Tony Abbott

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Abbott’s plan for North Australia: A brief overview

July 30, 2017October 1, 2015 by Aristidi Armstrong

What is the economic rationale behind transforming North Australia?

This article first appeared in Short Supply 2015 – check out the full magazine via the Short Supply tab at the top of this page!

Abbott fiddles while coal burns

February 21, 2016August 31, 2015 by Leon Obrenov

The problems posed by climate change require mature debate. Tony Abbott refuses to give it, writes Leon Obrenov.

Desperate, deceitful and deliberately dull: Budget 2015

February 20, 2016May 13, 2015 by Tom Crowley

ESSA editor Tom Crowley dissects the Federal budget.

Nuanced debate must supplant budget bluster

February 20, 2016April 22, 2015 by Leon Obrenov

Given our precarious economic position, we must engage in serious discussion about our future and the reform required.

Economic growth and climate policy: mutually exclusive?

February 21, 2016October 12, 2014 by ESSA Writers

Matthew Rao shows how economic growth and political success can be reached through suitable climate policy.

What we can and should do about IS

February 21, 2016September 15, 2014 by ESSA Writers

Matthew Rao applies rational thinking to how civilisation should approach the Islamic State.

The cost of the repeal

February 21, 2016August 17, 2014 by ESSA Writers

Matthew Rao explains why the carbon tax should have never been politicised.

Carbon cost: reflecting upon the repeal

February 21, 2016July 18, 2014 by ESSA Writers

Brody Viney ponders the intersection of economics and climate change policy.

Opening the front door wider

February 16, 2016October 21, 2013 by ESSA Writers

The Comprehensive Plan of Action for Indochinese Refugees (CPA) has been praised for upholding ‘international solidarity’ and responding to what was the burgeoning refugee crisis of 1989.[1] It has also been criticised for its execution, with critics arguing that it is an example of international buck-passing and questionable compromises. Regardless, the CPA has since affirmed itself as a practical model that allowed policy makers to combine humanitarian principles of compassion with political pragmatism.

AusAID: why Australia and the world’s poorest need it

February 16, 2016September 30, 2013 by Laura Mulligan

On September 18 Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the government’s decision to effectively abolish AusAID by integrating it into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). He cited ‘confused responsibilities, duplication and waste’ as reasons for the merger, and suggested that now the ‘aid and diplomatic arms of Australia’s international policy agenda are to be more closely aligned’. The decision elicited a concerned response from NGOs and others involved in the aid sector, who defend the existence of AusAID on the grounds that foreign policy and development issues are not the same thing, and should not be treated as such.

A Great Day For Feminism?

February 16, 2016October 14, 2012 by ESSA Writers

Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s searing attack on opposition leader Tony Abbott has gone viral attracting over 300,000 hits on ABC News and YouTube, generating countless memes, and gaining media coverage in the United States, Britain, India and many other countries. If you haven’t yet seen the clip I suggest you check it out below.

Commentators were quick to point out the hypocrisy of Gillard’s speech in light of Peter Slipper’s text messages and the Labor Party’s ongoing support for the disgraced former Speaker.

‘Deficit’ – A Dirty Word In Politics

February 16, 2016March 18, 2012 by Esther Ziebell

Minister for Finance, Penny Wong has released an eight page booklet outlining the ALP’s costings of the opposition’s policy pledges entitled Pre-Budget Deficit: Tony Abbott and the Coalition. Of course, the public doesn’t expect all such pledges to be implemented, but if they were, Labor predicts that the Coalition would put the budget $9 million into deficit, in 2012-13. The figure does not include savings the Coalition has promised to find: it is to be noted that the Coalition has failed to point out where these savings were to be made.