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Ian Hundley: The slump in ALP first preferences in recent elections reflects the fact that the ALP no longer has a mass membership. The decline will not be reversed unless real power is devolved to the ALP rank-and-file membership. Ian McAuley: Social exclusion runs deep in Australia as government policies promote private services in areas such as education and health care for the well-to-do while the same services for the remainder are residualised. Brian Walters: Human rights can no longer take precedence over the rest of the biota. Human civilisation now depends on recognising the rights of all life. Hugh Saddler: The draft Energy White Paper is really a mining resource policy paper. It ignores global warming and the fact that fossil fuels are the major cause of the build up in CO2 emissions as well as the challenge of shifting to greater reliance on renewable energy. John M. Legge: The difference between the economic policies advanced by Keynes and Hayek was that Keynesian theories were based on analysis of the real world and Hayekian theories were based on pure logic built on narrow assumptions about human behaviour. Richard Denniss and David Richardson: The big four banks oligopoly is far too powerful to be curbed by competition. The banks should be subject to a super profits tax, split into deposit taking and fee for service institutions and re-regulated. Bill Rowlings: Fear-mongering is the stock in trade of politicians, particularly those on the right. Legislation which grows out of that fear is the greatest threat to civil liberties. Stanley S. Schaetzel: Science can resolve the ethical debate about the use of stem cell research and its potential use for therapeutic cloning because it shows that virtually all the cells in the body renew themselves periodically so that, about every ten years, all the atoms in the human body have changed. Linda Hancock: Because gambling taxes now account for about ten per cent of state revenue, policies aimed at harm minimisation from poker machine addiction will not succeed unless the Commonwealth undertakes to meet the revenue shortfall. James Dunn: reviews a book about Australia’s role in the 35 year history of East Timor’s independence. |
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