Security
For a long time I have been deeply troubled by many of the things that governments have done since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Many of those actions have eroded the civil liberties that previous generations fought tenaciously to acquire, or to defend; while others have simply wasted enormous amounts of time and money for very little improvement in people’s safety, and have instead helped to create a climate of fear. While I know these views are not widely shared, I nonetheless hold them strongly, as some of these pieces make clear.
A ‘security blanket’ for Australian manufacturing
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News, Security, The Australian Economy | 26th August 2024Saul Eslake: The Albanese Government’s signature ‘Future Made in Australia’ has a good part, which is about the transition to net zero, and a not-so-good part, which reeks of ‘manufacturing fetishism’ and an obsession with ‘security’ at the expense of other objectives.
The Quest for ‘Security’ – is it Rational?
Security | 1st November 2018Address to the Society of University Lawyers Annual Conference, Hobart, 1st November 2018 (note: this is a revised an updated version of a speech originally given in November 2017)
The quest for ‘security’ – is it rational, has it actually made us safer, and at what cost?
Security | 14th November 2017Address to the Royal Society of Tasmania, Government House, Hobart, 14th November 2017
Why can’t Australia & New Zealand have a down-under ‘Schengen Agreement’?
Security | 15th April 2013Article published in ‘Management Today’, the magazine of the Australian Institute of Management, April 2013
Security theatre in the UK
Publications, Security | 13th February 2013A letter to the editor published in the Financial Times of 13th February 2013 (written while flying between London and Edinburgh)
The best way to push bad policy is to wrap it in a ‘security’ blanket
Security | 9th November 2011Article published in the Melbourne Age, and in the online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, 9th November 2011
The folly of trying to eliminate all risk through regulation and legislation
Security | 27th April 2011Article published in the Melbourne Age, and in the online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, 27th April 2011
Time to question the point, and cost, of airport security rituals
Security | 16th February 2011Article published in the Melbourne Age, and in the online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, 16th February 2011