This paper argues that paternalist policies may be considered justifiable under circumstances where high stakes decisions are involved, the decisions being made by individuals are irreversible and it is possible to identify failures in people’s reasoning. It is further argued that if paternalist interventions are able to be justified in terms of people’s own values...

On the ecological side, this paper concludes that should Australia’s population reach the ‘Big Australia’ projection of 35.9 million by 2050, this will not put serious pressure on Australia’s non-renewable resource stock or capacity to feed the nation. However such population growth will make the task of reducing greenhouse emissions very difficult. On the social...

This paper provides an overview of the economics of a sustainable population and addresses some key policy issues in an Australian context. It is argued that a sustainable population is one that is consistent with sustainable economic development. The population age distribution is shown to be more important than the population growth rate itself. The...

The transition from analogue to digital TV is seen by many as long overdue in a broadcast industry which has often failed to keep pace with revolutionary changes in the telecommunications and information services industries. • Television has been an important political and cultural force in Australia since its introduction in the 1950s. • Analogue...

Determining the size of the Commonwealth public sector is complex. There are three major sources of statistics - Australian Public Service Commission, Treasury and Australian Bureau of Statistics - producing four different staffing counts, each using different definitions resulting in data that are not comparable. This paper provides a short summary of the different methodologies...