helping the environment. It conducts cessful and in the process are sowing many have satisfied their life’s goals a polished but essentially dishonest the seeds for a return of One Na- and are looking to give something campaign that takes the oxygen from tion. back to society. the many groups and volunteers al- Of course, people should be able Increasingly, however, some of this ready working to improve our rivers. to do with their money what they compassion is being misdirected with Moreover, it seeds fear and paranoia wish, even if it is poorly informed and unintended consequences. In short, where neither are appropriate or potentially destructive. But should we compassion can be sent awry and not helpful. subsidize their destructive indulgence all philanthropy goes towards a good In short, philanthropic funding with tax breaks? end. of the Waterkeepers Australia is de- There are things that can be done. One example is the Waterkeep- structive of civil society, economic We can revisit the definition of char- ers Australia, whose recent activities growth and the environment. ity and ensure that charity status and are discussed in this issue (page 12). Misdirected philanthropy also its financial benefits go only to groups This group has a seductive name, an lies behind the plethora of campaigns that directly address their chosen appealing purpose, an apparently ko- against farming and other traditional area. That is, we should give only to sher board, and a very impassioned, resource-based businesses. Farmers groups that get their hands dirty or slick spiel. They claim to be mobiliz- currently face campaigns to stop the undertake real research. Groups that ing community groups to protect our raising of sheep, the milking of cows, are little more than lobbyists should waterways. This appeal, and the seem- the growing of rice and cotton, the not be treated as charities. ingly good purpose, has allowed it to use of feedlots, the intensive rais- And we can also start taking on procure funds from serious and sensi- ing of pigs and chickens, the export these groups and their financiers in ble foundations. of livestock, the use of biotechnol- the halls of public opinion. Few phi- The reality is different. The Alliance ogy, the use of water, the clearing of lanthropists wish to do bad things or is a derivative of a US group of the re-growth vegetation, the culling of receive a bad press. same name which specializes in join- kangaroos and other wildlife, the use ing NIMBY’s and tort lawyers against of pesticides, and the employment of

R E V I E W 2 MARCH 2005 THE SELF-RELIANT SOCIETY Self Reliance and the Employment Revolution John Roskam

THE OLD INDUSTRIAL lations system. Individuals are choosing Fourth, individuals are demand- RELATIONS SYSTEM to work for themselves to gain the ben- ing choice over their working arrange- efits of the choice and flexibility that ments, as they are in every other aspect he condition of Australia’s old self-employment provides. The conse- of their lives, and self-employment pro- industrial relations system has quences of this transformation for the vides this. dominated the policy debate economy, for society, and for our politi- Fifth, individuals are more willing Tfollowing the 2004 federal election. cal parties will be dramatic. to assume responsibility for the deci- There has been argument about such sions that affect their lives and their things as setting the minimum wage, families. Outside the family, deciding the role of the AIRC, and the number of the course of his employment is per- allowable matters in industrial awards. Our current structure haps the biggest decision an individual The discussion, however, has largely can make. missed the point. Most of the players of industrial The phenomena just described raise in the industrial relations system have relations...is literally issues beyond the scope of industrial re- been so caught up in the old way of lations, and they are the focus of a new doing things that the transformation a product of the research project of the IPA entitled A of work in Australia has been ignored. Self-Reliant Society. Other issues to be The ‘industrial relations club’ remains nineteenth century. considered during the project include fixated on models of the employment such matters as the extent to which relationship that are out-of-date. individuals and families are seeking Our current structure of industrial HOW THE WORLD HAS greater control over their financial as- relations—relying on awards, arbitra- CHANGED sets, and what the consequences of this tion and conciliation—is literally a might be. product of the nineteenth century. The The trend to self-employment will This article is one of the first out- central assumption of that structure— accelerate in coming decades. Five ma- comes of the A Self-Reliant Society that the interests of employers and em- jor reasons explain this change. project. Specifically this article exam- ployees are fundamentally different—is First, the nature of the Austral- ines: also a basic assumption of Karl Marx, ian economy will continue to develop another long-discredited product of the with knowledge-intensive and service • the number of people self-employed; nineteenth century. industries assuming a more important • the growth of self-employment; and To ensure Australia’s continued position. These industries already have • the political consequences of self-em- prosperity into the twenty-first centu- a high proportion of self-employed ployment. ry, we require a system which encour- workers. ages creativity, rewards initiative, and Second, as the population gains HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE responds to the needs of individuals the higher levels of education required SELF-EMPLOYED? and families. The existing system meets for the jobs of the future, the number none of these criteria. of self-employed will increase, as bet- There is no simple answer to this What is occurring in Australia is ter educated workers are more likely to question. The idea that people might nothing less than a transformation of choose self-employment. not be either ‘employees’ or ‘employers’, how we work. The traditional employ- Third, older workers are more com- but could be ‘self-employed’ is relative- er/employee relationship is becoming fortable becoming self-employed than ly new. The development of measures less relevant as an increasing number are younger workers, and the effects of of self-employment, therefore, have of individuals are rejecting the restric- this will become apparent as the popu- lagged behind traditional indica- tions of an inappropriate industrial re- lation ages. tors such as the number of people

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 3 THE SELF-RELIANT SOCIETY

differences between electorates, they Chart 1: Number of self-employed compared to union members in the private can be analysed. sector

THE GROWTH OF SELF- EMPLOYMENT

The attention that trade unions and their leaders receive from the me- dia and governments (both Coalition and Labor) is not reflected in the size of their membership. By contrast, the self-employed are a silent but growing group getting on with the job. As has been known since at least the 1990s, the proportion of union members in the workforce has been steadily declin- ing, but the related phenomenon of the growth of self-employment has been Source: IPA, derived from ABS statistics practically ignored. When the number of trade union members in the private sector is com- who are unemployed, or who are union of the 2004 survey will be released later pared with the number of self-em- members, or who are not in workforce this year.) ployed, what is occurring is made very at all. Although census and survey data obvious. And when it is remembered There are actually at least three dif- from the ABS underestimate the extent that the figures for the self-employed, ferent measures of the number of self- of self-employment, they are useful. (see Chart 1) are taken from an ABS employed. The census conducted by the This is because they allow trends to be survey that underestimates self-employ- Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) measured over time, and because the ment, the effect is even more striking. every five years asks people to identify census records information, including their employment status. The ABS also data about where individuals live and conducts a monthly labour force survey (from which the unemployment statis- tics are derived). The figures for the self- Chart 2: Self-employed as % of workforce in ALP and Coalition electorates, employed vary between the census and 1981 and 2001 the survey because one attempts to be comprehensive while the other is only a sample of the population. A significant problem with both the census and the survey is that people who work as own- er-managers of incorporated enterprises and who would regard themselves as self-employed, are classed as employees because they are employed by the busi- ness. To overcome these issues, in 1998 in a separate survey, the ABS started counting owner-managers as self-em- ployed. This survey is held every three years and the most recent data avail- able are from 2001. In that year, there were at least 1.75 million Australians who were self-employed. This compares Source: IPA, derived from ABS statistics with the figure of 1.67 million self-em- ployed recorded in 1998. (The results

R E V I E W 4 MARCH 2005 THE SELF-RELIANT SOCIETY

Chart 3: Self-employed as % of workforce in ALP and Coalition electorates in 2001

Source: IPA, derived from ABS statistics

THE POLITICAL self-employed workers outnumber un- analysis does show is that neither side of CONSEQUENCES OF SELF- ion members. As yet, the Labor Party politics can afford to ignore the growing EMPLOYMENT has not woken up to the fact that if number of self-employed. Because the it is to regain government, it must at self-employed are by their nature inde- While the ALP remains wedded the very least consider the needs of this pendent, they haven’t been collectively to the union movement and the old growing constituency. represented—nor have they sought to industrial relations system, the nature Chart 3 shows the percentage of be. They have stood aside from the bat- of work in its own electorates is chang- self-employed workers across all types tles between employers and employees ing to embrace self-employment. Using of ALP and Coalition electorates in because they are neither. data from the ABS censuses conducted 2001. An analysis of individual elector- At the level of national policy, the in 1981 and the most recent census of ates reveals that there are many elector- full impact of the self-employment rev- 2001 and breaking down the rate of ates which have a much higher percent- olution has yet to be recognized. To an self-employment to individual elector- age of self-employed workers than the increasing number of Australian workers ates, it can be easily seen that the rate average. More than one-third of ALP the ‘old-speak’ of industrial relations is of self-employment grew most in ALP electorates had a workforce in which 15 irrelevant. The challenge for all govern- electorates. In 1981, 10.1 per cent of per cent or more of those working were ments and political parties is to think in workers in ALP electorates were self- self-employed, and in some electorates new ways about employment and rec- employed, and in 2001 this figure was this percentage rose to around 20 per ognize that the growth in self-employ- 14.3 per cent, an increase of over 40 per cent. ment is the inevitable consequence of cent. By contrast, in Coalition elector- As ALP electorates become more the economic and social conditions of ates, where the percentage of self-em- marginal, the percentage of self-em- the late twentieth century. There is no ployed is higher, the rate of growth of ployed workers increases. Similarly, likelihood of the trend being reversed. self-employment was not as great, ris- the safer Coalition seats tend to have a ing from 18.6 per cent to 20.3 per cent, higher percentage of self-employed. John Roskam is a Research Fellow at the which is a change of around 10 per cent Institute of Public Affairs. This article is (see Chart 2). (As mentioned, ABS cen- CONCLUSION based on a forthcoming IPA Backgrounder sus figures understate the extent of self- on self-employment and the self-reliant so- employment and the actual incidence The relationship between self-em- ciety. The information sources for this ar- of self-employment in both ALP and ployment and voting intention is, of ticle are available from the IPA. Coalition electorates is much higher.) course, not simple, and many other What this means is that there factors determine an individual’s po- are now many ALP electorates in which litical choice at elections. But what this I P A R E V I E W MARCH 2005 5 FEDERALISM Taxes, Health and Federalism

Mike Nahan

he Howard Government’s Howard Government—Prime Minister government. As stated by V.O. Key in victory in the Senate, which John Howard, Treasurer Peter Costello The Responsible Electorate: Rationality in comes into effect in July 2005, and the Finance Minister Nick Minch- Presidential Voting 1936-60, ‘the voice Thas led to a renewed push for reform. in—resisting another wave of tax re- of the people is but an echo’, shaped by And not before time, for there are clear form? the ‘clarity of alternatives presented to signs that the gains from past reforms it and the character of the information are beginning to wane—productivity available to it’. If the information and growth is slowing, capacity constraint is options put forward are distorted and beginning to bite, the cost of regulation How do we return incomplete, so too will public opinion. is growing, the efficiency of govern- Some patterns can be gleaned from ment is declining and the savings rate to our liberal the available survey data. is almost zero. First, more people still prefer tax Taxation should be near the top of traditions and cuts than more government spending the list—especially for Liberals—but it in general (see Figure 1). Second, the isn’t. Why and how is this so? lower taxes? popularity of tax cuts as opposed to Liberals, by theory and constitu- higher spending has declined over the ency, should have a strong predilec- last decade-and-a-half. Third, when the tion for lower taxes, an aversion to tax Howard and Costello are willing to choice is narrowed down to tax cuts complexity, and should value personal cut taxes, but only as a residual. As Mr versus additional health spending, the choice and responsibility over enforced Costello said: pendulum of popularity swings strongly collectivism. in favour of the latter. Fourth, increas- It is well known, moreover, that the We are going to fund health, ed- ing spending on areas other than health Australian tax system remains seriously ucation, tsunami relief, the war is much less popular, particularly if it is flawed. The top marginal income tax on terror, we are going to fund for unemployment benefits and social rates are high and kick in at a relatively our troops in the field and we are welfare. low level. The interaction between the going to balance our budgets, What do these trends mean? tax and welfare systems produces effec- and when we have done all of First, that the efforts at State and tive tax rates of often over 80 per cent that we are going to keep taxes as Federal level to drive efficiency and for low-income earners, locking many low as is consistent with that. greater transparency in government thousands of people out of work and spending put in place during the 1990s in to welfare. The Tax Act has become Tax cuts will come after spending have had the effect of engendering a destructive monster of 7,000 pages and subject to a balanced budget. greater support for government spend- with tax compliance estimated to be A cynic might argue that the ing. That is, voters think government is consuming over $8 billion per year. Howard team, having mastered the art now more efficient, effective and trans- The leading members of the of buying votes with judicious dollops parent; which of course they are—in Howard Government know this. After of taxpayer largesse, is loath to limit its some areas. What has not been noticed all, they spent the better part of six years capacity to do so in the future by cut- by the public is the distinct decline in making the arguments for creating and ting taxes now. efficient, effective and transparent gov- defending A New Tax System (ANTS). There is another perspective, and ernment spending at all levels over the Although ANTS did make some major this is that there is concern within the last six years. This needs to be remedied improvements, it was seriously warped Howard team that people currently to make space for tax cuts. during its passage through the old Sen- prefer higher spending, particularly for Second, tax reform, particularly the ate. Moreover, it did not address every- health, to tax cuts. GST along with cuts to tax rates and tax thing—such as the high tax rates. The polls on tax cuts versus spend- thresholds, has reduced the desire for Why, then, are the leading erst- ing are notoriously malleable and most additional tax cuts. Put another while proponents of tax reform in the often used as a tool to spruik bigger way, tax reform has given gov-

R E V I E W 6 MARCH 2005 FEDERALISM

Figure 1: ‘If the government had a choice between reducing taxes or voter should not matter, particularly spending more on social services, which do you think it should do?’ when, in reality, a very small proportion of tax revenue is spent on classical pub- 70 lic goods such as defence, police, public health, and pollution abatement and 60 66 control. People should have the right

s Less tax to reap the benefits of their own labour 50 57 56 57 and saving. Depends We have, however, travelled far 40 47 from our liberal traditions and too 42 many people have become dependent 30 More spending upon the government taking from oth- on social 30 ers on their behalf. The question is: how 20 services r cent of respondent of r cent 25 do we return to our liberal traditions

Pe and lower taxes? 10 15 17 17 First, unfunded tax cuts that drive 11 budgets into the red are not the answer. 0 Debt is nothing less than taxes post- 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 poned. Costello is right on this. Second, we must renew the drive for efficiency, effectiveness and trans- Source: Grant. R (2004) Less Tax or more social spending: twenty years of opinion parency in government spending. Cos- polling, Parliamentary Library, Research paper No. 13 2003-04. tello is also correct in arguing that the focus needs be on the States and Ter- ernment the ability to pluck the goose out in regional Victoria, or the $1.2 bil- ritories—they are responsible for serv- with less hissing. This is particularly lion Perth–Mandurah light rail system ice delivery and infrastructure where the case for the States. They have been (which, on current expectations, will be the major gains are to be made. But given a huge growth tax raised by the a ghost train for 75 per cent of its run). the Commonwealth is also more than Commonwealth—the GST—at a time Fourth, people have become fear- an appropriate target. The drive for ef- of a huge consumption binge. This has ful about the funding of health. Stories ficiency in spending in Canberra has generated unprecedented revenue flows, about increasing waiting lists, ambu- waned in recent years as the propen- particularly for the laggard States and lance bypassing, declining bulk bill- sity for pork-barrelling has grown. For Territories of South Australia, Tasma- ing rates and cuts to pharmaceutical example, in the last federal election, nia and the Northern Territory. To the subsidies, coupled with the rising costs Coalition politicians issued how-to- State electorates, this largesse appears as of technology and advanced services, vote cards which contained a colour- money for jam. have given rise to fears of having to go coded map of the district with every Third, people have a hierarchy of it alone without the support of govern- grant/project given over the last term spending priorities, with health at the ment. In addition, as the population and every new one promised during the top and unemployment at the bottom, ages, health becomes a more important next term. The Gallop Government fol- and their views on tax cuts depend on issue and the desire for government to lowed the Howard Government’s lead which area of spending they expect to take on individuals’ health risks increas- during the recent WA State Election. be affected. If people think, as the pro- es. For example, the average expected Third, over time, we must develop ponents of bigger government are wont health cost from all sources per year a health system that is based on indi- to portray, that a dollar less in tax is a for a 65-year-old is just over $12,000, vidual choice and responsibility rather dollar less for public hospitals, they while the expected annual health costs than socialism. are, on average, against such a trade- for a 35-year-old is around $900. These off. On the other hand, if the tax cuts translate into 55 per cent and 2 per cent come from a lower priority area, they respectively of average wages. One can Mike Nahan is Executive Director of are not—for example, the $24 million see why the old are prone to concerns the Institute of Public Affairs. subsidy for the Tasmania-to-Sydney about the level of health spending for Ferry (aka the chunder bucket), or the them. $780 million cost overrun of the ‘very Of course, from a classical liberal I P A fast’ but slow trains slowly being rolled perspective, the views of the median

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 7 ENVIRONMENT WAKE UP: THEY’RE MISLEADING YOU The Media’s Climate Change Propaganda

Andrew McIntyre & Chris Berg

Without Australia as a signatory, the Kyoto Protocol came into force on 16 February this year. The Kyoto Protocol is an historic agreement, worthy of extensive debate and it was inevitable and appropriate for the media to increase its focus on the issue of climate change. Source: The Age, 12 February, 2005 But not, it appears, worthy of ob- DISTORTED CASE STUDIES change continues. jective coverage—at least in some quar- Such ‘wild’ speculation is what fu- ters. As is increasingly the case with Polar Bears els the climate change industry. Scien- many environmental issues, instead of Green groups and environmental tists make narrow studies. They bundle treating the debate with the level of activists know that the cuter the animal, the study with speculative conclusions. objectivity and nuance that it deserves, the more powerful the imagery. While These conclusions are pounced upon some of the Australian media joined ac- it is unlikely that anybody would want by legions of activist cherry-pickers, tivists in a campaign designed to create a polar bear for an indoor pet, they are excited by new prophecies of doom. a state of fear. cute from a distance—and even more Importantly, we can find no evidence A case study of this phenome- so when drawn as a cartoon. Melissa of Dr Stirling or any other scientist set- non was a four-part series on Climate Fyfe regurgitates the old, old claim that ting the record straight or admonishing Change and Kyoto published in Mel- polar bears are in danger. In The Age, WWF and others for misrepresenting bourne in The Age in mid-February polar bears’ bodies are said to be be- their research. 2005. coming thinner. It turns out that this Are polar bears being endangered On Saturday 12 February, readers was true at least in one area in Canada by an early melting of Arctic ice as were greeted with the four-page spread during one year. A survey of polar bears prophesized by Dr Stirling, WWF and written by environment reporter Melis- in the Hudson Bay region found that The Age? Not according to WWF’s own sa Fyfe, with the bold headline, WAKE the average weight of female polar bears study ‘Polar Bears at Risk’. Their report UP THIS IS SERIOUS, and a sub- was eight per cent lower in 1999 than found that polar bear populations are heading, ‘scientists are all but screaming found in a previous survey. The research stable, and in many areas increasing. that the world is on a path to disaster was conducted by Dr Ian Stirling, a re- Indeed they were found to be in decline unless we stop global warming’. searcher with the Canadian Wildlife in only two of the 19 areas studied. True Fyfe presents ten case studies, in Service. to form, the WWF press release only re- fewer than 150 words each, which sup- In the study Dr Stirling stated: ‘I’m ferred to the areas in decline. posedly prove the case of catastrophic reluctant to speculate too wildly’ but Other more recent studies have impacts of man-made greenhouse gases then went on to speculate that the caus- found a 20–25 per cent increase in polar and the need for immediate and drastic es may be ‘anything from the chemical bear numbers across Canada. Indeed, action. This, we are told, is the end of composition of seals in the area, to pol- the numbers have increased to the point the argument. Instead of blindly obey- lutants, to hydro-electric developments where the Inuit people have increased ing her directive to START WORRY- in the area’ and, of course, climate the number available for hunters. In a ING NOW, it is worth doing some change. Elsewhere, Stirling was less coy. number of Arctic villages, polar bears research about whether Fyfe’s summary At a conference of science journalists in are ‘so abundant there’s a public safety of the science is accurate. What emerges Montreal in 2004, he advocated curb- issue’. Canada’s Department of Fisher- is a picture of cherry-picked facts which ing carbon-dioxide by 60–80 per cent ies and Oceans, which monitors and misrepresents the situation as scientists to save the polar bears. WWF picked up models the relationship between best know it, all in the name of envi- and broadcast his statement predicting shifting sea ice and global warm- ronmental advocacy. the extinction of polar bears if climate ing, has concluded that ‘overall

R E V I E W 8 MARCH 2005 ENVIRONMENT the possible impact of global warming Sea are repopulating areas that, in the plants are able to slowly encroach on appears to play a minor role in changes fluctuating climate of the last thou- areas which may not have been as con- to Arctic sea ice’. sand years, they had at times aban- ducive to growth in the past. But what In short, speculation by a scientist doned. Third, Australian researchers at if this is simply a natural cyclical trend? is picked up and augmented by propa- the Davis, Mawson and Casey stations When the occasional extreme weather gandists, and then transmitted around in East Antarctica have reported ‘sus- event occurs again, the recently colo- the world as an example of why Aus- tained, long term increases for the past nized areas may recede and the cycle tralians should reduce their energy con- 30 or more years’ of Adelie penguins. of re-colonization may start anew. To sumption by at least 60 per cent within In the Casey region, the total breeding argue that this cycle is clearly indica- 45 years. population has actually more than tre- tive of anthropogenic climate change is bled since the 1960s. disingenuous. Penguins These three independent research Far higher on the cute ladder than groups are in agreement that global Tuvalu polar bears are penguins. Just like polar warming is the likely cause of the in- Sea levels are rising on Tuvalu. Si- bears, penguins are said to be feeling creases in penguin numbers that they lafaga Lalua wrote in Tuvalu News, the wrath of climate change. have found. ‘Our island is sinking together with our While penguins might have limited So what is the public to make of hearts.’ But—and readers of the Review contact with Man, they are the most all this? Scientists speculating that in- might be detecting a pattern here—there studied type of bird. There is a huge creases and decreases of Adelie penguin is slightly more to the story than what volume of detailed research on pen- populations in close proximity to each is presented by Fyfe and Lalua. The sea guin populations—in particular, of the other are both caused by global warm- level is indeed rising … at a heartbreak- Adelie penguin—going back as far as ing. These concerns are then broadcast ing 0.9mm per year. The South Pa- five decades. The evidence shows that by Greenpeace and others and used by cific Sea Level and Climate Monitoring change in population numbers has oc- Melissa Fyfe to demand action to curb Project, which has been monitoring Tu- curred almost everywhere. In some plac- global warming now. valu for 22 years, doesn’t credit even this es the Adelie penguin populations have barely perceptible change in sea level to experienced long sustained growth, in Snow Gums global warming. Instead it argues that some places they are stable, and in a few Just like cute animals, beautiful ‘Variations in monthly mean sea level places they are declining. scenery is an effective tool for swaying are dominated by seasonal cycles and by This conflicting evidence is not par- public opinion. But unlike polar bears, the effect of the 1997/1998 El Niño.’ It ticularly surprising, but neither is it fully snow gums can’t maul you. And so goes on to state that ‘even with 22 years understood. For example, an American Melissa Fyfe turns to the harsh environ- of data, the trend can not be established research group team in the Antarctic ment of the Victorian Alps and Snowy without sizeable uncertainties’. The ex- Peninsula (whose results, perhaps, are Mountains, where she argues that snow perience of other islands around the those upon which Fyfe of The Age ap- gums are moving up the mountains, world—because, of course, this is glo- pears to rely—The Age provides no ref- and that climate change, due to human bal warming—confirms this trend. But, erences), has found that the number activity, is undeniably at fault. as the report from Tuvalu states, ‘We of breeding pairs of Adelie penguins Once again, her premise is not caution against drawing conclusions has dropped in some places where they wrong. A 2001 study by Lynise J. prematurely’. Once again, this caution were replaced by Gentoo and Chinstrap Wearne and John W. Morgan showed has appeared to have been missed or penguins. The team put these trends that snow gums were growing further ignored by Melissa Fyfe. Instead, with down to global warming. (http://www. up Mt Hotham than they had been unambiguous confidence, she asserts, lternet.edu/vignettes/pal.html) previously. In this case, however, the in 10 REASONS TO START WOR- Down the Peninsula, and still in study in question—unlike The Age— RYING NOW—‘Tuvalu, a small na- the American area, another team of US did not put it down to climate change. tion made up of nine atolls near Fiji, is scientists has been studying another Indeed, despite there being an increase shrinking with rising sea levels.’ Adelie penguin group for decades. They in average temperature over the last 150 Claims such as ‘animals are on the have found a large and sustained in- years, the authors note that the cause is move, glaciers are melting and drought crease in the population numbers. In not fully known, and requires ‘further is spreading’ are wilfully misleading. the Ross Sea area, the New Zealanders clarification’. It could well be that the Kyoto spruikers wrap their campaigns have also found a large sustained rise in snow gums have been slowly creeping in deception and, like all good propa- Adelie penguin numbers. For example, up the mountains for more than a hun- gandists, provide a simple solution— the New Zealand Journal of Ecology re- dred years. In the absence of calamitous the Kyoto Protocol. But this sim- ports that Adelie penguins in the Ross events—in this case, extreme frost— ple solution isn’t enough for some

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 9 ENVIRONMENT activists. As Fyfe argues, Kyoto is ‘just head of the Coastal Research a start’. Indeed, the Australian Con- Institute in Geesthacht, and servation Foundation contends that it Nico Stehr, Sociologist at the is ‘essential that Australia’s greenhouse Zeppelin University in Frie- gas emissions are reduced by 70–80% drichshafen, quoted a survey by 2050 and that the use of fossil fu- conducted last year among els is phased out’. The ACF is also dead climate researchers through- against nuclear power and more hydro- out the world. It found that a electric power. quarter of the respondents still Buy your batteries now—but how harboured significant doubts will they be charged? about the human origin of the most recent climatic changes. A SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS? The Oregon Petition ( http://www.oism.org/ Media campaigns consistently pproject/) which urges the present an image of consensus amongst United States to reject Kyoto scientists about climate change. That is, and argues that there is in- Lindzen’s iron triangle of alarmism that the science is settled and there is an adequate scientific evidence overwhelming majority of independent to back up the charge that Age’s side in this debate, that headline is scientists worldwide who agree that hu- humans are causing catastrophic heat- outrageously patronizing of those who man-caused global warming is proceed- ing of the Earth’s atmosphere and are wish to be fully informed about the ing at an alarming rate. A speech by the affecting the Earth’s climate has been facts in order to participate in rational President of the Pew Center on Global signed by 17,000 American scientists. discussion. Climate Change urges pro-Kyoto activ- The Heidelberg Appeal –– publicly re- ists continually to emphasize the ‘clear leased at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio DISTORTION OF THE PUBLIC and overwhelming consensus among de Janeiro, and warning of the emer- DEBATE scientists’. (http://www.pewclimate. gence of an irrational ideology which org/press_room/speech_transcripts/ is opposed to scientific and industrial Why is there such distortion of the climatechange.cfm). The remaining progress and impedes economic and so- public debate on climate change? ‘skeptics’ are portrayed as being a small cial development –– has been signed by There at least three possible- ex pocket of people of questionable au- 4,000 scientists, and counts 72 Nobel planations: ‘noble cause corruption’; thority and of even more questionable Prize winners amongst its signatories. the politics of funding and rent seek- motives. But in this scientific debate, The Age ing. Aynsley Kellow, The Greenhouse It is important to emphasize that, prefers to quote Frank Fitzgerald-Ryan, and the Garbage Can: Uncertainty and in any case, consensus has nothing to the principal of Vox Bandicoot, the Problem Construction in Climate Policy do with science; one new hypothesis company that created the Sustainability suggests—in the context of NSW Pre- can, and sometimes does, disprove the Street approach, labelling the sceptics, mier Bob Carr’s recent prediction of opinion of every scientist in the world. ‘Holocaust-deniers’. catastrophic change if we do not act Science is not determined on a vote. A previous article by Fyfe on 27 immediately to reduce greenhouse gas- Successful new hypotheses must ac- November 2004, titled ‘The Skeptics’, es—that it is the nobility of the cause count for existing data and also be pre- disparaged any scientists who ques- that leads people to rationalize the mis- dictive. Nevertheless, because the ‘con- tioned her pro-Kyoto stance as mere use of evidence. It also explains the will- sensus’ argument is so often deployed ‘hired guns’, who followed a corporate ingness and unquestioning collusion of by alarmist global warming supporters, line while jettisoning scientific process the activist media and the Green fun- it is important to note that such claims and honesty. At the same time, she un- damentalists, who believe profoundly of scientific consensus are, in fact, ut- critically reported the views of people that it is the decent and moral thing terly false. whose livelihoods are dependent upon to be concerned about environmen- It is true that the majority of cli- the Kyoto agreement and on the dra- tal threats, irrespective of the facts or matologists and other experts on cli- matic action needed to ‘prevent’ the of judgements about the likelihood of mate change believe that change is be- impending climate change. particular threats eventuating. ing partly driven by human-produced Underlying this approach was the The second reason is money. There greenhouse gases. But there is simply headline in The Age—ALL YOU NEED is a New Yorker cartoon that depicts no consensus. For example, in a recent TO KNOW—with the word ‘need’ in an elderly gentleman walking article in Der Spiegel, Hans von Storch, red. Even for those who would take The through a park with his grand-

R E V I E W 10 MARCH 2005 ENVIRONMENT son. ‘It’s good to know about trees,’ he in catastrophic climate change and the a conflict of interest and much to gain. says, ‘Just remember, nobody ever made subsidies that come from it. These in- Contrast this with the shrill and re- big money knowing about trees’. But in clude firms such as Global Renewables, peated criticisms regarding alleged ‘fos- this era, there is big money to be made which focuses on capturing greenhouse sil fuel company’ funding for climate for talking about trees. Richard Lindzen, emissions from landfill and the subsi- change skeptics. Indeed, in some cases, Sloan Professor of Meteorology, De- dies for doing so; Pacific Hydro which active climate scientists have seen their partment of Earth, Atmospheric and specializes in developing heavily subsi- funding shrink (and even disappear) Planetary Sciences, MIT, argues that a dized renewable energy; and CO2 Aus- because of their taking a neutral or crit- strong bond has developed between the tralia which specializes in tree planting ical public position on human-caused media, politicians and scientists. In a re- subsidies. The Age also reports that the climate change. cent paper ‘On the Anatomy of Alarm- Australasian Emissions Trading Forum, ism’, he outlines the concept of an ‘Iron representing these and other climate CONCLUSION Triangle’ (of alarmism) linked with the change-dependent businesses, has cal- The cycle that we have described ‘Iron Rice Bowl’ (of Science). Scientists culated that its members have lost up is hard to break. The scientist makes a make meaningless or ambiguous state- to $1.5 billion in business opportuni- vague, speculative statement; activists ments that are then picked up by ad- ties due to Australia’s failure to sign the and their friends in the media pick it up vocates and the media and translated Kyoto Protocol. Again the big money and present it as ALL YOU NEED TO into alarmist declarations. This in turn is with climate change. The Age quotes KNOW. Media attention puts pressure pressures the politicians, who respond on politicians to act, and those politi- to the alarm by feeding scientists more cians respond with yet more funding money for their research. Of course, in There is a worldwide, to the scientists who made the original turn, this motivates scientists to find systematic, institutional, ambiguous statement. more reasons for encouraging funding The Australian public should be of research through selectively report- money-driven able to rely upon publicly-funded ing more alarming science. The sums of misinformation campaign scientists to provide them with clear money divvied up by governments for analyses of climate change science, and greenhouse science confirm Lindzen’s about climate change. critiques of obviously fallacious argu- analysis, with US$3–4 billion annually ments. Furthermore, and particularly being allocated to climate change re- in view of the economic and public im- search in the United States alone. A Na- the Climate Group, a London-based portance of the issue, scientists should tional Climate Change Adaptation Pro- international body set up last year by restrain themselves from making broad, gramme, announced by the Australian Tony Blair to break a perceived climate ambiguous speculations regarding cli- federal government in May last year, is change deadlock, as saying ‘Kyoto may mate change. being granted $14.2 million over a four- be flawed, but it is a start’. Yet The Age There is a worldwide, systematic, year period to ‘prepare governments, gave no consideration to the fact that institutional, money-driven misinfor- vulnerable industries, communities and this body had a commercial and con- mation campaign about climate change. ecosystems to manage the unavoidable stitutional imperative to hold just this Climate change is indeed a serious issue consequences of climate change’. And view. which requires public concern and dis- during 2003–04, the Australian Green- Similarly, when Melissa Fyfe quotes cussion. This requires rigorous science, house Office received $107 million for Justin Porteli of the Carbon Manage- long-term planning and careful analysis. tasks which are grouped under such ment Group, as claiming that the cli- Government-driven gravy trains must categories as ‘leading the agenda’, ‘pro- mate change skeptics ‘have no credibil- be cut, and lucid, disinterested analysis moting sustainable energy’ and ‘taking ity whatsoever’, she fails to explore Mr restored for this important policy issue. early action’. Yes indeed, there is money Porteli’s own commercial conflict—his in climate change. business is based on the trading of car- Chris Berg is Director of Communi- A third reason, somewhat de- bon credits that have themselves been cations at the IPA. pendent on the second, is the money created by the Kyoto Agreement. For Andrew McIntyre is an assistant edi- handed out by government to NGOs him, no Kyoto Agreement means no tor of, and a regular contributor to, the and businesses. Legislation has already business. IPA Review. been introduced which allows for the Instead of even briefly examining capture of niche markets that have not the vested interests of the new climate existed previously. The Age lists some change industries, much of The Age’s I P A so-called ‘clean’ businesses—all of coverage of climate change uncritically which have clear commercial interests quotes activists and other persons with

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 11 ENVIRONMENT Waterkeepers’ Claims Sunk by Facts

Alan Moran & Mike Nahan

n late 2004, Melbourne’s The Age result of extensive efforts government, newspaper gave considerable pub- In the case of E. coli business and the community. licity to the supposed ‘Parlous In the case of E. coli levels in the Istate of the Yarra River’. Articles headed levels in the Yarra, on Yarra, on average, last year, these were ‘Our sick river’ and ‘It’s time to put the average, last year, these one-eighth of their levels of 1974 and needs of the Yarra first’ bled ink into less than half the levels of the early the majestic waterway’s swirling eddies. were one-eighth of their 1990s. The campaign was joined by breathless The chart below illustrates the Age reporters and ‘authorities’ as diverse levels of 1974 and less trends. as politicians on both sides of the State Melbourne Water itself, in spite of Parliament. One major player was ‘the than half the levels of its highly conservative stance and its re- President of the Yarra Riverkeepers’. the early 1990s. luctance to comment on the health and Oddly enough, there has been little safety of the river, was moved to say on data accompanying these claims. No- its website: body making them wanted to spoil a various places along the river. good story about Man’s unfettered abil- It will come as no great surprise to Over the past 20 years, however, ity to destroy things of grace and beauty those who have taken a serious interest there has been a general improve- or to pass up an opportunity to bash the in the river’s health that it is extensively ment in the river’s water qual- State’s activist environment minister for monitored and has shown substantial ity resulting from the increased not being ‘green’ enough. improvement over decades. Indeed the sewering of catchments and the The campaign prompted Mel- Yarra is monitored daily at 72 sites for diversion of industrial discharges bourne Water to put on their Website over 20 different pollutants. The records, into the sewerage system. the measurements they have conducted which are readily available show, im- over many years of the E. coli levels at provement for all pollutants and are the In addition to water quality

Geometric means of E. coli counts (per 100 ml) at Princes Bridge

Source: Melbourne Water, http://www.melbournewater.com.au/images/news/yarra_ecoli_2.jpg

R E V I E W 12 MARCH 2005 ENVIRONMENT

improvements in the Yarra River, can and should be improved. However a-hundred years’ flood. other significant environmental the Waterkeepers added nothing but The reality is that the Waterkeepers changes in recent times are the fear and misinformation. Indeed in the Alliance, like its US model, was estab- wider distribution of platypus pursuit of money and influence, they lished to link and unite NIMBYs and and a range of migratory native undermine the very real work under- tort lawyers against modern agriculture. fish species. Platypus, are now taken by hundreds of people, groups, The US Waterkeepers focus on suing know to occur in the Yarra River businesses and government bodies over large pork farmers. However, there are at Kew, less than 10 kilometres the years and who, in the end, will do none of these in Victoria, so it chose from the city centre. the work of protecting the river. the closest thing, a large broiler farm. This was not The Waterkeepers’ It did so by linking people who live As the data is so conclusive, it is a only campaign. They also joined in next to the proposed chicken farm, and matter of concern that a beat-up could who wish to stop the project, with the be engineered and that The Age could activist lawyers and the EDO to stop have found it attractive and credible the proposal in the Victorian planning enough to give it prominence. Apart from courts. How did this happen? Thank gul- This raises several questions. How lible philanthropists, greedy scientists, Melbourne Water, could such a body, that clearly seeks to populist politicians and journalists be- put additional barrier to the develop- ing manipulated by job-seeking Lud- no scientist ment of modern agriculture, gather the dites. funding to undertake its activities? It The sting was the work of the new publicly exposed turns out that seed funding was provid- Waterkeepers Alliance—a venture ed by apparently sensible, pro-business modelled on the US operation of the the bias. philanthropists. Have the custodians of same name (see ‘The Waterkeepers’, these foundations been asleep on their IPA Review , Vol. 56, No. 1, 2004, pag- watches? And finally, how much public es 8–9). support, financial and otherwise, has The Waterkeepers cherry-picked a campaign with the Environmental been extended to supporting this and the dataset, selecting samples that con- Defender Office (EDO) against a pro- other similar bodies? tained high E. coli counts, combined posed broiler shed in the Shire of Car- them with reports that a kayaker had dinia. Why this chicken farm? Their fallen sick, found sympathetic arms of claim is that the shed will be built in an Alan Moran is Director, Deregulation the media to run the story that the river area subject to inundation. However, Unit, at the Institute of Public Affairs. was being ‘rooned’, that there was a Melbourne Water—which assessed the Mike Nahan is Executive Director of conspiracy of silence by the regulators proposal, suggested improvements and the Institute of Public Affairs. and that they the Waterkeepers—were approved the proposal after its recom- here to save it. mendations were accepted by the pro- Apart from Melbourne Water, no ponents—stated that the site is outside I P A scientist publicly exposed the bias. Poli- the flood plain and safe from a one-in- ticians made public laments about the demise of this iconic river and promised to do more. No mentioned was made Strange Times of the significant improvements to en- vironmental quality in recent years, the Better than Haggis $22.5 million investment over the last three years to reduce the big problem The deep-fried Mars bar, a nutritionist’s nightmare that surfaced in of storm water contamination, the de- Scotland about a decade ago, is now an established part of the Scottish culinary tailed monitoring of the river, the ready scene, according to a letter published in The Lancet. The average sale is 23 bars and full availability of the data on river per fish and chip shop per week, but some shops say they sell up to 200 a week, quality (see www.vicwaterdat.net); the it records. Scotland is already ranked as the country with the highest rate of extensive community involvement in chronic heart disease in Western Europe, a position that owes itself to cigarettes the monitoring and management of the and alcohol as well as a poor diet and a love of sugary foods. Critics should take river (see www.vic.waterwatch.org.au heart, though. The Mediterranean diet is penetrating into Scotland … albeit in and www.clearwater.asn.au). the form of deep-fried pizza. There is no question that the river

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 13 ENVIRONMENT The Lost Battle of Queensland Farming

clearing and consequently enjoy greater case there were major scientific flaws Michael Thomson influence with government? with the arguments. In my view, the answer lies in the In the case of salinity, environmen- he Eureka Stockade is such a failure by rural, agricultural, business talists used images of massive salinity fascinating event in Australian and political groups to coordinate an damage in Victoria and Western Aus- history that it has since been integrated campaign to change public tralia to generate fear and to create the Treinterpreted by countless groups to perceptions. Even at the ugly height perception that the same devastating suit their various political arguments. of last year’s land-clearing debate in outcome would befall Queensland if Among the many reinterpretations Queensland, there was no grand pub- land clearing continued. But Austral- of the story, one could make an argu- lic stand by these groups, there was no ian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures ment that the Eureka Stockade was all Eureka moment to change the broader revealed that just 0.07 per cent of about government controls over natu- community’s perceptions and to shift Queensland was affected by salinity, ral resources and property rights. In the political paradigm. only three per cent of farms were af- the miners’ case, it was the cost of li- Tactically, groups such as AgForce fected, and more than 20 per cent of cences to mine gold. In the recent case farmers had changed their practices to of Queensland farmers, it was the irra- prevent its spread. Only 0.01 per cent tional limitation being placed on land The State Labor and of the State’s agricultural land had been clearing by their State Government. Federal Coalition rendered useless by salinity. Unfortunately, the outcomes of the two This left those people aware of such debates were completely different. Governments together gave facts wondering why so little land had From a public relations’ perspec- three core reasons for the thus far been affected in Queensland, tive, the original Eureka was an amazing usually in small, isolated expressions, success given that the group of violent ban—salinity, biodiversity compared with the massive saltpans rebels aimed their guns at the establish- and greenhouse—and in in WA. One group of scientists believe ment. Yet they have been hailed as he- each case there were major that it is due to Queensland’s summer roes and remembered fondly by history. rainfall pattern as opposed to southern Public opinion was divided about their scientific flaws with the Australia’s predominantly winter rain- tactic of armed protest, but it took the arguments. fall. This means that when the rain does strong gesture of that uprising to shift fall, it is during plants’ peak growing the paradigm of the debate over mining period, thus absorbing all the moisture licences. It quickly changed things for and preventing the water table from ris- the better. and the Queensland Nationals fought ing. The Green movement also argued Just as public opinion was initially the battle on the back foot, using back- that the clearing rate was out of control. split over the miners’ revolt, research room lobbying to rebut a campaign Here again, the ABS figures painted a by the nation’s leading pollster, Cros- being driven and fought by the Green different picture. The actual number by Textor, last year found that there movement on the televisions and in of trees in Queensland was increasing, were anomalies in public support for the letterboxes of suburban South East rather than decreasing, while this ‘out- Queensland farmers. There is great Queensland. Farm groups naively be- of-control’ clearing was taking place. It sympathy for rural landholders among lieved that the truth alone—or in this reported that 26 per cent of trees cleared the broader public—city people today case, the scientific, economic and social in 2000–01 took place on land that had like country people—and they think evidence of the implications of banning no trees on it in 1991, and that more farmers are friendly and honest. So clearing—would set them free. But than 85 per cent of Queensland is still why do city people have such concerns public perceptions of the environmen- in a remnant state. about the way farmers are managing the tal impact of tree clearing were far more The same occurred in the de- environment? Why is it that the farm- powerful than the facts being used to bate about biodiversity. Environment ers and landholders are on the back counter them. Australia estimated that 16,000 spe- foot in terms of driving reforms to na- The State Labor and Federal Coali- cies could be prevented from becom- tive vegetation legislation? Is it because tion Governments together gave three ing threatened or endangered if environmental groups have better man- core reasons for the ban—salinity, bio- broad-scale clearing was banned. aged the media on issues such as land diversity and greenhouse—and in each To reach that figure, a multiplier

R E V I E W 14 MARCH 2005 ENVIRONMENT of 600 was used, making its accuracy State Government. where elections are decided, opinion dubious. But the claims concerning The third element of the environ- is formed by impressions and percep- salinity, tree cover and biodiversity all mental argument was that of green- tions and not detailed analysis of all the failed to take into account the impact house. Arguing that landholders should available facts. Political parties, like the of not clearing the country. not clear their country in order to com- Green movement, realize that changing Forever and a day before white man pensate for the massive emissions of a the opinion of the masses is not done arrived in Australia, the indigenous by detailed argument, but by simple, peoples managed the environment with Despite the fact that the recurring messages: pictures of pristine fire. When white man arrived, the early rainforests or koalas alongside violent explorers described rural Queensland policy to ban broad-scale images of dozers clearing scrub, and as an open savannah plain. But, since simple slogans of how clearing the land then, trees have exploded across the clearing has been proved was killing the environment. The Green Queensland landscape unchecked by scientifically flawed, campaigns targeted the great masses of fire and, with time, those woodlands uninformed urban voters who knew have become thicker and thicker un- the State Government least about the issue and were least af- til now it’s hard even to walk through pushed ahead with its fected by the outcomes, and yet who the scrub in some areas, let alone graze decided the recent election. it. Vegetation thickening has encour- clearing ban knowing It was in this area that rural Aus- aged the spread of some timber species, tralia failed not only itself, but also the while choking out others, including it was the path of least environment. Its handling of the issue grasses and bird species. So when the electoral damage and was reactive, defending itself from the environmental movement and the gov- accusations of the Greens, rather than ernments argued on behalf of protect- most electoral gain. conducting its own campaigns to influ- ing biodiversity, they were arguing for a ence the urban masses with its side of flawed plan of returning the country to the argument. a so-called pristine wilderness, that is, fossil-fuel driven consumer society in Until agri-political groups either one which would be unmanaged, and the cities does not seem a sensible solu- embrace the same media tactics that the actually vastly different from that which tion, as it fails to address the source of environmentalists have used to achieve the early settlers found 200 years ago. the CO2 emissions. But for the Federal their success, or devise their own strat- This phenomenon of vegetation Government to achieve its greenhouse egy that will let them dictate the terms thickening has been proved by 40 years targets ‘according to Kyoto’, it would be of engagement instead of the Greens, of research by internationally renowned cheaper and electorally safer to lock up nothing will change. Farmers have to woodlands scientist, Dr Bill Burrows. the Queensland bush than force indus- make use of the powerful facts at their Dr Burrows and a team of Primary try and the great masses of urban voters disposal as the basis for a broad, multi- Industries and Natural Resources sci- to cut back on fossil fuel consumption. layered, integrated campaign to change entists and economists were asked to Documents obtained by Rural Press re- public perceptions. They need to emo- prepare a paper for submission to the vealed that the Commonwealth delib- tionally, intellectually and financially Productivity Commission. What that erately ignored the impact of vegetation tap into the community support for team found was distinctly unpalatable thickening in its greenhouse accounting farmers that is out there. to the Queensland Government, which to ensure its emission reduction targets Farm groups need Eureka-like mo- then decided to withdraw its partici- were lower—a deception which saved ments that will shift the publicity para- pation in the PC inquiry, and took the energy sector $4 billion a year by digm in their favour. Dr Burrows’ research into Cabinet to not having to reduce their emissions by prevent its public release. Rural Press a further 20 per cent. obtained and published details of the On all three counts—salinity, bio- Michael Thomson is the Canberra report, which found that if woodland diversity and greenhouse—the argu- Bureau Chief of Rural Press Agricultural thickening were to continue unchecked ments are baseless. Publishing. due to the clearing ban, not only would Despite the fact that the policy there be severe environmental implica- to ban broad-scale clearing has been tions, but it would cost the Queensland proved scientifically flawed, the State I P A economy more than $900 million in Government pushed ahead with its lost grazing lands and the subsequent clearing ban knowing it was the path lost production. Compare this to the of least electoral damage and most $150m in compensation offered by the electoral gain. In the urban heartland

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 15 ENVIRONMENT Campaigning Against our Cultural Heritage

Jennifer Marohasy

here has been much written in ‘blood from hip to shoulder from riding in National Parks, and a cam- about how Australia’s national the spur’. Now the NSW and Victorian paign to ban line fishing in the Mur- character emerged from a bush Governments are intent on banning ray River. The timber industry has long Tethos: the idea that a specifically Aus- grazing and brumbies from the High struggled, and mostly lost, against cam- tralian outlook emerged first amongst Country on the basis that they have an paigners intent on closing down their workers in the Australian pastoral in- adverse impact on the natural heritage industry. But stopping the logging of dustry. The recent, big environmental of the Alpine region. native forests has not reduced the de- and animal liberation campaigns, how- The Victorian mountain cattlemen mand for wood products. Mahogany ever, challenge key assumptions from recently sought an emergency cultural and teak cabinets and tables from In- this history. They portray Australian and historic heritage listing with the donesia are crammed into warehouses agriculture as harmful to the environ- Federal Environment Minister to coun- across Australia. ment, and the animal liberationists ter the Victorian Government’s pro- suggest that our farmers are inhumane. posed ban on grazing. Maybe it is time to abandon the bush, No-one has a monopoly on the fu- Maybe it is time to and embrace a vegan future! ture. Is it, perhaps, time that Austral- Banjo Paterson, perhaps more than ians moved beyond ‘Waltzing Matilda’ abandon the bush, any other writer, created and defined and ‘The Man from Snowy River’? The and embrace a vegan our cultural heritage. His story about PETA Website explains that there are the shearer and his jumbuck in outback alternatives to wool, including future! Queensland remains our most popular national song. Renditions of ‘Waltzing polyester fleece, synthetic shear- Matilda’ dominate when Australians ling, and other cruelty-free fi- gather at major international sporting bres. Tencel––breathable, dura- Although the general perception is events, including the Olympic Games ble, and biodegradable––is one that forest cover in Australia is reducing, and Rugby Union matches. But People of the newest cruelty free wool the reality is quite the opposite. Since for the Ethical Treatment of Animals substitutes…. Choosing to buy 1995, the area of old-growth forests in (PETA) are, at the moment, campaign- these non-wool products not reserves has increased by 1.2 million ing against the wool industry. They are only helps the animals, but can hectares and is now 3.7 million hec- against live export and they are against also reduce or eliminate many of tares. This constitutes a tiny percentage mulesing. Mulesing involves the cut- the consumer problems and in- of the 165 million hectares (and grow- ting away of skin from the crutch area conveniences that go along with ing) of native forest in Australia. to reduce the susceptibility of individ- wearing or using wool. The poem ‘My Country’ by - Dor ual sheep to fly strike. PETA wants the othea MacKellar is also central to our practice stopped or sheep to be anaes- But what about a replacement for bush heritage and she refers to Australia thetized during the procedure. As part lamb chops? While the animal lib- as ‘A land of sweeping plains’. In 1904, of the campaign against wool products erationists and environmentalists are when the poem was penned, large ar- focused on US consumers, PETA cam- against the farming of exotic animals, eas of western New South Wales and paigners have also suggested that the they are also intent on preventing the Queensland were open, treeless plains. Australian climate is too hot for sheep. development of any industry based Over the last century, however, many ‘The Man from Snowy River’, also on the farming of Australian native of these areas have become covered in by Paterson, is about bushmen and their animals, including kangaroos. PETA is trees. Forest encroachment is a con- horses in the High Country. The man even against the drinking of milk. sequence, at least in part, of reduced from Snowy River chased the brumbies Not surprisingly, rural and regional burning-off and increased grazing pres- ‘down the mountain like a torrent down Australia feel under siege. There are sure from sheep and cattle. its bed’ through open country and many other campaigns, including ones Although Aborigines kept the land- mountain scrub before ‘turning their against the use of our native forests for scape open through the use of heads for home’ with his pony covered bee-keeping, against recreational horse fire, graziers have come to rely

R E V I E W 16 MARCH 2005 ENVIRONMENT on chain pulling (dragging a chain at- ister Senator Ian Campbell restated garoos and granivorous birds. tached to two bulldozers) to knock Australia’s commitment to meeting its Instead, our State and Federal Gov- down re-growth and keep the landscape Kyoto target and praised the ‘tremen- ernments have denied that trees regrow. productive from a grass perspective. The dous effort by governments, industry Then again, to do otherwise would bottom line is that increasing tree cover and the Australian community’ in cut- jeopardize the Government’s current reduces the productivity of the land and ting carbon emissions. He should really bizarre strategy for meeting Kyoto tar- reduces stocking rates. have thanked Queensland’s pastoral in- gets. Indeed the Federal Government In early 2003, the Wilderness So- dustry because this is where most of the has perhaps already rejected our bush ciety, supported by the World Wildlife emissions savings are coming from at a ethos heritage—a respect for the truth Fund and the Australian Conservation and a fair go. Foundation, launched a final campaign To be sure, trees don’t regrow eve- against tree clearing, warning that In 1904 … large areas of rywhere and some parts of Australia have been over-cleared, and large ar- ‘The scale of commitment to western New South Wales eas of once native grasslands have been land clearing and woodlands and Queensland were sown to exotic grass species. But there protection issues from national has been no potential for honest discus- state and local (environment) open, treeless plains. sion of these issues. Do we want more groups has now reached a high trees or more native grasses? Do we level, comparable to the native want brumbies in the High Country forest protection campaigns of cost of approximately $1 billion dollars or a landscape free of exotic (non-na- the eighties and nineties’ to the industry. tive) animals? Metropolitan Australia This has come about because the has seemed largely uninterested in these I live in the leafy Brisbane suburb ‘Australia Clause’ (Article 3.7) in the important issues, or appears to take of Chelmer and during this campaign, Kyoto Protocol allows countries for the side of the campaigners against our which coincided with the State election, which land use change and forestry cultural heritage and in apparent igno- my letterbox was continually filled with was a net source of emissions in 1990 rance of our natural heritage. information, mostly from the Wilder- to include the emissions from land use So what might a sheep-free, PETA- ness Society or the Labor Party, telling change in their 1990 baseline. The Aus- future be like? Our land of sweep- me about the need to ban broad-scale tralian Greenhouse Office consequently ing plains may become a vast expanse tree clearing. exaggerated the extent of the clearing in of thick forest. This may reduce the The campaign slogan was ‘Land 1990 to give an inflated baseline value amount of surface water running off clearing, turning Queensland into waste and at the same time did not record car- into our catchments, but we can build land’ and the TV campaign included bon sinks resulting from forest growth desalinization plants to do away with graphic advertisements showing koalas and woodland thickening. The Fed- the need for catchments altogether. in trees and trees being bulldozed. At eral Government then supported the There will be no bushmen, or brumbies the time, I sent the Courier Mail an Queensland Government’s introduc- or even trail riders in the High Coun- opinion piece explaining that graziers tion of controls on tree clearing. So now try which will also become a vaster and would not bulldoze trees with koalas in we are “on-track” to achieve the Kyoto thicker expanse of forest. There will be them and that there had actually been target for 2008–2012 and without even no logging of all this forest. We will sit a 5 million hectare increase in native having to turn off our air-conditioners. on chairs imported from Indonesia in vegetation cover in Queensland over A more sensible approach might our polyester fleece manufactured in the previous ten years, with 26 per cent have been to acknowledge that trees China. We will worship the environ- of all the clearing done in 2000–2001 regrow. Ecologist Bill Burrows, writ- ment but we will never visit wild places on land that had no trees in 1991. The ing in the international journal Global because National Parks are only for na- then Opinion Editor suggested that my Change Biology in 2002, explained that ture. We will be concerned about Kyoto piece was offensive and that the idea if we could include woodland thicken- but not understand what it means. We that there had been a net increase in ing and forest encroachment as carbon will sing ‘Waltzing Matilda’ and re- tree cover unbelievable—never mind sinks in our National Greenhouse Gas member the now extinct sheep—saved all the supporting information. Inventory, then nationally net emis- from mulesing. Soon after the election it was de- sions would be reduced by 25 per cent. creed that there would be a complete This would then create the potential for Jennifer Marohasy is Director of the ban on broad-scale tree clearing starting Australians to choose between carbon IPA’s Environment Unit. in 2006. credits for more trees or open grassland I P A Late last year, Environment Min- that supports a pastoral industry, kan-

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 17 FOREIGN POLICY Global Transaction Strategy How to win the War against the West

Thomas P.M. Barnett & Henry H. Gaffney Jr.

he Bush administration’s re- tially pitted against one another: one, support free trade both at home and sponse to the terrorist attack of countries seeking to align themselves abroad. The US security community 11 September was both swift internally to the emerging global rule worried about globalization only to the T(the global war on terrorism) and pro- set (e.g., advanced Western democra- extent that it fostered the proliferation found (the Department of Homeland cies, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Asia’s of weapons of mass destruction and the Security). With last year’s publication emerging economies); the other, coun- actions of certain nefarious transna- of the National Security Strategy, the tries that refuse such internal realign- tional actors. White House went even further and de- ment––and thus remain largely ‘dis- The perturbations of the global sys- scribed––rather boldly––a global future connected’ from globalization––due tem triggered by 11 September have worth creating. By doing so, the Bush to either political/cultural rigidity (the done much to highlight both the limits administration embraced the notion re- Middle East) or continuing abject pov- and risks of globalization, as well as the cently put forth by many experts: that United States’ current and future role as Washington now stands at an historical ‘system administrator’ to this historical ‘creation point’ much like the immedi- … the Bush process. For example, the vast major- ate post-World War II years. administration’s first ity (almost 95 per cent) of US military When the United States finally application of its interventions over the past two decades went to war again in the Persian Gulf, have occurred within the Non-Integrat- it was not about settling old scores or controversial preemption ing Gap. That is, we tend to ‘export’ simply enforcing UN-mandated disar- strategy marked an security to precisely those parts of the mament of illegal weapons, nor was it a world that have a hard time coping distraction in the war on terror. Instead, historical tipping point– with globalization or are otherwise not the Bush administration’s first applica- the moment when benefiting from it. tion of its controversial preemption Washington took real Fulfilling this kind of leadership strategy marked an historical tipping role will require a new understanding point––the moment when Washington ownership of strategic as to the Functioning Core’s essential took real ownership of strategic security security in the age of transactions with the Gap, which is–– in the age of globalization. globalization. unsurprisingly––the source of virtually This is why the public debate about all the global terrorism we seek to eradi- the war has been so important: it has cate. forced Americans to come to terms with what we believe is the new secu- erty (most of Central Asia, Africa, and LIVING LARGE rity paradigm that shapes this age: dis- Central America). We shall dub the Although the United States repre- connectedness defines danger. former the ‘Functioning Core’ of glo- sents only one-twentieth of the global Saddam Hussein’s outlaw regime balization and the latter countries the population, its environmental foot- was dangerously disconnected from the ‘Non-Integrating Gap’. print is dramatically larger. It consumes globalizing world, from its rule sets, its Although the United States is rec- roughly a quarter of the world’s energy norms, and all the ties that bind coun- ognized as both economic and political- while it produces approximately a quar- tries together in mutually assured de- military leader of the Core, US foreign ter of the pollution and garbage. Econ- pendence. Understanding this distinc- policy did not reflect much unity of vi- omists will point out that the United tion is crucial for our understanding of sion regarding globalization until the 11 States also produces roughly a quarter the tasks that lie ahead as the United September attack triggered the ongoing of the world’s wealth, but frankly, a lot States not only wages war against global war on terrorism. Rather, globalization of that stays home, while it tends to terrorism but also seeks to make glo- was treated as a largely economic affair import its energy and ‘export’ its pol- balization truly global. that the US government left to private lution. As globalization deepens and business, with the government promot- The US economic footprint spreads, two groups of states are essen- ing the tariff cuts and regulations that is equally skewed. As its consist-

R E V I E W 18 MARCH 2005 FOREIGN POLICY ently huge trade deficit indicates, it also bal economy: it imports consumption and other violent disruptions. tends to live well beyond its economic and exports security. The good news is that the United means. Basically, the United States Sharing its surplus of security with States already has plenty of experience counts on the rest of the world to fi- the world is what makes the US unique. working the Gap––in fact, it has been nance its sovereign debt, which most Any advanced industrial state can sell the major focus of US military crisis re- countries––like Japan––are willing to arms, but only the United States can sponse for the past generation. Four key do because the US government is such export stability. Yes, it does engender events in the 1970s marked the funda- a good credit risk, and the dollar is the plenty of anger from some quarters, but mental shift from Cold War contain- closest thing there is to a global reserve from far more it elicits real gratitude–– ment to Gap firewall management: currency. There is not a whole lot to and an allowance for ‘living large.’ complain about in this deal––basically • détente in Europe; trading pieces of paper for actual goods. BEYOND CONTAINMENT • OPEC (Organization of Petro- Put these two transactions together and During the Cold War, Western leum Exporting Countries) oil shocks it is easy to see why the United States policy vis-à-vis the Soviet Bloc was one of the early 1970s; has benefited from the rise of a global of containment. The Globalization Era • the end of the Vietnam War; economy. presents a different challenge: the Non- and So what has the United States pro- Integrating Gap does not just need to be • the fall of the Shah of Iran in vided the world in return? Clearly it contained, it needs to be shrunk. Doing 1979. is a leader in technology and cultural so will take decades, however, and in exports, but these are fundamentally the meantime we need to ‘firewall’ off Prior to this quartet of events, the private-sector transactions that any ad- the Core from the Gap’s worst exports: patterns of the US military’s permanent vanced economy can provide. terrorism, narcotics, disease, genocide, forward deployments and crisis respons- The one US public-sector export es were largely in sync––clustered in the that has only increased its global market Cold War foci of Europe and Northeast share with time is security. It accounts ...that is the United States’ Asia. But by the early 1980s, this strat- for nearly half the global public spend- fundamental transaction egy was clearly out of balance. Most of ing on security, and unlike any other European Command’s response activity state, it can actually be exported to oth- with the global economy: it had shifted to the Eastern Mediterra- er regions on a substantial and continu- imports consumption and nean, while most of Pacific Command’s ous basis. And that is the United States’ exports security. responses had slid toward the fundamental transaction with the glo- Persian Gulf.

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 19 FOREIGN POLICY

Logically, the United States created the Central Command at that point, signaling the effective shift of focus from Cold War containment to Gap firewalling. According to the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS), in the 1980s the Middle East already accounted for just over half of the four services’ com- bined situation response days (9,288 of 16,795, or 55 percent). Turning to the CSS’ response data since 1990 gives us an even clearer out- line of the Non-Integrating Gap. When a line is drawn around roughly 95 per- cent of the US military responses in the As globalization deepens and spreads, two groups post-Cold War era (1990-2002)––iso- lating responses involving Taiwan and of states are essentially pitted against one another: North Korea in an otherwise stable countries seeking to align themselves internally to northeast Asia––it captures those por- tions of the world that are either losing the emerging global rule set … [and] countries that out to globalization or rejecting much refuse such internal realignment––and thus remain of the content flows connected with its advance. (See diagram) largely ‘disconnected’ from globalization Looking at this experience, a sim- ple logic emerges: if a country is either losing out to globalization or rejecting more ways than one. Take graying: by means that worker-to-retiree ratios in much of the content flows associated 2050, the global 60-and-over cohort the Core will plummet just as the re- with its advance, there is a far greater will match the 15-and-under group at tirement burden there skyrockets––un- chance that the United States will end roughly 2 billion each. From that point less the Gap’s ‘youth bulges’ flow toward up sending forces at some point. Con- on, the old will progressively outnum- the older Core states. Japan will require versely, if a country is largely function- ber the young on this planet. more than half a million immigrants ing within globalization, that country In theory, the aging of the global per year to maintain its current work- tends not require forces sent there to population spells good news regard- force size, while the European Union restore order or eradicate threats. ing humanity’s tendency to wage war, will need to increase its current immi- either on a local level or state-on-state. grant flow roughly fivefold––but both FLOWING GLOBALIZATION Today, the vast bulk of violence lies have great difficulty acceding to that Four major flows must proceed over within the Gap, where, on average, less need. the next several decades if globalization than 10 percent of the population is In effect, emigration from the is to continue its advance and the Gap over 60 years of age. In contrast, Core Gap to the Core is globalization’s re- is to be shrunk. The US government states average 10 percent to 25 percent lease valve. With it, the prosperity of and its allies in the Core must enable of their population over age 60. Simply the Core can be maintained and more and balance all four of these flows, for put, older societies are associated with of the world’s people can participate. the disruption of one will damage the lower levels of conflict because these Without it, overpopulation and under- others, leaving the global economy and older societies are emerging out of the performing economies in the Gap can security environment vulnerable to the success of globalization, with prosperity lead to explosive situations that spill sort of system perturbations witnessed and fewer children per family. over to the Core. One hopeful sign of in connection with 11 September. The big hitch is this: current UN the future: the Philippines has demon- projections say that by 2050, the poten- strated that such flows can be achieved Flow of people from Gap to Core. tial support ratio (PSR, or people aged on a temporary deployment or ‘global According to the United Nations, 15-to-64 per one person 65-and-older) commuting’ basis without resorting to by 2050 the global population should in the advanced economies will have permanent emigration or generating peak somewhere around 9 billion peo- dropped from 5-to-1 to 2-to-1, while increased xenophobia in host na- ple and decline thereafter. This will be in the least developed regions the PSR tions. a huge turning point for humanity in still will stand at roughly 10-to-1. That

R E V I E W 20 MARCH 2005 FOREIGN POLICY

Flow of security from Core to Gap. ing moved them from Saudi Arabia. Russia have joined in a common ef- For now, the war on terrorism and The Israeli-Palestinian issue is head- fort), or for that matter anywhere on the long-term commitment to rehabili- ing toward a Berlin Wall-like separa- the high seas. We hope that in a couple tate Iraq have superseded previous Bush tion. It may eventually involve a United of decades, the same combination of ef- administration talk about an East Asian States-led demilitarized zone occupa- forts––a mix of economic and security security strategy. These continuing in- tion force. Then we simply would have cooperation––makes war unthinkable terventions underline the reality that to wait out a couple of generations of throughout developing Asia. But for the US military remains in the business Palestinian anger as that society ulti- the foreseeable future, it is the export of working the bloody seam between mately is bought off through substantial of US security into the Islamic regions the Gap and the Core. In the 1990s, Core economic aid and the Palestinians of Southwest and Central Asia that re- that seam ran from the Balkans to the reduce their family size as they achieve mains our most serious international Persian Gulf, but today it also extends some economic viability. security task. We are witnessing the into Central Asia, where we have built a Saudi Arabia’s dramatic slide in per beginning of a long-term integration number of ‘temporary’ military bases in capita income during the past 20 years effort there, one that will ultimately ri- former Soviet states to support our op- signals a downward spiral that will trig- val our Cold War effort in Europe in its erations in Afghanistan––with Russian ger radical political reform and/or sub- strategic centrality. acquiescence––in a remarkable turn of stantial internal strife. Forestalling this history. may require a lot more prodding by the Flow of energy from Gap to Core. The reality is that the United States United States if institutional reforms Sometime in the next 20 years, will end up exporting security (e.g., bas- are to occur and the Core is to avoid Asia will replace North America as the es, naval presence, crisis response activ- organizing yet another peacekeeping global energy market’s demand center. ity, military training) into Central and force. The course of events in Iraq will That is because US energy demand will Southwest Asia for some time to come. bear strongly on this evolution. increase rather slowly in the coming For the first half of the 21st century, the Assuming the United States remains decades while Asia’s will double. Asia primary cluster of security threats will deeply involved in the West Bank, Saudi has sufficient coal but will import the lie in these areas––which also happen to Arabia, and Iraq, Iran’s mullahs will fear vast majority of both natural gas and oil be the supply center of the global en- Tehran is next and likely step up their as demand skyrockets. ergy market (we identify them as a clus- anti-Americanism––if that is possible. The great source for all that Asian ter because the ultimate resolutions of The United States therefore will contin- demand will be Central and South- individual conflict situations there are ue its long-term containment strategy west Asia plus Russia. A codependent highly interrelated). until the restive Iranian public prevails relationship is already in the making: While the United States is already in its desire to join globalization. energy-strapped Asia increasingly de- pursuing an ambitious plan to rebuild The combination of prosperity pends on political-military stability in much of post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, stemming from globalization and the the Middle East, while the no-longer there is little doubt among regional ex- export of US surplus military power has cash-rich Middle East increasingly de- perts that the world is really looking at a taken ‘great power war’ off the table in pends on economic growth in Asia. Ac- lengthy rehabilitation period similar to region after region. As the 21st century cording to US Department of Energy post-World War II Germany or Japan. begins, such warfare is essentially un- projections, by 2020 Asia will buy just The United States might well establish thinkable in the Western Hemisphere, under two-thirds of all the oil permanent military bases in Iraq, hav- in Europe (where NATO members and shipped out of the Persian Gulf,

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 21 FOREIGN POLICY and the Gulf will account for roughly are threefold: Asian governments, espe- of the Transaction Strategy, then its four-fifths of Asia’s oil imports. cially China’s, still play far too large a macro rule set on security can be sum- Disrupt the flow of Middle East oil, decision-making role, delaying the rise marized as follows: and Asia’s full integration into the Core of private-sector markets; national legal is put at risk as its economies falter. In- systems are still too arbitrary, meaning • Do everything feasible to nur- dia or China could feel the need to play the rules are not applied equally to all ture security relations across the Func- ‘great power’ in the Gulf if the United players; and there are still too many tioning Core by maintaining and ex- States drops that ball. That could cre- chronic security flash points. panding our historical alliances. ate an awkward competition among Continuing US military presence in • Discretely firewall off the Core the Core countries, putting us all at the Asia helps deter the ‘vertical scenarios’ from the Gap’s most destabilizing ex- mercy of the Gap’s chronic conflicts. of war (e.g., China-Taiwan, India-Paki- ports––namely, terrorism, drugs, and The United States must enable the stan, the Koreas), while enabling mar- pandemic diseases––while working the smooth flow of energy from the Middle kets to emerge and tackle the harder, immigration rule set to provide oppor- East to Asia because the latter is such long-term ‘horizontal scenarios,’ such as tunities to those who can contribute. an important partner in its global trans- meeting the region’s ballooning energy • Progressively shrink the Gap actions. China and Japan are the two demands while mitigating the already by continuing to export security to its greatest sources of the American trade profound environmental costs. So long greatest trouble spots while integrating deficit, and Japan has long been a lead- as markets can deflate buildup of pres- any countries that are economic success ing buyer of US sovereign debt. China’s sure associated with all this develop- stories as quickly as possible. domestic market may become the great- ment, none of these horizontal scenarios est export opportunity as it opens up should segue into vertical shocks, i.e., Is this a strategy for a Second Amer- under the World Trade Organization’s conflicts. In effect, our military forces ican Century? Yes and no. Yes, because guidelines. India, meanwhile, supplies occupy both a physical and fiscal space it acknowledges that the United States half the world’s software. In the end, it in the region, encouraging Asian states is the de facto model for globaliza- may not be an American oil supply but to spend less on defense and more on tion––the first multinational state and it most certainly will be its prosperity development––the ultimate security. economic union. And yes, because it that is protected when the United States asserts that US leadership is crucial to exports security to the Middle East. TRANSACTION STRATEGY globalization’s advance. But no, in that The ‘Transaction Strategy’ is noth- it reflects the basic principles of ‘collec- Flow of investments from Old Core ing more than a US national security tive goods’ theory, meaning the United to New Core. vision that recognizes the primacy of States should expect to put in the lion’s Unprecedented flows of foreign di- these four global flows. That means the share of the security effort to support rect investment are required for Asia’s US government cannot pursue any na- globalization’s advance because we en- energy and other infrastructure re- tional policy––such as the war on ter- joy its benefits disproportionately–– quirements, approaching $2 trillion by rorism, the preemption strategy, mis- hence this is a practical transaction in 2020. Asians themselves will shoulder sile defense, or exemptions from the its own right. much of the burden, but plenty more International Criminal Court––in such long-term money will have to come a way as to weaken this fragile, interde- from private investors in the United pendent balancing act across the globe States and Europe, which in combina- as a whole. Instead, all security initia- tion control roughly two-thirds of the tives must be framed in such a way as Thomas P.M. Barnett is a strategic annual global flow of approximately $1 to encourage and strengthen these sys- planner who has worked in US national trillion. So not only is Asia (the ‘New tem-level bonds. This will be best ac- security affairs since the end of the Cold Core’) dependent on the Gap for ener- complished by being explicit with both War. gy, but it is also dependent on the ‘Old friends and foes alike that US national Core’ countries (the United States, Eu- security policy will necessarily differen- Henry H. Gaffney Jr. is a team leader ropean Union) for the financing. Put tiate between the role we need to play with the Center for Strategic Studies, The these two realities together, and you be- within the Core’s ever-strengthening CNA Corp., Alexandria, Va. gin to understand that China’s ‘rising’ security community (i.e., more assur- is far more about integration with the ance/deterrence-oriented) and the one I P A global economy than Beijing seeking we must assume whenever we enter the some illusory power or hegemony. Gap (more dissuasion/preemption-ori- The major problems with Asia’s en- ented). ergy demands and investment climate If that is the overarching principle

R E V I E W 22 MARCH 2005 POLITICS What is Labor Thinking?

Gary Johns

he dismal result for Labor at wrong, but they have acquired a professional development for teachers’. the 2004 election was easy to prominence that is now a barrier IPA colleague Kevin Donnelly is well predict. The electorate was not to Labor reconnecting with both placed to answer these questions, and Tabout to swap the steady hand of an ex- its blue-collar base and middle his recent outing of the NSW English perienced leader for the volatile fist of a Australia. curriculum writer-as-left-politician (see recent arrival. They did not even have Education Agenda in this issue) sug- to engage the issues, but if they had, Although I cannot agree that the gests that curriculum reform and in- they may have preferred the underlying Left’s priorities are correct, Shorten is equality should never be mentioned in theme of the Coalition––allowing peo- certainly on the ball when it comes to the one sentence. The distinct impres- ple to find their own way, with back- the ‘intelligentsia’s’ preoccupations. It sion is that if only the educationally up from government––to Labor’s Big disadvantaged were taught more about Brother approach. ‘power relations’, they too could spend Now that the dust has settled, and ‘Australia is the worst a life of bitterness as a teachers’ union Mark Latham has walked, what is Labor official. thinking? Judging from the Left’s think- country in the world in In a similar vein, Dr Kay Price, tanks—The Evatt Foundation, The which to be poor’ … There Senior Lecturer in the School of Nurs- Whitlam Institute, The Chifley Centre, are two groups that would ing and Midwifery, was surprised about The Hawke Centre (incorporating The the silence in the election campaign on Hawke Research Institute for Sustain- know the falsity of that how to meet ‘the diverse and changing able Societies), and The Australia Insti- proposition: the Australian health care needs of our population’. tute—one is tempted to conclude, ‘not poor and anyone other than Dr Price pointed out that ‘social and a lot’. The ACTU has its hands full with health-related care for older people faces the impending wave of IR legislation, the Left. increasing problems due to the greater so there is no need at present to read its demands of an ageing population, nurs- tea leaves. ing shortages and decreasing resources. There is, fortunately, some uncom- was a view shared by Mark Latham be- How much [can] government fund, to mon common sense coming out of The fore he became leader. meet the needs of all people?’ Of need, Fabian Society. For example, Bill Short- there is no shortage! The Left really are en, AWU national secretary, made the LEFT THINK TANKS ‘glass half-empty people’. If there is a telling point at the post-election Fabian difference among Australians in stand- conference: The Hawke Centre (or Institute––it ard of living, the Left will ‘problema- is difficult to distinguish) is a place for tize’ it, then blame the rich. At no point economic credibility is a gate- a traditional whinge from public sec- can the individual be given the dignity way through which Labor must tor employees. Dr Rob Hattam from of making provision for himself or her- pass before it can bring its policy the School of Education, University self. strengths in health and educa- of South Australia, for example, argues The Hawke Research Institute for tion to bear. that ‘the present schools policy focuses Sustainable Societies (as if anyone would on parental choice … not on how to en- run one for an unsustainable society) is Further, sure that schools work for all children’. at the remote end of the spectrum. It He immediately contradicts this state- specializes in Peace and conflict man- Labor’s support has been increas- ment with a question, ‘Why can’t we agement studies, Social justice studies, ingly confined to the Left intel- have a policy that aims to make schools Gender studies, and Reconciliation ligentsia with its post-Whitlam work for the least advantaged families?’ studies. These studies in how-to-be-re- emphasis on progressive policies The policy debate apparently ignores sentful are a regular at the non-sand- on the environment, refugees ‘the urgent problems of youth aliena- stone universities, mostly former teach- and multiculturalism. The poli- tion, teachers’ heavy workload, and the ers’ colleges. They are the best cy priorities of the Left are not need for curriculum reform and quality argument for placing a far greater

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 23 POLITICS emphasis on TAFE, a much larger con- and its misrepresentation of economic Party is not quite sure.’ stituency for Labor, but one that Labor history’. I trust the shadow Treasurer is Evan Thornley, proprietor of Pluto has not spoken to, or of, since Whitlam listening! Press and research director for the Fa- became PM. If John Howard’s entry There is, by the way, a revolt by bian Society was similarly inclined. ‘Be- into direct Commonwealth funding for French economics students against fore we start worrying about whether new TAFE colleges takes off, it will just their economics teachers for teaching our Intelligentsia is frightening the about seal Labor’s fate as a mainstream what they regard as ‘autistic’ econom- punters away with constant rattles political party. ics! They are attacking economists who about Iraq, asylum seekers, gay rights Keep the post-material studies ‘misunderstand’ the real world. This or forests, can we please make sure we mentioned above for the mature-age from the people who gave us Michel can win the economic debate?’ students whose interests are not relat- Foucault’s post-modern madness! As Guy Rundle, co-editor of Arena, ed to employment. The nonsense they William Coleman (of Exasperating argued that learn should be confined to the dining Calculators fame) described it, the at- table, not the workforce. They gener- tack on economics is so much ‘ideology the defeat(s) mark(s) a final rejec- ally produce the sort of things recently chasing’. tion of the ‘suburban’–left coali- overheard in a conversation between There is also Peace and Conflict tion that has animated progres- two ‘well’-educated, well-off, Australian Studies and Peace in West Papua, in sive politics for four decades ... women. The teacher remarks to the psy- other words, support for separatists us- When figures such as Whitlam chiatrist, ‘Australia is the worst country ing the apparently benign ‘discourse’ welded these coalitions together, in the world in which to be poor’. The of peace dialogue, as if real interests they managed to convince each psychiatrist agrees wholeheartedly! and control over resources do not mat- side that their cultural differences There are two groups that would know ter! Oxfam’s view that poverty is more could be subordinated to a com- the falsity of that proposition: the Aus- important than security is lauded, as is mon social–economic project. tralian poor and anyone other than the its solution: more aid and ‘sustainable These … differences are now felt Left. rural development’––that is, anti-devel- sufficiently deeply by each group The Evatt Foundation is mainly opment! Old colleague John Langmore, to make their dissolution diffi- controlled by the old Left in NSW former MHR and now ILO liaison in cult. Part of the reason for this is (former Senator Bruce Childs and New York, wades in with, ‘poverty is a that both progressive parties have Hawke government minister Jeanette greater threat than terrorism’. abandoned the sort of large-scale McHugh are still active). Among the The Chifley Research Centre, visionary project into which dif- output is the mandatory nod at the chaired by Jenny Macklin MHR (the ferences could be sunk. Kyoto Protocol, and joint projects with Deputy leader of the Labor Party), like the Human Rights Council of Austral- the Whitlam Institute is, with great Unfortunately Guy, the large-scale ia. These can be forgiven as a frolic, but respect and judging from the output, visionary projects are all on the other the real worry is the lauding of a book pretty well defunct. side! by Edward Fullbrook, A Guide to What’s Guy does understand, however, Wrong with Economics. Featured on the COMMON SENSE FROM THE that ‘the legalisation of gay marriage Evatt Website, the book concludes, FABIANS? would displace the reproducing family ‘bad economics probably kills more as the core cultural institution’ and that people and causes more suffering than The white knight comes in the ‘the legalisation of drug injecting rooms armaments’. It is arguable that central- form of that old faithful, The Fabian does challenge the basic cultural notion ly planned economies have been bad Society. It assembled some steadier and that we should strive for continence news, but of course, Fullbrook is not more seasoned hands in a discussion and self-possession as citizens’. He un- referring to those sorts of economists. entitled ‘After the Deluge’, to advise La- derstands that these concerns are real No, he refers to ‘many worldly and logi- bor at this time of despair in the ranks. and that unless Labor leaves them alone cal gaps in neo-classical economics, and John Button asks, ‘Why the reluctance and re-enters the economic debate, it is also its hidden ideological agendas, its to have a forceful and well-articulated doomed to be in Opposition forever. disregard for the environment and in- view on the future of the economy?’ He ability to consider economic issues in argues that, ‘While nearly all the eco- an ecological context, its habitual mis- nomic commentators … and even the Gary Johns is a Senior Fellow and use of mathematics and statistics, its Government, believe the Hawke Gov- Director of the Governance Unit at the inability to address the major issues of ernment’s economic restructuring laid IPA. globalization, its ethical cynicism con- the foundations for Australia’s current I P A cerning poverty, racism and sexism, prosperity, the Parliamentary Labor

R E V I E W 24 MARCH 2005 LAW A Constitution That Deserves Better Mates

Greg Craven

f constitutions had emotions, ours forms of marvels, from wage control to erals and conservatives. could be forgiven for feeling just price-fixing. From Hughes to Whitlam, To take two of the most obvious a little frustrated. What exactly is Labor did battle with Australian con- illustrations, federalism first promotes Iit expected to do to get a decent press? stitutional federalism. Casualties were freedom by balancing the powers of Around the world, constitutions go heavy on both sides, but if Labor gave two spheres of government one against down like South American currencies, the States as good as they got, it never the other, so ensuring that in Austral- producing mayhem and revolution, yet quite managed to get the States. ia there is, by definition, no totality no-one lifts an eyebrow. The Austral- Throughout these battles—and of power. Moreover, the existence of ian Constitution produces a century making due allowance for opportunism these two spheres guarantees compet- of outstandingly stable democracy, and and Canberran hubris—the Australian ing public dialogues of power, ensuring has scarcely a friend. that few policy balls go through to the In reality, our Constitution is one keeper unremarked in Australia. of the beige wonders of the governmen- … our Constitution is Consequently, from education to tal world. In terms of outcomes, it has health, and from industrial relations to outlasted the Kaiser, the Depression, one of the beige wonders the environment, there is no sphere of the Cold War and world communism of the governmental government in Australia that is all-pow- to produce one of the oldest continu- erful, and none whose proposals cannot ous constitutional democracies in the world … it has be subjected to an organized critique world. outlasted the Kaiser, the from a fellow government. In terms of process, it is no less Depression, the Cold War Second, federalism ensures, or aims remarkable. For all its drab Victorian to ensure, that the policy issues closest draperies, the Australian Constitution and world communism to to regional communities are determined is the only true People’s constitution produce one of the oldest substantially by those communities of the Anglo-Saxon world. What other themselves, by committing those issues constitution was drafted by delegates continuous constitutional to local State governments and not the elected for the purpose, adopted by democracies in the world. remote bureaucracy of Canberra. In so popular vote, and remains amendable doing, it not only magnifies local de- only by referendum? Certainly not the mocracy, but promotes decisions prac- constitutional documents of the United tically adapted to local conditions and Kingdom, the United States, Canada, political Right stood with the Constitu- difference. South Africa or New Zealand. tion and its inherent federalism. It did Balanced power, contained govern- Yet at almost any given point in its so not only out of a desire to frustrate ment, local control of local affairs and history, the demolition of the Constitu- Labor’s agenda for social and economic respect for regional difference: there tion has been the chosen work of a ma- control, but from a deep if vague un- could hardly be a governmental creed jor portion of Australia’s political elites. derstanding of the link between ‘fed- more palatable to conservative tastes. Historically, it has been the Australian eralism’ on the one hand, and notions Yet today, all this goes to underline Left that has reviled the Constitution. like ‘liberalism’, ‘conservatism’ and even just how truly remarkable it is that the Most recently, the Left has found the ‘democracy’ on the other. Howard Government is spitting out Constitution’s dogged refusal to invest Liberals such as Sir Robert Men- Australian federalism like so much con- unelected judges with absolute power zies, harking back to the great consti- stitutional gristle. over human rights deeply trying, and it tutional founders such as Deakin and In its casual abandonment of its has hurled its anathemas accordingly. Barton, comprehended that federalism federalist conservative heritage, the ad- But long before this, Labor and was not just a regrettable historical re- ministration of John Howard now ap- its allies loathed the Constitution on ality of Australian government. Quite pears to be embarked upon the great- a quite different score. They longed to beyond that, it was an organizing prin- est centralization of power in Australia dismantle its clanking federalism, and ciple of government designed to protect since the Second World War. Then, at replace it with an efficient centraliz- just those qualities of freedom, balance, least, inroads upon Australia’s federal ing apparatus that would usher in all community and difference dear to lib- character could be justified as a response

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 25 LAW to the demands of total war. towards eventual, inevitable replace- to invest them with an innate under- Consider the fronts upon which ment by their opponents. standing of the political tradition they Howard’s troops are moving. Health Take just once example of the ut- purportedly represent that would be as Minister Tony Abbott would like to ter lack of conservative thought that has implausible as their adherence to it. It is control hospitals. Howard himself, gone into this programme of regulatory not so much that they have no commit- and Employment and Workplace Re- hubris. Almost nobody would deny that ment to the real constitutional values of lations Minister, Kevin Andrews, wish Australian universities are a vital cog in liberalism, as that they would not even to dismantle State industrial relations the criticism of governments, and play recognize a constitutional liberal if they sub-systems. Attorney-General Phillip a major part in the functioning of our met one. Ruddock seems determined to impose democracy. Presently, our universities The irony, of course, is that the uniform defamation laws. Education are regulated partly by the States, and Howard policycrats eventually will go Minister, Brendan Nelson, easily the partly by the Commonwealth, the lat- the way of their Labor forerunners. After most enthusiastic of the power accu- ter largely by financial means. their little span in power, the immense mulators, wants Commonwealth con- The outcome has its messy- mo national machines they have worked trol of universities, a national education ments, but those with genuinely con- so hard to create will fall cyclically into certificate and Commonwealth techni- servative or liberal instincts hardly the hands of their enemies, and from cal colleges. could fail to realize that the inability of industrial relations to universities, they In their unadorned determination either sphere of government to compre- will be turned against them. The Nel- to exploit power while the going and hensively control the chief repositories sons and the Howards will moan aloud, the Senate is good, many of Howard’s of our national intellectual capital is a and talk of ‘balance’ and ‘federalism’. ministers display no parallels with a profoundly healthy position, in accord- In the meantime, where is anyone Deakin or a Menzies, who reluctantly ance with all the best precepts of fed- who really does believe in such arcane understood that constitutional re- eralism. concepts to look? Apparently, not to the straints upon the untrammelled exer- As Australian universities play their sullied heirs of Deakin. Perhaps Labor cise of power are a given good, even if part in the vital intellectual debates of could take some new partners for the and—perhaps especially—when they this country over such matters as labour new millennium? most irritatingly restrain you. market reform, trade, reconciliation, Rather, they closely resemble the old ageing, constitutional change and sci- leftist social engineers they profess so to ence policy, would it really be a mat- Greg Craven is Executive Director of despise who, having briefly stormed the ter of satisfaction for us that they were, The John Curtin Institute of Public Policy citadels of power, will brook no inhibi- in terms of accreditation, regulation, and Professor of Government and Consti- tion or argument against the full imple- strategic direction and accountability, tutional Law at Curtin University mentation of their programme of the wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Com- hour. They are, in short, neither liber- monwealth Government? als nor conservatives with a respect for Yet to suggest that such thoughts I P A balance and restraint, but merely politi- might even occur to some members cians in the usual self-important hurry of the present government would be

Strange Times

Your Aid Dollars At Work Indonesia. placed on ‘the differences between While it may seem that the IPA men and women’. As Donald Rumsfeld recently is treating this important service To be fair, this is more likely said, you go to war with the army lightly, the advisor has a great deal to be of the Men are from Mars, you have. And it turns out that of work to do. As Oxfam’s Inter- Women are from Venus style than Oxfam has a gender advisor. So, national Weekly Tsunami Bulletin slides from My First Anatomy Book, rather than fritter away this vital ex- No.19 proudly states, Oxfam teams but if the service is so essential, one pertise teaching a class of cultural are being given training in the wonders what the teams were like studies majors, the gender advisor ‘meaning of gender’—a service that before the training. has been speedily airlifted into the could be readily provided by a dic- tsunami-affected Meulaboh, in tionary. A great deal of emphasis is

R E V I E W 26 MARCH 2005 WHAT’S A JOB? What’s A Job?

Ken Phillips

maker queen, Martha Stewart, has re- eral Government’s proposed laws rate Let’s jail an executive! cently done time. Australia has its own on grounds of justice? numerous examples. Importantly, the Quite recently, the cardboard box criminal law acts to protect sharehold- manufacturer Amcor discovered that Everyone seems to want to throw com- ers, consumers and other traders. several of its executives had been in- pany executives in jail these days. But in threatening executives with volved in collusive price-fixing with It started with corporate man- jail, the criminal law applies important executives from other cardboard manu- slaughter and occupational health and protections: there is a presumption of facturers. Amcor sacked the executives, safety legislation that aimed to jail ex- innocence; people are held responsible disclosed the activity and took the wrath ecutives in the event of the death of a for their own actions; individuals, not of the corporate regulator on the chin. worker. Victoria tried it in 2002, but the collective, are charged; the prosecu- Companies in this situation become withdrew. The Australian Capital Ter- tion must prove its case beyond reason- victims of the agent–principal problem. ritory government passed laws in 2003 able doubt; there is trial before jury; If executive price-fixing is undiscov- leaning in this direction. New South rights to appeal are extensive; and so ered, a company and its competitors Wales has had these laws since 2000 on. share in higher profits through higher and wants to introduce more. The foregoing is very different to prices than if they were competing in The trend continues with the Fed- civil prosecution, where lower levels of an unmanipulated market. Presumably, eral Government now announcing proof apply and trial can be before a executives benefit through enhanced laws to jail executives who collude with judge alone. Fines apply; not jail terms. careers and incomes. As the law stands, competitors to fix prices and control The company as a collective can be sued however, discovery of price manipula- markets. and will normally suffer the financial tion causes pain for corporations. They It seems that the job of a corporate penalty for the actions of its managers. are prosecuted and fined and share pric- executive has become pretty dangerous. If justice is to be served, executives, es normally drop. Executives, however, They are being targeted by powerful indeed anyone, should only face jail if lose their jobs but little else. regulators, unions, and non-govern- the principles of criminal law apply. The new federal laws will shift the ment organizations. But to understand This is where corporate manslaughter focus. Executives who contemplate the issues, it is necessary to understand and some safety laws have gone astray. price-fixing and market-manipulating the dilemma of the corporation. The now defunct corporate- man collusion must also contemplate the At their core, corporations exist slaughter attempts in Victoria sought risk of jail. Such laws may help address to make money for their shareholders. to hold the corporation as a collective the agent–principal problem. But ex- Managers run firms to make the mon- criminally liable. The process of jailing ecutives deserve justice as well. The fed- ey. Because managers don’t own the would have amounted to the discovery eral laws will only have credibility if the firms, they are protected from financial of executive ‘fall guys’. The NSW - oc full principles of criminal justice apply. liability if they go broke. But under the cupational safety laws breach the prin- Any replication of the NSW approach well-known agent–principal problem, ciples of criminal justice by presuming deserves to be rejected. managers have the opportunity to ma- guilt and applying levels of proof so nipulate operations of the firm for per- high as to make effective defence im- sonal benefit. Groups of managers can probable. Trial is in a non-criminal collude to rig the rules of the firm to court (the industrial relations court) Ken Phillips is director of the IPA’s maximize personal benefit or to engage and the law prevents full rights of ap- Work Reform Unit and a workplace re- in fraud. peal. The NSW laws are scandalous form practitioner. In cases of fraud, the criminal law and governments who support this ap- comes into play and executives can find proach clearly reject a proper notion of I P A themselves in jail. This has happened justice. with the collapses of Enron and World- Given the trend, how do the Fed- Com in the USA. Even the USA home-

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 27 POLITICS A Philosophy of Liberalism A personal reflection on a busy life and on the importance of individual responsibility

Andrew Robb AO

rom as early as I can remember, among many Aborigines, particularly On the same day, I saw the same cattle- my mother and father instilled the young. In seeking to come to grips men come across young Aboriginal men in me and my eight brothers and with indigenous issues, I spent many, seriously affected by years of alcohol Fsisters the conviction that opportunity many weeks over a period of years in and aimlessness, young men stripped of and freedom would come through edu- the Northern Territory, the Kimberley any personal dignity or self-esteem. The cation, personal responsibility and self- and North Queensland talking to cat- cattlemen’s contempt was palpable. The belief; that our destiny was largely in tlemen, to business people, to officials chilling fact is that the very fabric of a our own hands—how hard we studied and to other locals. I visited Aboriginal proud and fascinating culture, many and worked, the opportunities we took, settlements and outback towns. thousands of years in the making, has and how we dealt with people. I grew to On many occasions, I would be been brought to its knees in less than believe that I was responsible for chart- taken to a bend in a river on a cattle 30 years by well-intentioned but seri- ing my own course—that I was free to station and shown where 100, 200 or ously misguided policy. follow my dreams, make my own mis- 300 Aboriginals had lived for decades, For me, the lesson is clear. People takes, and take the consequences of my with the men employed on the stations are very, very responsive to incentives, decisions. as stockmen and drovers, the older men for good or bad. The wrong incentives, Importantly, my parents never as gardeners, and the women in the no matter how well-meaning, can de- seemed to convey any resentment or homestead. In many cases, schools were bilitate a community in no time. In jealousy that others might have more provided for the children. Aboriginal this case, unconditional handouts have than we had. There was no chip on the people were disadvantaged, but they provided the seeds of destruction in a shoulder; rather, there was a notion of had work and self-esteem, a reasonable breathtakingly short period of time. It ‘blue sky’, a sense that if we really want- quality of life, strong mentoring from is why every piece of public policy in ed what others had—whatever that their elders, schooling and strict con- this place is important. It is why every might be—then the opportunity was trols on alcohol. piece of public policy must be meas- there to achieve it. Ambition was pre- Of course, all that ceased in the ured against a set of principles. It is why sented as a good thing, something to be early 1970s following the understand- philosophy matters. nurtured and applauded, and not only able granting of equal wages in the pas- Clearly, restoring personal dignity in sport. I embraced these simple truths toral industry, along with the misplaced and self-esteem is the bedrock of any as a philosophy provision of unfettered and generous solution for our Aboriginal communi- Many other life experiences have welfare handouts. The related exodus of ties. In many places this means replac- served to further entrench, but also add these people from their ancestral lands ing the grog, the petrol and the paint to, these principles. saw them living in settlements and on with work. To this end, I commend the I have worked in the public sector, the fringes of towns. The highly -dis direction outlined by the Governor- the private sector and the very private turbing result in many Aboriginal com- General in his speech to the opening of sector—the political machine. In the munities today is that we have basically the 41st Parliament. early to mid-1980s, I was the chief exec- poisoned recent generations; poisoned During my years at the National utive of the Cattle Council of Australia their bodies with alcohol and other Farmers Federation I was involved and then the National Farmers Federa- substances and poisoned their spirit with two major industrial disputes: the tion. During those years I was involved and self-belief with handouts and wel- Mudginberri abattoir dispute and the in negotiating Federal land rights legis- fare dependency. In many places, we are wide combs dispute. These two -dis lation pertaining to the Northern Ter- seeing a total breakdown in the social putes proved that success is never easy, ritory. order. regardless of the merits of any particu- As it turned out, the land rights leg- As I was driven around vast cattle lar cause. Importantly, they also proved islation was a totally inadequate response stations, I witnessed cattlemen come the underlying strength of the em- to the real issue—namely, the collapse across an Aboriginal elder known to ployer–employee relationship in of personal dignity and self-esteem them. The mutual respect was palpable. Australia. Mudginberri sought

R E V I E W 28 MARCH 2005 POLITICS to establish a right for employer and periences have long convinced me that power, by itself, understanding and ef- employees to negotiate terms and con- the growing emphasis on trade agree- fectively meeting the needs of far-flung ditions which best met the particular ments negotiated bilaterally is not only communities and businesses. nature of that abattoir’s operation. The in Australia’s best interests, but also a While I see the Federal Govern- wide combs dispute sought to establish harbinger of real progress on trade lib- ment having a critical leadership role the right of employers and employees eralization on a global basis. to play, I agree strongly with the senti- to agree to adopt new technology—in While multi-country World Trade ment expressed by Sir Robert Menzies this case, a wider shearing comb—on a Organisation negotiations obviously in 1960 when he said: workplace-by-workplace basis. hold out the prospect of more compre- Nearly 20 years later, it is now dif- hensive liberalization, they proceed at there is a deep instinct in the ficult to conceive that these rights were a snail’s pace, if at all, whereas bilateral Australian mind for a system of in dispute. Yet Mudginberri took 27 trade agreements are delivering major Government which, by a division court cases, two years of litigation and of legislative and administrative a $10 million farmers’ fighting fund powers, limits centralisation (or to win. The wide combs dispute had The wrong incentives, ‘control from Canberra’) and to contend with bullets flying, shear- protects a measure of individual ing sheds being torched and paid thugs no matter how freedom by not giving us one intimidating communities. These two set of rules—even elected rul- disputes were only won, despite the well meaning, ers—who have absolute power. belligerent stance of the unions, be- can debilitate a In a great island continent with cause there existed—and, I believe, still widely scattered communities, exists—a fundamentally healthy and community in no this is a healthy sentiment. mature relationship between employer and employee in Australia, with a mu- time. No matter how much it might irk tual trust that the benefits of change members of parliament from time to can and will be shared. time—and, I suspect, me in the fu- The disputes also highlighted the benefits in our lifetime. The Closer Eco- ture—I believe that our great history of fact that no two workplaces among the nomic Relations agreement with New stability and resourcefulness owes much millions of workplaces in Australia are Zealand is a wonderful case in point. to the decisions about local issues being the same. The more the Liberal- Gov Successful bilateral agreements, rather taken locally. It owes much to the bal- ernment does to free up employers and than stymieing progress on multi-coun- ance between our three tiers of govern- their employees to settle on terms and try agreements, are in fact creating a ment, including the sovereignty and au- conditions which maximize the unique competitive imperative for non-partici- thority of the States and the role played opportunities in each workplace, the pating countries to be involved, leading by local government in Australia. This more jobs and the more prosperity we the way incrementally to a more com- balance has served Australia well. will see. From my experience, many prehensive removal of trade barriers. The federalist imperative was- fur employers have come to realize that, Over the last 33 years in my roles ther reflected in the intent of our found- if they give their team the right incen- as an animal health officer working in ing fathers that the Senate be a States’ tives, they can move mountains. abattoirs and saleyards and on farms; house of review, a chamber designed to I have also observed that this power as a tutor in macro-economics work- ensure that the interests of communi- of negotiating one to one has parallels ing with highly motivated, mature-age ties in each State, large and small, were in the international trade arena. My university students; as an agricultural taken into account by the government experience on the international scene economist and farm organization and of the day. In recent decades, this intent includes expanding a commercial busi- political party executive setting up and has been progressively eroded, especially ness into the New Zealand market in running an Australia-wide direct mar- with minor parties in some cases being the late 1990s; advising major New keting IT company and, in recent years, far more concerned about propagating Zealand companies on their move as an adviser on business strategy to glo- an extreme Left, international agenda into Australia; facilitating large com- bal companies and large organizations, than considering the impact of na- mercial projects in Asia, particularly I have been regularly to all corners of tional policies on local communities in in Thailand; employing trade lobbyists Australia. Working with people and their State. This is one key reason why in Washington in the 1980s and nego- communities from Albany to Cairns I favour consideration being given by tiating with the European Union, the and from Hobart to the North West a simple act of parliament to dividing United States and Japan on agricultural Shelf has left me a committed federal- each State into six regions with trade matters over a decade. These ex- ist. I have a great distrust of any central two Senators selected from each

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 29 THE EDUCATION AGENDA region—one at each election. our self-belief is being eroded. The cla- personal security. My years of political Drawing Senators from a smaller mour for endless reporting, misplaced observation have led me to understand area within a State and being account- accountability and draconian regula- very clearly that what the majority of able to that area would go some way tions are choking the boldness of busi- Australians aspire to most is a secure to restoring the original intent of the ness and need a serious rethink. In my life—put simply, food on the table, a founding fathers for a strong State view, you cannot legislate for ethical job, a manageable mortgage, a holiday, perspective to be present in the Fed- behaviour. The values of a society and a movie with the kids, an ability to ex- eral Parliament without requiring any its institutions dictate acceptable ethi- ercise some choices. To this end, main- change to our proven institutions. This cal behaviour. taining a strong economy is paramount. imperative to preserve our proven in- From the perspective of personal In particular, I would like to convey, es- stitutions underscored my support for responsibility within the national and pecially to our young people, that true an Australian head of state involving international context, I do expect that happiness and true freedom come from only minimal change to our Constitu- two types of security issues will domi- achievement—using whatever God- tion. I still see, some time in the future, nate in the years ahead. The first is our given talents we have to chart our own an Australian head of state providing a national security. The world has changed course, to take the consequences of our powerful and stabilizing symbol with- dramatically since 9/11. Terrorists have decisions, to have a go. If we do this, out detracting from our proud history declared war on us for ideological rea- success and security will follow. and the stability of our institutions. sons of their own, and there is no easy My last seven years working with way out of this conflict, which is not of the top end of town suggest to me that our making. Appeasement is not an op- Andrew Robb is the Federal Liberal our capacity for risk-taking is fading. tion. It will be a long fight, and we will member for Goldstein, Victoria. Our great entrepreneurial spirit is resid- need our traditional friends. ing in fewer and fewer people. Perhaps The second security issue is one of I P A Failing to Indoctrinate

Kevin Donnelly

s education too politically correct teaching that it is possible for a senior tion in response to Australia’s involve- and are students in danger of be- representative of the subject’s profes- ment in the war in Iraq. When the con- ing indoctrinated? Judged by the sional association, the AATE, to openly flict began, teachers were told to protest Iactions of Professor Wayne Sawyer, argue that it is the role of the English against the war and to support those President of the NSW English Teach- teacher to teach students, as future vot- students who wanted to demonstrate ers Association and editor of English in ers, the correct way to think and the publicly. Australia, the answer is ‘yes’. correct way to decide controversial po- The AEU curriculum policy also In the current issue of the jour- litical matters. argues that such is the capitalist nature nal, Sawyer bemoans the fact that ex- In Sawyer’s defence, he does make of Australian society that our commu- students voted to re-elect the Howard it clear that the editorial is only his nity is inherently inequitable and so- Government and argues that this is evi- opinion and that teachers in the class- cially unjust. As the education system dence that English teachers have failed room are balanced in their approach. reinforces this inequality, it is the role in their job. Whether teachers, as a profession, are of teachers to oppose competitive as- Sawyer states: ‘We knew the truth politically biased, is difficult to prove ei- sessment, the academic curriculum and about Iraq before the election. Did our ther way, but what is in no doubt is that a belief in meritocracy and equality of former students just not care? We knew professional associations, teacher unions opportunity. before the election that ‘children over- and curriculum guidelines consistently The English Teachers Association board’ was a crock, but, as it was yes- adopt a left-wing, New Age approach has for some years now championed terday’s news, did they not care about to education. what is termed social-critical literacy. that either? Has English failed not only One obvious example of political Based on the writings of the Brazilian to create critical generations, but also activism in the classroom is the call to Marxist, Paulo Freire, the argument is failed to create humane ones?’ arms made by the Australian Education that students must be ‘empow- Such is the current state of English Union and the NSW Teachers Federa- ered to deconstruct texts’ in terms

R E V I E W 30 MARCH 2005 THE EDUCATION AGENDA of power relationships. Or, in the words of the Tasmanian Education Depart- ment, social-critical literacy: ‘…provides us with ways of thinking that uncover social inequalities and injustices. It enables us to address disad- vantage and to become agents of social change’. If social literacy were taught in a balanced and ob- jective way, there would be no concern, but the reality is that it is used to promote a left-wing, New Age view of issues, especially those related to multiculturalism, gender, peace studies, feminism and the class war. As noted by the Monash- based teacher educator, Geor- gina Tsolidis, in her summary of teacher training during the 1980s and 1990s, the prevailing orthodoxy is es- sentially a political process where students are taught to The chilling fact is that the very fabric of a proud and fascinating be ‘socially critical’ and ‘em- culture, many thousands of years in the making, has been powered’ in order to enable them to ‘challenge the status brought to its knees in less than 30 years by well-intentioned but quo’. She argues: seriously misguided policy.

Many of us cut our teaching teeth in a climate of leased in 2000, such was the public con- groups’. Forget that Australian cham- advocacy related to student-cen- cern about the bias in the Queensland pioned such egalitarian measures as the tred pedagogy, curriculum and Study of Society and the Environment eight-hour day, the conciliation and ar- assessment. Freirian notions of (SOSE) syllabus that the government bitration system and votes for women. empowerment have been the was forced to initiate an inquiry. Thankfully, there are many teachers ‘bread and butter’ for those of Whereas education was once based who teach in a professional and balanced us concerned with teaching, par- on the assumption that there are some way. Unfortunately, their standing in ticularly teaching involving the absolutes (objectivity and the disin- the community is often undermined ‘Other’… terested pursuit of truth), in the brave by professional associations and teacher Our job was to produce young new world of the Queensland curricu- academics more attuned to the elites adults who would challenge the lum, students are told that everything than to those at the chalkface. status quo through skills of criti- is ‘tentative’ and ‘shifting’ and that cal inquiry. Within the classroom the purpose of education is to criticise of the self-styled liberatory peda- mainstream society in terms of what Dr Kevin Donnelly, Director of Edu- gogue there existed clear distinc- has become the new trinity of gender, cation Strategies and author of Why Our tions between the marginal and ethnicity and class. Schools are Failing, is a former Chief of the mainstream. Thus, students are told that they Staff to Minister Kevin Andrews. must ‘develop the ability to critically English is not the only subject area analyse social structures that unjust- targeted by the Left. When it was re- ly disadvantage some individuals or I P A

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 31 INDEPENDANT CONTRACTORS

INDEPENDANT CONTRACTORS

In this special IPA feature, we look at the long tion. They make up 28 per cent of the private- and evolving emergence, but seemingly sud- sector workforce and are most easily identified den recognition, of the entrepreneurial class in as independent contractors. Australia. They seem not to have, nor want, Who they are, where they are, what they any organized political voice, but appear to want and how they are regulated, are the issues have been a key factor in the last Federal elec- looked at in this feature.

The Workforce of the Future Bob Day

This is an edited version of the opening address given to the first Independent Contractors Of Australia National Summit in Canberra on 24th August, 2004.

t was said during the 1920s that their word and honour their undertak- stricted, where private property is inse- Prohibition was terrible - but it ings, is one of the foundations of our cure, and where economic life is cen- was better than no alcohol at all. civilisation. trally controlled, we find that the gap IThere is much we can learn from In the context of a complex legal, between rich and poor is wider than in that observation. I was once asked by economic and regulatory framework societies that have independent rule of a trade union official, ‘Do you want surrounding independent contracting, law, security of property and the sanc- a no-strike clause, or do you want no I wish to argue that workers shouldn’t tity of contract. strikes?” Again, reality trumps percep- have to jump through a myriad of Every major thinker who has writ- tion. The perception in Australia is that hoops just because they choose to work ten about the foundations of a free so- we are free. The reality, as we all know, differently from others, and that in fact ciety—amongst them, David Hume, is rather different. we would all be a whole lot better off if Adam Smith and Edmund Burke—un- In the two words independent con- we removed the regulatory framework derstood the fundamental nexus be- tractor, independent is synonymous altogether. tween the freedom of the individual, with freedom, with the capacity to An individual who is able freely to freedom of contract, and the type of choose, whether right or wrong, and enter into a relationship with another society which supports those freedoms. is indicative of the very high place the person in order to achieve an ambition So the words ‘independent con- individual has in the culture we have which neither party could achieve act- tractor’ are truly inspirational. When inherited. ing alone is a situation which we accept it is finally accepted that the individual A contractor is someone who con- as an everyday occurrence. It is an event, is capable of making a conscientious tracts. The sanctity of contract is one nonetheless, of profound moral signifi- judgement as to his or her best interests of the three pillars of our common-law cance in addition to its having highly and is capable of entering into an ex- system. The principle that people who beneficial economic consequences. change of promises with another, sign contracts are then expected to keep Where individual freedom is re- not only are the parties to the

R E V I E W 32 MARCH 2005 INDEPENDANT CONTRACTORS contract both better off, but society as a whole is enhanced. What I wish to emphasize is more than just efficiency, though its contribution to ef- ficiency and productivity is beyond dispute. My concern is about the very nature of our society. In my view, independent contractors—and I am one myself––represent the very best traditions and aspirations of our society. We are proud of who we are and what we do. But centuries of experience show that we must be vigilant in protecting those traditions. There are now more independent contractors Although there has been a reasonable degree of bipartisan than there are trade union members in the support for most of the great changes that have done much to Australian workforce. The tide is turning. We free up the Australian economy over the past two decades, our are the workforce of the future. labour market remains highly regulated and is a serious burden on our economic life. In phas- baseless, but it is endlessly repeated. regulation that condemns many young ing out protectionism, and abandoning Contractors are paid for perform- people to unemployment—particularly the White Australia Policy, we have in- ance—not for time. Arrangements like entry-level apprenticeships. We impose terred the ghost of Alfred Deakin. But these—based on personal values rather conditions on dismissal that inflict un- we have not yet interred the ghost of than the values of the collective—are a employment on the unskilled and the Henry Bournes Higgins, the father and threat to many. disabled. We shackle both employers champion of labour regulation. Writing in The Adelaide Advertiser and employees, particularly employees, Although protectionism today has at the time of the Ralph Report/Trade with regulations which impose signifi- few serious defenders and while open Contractor debate, Professor Cliff cant financial burdens on both parties. financial markets are no longer contro- Walsh, Director of the SA Centre for There is still a huge amount of re- versial, freedom of contract has been di- Economic Studies, wrote that the out- form that has to be put in place if the minished in Australia in recent decades. come of the HIA’s fight to protect the Australian labour market is to provide When Francis Fukuyama predicted that independent status of trade contractors the jobs, the opportunities and the the end of history had occurred, with a was ‘A victory for the industry … and prosperity which it could provide if we complete vindication of the liberal mar- particularly important to its customers took the word freedom seriously. ket economy over state planning, he because the subcontract system contrib- Better than anyone else, we know, underestimated the implacable resist- utes strongly to efficiency, adaptability the social, economic, and personal ben- ance of many in the West to the ideas and cost-competitiveness.’ efits of independent contracting and that had delivered that triumph. I’d like to extend that even more we need to be championing our cause Let us not kid ourselves: our stand- and argue that the outcome we saw in unceasingly. ing and status as independent contrac- that case represented a victory not just The important point I want to tors remains under threat. There are for the subbies and their customers, but make in all this is that independent people who do not like us and they will for the economy generally and, like rip- contracting does not break through the use any arguments that come to hand ples in a pond, extending out to every existing Industrial Relations system—it as ammunition against us; for example, Australian. breaks with it. It is a world of work with that we are merely engaged in an elab- After eight years of Coalition Gov- a culture based on freedom, respect orate scheme to avoid tax. That argu- ernment, our labour market is anything and mutual benefits. Although it ment has no legs and has proven to be but free. We still have a system of wage draws some support from statutes,

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 33 INDEPENDANT CONTRACTORS it relies for its support on the common the parties themselves aren’t capable of should set an example in its own em- law. knowing what is in their best interest? ployment practices and look to inde- Mutually agreeable contracts allow No individual can possess either the pendent contracting wherever possible. the parties to jettison the old compulso- knowledge or the selflessness to make The United States set such a pattern in ry entitlements in favour of all-inclusive these kinds of decisions for somebody the 1970s when it adopted a ‘non-de- remuneration arrangements. Independ- else. Independent contractors absolute- pendency on direct employment’ strat- ent contracting recognizes that people ly reject the idea that they are unable egy, which proved to be a turning point have a God-given right to work as hard to determine for themselves what is in in American labour relations. Unem- as they like, for as long as they like, in their best interests. ployment levels since then have been order to achieve the things they want So, where do we go from here? consistently lower than in Australia, in life. First, I believe the Federal Government despite America’s much higher levels of We know that this can be arduous must actively promote independent illiteracy. and sometimes risky. But we prefer the contracting as an alternative to tradi- If Australia had the same propor- rewards that this demanding way of life tional employment. Public advertising tion of its working-age population em- offers. Why should anyone have the campaigns, targeted information to ployed as the US does, we would have right to deny us this freedom? employers about the legal and com- another 600,000 people in employ- There are now more independent mercial basis upon which independent ment. In other words, we could bring contractors than there are trade union contracting is based, and its flexibility our unemployment levels down to the 2 per cent mark. Recent events in other nations, After eight years of Coalition Government, however, have reminded us of a pow- erful truth, namely, that ‘Freedom is our labour market is anything but free. never free.’ This Summit is a start. We still have a system of wage regulation Independent contractors are the most innovative and resourceful of that condemns many young people to Australia’s workers. They bear more risk and show more courage than just about unemployment—particularly entry-level any other sector of the workforce. We must apply those same great virtues to apprenticeships. agitating for labour market reform and protection of our own precious liber- ties. members in the Australian workforce. as an option available to very many The tide is turning. We are the work- Australian workers, should be the first force of the future. consideration. It has been calculated that the regu- Promotional campaigns should em- lations and restrictions in our labour phasize the simplicity and flexibility of Bob Day is President of Independent market cost Australia over $60 billion independent contracting and provide Contractors of Australia(ICA). per annum. That is the economic cost sample contract templates and check- of our unemployment and under-em- lists to ensure compliance with the legal All presentations to the Summit and ployment problem. Of course, the requirements of this new paradigm. ICA’s extensive coverage of independent true social cost is incalculable. Lives With the active commitment of a contractor issues can be found at http:// are wasted, talent is destroyed and op- Federal Government to such a cam- www.contractworld.com.au portunities are lost every day because paign, a new growth industry would people are not permitted to act in their emerge offering aggregated services to own interests. independent contractors—account- I P A What possible basis can there be ing, insurance, BAS returns, contract to render unlawful a common-law management and other advisory serv- contract—entered into by willing par- ices—allaying concerns that many of ties—to achieve a lawful and produc- today’s unemployed may not be up to tive outcome that is in the self-deter- the requirements of running their own mined interest of each of the parties business. other than some paternalistic belief that Second, the Federal Government

R E V I E W 34 MARCH 2005 INDEPENDANT CONTRACTORS Independent Contractors and Tax: The Facts accusations of contractor rip-offs have world-wide will have to come to terms Ken Phillips a long history. But the only tax audit with this social movement. ever done on this matter has proved The Australian solution is, however, ome people claim that independ- that there was no abnormal problem. mostly workable under the Personal ent contractors and their clients In the late 1990s, the tax office audited Services Income Tax legislation of 2001. use non-employment to avoid some 65,000 tax payers who fell into The tax office now has three adminis- Stax and other statutory obligations. It’s this category. After an expensive audit trative definitions of a business. There a claim that doesn’t match the facts. process, some 700 people had to pay can be a ‘Business’, a ‘Personal Services more tax and an undisclosed number Business’, or a Personal Services Income INCOME TAX had to receive refunds. The extra -rev Earner’. Confused? Well isn’t tax sup- The big ticket item is income tax. enue was minimal and the audit team posed to be confusing? Do independent contractors rip off the was closed down. Despite these facts, in A Business can access all tax deduc- tax system? 2000, the ‘Ralph Review’ of contractor tion entitlements, split income and re- Under the old PAYE tax system, tax, relying mainly on unverifiable as- tain profits in the company. A Personal there was a problem. The tax office only Services Business can access all deduc- had statutory power to require tax in- tions but can be in a grey area on split- stalments to be sent to them regularly if The core problem is ting income and retaining profits––the a worker was a common-law employee. that tax officials have tax office is running legal test cases in This ‘withholding’ system ran into trou- an effort to resolve the grey. A Personal ble during the 1990s because of the big difficulty conceiving Services Income Earner can access tax increases in the number of independ- deductions but not split income or ent contractors for whom withhold- of an individual as retain profits. No-one in any of these ing could not be enforced. This created categories is seen as an employee. The cash-flow issues for the government. a business. ‘How can Website www.contractworld.com.au The tax office responded by trying to has a good explanation. force everyone to be an employee—a an individual have nonsense task. goodwill?’ they ask. STATE PAYROLL TAX The issue was resolved with the State payroll tax legislation varies scrapping of PAYE and its replacement significantly and tends to be impossibly with PAYG, an improved legislative sumptions, still claimed that there was complex to understand. Independent and administrative structure for secur- a problem. The issue became highly contractors working directly for a client ing withholding payments. The PAYG politicised and had a strong industrial probably need to be included in the cli- system has three legs: it requires with- relations element to it. ents’ payroll tax declarations, or maybe holding for employees and company The core problem is that tax of- not. A leading test case on the Victorian directors; it has separate requirements ficials have difficulty conceiving of an provisions in the early 1990s saw the for independent contractors engaged individual as a business. ‘How can an High Court declare that it was unsure directly and administratively uses the individual have goodwill?’ they ask. and felt that the legislative provisions Australian Business Number for this; But the problem they face is that this is could mean almost anything the pay- and it has a provision for independent precisely what is occurring in modern roll tax officials wanted them to mean. contractors using labour hire where no economies. It is a massive social move- With independent contractors using ABN is required and the labour hire ment where individuals don’t want to labour hire, however, it is clear that tax company must remit withholding tax work ‘in’ businesses where they are con- obligations apply. to the tax office. It’s pretty simple re- trolled by bureaucratic and class-based ally—and a world first. structures. People want to ‘be’ a busi- WORKERS’ COMPENSATION The second tax issue is whether ness; their own business. This is what This is a legislative mess which re- independent contractors access lower independent contractors are. They are quires a complete rethink and an over- rates of tax than they should and higher the ultimate small business, a business haul comparable to that applied tax deductions than they should. The of ‘me’. Tax officials and tax systems to the income tax system. Aus-

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 35 INDEPENDANT CONTRACTORS tralian workers’ compensation schemes the occupational health and safety net COMMERCIAL LAW are a contorted form of insurance. Un- in every State and Territory. The legisla- Independent contractors fall der normal insurance, the person that tive structures vary from State to State, squarely under the obligations and pro- is covered takes out the policy and pays with some better than others, but the tections of commercial law. They can the premiums. Workers’ compensation essential elements are the same. Every sue and be sued. They can access trader- covers lots of people (workers) but gets independent contractor has responsi- to-trader small claims processes under other people (businesses) to pay the bilities to work safely. Every business State fair trading acts. They have obliga- premiums. has responsibilities to provide safe work tions to behave within the free market All States’ workers’ compensation environments for independent contrac- rules of the Trade Practices Act, but also schemes have a firm policy that inde- tors. have free market protections under the pendent contractors are not to be cov- About the only area where there is Act. They are, in every sense, treated at ered. Presumably this is because they an issue is in ideas of ‘contracting out.’ law as mature adults, running their own accept that independent contractors are When businesses contract-out com- business. This is what it means to be an businesses and are therefore not allowed mercial activities to other businesses, independent contractor. to pay premiums. commercial obligations transfer with But oddly, the workers’ compensa- them. As independent contractors are INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS tion schemes in each State have a vast businesses themselves, these same com- AND EMPLOYMENT LAW array of ‘deeming’ provisions which mercial principles apply. Many in the Unions allege that independent describe a whole range of independent business community have fallen into contractors escape industrial relations contractors who must be in the schemes the trap of believing that transfer of regulations. They are correct. But their but who would not ordinarily be in the commercial obligations also involves howls of anger do not serve independ- schemes. These ‘deeming’ laws vary be- transfer of OHS obligations. This is a ent contractors’ interests. tween States and have no consistency. dangerous error. Independent contractors are not The consequence is that people who OHS obligations are never elimi- employees who allegedly need the pow- are not allowed to register for workers’ nated or transferred but will involve er of the collective to run their lives. In- compensation might have to be de- shifting, changing and partnering of dependent contractors do not begrudge clared, or might not have to. Confused OHS obligations. Under any contract- employers, employees and unions hav- again? Well, so are lots of people. ing-out, parties need to pay special ing their own processes. But independ- In New South Wales, for example, attention to their contractual relation- ent contractors deny others the attempt over the last twelve months, the work- ships to ensure that appropriate safety to have them pulled into employer–un- ers’ compensation authority has been systems are integrated into a whole. To ion warfare. busily issuing back-dated bills to busi- do otherwise exposes workers to risk Independent contractors want and nesses who believed that workers’ com- and exposes companies and their man- need to get on with business—that’s pensation coverage of the independent agers to potential litigation. their business … getting on with busi- contractors they used was prohibited. ness. A business does not succeed by This is occurring in an environment EQUAL OPPORTUNITY having war with clients. Business is where the NSW scheme is several bil- AND ANTI-DISCRIMINATION made by working with clients to pro- lions of dollars in the red and the work- All independent contractors are vide a service and secure sound finan- ers’ compensation authority has issued within this net. The legislation is quite cial outcomes all round. a discussion paper stating that the laws clear. Independent contractors can- The Federal Government’s proposed are unclear. A potential political back- not discriminate nor be discriminated Independent Contractors Act will make lash is brewing. South Australia faces a against. There is one difference,- how the common-law facts clear that inde- similar situation—also emanating from ever. pendent contractors and their clients desperate attempts to fix a debt exceed- The principles of vicarious liability are not within industrial relations and ing half a billion dollars. under employment law hold that em- employment law jurisdiction. Unions often claim that independ- ployers are responsible for their em- ent contractors dodge workers’ com- ployees’ actions. If an employee com- Ken Phillips is director of the IPA’s pensation. But the problem seems to be mits an act of discrimination, then the Work Reform Unit. He has specialist that the schemes are flawed in their core employer is charged and held responsi- knowledge of independent contractor is- structure and that it cannot be decided ble. No vicarious liability applies to in- sues. who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out’. dependent contractors—they are held I P A responsible for their own actions. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY All independent contractors are in

R E V I E W 36 MARCH 2005 MEDIA The ABC’s Paralysis on Bias

adviser to the Tasmanian State govern- broadcaster’—literally, a broadcaster Christian Kerr ment who knows the forest issue, de- devoted to serving the entire nation, scribed Fullerton’s work as ‘self-indul- particularly the audiences that Austral- hen the Titanic hit the ice- gent polemic and nothing more’. The ia’s geography have made it financially berg, the directors of the Timber Communities Australia organi- unviable for commercial media to reach White Star Line no doubt sation announced it would lodge a for- until the advent of mass-market satel- Whad some thinking to do. mal complaint with the ABC. lite and other new technology. What is Australian Broadcasting There is a true sense of public Corporation management doing now Within the ABC, there are service broadcasting that is ignored or that their flagship television current af- simply unknown to people outside the Four Corners fairs program, , has been staff acutely aware of their ABC, particularly media watchers who, holed below the waterline—twice? role as part of a ‘national naturally enough, concentrate on the Ticky Fullerton’s examination of the main media markets in the capital cit- Tasmanian forest industry, ‘Lords of broadcaster’—literally, ies. Regional ABC radio stations, for the Forest’, screened on 16 February a broadcaster devoted to example, play vital roles in the com- last year, has been the subject of nega- munities they serve and enjoy close ties tive findings by both the Australian serving the entire nation. with what are, in many cases, audiences Broadcasting Authority and the ABC’s with virtually no other media options. own Independent Complaints Review Programme makers who strive to main- Panel. tain this public service broadcasting The day after the broadcast, ABC Before TCA could act, however, ethos worry about the concentration Local Radio Tasmania’s morning host the ABC’s judgement was already un- of power and resources at ABC head- Tim Cox told his listeners that there der question. The Crikey.com Website quarters in Ultimo and its growing sat- had never been a bigger response to a reported on February 23: ellite on Melbourne’s Southbank—and Four Corners ’ story—and that the ma- a management bureaucracy that always jority of callers believed that the pro- Already there are reports that seems to be expanding and always ready gram was biased in favour of the Green ABC watchers are pouring [sic] to swallow dollars that could go on movement. The ‘Lords of the Forest’ back over programs to see just broadcasting. was just one of three controversial re- how many stories were obviously This phenomenon and the culture ports by Fullerton on environmental sourced from green groups … it creates are at the centre of the debate subjects. Allegations are flying that the over ‘Lords of the Forest’. We should ‘Sold Down the River’, a look ‘at broadcaster is building an un- be asking to just whom is the ABC ac- the winners and losers from a radical healthy reliance on getting ‘in- countable rather than pointing the fin- experiment in trading precious water vestigative stories’ from shrub- ger at individual journalists. It is a mat- rights’, according to the Four Corners’ huggers––or, in other words, ter for the ABC Board. In December, Website, and ‘The Waste Club’, an ex- are being spoon-fed. It doesn’t the ABC’s Independent Complaints amination of ‘how one of the country’s just smack of laziness. The ABC Review Panel [ICRP] upheld three most powerful lobbies has ruthlessly re- must surely realise that with complaints made by Forestry Tasmania pelled moves to solve Australia’s grow- friends like that they don’t need and TCA against ‘Lords of the Forest’. ing waste crisis’, had already generated enemies. The ICRP, according to the ABC, is ‘an heated debate when they were broad- independent body established by the cast the previous year. That, perhaps, is the most astound- ABC Board to investigate allegations of Four Corners describes itself as ‘In- ing part of the whole story, given the “serious cases of bias, lack of balance or vestigative TV journalism at its best’. criticism of Fullerton’s two earlier sto- unfair treatment arising from an ABC In the days following ‘Lords of the ries and the constantly raging ‘ABC broadcast”.’ Forest’, many groups and individu- bias’ debate. The ABC, like all large or- The complaints claimed that ‘Lords als had a different view. These did not ganisations, is not a monolith—despite of the Forest’ was inaccurate, showed just include the obvious logging inter- the appearances it may give to outsiders. bias and lacked balance and fairness ests. Dissident Liberal turned Austral- Within the ABC, there are staff acutely in examining forest issues. The ian Democrat, Greg Barns, a one-time aware of their role as part of a ‘national ABC’s own media release on the

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 37 MEDIA subject states: ing in balance and fairness.’ ” curacy, the ABA does not propose to take any enforcement action in relation The Panel acknowledged in its That, however, is it. There isno to the breach on this occasion.’ On the report that the ABC had already mention of sanction or further apol- basis of the ABC’s Website, the broad- apologised for the two factual in- ogy. caster appears to have offered no formal accuracies contained within the The ‘factual errors’ have been dealt response to the ABA finding. program. The ICRP also noted with by a link on the Four Corners’ The ABC’s approach is best- dem that the ABC had satisfactorily website for ‘Lords of the Forest’ that ap- onstrated by its decision to enter ‘The answered many of the complain- pears almost as a footnote, headed ‘Up- Lords of the Forest’, along with Full- ant’s objections. date’, rather than as a correction. The erton’s two other contentious environ- The ICRP Report stated, in link takes the browser to a page that is, mental stories, for the Australian Gov- part: at least, headed ‘Errata’. ernment Peter Hunt Eureka Prize for ‘There were inaccuracies and Environmental Journalism, held under some misrepresentation of facts On The Lords of the Forest, the auspices of the Australian Museum, in ‘Lords of the Forest’. The pro- broadcast on 16 February 2004, while the complaint procedure was gram often, though not invaria- it was stated that Van Diemen underway. (They won, but that—and bly, presents only the ‘anti-Lords’ discovered Tasmania. In fact, what will now happen to the $10,000 (anti-logging) version on dis- Van Diemen commissioned the prize—is another story). As early as 8 puted issues of fact. It frequently voyage in which Abel Tasman April last year, Geoffrey Crawford, the casts doubt on the credibility of became the first European to ABC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, the ‘Lords’ (logging industry) sight the island. wrote to Barry Chipman of Timber and their supporters, but scarce- Huon pine was also included in Communities Australia stating, ‘While ly ever subjects their opponents a list of hardwoods. It is actually I note your concerns, the ABC cannot to the same treatment. a softwood. agree with your view that this program ‘Accordingly, the Panel partly In addition, a map showing the was unfair and partial. A wide range of upheld the complaints. The spe- proportion of Tasmania that has opinions, including your own, were fea- cific elements upheld as serious been protected from logging was tured by Four Corners, and the ABC is breaches are; simplified during the produc- satisfied that the report was an inform- 1. Inaccurate map of Tasmania: tion process. Although the ac- ative and fair investigation of a public The map misrepresents logged, companying narration was ac- controversy.’ logging and reserved forestry curate, Four Corners accepts that Chipman wrote to the ABA about areas of Tasmania. Accepting the map was oversimplified and the Independent Complaints Review the map as accurate leaves a rea- apologises if it misled any view- Panel finding on 11 January this year. sonable viewer misinformed as ers. A more detailed map is avail- He referred to the ICRP ruling, then to forestry management in the able below. said: ‘The Managing Director of the State. (Previously acknowledged ABC has advised that he is to take no by the ABC). No apology is made for the errors, further action other than the issued 2. Unsourced vision: In no less while the nature of the correction only media release of 10th December 2004 than four instances the program emphasises their egregious nature. The that stated in brief some of those find- uses vision either out of context question of language is not dealt with. ings…’ or unattributed as to its source, In February this year, the Australian Forget questions of bias. This raises misleading to the reasonable or Broadcasting Authority found the ABC one much simpler matter. Where is the average viewer. guilty of failing to present factual con- public service broadcaster’s sense of 3. Emotive language: The emo- tent accurately. Complaints can only be public service? Perhaps the ABC Board tive language of the program made to the ABA if viewers first raise can tell us. invalidates the claim that every their concerns with the original broad- effort was made to bring balance caster of the material under question to the production. Perhaps jus- and are dissatisfied with the response Christian Kerr is a political commen- tified as isolated individual and they receive. On this matter, the broad- tator and postgraduate politics student. contextual descriptive phrases, casting regulatory authority has shown He undertakes paid commentary for the the frequent use of pejoratives itself, again, for the toothless tiger it is. ABC. leaves the reasonable viewer with Its media release states that, despite I P A the impression that the program the negative findings, ‘In light of the is anti-logging i.e. seriously lack- ABC’s actions in correcting the inac-

R E V I E W 38 MARCH 2005 POLITICS The Politics of Political Mothers and Wives

Margaret Fitzherbert

hen Julia Gillard dipped is ample evidence of female MPs being ably traditional roles for women—as her toe in the water to see asked to pose for photos that supported a wife and mother—and her role as a if there was support for her their mothering role, or being routinely parliamentarian. Nowadays, the time Wto become leader of the federal ALP, the described as a ‘mother of three’ as well when this is most likely to emerge is story quickly became personal. What as an MP. Admittedly, many of them when a women seeks a role in politics was at issue was not her apprenticeship assisted or even exploited this kind of that is viewed as a prize: a safe seat, or a as an ALP member or performance as a coverage. Others went out of their way leadership role. shadow minister, but the fact that Gil- to avoid it. Julia Gillard’s recent experience is lard is single and has no children. Today, most Australian parliaments a prize example. When her name was Some observers reacted to this an- show a more diverse range of women in touted as a possible leadership contend- gle with surprise. Clearly, women have terms of their marital and parental sta- er, a media whispering campaign began. come a long way in politics; they have With little other ammunition, Gillard’s become State Premiers, they are rou- Once upon a time, anonymous detractors suggested it was tinely ministers in State and Federal not they who had a problem with a sin- governments, and their sheer number it was generally gle woman leading the ALP, but that in Australian parliaments continues to everyday voters might. Gillard would increase, albeit too slowly. Why was it childless women have every reason to feel aggrieved by that a female politician’s marital and this shoddy treatment—especially as parental status was suddenly the most who became active Kevin Rudd, another leadership aspir- relevant issue? ant, paraded his wife and children for Once upon a time, it was generally in politics, or those the media as he staked his claim. childless women or those who had adult Rudd’s approach shows another children who became active in politics. who had adult tradition of politics: the public image Edith Cowan was accused of neglect- of a wife and children, united behind ing her husband and children when she children. their husband and father. For male became Australia’s first female MP in politicians, a family is a plus. It softens 1921. The fact that her youngest child their image. It shows they understand was 30 went some way to countering the pressures that all families face. At no this. Cowan was, however, unusual: tus. There are single, divorced, married time are a wife and family more valu- many of Australia’s early female MPs and partnered women, and they have able than during an election or a po- were childless, including Millicent Pres- children of all ages. From the 1990s, litical crisis. Their physical presence is a ton Stanley and Irene Longman (the many elected women followed the lead very visible sign of support. Few other next two women elected to parliament of women such as former Queensland professions use their family in this way. after Cowan), Senator Ivy Wedgwood, parliamentarian Rosemary Kyburz and The idea that the issue of family and Senator Annabel Rankin. The rule former federal minister Ros Kelly and gains in importance when a woman as- also seemed to apply to early activists, gave birth to children while parliamen- pires to a very powerful role in politics such as Dame Elizabeth Couchman tarians. is not the general impression. Many and Lady (Margaret) Forrest. What this shows is incremental female MPs, who do not occupy sen- As women entered Australian parlia- change. There is now broad, but by ior political roles, have complained of ments in greater numbers in the 1970s, no means universal, acceptance that a a greater media emphasis on their fam- many routinely faced questioning dur- woman can be pregnant, and then a ily and marital status, than that given to ing preselection about who would look mother, without her neglecting either men. In 2004, Joan Kirner referred to: after their children once ‘Mum’ was in her family or parliamentary responsi- parliament. Others avoided this scrutiny bilities. Yet on occasion, the major po- [T]he heavy media emphasis by delaying their parliamentary career litical parties still show distinct unease on women’s housewife, mar- until their children were grown. There about the interaction between the argu- ital or sexual characteristics.

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 39 POLITICS

It is an emphasis that women There were minimal differences in A look to the future of American politicians from suffragists to the reporting of Kemp and Vanstone. politics indicates that sex and a woman’s premiers have had to confront In particular, there were no references to role with her family could well become for over 100 years and that men Kemp’s marital status in the sample ar- a key issue in the next presidential elec- rarely face. ticles, and Vanstone’s was mentioned in tion year. Ironically, Hillary Clinton’s only two. The Daily Telegraph reported public approval ratings were signifi- My own modest study does not that she is ‘married to Adelaide lawyer cantly increased by the perception that support this commonly held view. My Tony Vanstone’. A personal profile of she had stood by her husband and her master’s thesis comprised a comparison Vanstone referred to ‘…Tony Vanstone, marriage despite obvious threats. Hil- of the print media coverage of Amanda an Adelaide commercial lawyer and her lary’s family, including her daughter, Vanstone and David Kemp during the husband of 18 years’, and described Chelsea, provide a softening counter- first six months that each was Minister how he helped to launch her political point to what has otherwise been an of- for Education. I wanted to test the idea career by urging her to run for office. ten confronting and hard public image. that female MPs receive less media cov- Vanstone and Kemp were chosen Should Hillary seek to leave the Senate erage than their male counterparts, and for the comparative study because they for higher office in 2008, her family im- that when they are reported, it is more had achieved significant power as federal age will help her in a way that is more likely to be in relation to women’s is- ministers, and because they were com- commonly associated with male candi- sues. I also wanted to investigate wheth- er they were more likely to be reported in relation to their physical appearance, There were minimal differences in the reporting marital status and parental status. The coverage studied was generated of Kemp and Vanstone. In particular, there in the six-month period after each min- ister attained the portfolio, that is, be- were no references to Kemp’s marital status tween 12 March 1996 and 12 Septem- in the sample articles, and Vanstone’s was ber 1996 for Vanstone; and between 10 October 1997 and 10 April 1998 for mentioned in only two. Kemp. The study examined coverage of Ministers Vanstone and Kemp in The parable political actors. But the analysis dates. Australian and in the Daily Telegraph. of their media coverage suggests that If Condaleeza Rice seeks elected of- This enabled a comparison of tabloid their power was not significant enough fice, as many are beginning to predict and broadsheet newspapers. It also to warrant the more intensely personal she will, then she will face the age-old meant that neither minister’s coverage coverage of those seeking leadership question: why is this smart, attractive was examined in a newspaper that is roles. woman unmarried and childless, and as produced in his or her home town, thus Vanstone was not in a party leader- such, how can she represent Americans avoiding any possible distortion of fig- ship role, nor aspiring to one. As a Sen- in a key electoral role? I would say, ‘look ures due to a newspaper giving greater ator she could never be party leader or to her professional record’, but I have focus to the activities of a local. Prime Minister. In this regard, she is sig- a feeling that this will not be the ap- A total of 191 items that included nificantly different from the case stud- proach of the American media. a reference to Vanstone appeared in the ies in Julia Baird’s Media Tarts (2004): Daily Telegraph and The Australian. In women such as Natasha Stott-Despoja, contrast, in the comparable period, 153 Cheryl Kernot and Carmen Lawrence. items appeared in the same newspapers As Anne Henderson once remarked, that included a reference to Kemp. Van- women who seek ‘real power’ will expe- stone was far more likely than Kemp to rience the ‘blowtorch of publicity’. be mentioned in the Daily Telegraph. Once, the handful of women enter- Margaret Fitzherbert is the author Over the six-month period, she was ing politics was no great cause for at- of Liberal Women: Federation to 1949, mentioned on 102 occasions, com- tention except as a curiosity. Unless a which was short listed for a NSW Pre- pared with 46 mentions for Kemp. The woman MP made it to a position of real mier’s History Award in 2004”. results for The Australian were more power, she was mainly featured for the even-handed: Vanstone was mentioned colour she added to a drab male envi- on 89 occasions, compared with 107 ronment. But such media chivalry is mentions of Kemp. dead. I P A

R E V I E W 40 MARCH 2005 LETTER FROM LONDON Letter From London John Nurick Money laundering rules that treat all significant cash transactions as ’ve just read N.A.M. Rodger’s ex- suspicious. cellent The Command of the Ocean, a naval history of Britain covering These measures and others give the Ithe period from 1649 to 1815, from state huge powers over the individual. the execution of Charles I through the The government says ‘Only criminals Commonwealth, the Restoration and have anything to fear’ and ‘Trust us, the many wars of the Eighteenth Cen- we’re British’. tury, to the final defeat of Napoleon. But we can’t trust them, as the It’s not just a book for Patrick growth of ASBOs has already shown. O’Brian fans. One theme is the rela- And that’s what’s changed since Nel- tionship between naval power and the son’s day. Terrorism is officially ‘a serious state’s administrative and fiscal com- threat to the national life’ (otherwise petence. Victory at Trafalgar depended the UK would have had to repudiate not only on brave hearts and wooden the European Convention on Human walls, but also on the infrastructure of Rights in order to detain the foreign ter- dockyards, food processing plants, and Union, or in Burma now. It is the most rorist suspects), but the low priority the the banking system. Another is that the extreme example yet of what has be- Government has given to civil defence demands of year-round fleet operations come a pattern from the Blair Govern- contradicts this. Anyway, Al-Qaeda (the Navy was by far the largest single ment of measures which, in the wrong is nothing compared to the threats to purchaser of agricultural produce, tim- hands, would facilitate tyranny. Other the national life posed by Napoleon in ber and much more) played a major part examples include: 1803–05, or Hitler in 1940–41. Brit- in the eighteenth-century development ish governments adopted Draconian of a truly national British economy and ID cards (in reality, a comprehen- measures in both crises—but there was financial system, which in turn made sive national biometric/genetic database always a feeling that there were limits, the Industrial Revolution possible. to which most government agencies will that at some point ministers would say But the book brought something have access). ‘Dammit, we can’t do that: we’re Brit- else home to me: how the state has lost ish’. the idea of liberty. ASBOs, or anti-social behav- Two hundred years later, that feel- Just before Christmas, the House of iour orders against named individuals. ing has vanished from the corridors of Lords—our highest court—ruled that These started as a neat way of dealing power. Labour and Conservative parties the Government’s practice of imprison- with ‘neighbours from hell’: if a court support ID cards, ASBOs and CCTV. ing foreign terrorist suspects without issues an order banning someone from The Conservatives oppose banning charge is unlawful. I’m not sure this was playing loud music after 11 pm, breach orders—but conditionally, not abso- the right decision, but what matters is of the order is a criminal offence even lutely. The libertarians in each party the Government’s response: it proposed though the music itself wasn’t. But they are too few to matter. In the House of a new way of detaining people—citizen have already been used much more re- Commons, that leaves just the Liberal or foreign—without charge and with- pressively, including orders that impose Democrats—what John Hyde calls the out imprisonment. So-called ‘control curfews or ban individuals from visiting hand-knitted muesli brigade—standing orders’, signed by the Home Secretary, certain places. up for liberty. That is a very depressing could at the limit forbid a suspect ever thought—except that there are a few to leave his or her home, to consort CCTV coverage, now ubiq- economic rationalists among the muesli with others, or to use the telephone or uitous in town centres and freeways. eaters. Maybe I should join them. Internet. Similar restrictions could be Some cameras are linked to computers imposed on members of their house- that can read the license plates of pass- John Nurick is a management con- holds. ing cars, and there have been experi- sultant based in the South of England. This is just like the ‘banning orders’ ments using facial recognition technol- of the apartheid regime, or the meas- ogy to identify or track individuals. I P A ures used with dissidents in the Soviet

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 41 Free Enterprise Online by Stephen Dawson

ne would think that par- www.isteve.com/gendrgap.htm (16) (Sydney); and 49 (17) (Athens). ticipants in the sporting But has it been worth it? Govern- world would be even more It was inevitable that, with na- ments all over the world pour money Ocompetitive than the average person, tional pride on the line, the Austral- into sports. Governments believe yet it seems to be constituted by an ian government would start pumping that they have a legitimate interest unduly high number of mendicants in the money. Especially given the in boosting the health of their peo- upon the taxpayer. insane insistence, until recent years, ple and fighting such bugaboos as Ever since at least the 1936 Berlin that the premier world sports event, obesity. Since actually doing effective Olympic Games, international sport- the Olympics, had to be amateur. proactive health promotion is usually ing competition has been hijacked That meant that the athletes could foiled by an uncooperative populace, time and time again by the State for only be funded by wealthy patrons, pouring money into ‘role models’ is the purposes of national—and in including the wealthiest one of all, commonly the result. Role models, Berlin’s case, racial—prestige. the government. and places in which they can model In 1972, the Munich Olympic Following Australia’s meagre their roles. Games made a suitable stage upon medal tally in Montreal in 1976 (just And that’s where the big money which Palestinian terrorists could five medals, none gold), Fraser es- comes in. Subsidies for stadiums and perform another of their perpetual tablished the Australian Institute of sporting facilities. exaltations of death. In 1980, the Sport. This provided training to ex- Despite the Sydney Olympics US punished the Soviet Union, by tract the best from talented athletes. (SOCOG’s total budget: $AUS2.597 boycotting the Moscow Olympics, More importantly, it offered funding billion), the big player in all this is for invading Afghanistan. Australia’s for young athletes, allowing competi- the United States. We don’t hear as Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser tried tion with both the communist states much here of its corporate welfare to follow suit, but was foiled by the and the United States (which funded on the sporting field as we do in the heartening independence of Austral- its athletes through college sporting crop fields. But the figures are truly ia’s athletes. That was only shortly ‘scholarships’). breathtaking. before the opening of the Australian Institute of Sport. In 1984, the Soviet www.ais.org.au LEAGUE OF FANS Union and its clients boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics to punish the I’m squirming. Until today, I US for having, four years previously, thought that the great ‘friend’ of punished the Soviet Union. the US consumer, Ralph Nader, had And all through at least the ’70s made just one valuable contribution and ’80s, the Communist Bloc (es- in his public life. That was, of course, pecially the ‘Democratic’ Repub- running for President of the US in lic of Germany) abused its young, 2000. He diverted just enough of the pumping them with drugs in order Left’s vote to deliver the Presidency to secure victory. to Bush, rather than Gore. One of the interesting side-ef- And then I found the League of fects of the demolition of the Berlin Fans. This organization has a whole Wall was that a two-decade trend of host of objectives, plenty of them women’s records narrowing the gap quite irritating: ‘Resist the Over- with men’s records abruptly stopped. And it worked … slowly. At the Commercialization of Sports’; ‘Fight Women, having lower natural levels Moscow Olympics the year before for Inclusion, Equal Opportunity and of testosterone than men, were able to the AIS started, Australia scored nine Respect for Diversity in Sports’—does achieve a proportionately higher per- medals (two gold). Subsequently this one mean that professional bas- formance boost from steroids. When there were 24 (four gold), artificially ketball in the US should have a quota the Wall fell, the druggings slowed, boosted by the boycott by the Soviet for underrepresented majorities? But then stopped. And the performance bloc of the LA Games; 14 (3), with here’s one that both Left and Right gap began to widen again. Go to: politics back to normal (Seoul); 27 can agree on: (7) (Barcelona); 41 (9) (Atlanta); 58

R E V I E W 42 MARCH 2005 Free Enterprise Online by Stephen Dawson

PROMOTE ECONOMIC JUSTICE FIELD OF SCHEMES side of your own one. At Field of AND OPPOSE CORPORATE WEL- Schemes, check out those linked un- FARE IN SPORTS Go to the greatest single resource der ‘Stadium Activist Groups’. on the Internet for popular culture, Public money should not be the Internet Movie Database, at: AND OTHERS used to further the profits of sports corporations. There is www.imdb.com It would be unimaginable for the no justification for cities and wonderful magazine Reason to miss states to subsidize professional Go to the search field in the top this issue. And it hasn’t. Matt Welch sports franchises with taxpayer left hand corner, and type in ‘Field essentially assassinates all arguments (or otherwise public) dollars to of Dreams’. Press Enter. Wait. After in favour of stadium subsidies here: build new stadiums or arenas, a few seconds you will be presented nor to provide them with other with a list of possible matches. Se- www.reason.com/0401/co.mw. forms of corporate welfare. It lect the one at the top of the list, the if.shtml movie of that name from 1989. Click on it, and that movie’s details will ap- While Reason and Welch ap- pear. Look now at the Genre given for proach these matters from a sensi- this movie. ‘Fantasy/Drama’ it states. ble libertarian viewpoint, and Ralph How utterly appropriate to this Nader from the Left, Blogger and subject. Field of Dreams is, of course, conservative commentator Michelle a baseball movie starring Kevin Cost- Malkin hits the issue from the hard ner, back in the days before he fell out Right (so much so, she blames sub- of favour with the movie critics. The sidies on ‘liberal politicians’, when it central point of the movie was the is clear that pollies of all persuasions need to build a baseball field. like to abuse this one). A Blog devoted to runaway sport- ing subsidies plays on this movie’s is not a public purpose. Major name. What ‘Field of Schemes’ covers pro sports teams are private, changes daily, but the focus remains profit-seeking companies with on the ripping-off of taxpayers for very wealthy owners working corporate benefit. Go to: within monopoly leagues and should have no trouble surviv- ing the tests of a free market.

So why am I squirming? Because it turns out that Ralph Nader is the founder of League of Fans:

www.leagueoffans.org michellemalkin.com/ar - chives/001518.htm Amongst the interesting snippets to be found there, of the $US17.312 Feedback billion spent on 70 construction and I would welcome advice from read- renovation projects for sports stadia ers on any other sites of interest to in the US between 1990 and 2003, www.fieldofschemes.com IPA Review readers. E-mail me on 60 per cent was provided by the tax- scdawson@hifi-writer.com. payer. One of the conventions of Blog- ging is to have a blogroll: a list of other recommended Blogs down the

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 43 BOOKS Book Reviews Exposing the Eco-Terrorists

ter graduating from Harvard University Andrew McIntyre in anthropology and studying further reviews as a visiting lecturer at Cambridge, he State of Fear began a medical degree back at the Har- By Michael Crichton vard School of Medicine. To help fund (Harper Collins, 2004, his studies, he started writing thrillers. 603 pages, $24.99) This led to The Andromeda Strain, and after several others, the well known book, Jurassic Park. His novels have al- Those of us who had already read ways been characterized by a profound Michael Crichton’s Caltech Michelin knowledge and understanding of sci- Lecture in January 2003, ‘Aliens Cause ence and of all the latest research, even Global Warming’, and his ‘Remarks though couched in fictional plots. He to the Commonwealth Club’ in San has always shown a keen interest in the Francisco in September 2003, would political and ethical issues of the day not have been surprised when his new There is certainly a sense and is considered the undisputed ‘fa- thriller State of Fear was published last ther of the techno-thriller’. December. of schadenfreude for this State of Fear differs from his previ- Nevertheless, the delight was pal- ous novels in that Crichton packs the pable, just as was the predictable fury reader at seeing Green story not only with ‘real’ science, but from various Green activists. Readers organizations being, just copiously footnoted research from peer of the IPA Review, the Lavoisier Group, reviewed published work! The book in- sceptical environmentalists and leading for once, depicted as evil cludes a message from the author, two atmospheric scientists from around the appendices—‘Why Politicized Science world will be satisfied. Many of us have and criminal and self- is Dangerous’, and ‘Sources of Data for been trying hard to expose the Chicken interested. Graphs’—and no fewer than 21 pages Little scare of a runaway greenhouse ef- of Bibliography and explanatory notes! fect and the ineffectual and economi- Very briefly, the story itself is cally damaging Kyoto Protocols. We challenge to mankind, but in the about an environmental group with a find at long last a big box office star information age (or as I think fanatical leader—some think a Ralph providing a serious antidote to The Day of it, the disinformation age) it Nader foil—who schemes to criminally after Tomorrow, and the biases of the takes on a special urgency and engineer several weather-related media. importance. catastrophes. A mysterious millionaire But unlike that film, and unlike the philanthropist supports the group deliberate misinformation of Michael These are strong words. Even with oodles of money to gain moral Moore’s film, Fahrenheit 9/11, this book though the book’s implausible Holly- redemption and acceptance in the eyes is a deadly serious attempt to straighten wood grab-all, frenetic, action-packed of California’s wealthy environmentally- the record on these issues by an author story definitely distracts from the sig- conscious elites. In the meantime, a who not only understands the scientific nificance of the new book, it is just this slightly idealistic lawyer representing evidence but who, in his own words at genre of thriller that is perhaps neces- the millionaire, learns—through the the Commonwealth Club, considers sary to get his important message across twists of the plot and through some to a fatigued public. lecturing by a mysterious, all-knowing the greatest challenge facing To understand the depth of what and powerful undercover agent who mankind is the challenge of dis- Crichton has achieved, one must look seems to hold all the keys to the tinguishing reality from fantasy, at the long road he took in becoming unravelling mystery—that he is truth from propaganda. Perceiv- a best-selling Hollywood storyteller. Af- dealing with an eco-terrorist web, ing the truth has always been a

R E V I E W 44 MARCH 2005 BOOKS and that nothing is at it seems; especially of the beast. the integrity of the scientific claims of the only odious villain is Michael Through the story, Crichton reveals an impending catastrophe. These little Crichton … arrogant and self- the fanatical side to fundamentalist en- lectures have been criticized by several righteous plus antiscientific and vironmentalism. He explains philan- reviewers as being somewhat wooden anti-environmentalist and very thropic motivation, how NGOs funnel and didactic—and they do slow down rich at the suckers-who-read-his- money through to activist fronts, how the action—but for those of us who trash’s expense. government largesse is taken advantage know the arguments, and Crichton is of, and how these essentially self-serv- at pains to give us all the salient details, Although this may be predictable, ing unrepresentative groups use very so- it provides a satisfying exchange. In there is hope that his efforts will not be phisticated public relations teams to get these passages, one can only dream that wasted. the ear of the media and capitalize on Green fundamentalists reading the book fear and disinformation in the public. will be forced to ‘wake up and smell the I am very environmentally- It is truly an instruction manual of how coffee’, as it were. There is certainly a minded, as is Michael Crighton, Left activist groups work. sense of schadenfreude for this reader at but after reading this book and It is hard to know at this stage how seeing Green organizations being, just some of the references he listed, the book will go, and whether timid for once, depicted as evil and criminal it’s clear that we are not being and politically correct Hollywood will and self-interested. given all the facts by the media. have the courage to make a film of it. Of course, we should know bet- The book is still on amazon.com’s 20 ter. As with most ideas, those who un- I don’t know if I have ever read top-seller list after two months. If it derstand the science will be chuffed: a a novel where I learned more … does make it to the cinema, it may just Michael Moore working for us. Those I’ll be more cynical about what provide the turning point for public who are dyed-in-the-wool fundamen- dangers are being presented to opinion and, subsequently, for politi- talist believers in Greenhouse will be me as fact in the future by the cians. outraged, as indeed they have been. media which acts as lightning Unlike the agitprop PC films men- Some comments from the Net at rod for misinformation. tioned above, it has several things going random are indicative: for it: common sense, political grains of Apart from the scientific summa- truth, scientific facts and integrity. I think Michael Crichton is a ries of the issues, which are outstand- great writer in style. His books ing—and I recommend the book to are enjoyable. It sounds like he anyone who wants to read a bit about Andrew McIntyre is a Melbourne is about to get back in my good the science and the actual data and en- writer and an assistant editor of the IPA graces with this global warming joy a compelling story; it would be an Review. honesty, BUT... He is a luddite. ideal book for Year 12 English––there Not a Marxist exactly, but a lud- is another dimension to it that will in- I P A dite in the same way that Marx furiate activists but ring a clarion bell to was. those of us who understand the nature

Strange Times

Bush Babies According to a report in the American was 0.85.) You could predict 74 per- Conservative, the white people in Re- cent of the variation in Bush’s shares Missing from the analyses of the publican-voting regions consistently just from knowing each state’s white two Bush elections is an obscure de- have more children than the white fertility rate. When the average fertil- mographic factor that correlated un- people in Democratic-voting regions. ity goes up by a tenth of a child, Bush’s cannily with states’ partisan splits in The more kids whites have, the more share normally goes up by 4.5 points. both 2000 and 2004. It seems that, pro-Bush they get. While the Christian Right in instead of the political issues raised to Among the 50 states plus Wash- Kansas doesn’t much hold with Dar- fever pitch by the anti-Bush media, ington, D.C., white total fertility cor- win, they are doing well at the basic voters are making their choice based relates at a remarkably strong 0.86 Darwinian task of reproducing them- on a more fundamental and impor- level with Bush’s percentage of the selves. tant human activity: having babies. 2004 vote. (In 2000, the correlation

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 45 BOOKS Israel Not So Bad

Gary Johns ing manner. First, ‘The Accusation’, for Palestinian leader after Arafat’s death, example, ‘Is Israel a colonial, imperialist that there was no semblance of democ- reviews state?’ Second, ‘The Accuser(s)’, for ex- racy in the Middle East, nor any gov- The Case For Israel ample, ‘A Jewish state in Palestine could ernment that operated under the rule Alan Dershowitz only emerge as the bastard child of im- of law. Less well known is the strength (John Wiley and Son, 2003, perialist powers … (M. Shahid Alam).’ of the Israeli Supreme Court in control- 272 pages $21.95) Third, ‘The Reality’, for example, ‘Israel ling the Israeli military, and the ability is a state comprising primarily refugees of individuals, including Palestinians, and their descendants exercising their to petition the Court. The attempts by right of self-determination …’ And Europeans to subvert the Israeli proc- ‘Israel is the prime example of human fourth, ‘The Proof’, for example, ‘Those esses by using the International Court rights violators in the world.’ So said a who absurdly claim that the Jewish ref- of Justice to have Israel dismantle its representative for Students Allied for Freedom and Equality at the University I had not realized that every year for 30 years they of Michigan in 2002. The student spoke have spent more time on Israel than on any other at an Israeli ‘divestment’ conference, a type that was sweeping the US at the country, and that Israel has been the only state subject time. Harvard, MIT and other major to an entire agenda item every year. No resolution in universities, and the Noam Chomskys and Pat Buchanans led the charge to the history of the Commission has ever been passed on end university investment in Israel and to boycott Israeli speakers and academ- Syria, China, Saudi Arabia or Zimbabwe. ics. Harvard Law Professor Alan Der- showitz wrote this book as a counter to ugees who migrated to Palestine in the wall on the West Bank is no proof of the divestment campaign and toured last decades of the nineteenth century a greater love by these others of the campuses to tell his side of the story. were the “tool” of European imperial- rule of law. It is more likely a device to The divestment campaign makes ism must answer the following ques- weaken Israel by making it less easy to the Sydney Peace Prize (organized by tion: For whom were these socialists defend itself and, incidentally, in a less the Centre for Peace and Conflict Stud- and idealists working? Were they plant- violent manner than has often been re- ies at Sydney University) look very ing the flag of the hated czar of Russia sorted to. tame, but its ignorance is as profound. or the anti-Semitic regimes of Poland or In these and many other ways, It creates a moral equivalence between Lithuania …?’ Dershowitz answers all of the ques- the rights of a democratic state to pro- Some of the material is familiar, for tions fed to students by Israel’s detrac- tect its people, and in so doing causes example, we are well acquainted with tors. No doubt, there will be rejoinders, the unintended deaths of innocents, the UN-sponsored World Conference but there is a propensity among Jews to and promotes the rights of a people to Against Racism in Durban, which de- debate these matters openly and vigor- destroy a state and purposefully attack scended into a ‘racist conference against ously. This is presumably what occurs innocents: the Peace Brigade is so casual Jews’. The ignorance of the delegates to on Australian campuses, though one about deliberate killings. Disturbing, the UN Commission on Human Rights has one’s doubts. Dershowitz’s book is too, in Australia, is the recent remark to is almost commonplace, but I had not an excellent primer, the pity is that he Barry Cohen, former Labor Minister, realized that every year for 30 years they had to write it. Perhaps the latest round by a very senior member of the NSW have spent more time on Israel than on of negotiations will succeed in the es- ALP Right, ‘amongst the people I mix any other country, and that Israel has tablishment of a Palestinian state, and with, I’m the only one who supports been the only state subject to an entire he will not have to publish an update. Israel’. agenda item every year. No resolution Dershowitz’s book was written for in the history of the Commission has Gary Johns is a senior Fellow and campaign purposes and, in particu- ever been passed on Syria, China, Saudi head of the Governance Unit for the IPA. lar, for a student audience. It consists Arabia or Zimbabwe. of 32 short chapters and a conclusion. We are aware that until the recent Each chapter is arranged in the follow- elections in Iraq, and the vote for the I P A

R E V I E W 46 MARCH 2005 AROUND THE TANKS Around the Tanks

Around the Tanks is sourced from a seletion of publications detailed in The Heritage Foundation’s The Insider, a monthly compilation of publication abstracts, events and news from around the world’s think-tanks. (Back issues of The Insider can be viewd at http://www.heritage.org/insider)

THE BIG PICTURE ON GDP aside or ignored––and he did something such crimes defraud pharmaceutical GROWTH about it. He ushered in the No Child and music corporations (and thus their by Tim Kane, Ph.D. Left Behind Act, the most significant shareholders) of billions of dollars. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Econo- change in federal education law since my/wm644.cfm 1965. For the first time, in federal law, WHY LIMIT GOVERNMENT? children in poor performing schools are by Lawrence W. Reed How sure are you that the new economy able to transfer to better public schools http://www.heritage.org/Research/Politi- was a mirage? With the release of fourth or receive tutoring at public expense. calPhilosophy/hl843.cfm quarter US GDP data for 2004 today, For the first time, parents can choose to there may be a lot of commentary that help their struggling students gain ac- Why limit Government? Why not?! the economy is not doing as well as ex- cess to opportunity. Such a flippant comment would per- pected. A lot of radio ga-ga about trade suade no one of anything and win no deficits and falling dollars. Don’t believe THE SOCIOLOGICAL ORI- battles for liberty. Indeed, our move- it. Using annual figures, real GDP in- GINS OF “WHITE-COLLAR ment may be overdue for a refresher on creased 4.4 percent in 2004––the fast- CRIME” this very important question. As men est since a 4.5 percent increase in 1999. by John S. Baker, Jr. and women who want to ‘limit’ gov- Measuring from 4th quarter to 4th http://www.heritage.org/Research/Legal- ernment, we sometimes come across to quarter, U.S. GDP has increased for 22 Issues/lm14.cfm others as naysayers. As someone once straight years. The have been only three said, we do a better job describing Hell years of contraction since 1973. Are millions of middle-class Americans than Heaven. Whenever we make the However, the real lesson over the really white-collar criminals? The un- case for limiting government, we ought long-view is that America’s economy has authorized importation of prescription to use the opportunity to remind oth- been growing relentlessly for decades, drugs from a foreign country is a fed- ers that we are opposed to excessive even going back to 1940. Trade deficits eral crime. So is “sharing” copyrighted government because we are in favor of have not slowed the American jugger- material without permission. Assisting some very positive, important things. naut, and arguably have helped boost someone in the commission of a federal We want to limit government––ulti- aggregate supply. The U.S. growth dy- crime is also a federal crime. Countless mately––because we support freedom namo is real, and government has very American seniors purchase prescrip- and the free society. little to do with the phenomenon, aside tion drugs from Mexican and Canadian We want to limit government be- from its beneficial role in staying out of pharmacies. Millions of Americans, in- cause we want to maximize opportu- the way. cluding teens using family computers, nity, enterprise and creativity. We want share copyrighted music without pay- to limit government because we want to ing for it. permit individuals to go as far as their LEADING AMERICAN Despite the rhetoric, the decision to talents, ambitions, and industry can EDUCATION INTO THE 21ST prosecute is unavoidably discretionary. take them. We want to limit govern- CENTURY How do prosecutors determine whom ment because we want people to dream by The Honorable Rod Paige to prosecute? All too often, the choice and to have the room to bring those http://www.heritage.org/Research/Educa- reflects contemporary politics--and to- dreams to fruition––for themselves and tion/hl863.cfm day’s criminal du jour is the “white-col- their families. We want to limit govern- lar” crook. Yet when most people talk ment because we want to strengthen US Education Secretary Rod Paige about vigorously prosecuting white- the institutions of civil society. knows that every child deserves a qual- collar crime, they don’t mean locking ity education, that every child deserves up those who purchase medicine from PRINCIPLES COUNT to be treated with respect and dignity, neighboring countries or pirate music by The Honorable Tom Feeney and that no child deserves to be pushed over the Internet, despite the fact that http://www.heritage.org/Research/Politi-

R E V I E W MARCH 2005 47 AROUND THE TANKS calPhilosophy/hl854.cfm paper discusses the economic conse- TOWARDS A LIBERAL quences of taxation and the factors that UTOPIA It seems to me that one of the ways we influence where the burden of various Edited by Philip Booth ought to judge our elected officials is by taxes really falls. It will review some Available for purchase at how they treat us as electors. How do of the discussions in the economic lit- http://www.iea.org.uk/record. they approach us? Do they think that erature. Finally, it will suggest that a jsp?type=release&ID=83 we are foolish? Do they pander to us? shift to a markedly different type of tax Or do they look us in the eye, tell us the system would benefit all players in the Towards a Liberal Utopia? is a free-mar- truth, and sometimes say ‘no’? Citizens economy. ket manifesto for the next fifty years are often treated, however, as if they are covering a diverse range of policy ar- gullible--that they will believe anything THE POSITIVE EFFECTS eas, including health, education, social they are told by an elected official. Yet OF MARRIAGE: A BOOK OF security, pensions, labour markets, tax as a principled representative, whether CHARTS policy, Europe and the environment. left or right, it is important to be candid by Patrick F. Fagan, Robert E. Rector, Contributors to the book envisage a with people. That means saying “no” to Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D. and America radically reduced role for the state in all things that are sometimes very tempt- Peterson aspects of economic life. Hitherto un- ing. http://www.heritage.org/research/features/ imagined private solutions to economic marriage/index.cfm problems will ensure that greater free- TAX INCIDENCE, TAX dom leads to greater well-being. BURDEN, AND TAX SHIFTING: As social science research data and gov- For example, in education, Pro- WHO REALLY PAYS THE TAX? ernment surveys increasingly show, the fessor James Tooley envisages a world by Stephen J. Entin decline in marriage since the 1960s where formal schools no longer exist http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/ has been accompanied by a rise in a and educational opportunities are en- cda04-12.cfm number of serious social problems. meshed with normal adult life and plac- Children born out of wedlock or whose es of work. In the chapter on climate Who pays the income tax, the payroll parents divorce are much more likely change Dr. Roger Bate and Dr. David tax, the estate and gift taxes? Who bears to experience poverty, abuse, and be- Montgomery highlight the correlation the burden of the gasoline and tobacco havioral and emotional problems, have between low greenhouse gas emissions taxes? If Congress were to raise this tax lower academic achievement, and use and economic freedom, suggesting that rate, or lower that tax deduction, who drugs more often. With the rise in these less not more regulation is the key to would gain and who would lose? The problems comes high program costs to reducing carbon emissions. outcomes of the political battles over deal with the effects of the breakdown changes in the tax system often hinge of marriage. on the answers to such questions. This I P A

R E V I E W 48 MARCH 2005