Month: April 2007

Why not all the Right is against the ABC

~ Andrew Norton ~ 27 Comments

According to Robert Manne in today’s Age

THE right in Australia is greedy. Even though it now dominates political commentary on commercial radio and television and throughout the Murdoch press, for the past decade it has been conducting a concerted campaign to root out the pitiful remnants of left-wing thinking still found inside the ABC. The long campaign has been conducted by Quadrant and The Australian; by think tanks such as the Institute of Public Affairs and the Centre for Independent Studies (emphasis added)

In fact, the CIS has been rather more interested in appearing on the ABC than rooting out the ‘pitiful remnants of left-wing thinking’ still to be found wandering its corridors. When I put ‘ABC bias’ in in the CIS‘s search engine it turned up only three passing references. When I put ‘centre for independent studies’ in the ABC search engine I get 520 documents, and there are more that just refer to the ‘CIS’.

As I explained in a Catallaxy post last year, I’m not a fan of the ‘ABC bias’ argument. It’s not that I think ABC staff don’t lean to the left; left-wing causes do get more coverage there than elsewhere (though this mainly shows in issue selection; they do try to provide balance once they have picked a topic). But I doubt this greatly increases the total of leftist broadcasting in Australia compared to what we would have without the ABC. There’s a market for leftist ideas, as The Age shows in making money out of a soft left broadsheet and book publishers show by making money out of selling books denouncing capitalism, US foreign policy etc etc. So if it wasn’t the ABC it would be some other institution.

I think this makes the preoccupation with ‘ABC bias’ a strategic mistake by the political right. Even if the ABC’s ‘pitiful remnants’ were left to wander the streets of Ultimo and Southbank (and wherever their studios are in other cities) nothing much would change in the overall political complexion of Australian debate. Devoting significant energy to achieving a reform that would make little practical difference is a mistake the CIS has avoided making.

Aside from strategy, the ABC actually has many virtues to go with its few vices – it gives far more time to explain complex ideas than other radio stations, most of the news programmes are pretty good, and best of all it schedules lots of excellent English television. Yes, I know, ‘middle class welfare’, but one of the few federal government services I actually use for all the taxes I pay.

Conflicting WorkChoices polls?

~ Andrew Norton ~ 1 Comment

Commenter Leopold notes about today’s industrial relations Newspoll, reported in The Australian, that there is

A curious difference between Newspoll and ACNielsen …- 33% of Newspoll respondents reckon they are worse off under WorkChoices. And ‘a lot worse off’ is rising in Newspoll, while in ACN the overall figure ‘worse off’ is falling.

There are two differences between the ACNielsen and Newspoll surveys that may help explain the different results. The first is that ACNielsen asks its question of all respondents, while Newspoll only asks people with jobs. This is a smaller sample that is more likely to be affected by the changes than those without jobs (though those without jobs could still be affected, via other members of their household who do have jobs). Newspoll records more people affected both positively and negatively.

That probably explains most of the difference, but the second possible reason is that Newspoll gives options of varying strength. Its question reads:

How do you think the changes to industrial relations affect you personally? Do you think you are better, or worse, off? If better, do you think you are a lot better off, or a little better off? If worse, do you think that you are a lot worse off or a little worse off?

Whereas ACNielsen asks (if they are consistent, they did not publish the questions last time):

Do you think you will be better or worse off under the planned changes?

Offering milder options can sometimes encourage people without strong views to reveal which perspective they are leaning towards.
Continue reading “Conflicting WorkChoices polls?” →

The fiscal burden of Family Tax Benefits

~ Andrew Norton ~ 35 Comments

In the executive summary of the second Intergenerational Report, released today, it says after noting various fiscal pressures that will build over the next 40 years:

It will be important to focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of government spending

I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, the government isn’t heeding its own advice, as the Integenerational Report itself shows. In an appendix on spending projections the Report compares spending forecasts made in the first report five years ago with those Treasury makes now. Back then, they thought that Family Tax Benefits A and B would consume 1.3% of GDP in 2006-07. In the second Report they say FTB spending will be 1.6% of GDP in 2006-07. In a trillion dollar economy – as various government Ministers for some reason keep telling us – that 0.3% is a lot of money. In real per person terms, it’s gone from $613 per person to $790 per person, or about a 29% increase.

Now what do we have for all this money? According to the Report:

Continue reading “The fiscal burden of Family Tax Benefits” →