Month: May 2018

The Business Council thinks the left has no plan? …

John Quiggin8 Comments

… That’s a bit rich

That’s the headline for my latest piece in The Guardian. Final paras

unlike the BCA, its opponents have been willing to specify the measures needed to pay for these desirable outcomes. Eschewing the small target strategy routinely recommended for opposition parties seeking office, Labor has announced a range of revenue measures that would finance a substantial expenditure program, combined with some tax relief for low and middle income households. These include scaling back negative gearing, crackdowns on tax evasion and avoidance, and a restoration of the 2% levy on top incomes.

The Business Council has long been a weak and ineffectual participant in Australian policy debate. If it is to be taken seriously, it needs more than astroturf front groups and websites. The Council needs to take on some of its members, both in relation to their corporate behavior and in their resistance to any tax reform that might cause them any pain. Until then, Jennifer Westacott should be more cautious in asserting that others lack a plan and believe in “fairies at the bottom of the garden

Read More »

The Coal Truth

John Quiggin5 Comments

If all the coal in the Galilee Basin were burned, it would make it just about impossible to stabilize the global climate. Most attention has been focused on the Adani Group’s proposal for an integrated mine-rail-port project to develop its proposed Carmichael mine. There are however a string of would-be followers, including GVK Hancock and Clive Palmer.

The good news is that Adani’s March deadline for financial close, itself a deferral of earlier promises, has passed with no sign of anyone willing to finance the proposal. Even the Abbot Point terminal, which has long-term take-or-pay contracts with existing coal mines, is struggling to refinance its debt.

But there’s no room for complacency.
Read More »