Tax cuts, mutual obligation and Labour force flexibility in the Budget could make or break jobless families. Despite Australia coming off the back of a remarkable economic boom and enjoying historically low unemployment rates, in late 2008 almost one in eight Australian children lived in a family where no parent worked. Unbelievably, this figure is...

It is possible to develop a classical liberal foreign policy agenda, says Edwin van de Haar. Classical liberalism is applicable in international as well as domestic politics – based on a study of four important classical liberal thinkers, David Hume, Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek. Classical liberalism aims at maximising individual freedom...

Competitive professional regulation would lead to lower costs for consumers, argues Krystian Seibert. Many professions, such as medicine, dentistry, law, and accountancy, are very highly regulated, and the level of professional regulation is increasing across other industries. The extent of regulation is generally determined by professional regulatory bodies, which set to education and training requirements...

Despite occasional efforts by pundits to make it sound volatile and exciting, Australia’s party system is one of the most stable in the democratic world. Its fundamental shape has not changed in a hundred years, writes Charles Richardson. It was in May 1909 that the non-Labor groups were ‘fused’ together into a single party, whose...

For more than a year, financial markets have been in turmoil. Banks have been refusing to lend to one another. Companies and individuals have found it increasingly difficult to borrow money. Investors and pension holders have seen the value of their assets collapse, and government intervention has been largely counterproductive, making matters worse and turning...