More from Moore..... Dear All, Patrick Moore Questions GW Risk. Convert from Greenpeace, Canadian Patrick Moore, has had a successful start in Sydney to his tour of Australia, explaining why he no longer accepts the dangerous warming thesis and considers that a much larger amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would actually help plant and forest growth. Dr Moore is making a public presentation in Melbourne at CQ functions (5.00-7.30 pm on Friday 24 Oct at113-123 Queen St) and will address a luncheon at The Australian Club (12.00 for 12.30 pm) on Monday 27 Oct. There are still a few vacancies for The Australian Club lunch (ring me on 9867 1235). Kill Climate Deniers. Meantime, my colleague Warwick Hughes has drawn to the attention of the Minister for Territories that the ACT Government has approved a $19K arts grant for a new drama Kill Climate Deniers, which is specifically portraying an armed siege of the Australian Parliament. Whether or not the play has any artistic merit, at a time when terrorist activity is threatening this is, to say the least, an injudicious decision. It is happening when the Canadian parliament has been closed because of an attack by gunmen. ***(So typical of Labours timing.)*** Whitlam Legacy. The death of Gough Whitlam has inevitably produced a swathe of commentaries about the man and the government of which headed. As expected from our leftist press and commentators, most of the commentaries seek to praise policy changes his government implemented and portray Whitlam as a reformer and to play down his faults. However, the extent to which such policy changes (such as Medicare, free university education, needs-based school funding, Aboriginal land rights) can be regarded as desirable reforms is moot. A considerable number were subsequently altered either because they were badly framed or required unwarranted expenditure of tax-payers money. For example, Medicare should have included the co-payment which was subsequently proposed by a Labor minister but is still being argued about today. As to the Budget, it is pertinent to recall that federal government spending increased in 1974-75 by 39.5% (or 19.9% in real terms). Then there was the increase of 30.7% (or 15.7% real) in 1975-76, for which Whitlam must at least have been partly responsible. Taking the two years together, spending increased by 82.5% in current prices and 38.7% in real terms. On Tuesday’s 7.30 report, while former Treasurer Paul Keating gave a mixed response on Whitlam, he attempted to portray him as a kind of change factor for Australia after what Keating saw as the torpor of the Menzies era. However, over the period from 1950-73, the growth in per-capita incomes exceeded the OECD average; hardly a torpor. Moreover, such growth occurred when the federal government was much smaller than Whitlam left it. Interestingly however, since 1975-76, federal spending at 24.3% of GDP has not gone back (except for a brief period in the 1990s under Howard) and is estimated at 25.3% in 2014-15. Nobody has learnt the lesson from the Whitlam era. In my view the Whitlam government is the worst we have had. See the articles by John Stone, Andrew Bolt and Alan Wood that may help you decide. - Des Moore.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 10:16:36 +0000
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