An analysis of the potential economic consequences of the Tasmanian Government’s decision (taken, it would seem, under pressure from the Australian federal government) to over-ride the decision of the board of its state-owned shipping company, TT-Line, to purchase replacements for its two Bass Strait ferries, the Spirits of Tasmania, from Europe, in favour of having […]

Last month, a senior Minister in the Morrison Government threatened my former employer, ANZ Bank, with adverse regulatory actions because a well-known employee with the initials “SE” (in this case, the current CEO Shayne Elliott) said something that the Minister didn’t like. This brought back fond memories, which I couldn’t help writing about .

Interview with Sky News Australia, 10th October 2020 Victorians payed $2.2m more in COVID fines than rest of Australia combined during first lockdown Economist Saul Eslake has discovered Victorians during the first lockdown payed almost $6 million in fines for allegedly breaching COVID restrictions, $2.2 million more than the rest of the country combined. “Let […]

Consistent with the well-established practice of Victorian Governments of both political persuasions, Victoria has seen Covid-19 as providing unsurpassed opportunities to extend the use of its police force as an adjunct of the State Revenue Office. During Australia’s ‘first wave’ of Covid-19 infections, no other state was as assiduous as Victoria in fining its citizens […]

A paper commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, asking whether a decision by a future Australian Government to halt the proposed Carmichael (Adani) coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin would constitute ‘sovereign risk’ and put Australia’s AAA credit rating at risk, or would otherwise undermine Australia’s capacity to attract foreign investment

The Productivity Commission (PC) is conducting a review of the way in which the revenue from Australia’s goods and services tax (GST) is shared among Australia’s States and Territories, with a view to evening out their capacity to provide a similar range and standard of public services to their citizens, having regard both to differences […]

Brian Carlton | Tasmania Talks | 10th October 2017 Interview with Northern Tasmania commercial radio’s Brian Carlton on the Productivity Commission’s draft report into the distribution of revenue from the GST among Australia’s State and Territory Governments (otherwise known as ‘horizontal fiscal equalization’), 10th October 2017 A productivity commission report has recommended that changes be […]

Keynote address to a Workshop on Federal Relations and Tax Reform hosted by the University of Adelaide’s School of Economics, in Adelaide on 29th August.