The jokes write themselves
Liberal MP Mal Washer said it was “crazy” to freeze politicians’ pay… “The reason I think it’s crazy is … because one of our biggest problems is recruiting good people into politics,” Dr Washer said. Without proper pay, there was a risk only “clowns”, “losers”, “screwballs” and “halfwits” would want to enter politics.
Hahaha. I’m much more concerned about politicians who think that government can and should do things which it can’t and shouldn’t:
“We need highly professional, highly skilled people to run the economy,” he said.
Of course, Washer is right. So the last thing we want is high politician salaries to attract those professional, highly skilled people out of the economy and into the vast sink hole that is Australian politics.
In defence of quitters
Something ALS readers might be interested in: my Sunday Age column this week contrasted politics with the private sector, “Go on, mate, get out there and make a difference“.
They say that laws are like sausages: it’s better not to see them being made. But do we really have to be forced to eat so many?
The government’s blog
Just the design of the government’s “Digital Economy Future Directions blog” indicates that there is a fair bit about blogging that the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digitial Economy don’t get. It’s almost impossible to navigate. One post has 50 pages of comments that you have to individually click on to read – there’s no option to view as single page for the comments, or, indeed, for the blog as a whole. In fact, the blog itself has a splash page – all text of course – which managed to confuse a few potential readers when the blog was first launched.
Ineptness is everywhere. Why, for instance, does the permalink for the splash page appear below the heading “Current blog topics”? And is there anything more amusingly bureaucratic than having your blog buried in a hierarchy that reads: “Communications and technology for business > Industry development > Digital economy > Digital Economy blog”? This blog is not just unfriendly to users, it’s aggressively hostile.
Sure, usability is an easy target. But the idea of the government having a blog is deeply silly too.
Ideological shifts before and after the financial crisis
Does the financial crisis portend some sort of ideological shift – not in political philosophies adopted by the commentariat, public and political class, but in the practical operation of government and policymaking? I think Foucault’s term ‘governmentality’ – models by which governments relate to individuals, independent of the over-worked philosophical cleavages – is more useful than many on the right are predisposed to admit. Are we seeing a new shift in governmentality as a result of the financial crisis – are governments looking at the relationship between economy and society in a different way?
Read more »
Public service announcement: 2009 Kennard Freedom Prize
The Institute of Public Affairs is putting on a new essay competition with some pretty lavish prizes: The 2009 Kennard Freedom Prize.
There are typically fewer submissions to most essay competitions than one would expect, so the chance of winning a prize is quite high.
And for the Kennard Freedom Prize, there are lots of things to win. There are two first prizes – one winner will head to Las Vegas for FreedomFest, and another winner will head to the Property and Freedom Society Conference in Bodrum, Turkey.
Furthermore, every entrant will go into the draw to win one of two Apple iPhones. And each entrant will also receive a one year subscription to the IPA Review.
The website contains all the information about the prize, including runner-up prizes, as well as a resource bank of online material on liberty in Australia and overseas. The competition is open to those who were born after 1st January 1981, and are Australian or New Zealand residents.
The obvious marijuana question
Malcolm Turnbull’s easy confession on Q&A last night that he smoked marijuana when be was younger raises the obvious question – does he, and the other Australian politicians who also admit to having dabbled in this drug, think that he should have been arrested for doing so? If not, then what distinguishes him from others who have been subject to legal sanction for youthfully experimenting with marijuana?
Certainly, Australia’s marijuana laws are not as draconian as those in the United States – many first time offenders receive cautions if caught in possession of small amounts – but surely something that politicians seem to treat as a rite of passage should not also involve the risk of a career-crippling criminal record?
Crossposted at chrisberg.org
-
Recent Comments
Dom Vasta on Libertarians and elections (an… 
Shem Bennett on Libertarians and elections (an… 
'Nuke' Gray on Libertarians and elections (an… Dom Vasta on Libertarians and elections (an… 
TerjeP (say tay-a) on Libertarians and elections (an… TerjeP (say tay-a) on Libertarians and elections (an… 'Nuke' Gray on Libertarians and elections (an… Shem Bennett on Libertarians and elections (an… 
Brendan Halfweeg on The Santa Claus Governmen… 'Nuke' Gray on The unforgivable stupidity of …
Catallaxy Files- Open Forum: February 11, 2012 February 10, 2012 Sinclair Davidson
- Not all recessions are caused by the Fed February 10, 2012More middle of the night blogging. My economics is classical. The almost perfect overlay of my own book can be found in a series of notes taken by Nicholas Kaldor at the LSE in 1927-29 from lectures delivered by the great American economist, Allyn Young. These notes were only published around a decade ago but [...]Steve Kates
- Where’s Romney? February 10, 2012It is quite extraordinary to watch the American political process up close. Now, I admit I have been busy and I don’t watch much of the television and do not read a lot of the press. But before I arrived the thing I did want to do was see more of Mitt Romney since from [...]Steve Kates
- inCISe
- More on PHI rebate means test February 10, 2012When I wrote in Incise yesterday, ‘Rebate should not be means tested,’ I did not expect events to move quite as quickly as they have. The government seems confident it has the numbers to get the means test through. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rob Oakshott and Andrew Wilkie have indeed swallowed the government’s nonsensical arguments, but it will be interestin […]Robert Carling
- Quiggin versus Carling and Kirchner February 9, 2012John Quiggin accuses Robert Carling and I of ‘an appalling breach of elementary standards of research’ for not acknowledging that Alberto Alesina’s work on the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus and consolidations is ‘highly controversial.’ In fact, we referenced Alesina’s work precisely because it has featured so prominently in public debate, including in the […]Stephen Kirchner
- Police going too far February 9, 2012According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, police are lecturing parents for letting their children walk to the shops or catch a bus on their own, with senior police saying such incidents will be reported to the Department of Community Services (DOCs) if a child is considered at risk. But when is a child ‘at risk’? One mother was told it was inappr […]Sara Hudson
- More on PHI rebate means test February 10, 2012
- IPA news
- Let European dogs lie February 9, 2012Australians will be surprised to learn that, apparently, the federal government now has responsibility to help the city of...
- It's time to bring back the thrift February 9, 2012Ted Baillieu plans to shave 3600 jobs from Victoria's bloated public service. The state of Wisconsin in the US, with a...
- We'll huff, we'll puff, we'll blow the budget into surplus February 8, 2012Bill Clinton famously said, "It's the economy, stupid". So it is. Unsuccessful politicians might be inclined to argue,...
- Let European dogs lie February 9, 2012
