The Australian

The fight between the lofty ambitions of planners and the cold hard reality of economics still rages. Politicians and planners still believe that they know better. Yet despite all their efforts they regularly fail to suspend the laws of geography and economics.

When a society can no longer seriously debate political issues, controversial as they may be, it is not just a blow to freedom of speech. It also undermines a nation’s capacity for economic reform. Truths may sometimes be painful and feelings may be hurt, but a society that cannot stand vigorous debate risks becoming stale and stagnant.

Domestic debates pale into insignificance in comparison with the financial storm that is brewing on the horizon. Why are we even contemplating new taxes that damage our international competitiveness at a time of the utmost economic uncertainty? Australia may have been an island of tranquillity post Lehman, but for how much longer?

The Australian Greens’ ambitions were dealt a blow in the recent NSW state election. They may have won the seat of Balmain, but their overall primary vote barely moved above the 10 per cent mark. To add insult to injury, the Greens are struggling to fend off a challenge by Pauline Hanson for a seat in the upper house. On the other side of the world, green is a far more popular colour.

Sometimes, even a politician’s smile is more important than his or her policies. Voter bias towards more beautiful politicians has long been confirmed in surveys. Where voters are uninformed about politicians’ plans and beliefs they instinctively go by their appearance. But new research from Scandinavia reveals that good looks are quite unevenly distributed in this beauty contest.

In Germany, subsidies for renewable energies are paid for by energy users. Renewable energy suppliers can feed their production into the grid at guaranteed high prices; the additional cost of green electricity is passed on to private and business energy users.

Australia’s abandonment by Britain was the salutary shock that this country needed. Britain may have sought to profit from its turn to Europe, but it was Australia that gained most from it.

The economic imbalances within Europe have become too great, particularly regarding productivity differences. In order to correct them, it would be desirable for some countries to be able to devalue their own currencies. Instead of trying to keep such nations within the monetary corset of the euro at all costs, the EU should allow them to depart. None of these sensible options were even on the table at the Brussels summit.