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Pass
the climate parcel
Having
observed international negotiations for some years now I am tired
of how the media laps up another glib Leader's or Minister's communique
on the need for 'action' or 'redoubling efforts' for something where
there is simply no political will. It couldn't be any clearer than
in the climate change debate. Every international meeting there
is a call for a solution. But it simply isn't going to happen. Copenhagen
will fail. And the sooner governments of the world are honest about
it and stop giving political speeches to position themselves as
those not to blame, the better. I got so tired of it all, I decided
to write a piece in The Australian about it. The
article can be found here.
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Fighting
the good fight on national television | Sex and politics
I
was very fortunate to get another run on ABC1's Q&A. Q&A
is possibly the best public policy gig on Australian television
because it runs for an hour, you cover lots of issues and you
get to fight for what you believe in. Fortunately the format seems
to work for me well and I think my most recent appearance was
very positive. The only challenge was getting a word in when The
Heff was talking! The video can be found here.
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Nanny
knows best!
I
got two bites of the cherry on the National Preventative Health
Taskforce report. I got a second article in The Australian and made
the point that Australia already has a fat tax - it is called the
GST. Under the GST fresh food is not taxed and processed food is.
Yet obesity rates are allegedly still rising. Why? Because taxes
don't discourage behaviour enough to warrant their introduction
to achieve any other public policy objective except revenue raising.
The
article can be found here.
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Health
Taskforce wishes you all a long, dull life with nanny
The
release of the National Preventative Health Taskforce report to
make Australia the healthiest country by 2020 is a long list of
government-knows-best programs. Increases in taxes and unecessary
labelling won't replace the principle requirement needed for people
to live longer, healthier lives - individual responsibility. The
article can be found here.
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Poor
farmers have a right to a livelihood too!
In
New Zealand there has been a bit of a kerfuffle ove the use of palm
oil in Cadbury products. Behind the complaints of 'environmentalists'
is really just an anti-development agenda. As I point out in an
article on the matter here.
And it sufficiently
stirred up Friends of the Earth that they felt it necessary to write
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Bit-by-bit
the Labor Party is turning its back on free trade
There
have been a series of protectionist measures taken by State Labor
governments that suggest they are turning their backs on free
trade. The same is occuring now at a national level. For the past
thrity years there has been a bi-partisan consensus supporting
free trade. If Labor keeps going the way they are, that consensus
is dead - and Australia will pay the price. The article can be
found here.
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Another
bite of the cherry - taking authors to task on parallel import
restirctions II
Now
that the Productivity Commission's report has been released The
Australian asked for another piece on parallel import restrictions.
I feel a bit greedy getting two bites of the cherry in a week.
It can be found here.
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Patents
and technologies to tackle climate change
The people at the Wall Street Journal are very good to
me. They've given me another run on my favourite policy area -
patents and low carbon technology. And the best part is that I
am in Europe so I can pick up a hard copy myself! The article
can be found here.
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Taking
authors to task on parallel import restirctions
The
interest in parallel import restrictions is picking up pace since
the Productivity Commission has handed its report to the government.
Hence I had a piece in The Australian. It can be found
here.
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Taking
authors to task on parallel import restirctions

Following
on from my recent report on parallel import restrictions I have
a piece in The Punch arguing the case for reform. The article
can be found here.
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Trade
protectionism - an idea so bad only the Rees New South Wales government
could have thought of it!

The
New South Wales State government included measures in its State
Budget to give local good and service providers preference in
government procurement. The NSW government is single-handedly
winding back the clock on trade liberalsation and its hard not
to just ridicule them. My article on The Punch can be found
here.
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Exposing
the misinformation on the 'benefits' of Australia's parallel import
restrictions in Unbinding Book Barriers

The
Productivity Commission is currently investigating the merits
of Australia's parallel import restrictions on books. Similar
restrictions existed on CDs until 1998. The Commission is assessing
whether import restrictions on books should go the way of CDs.
In Unbinding Book Barriers I recommend they should. A copy
can be found here.
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Virus
sharing and patents - an essential mix
One of the areas of public policy I focus on is intellectual property
and its relationship to public health. For a few years there has
been a fascinating debate around the World Health Organisation
on the issue of virus sharing. Basically countries are required
to provide samples of viruses to the World Health Organisation
in periods of pandemics to assist in the development of vaccines.
The problem is that a few years ago Indonesia decided not to.
And it started a big debate that coincided with the broader debate
about IP and access to essential medicines. Normally it is a hard
issue to get people interested in. Except at a time of a major
influenza break out. Hence I managed to get a piece up in the
Wall Street Journal about virus sharing. The article can be found
here.
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Heavily
quoted in the Coalition Senator's dissenting report to the Senate
Inquiry into ETS
My report into Australia's ETS was included as a submission to
the Senate Inquiry into the ETS legislation. I am happy to say
that it was referenced extensively in the Coalition Senator's
dissenting report. The dissenting report can be found here.
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Australia's
illegal ETS?

The Australian government is currently negotiating the passage
of an emissions trading scheme to reduce Australia's carbon dioxide
footprint. But the government has done an appalling job in considering
the international context of the ETS and whether it breaches Australia's
existing trade obligations in the World Trade Organisation and
Free Trade Agreements. It is not 100 per cent clear whether it
will, or will not. But my report into the area shows the enormous
scope of potential problems Australia may be facing. A copy can
be found here.
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Just
a nice shot

As part
of The Weekend Australian Magazine's Emerging Leaders series
I did a photo shoot in Sydney while I was attending the Australia's
Right to Know Conference. This is a photo they took of me
at the Sofitel Wentworth. I thought it was a good snap. But it
was not appropriate for the newspaper because they were after
headshots, and this is clearly a full body shot. Special thanks
to The Weekend Australian for giving it to me, and allowing
me to use it.
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The
Australian's ten emerging leaders of Australian society

Australia's national daily broadsheet, The Australian,
is running a series on emerging leaders of Australia. There are
twelve different categories. The first is society - which includes
people in government, advocacy and society. I was very honoured
to be asked to be included in that list with some other very successful
young Australians. A copy of the article can be found here.
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We
shouldn't be turning our backs on free trade!
Since Kevin Rudd's absurd attack on neo-liberalism every nutbag
has thought it acceptable to attack free trade. And it is my job
to defend it. So I have had two articles in the Business Section
of The Age. And they are available here
and here.
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Supporting
free
trade and free association
Summer
is a great time to get published. Most journos take time off and
regular columnists let their columns be filled by eager young
writers. The Herald Sun is surprisingly hard to crack.
But I managed to do it twice this January. First on cars
here, and then on the
right of free association here.
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