Today, did the first of the bushfire program days for January. These are organised via the YMCA for kids in areas affected by the Black Saturday bushfires. We previously did some Medieval days with them in the September holidays, and these were such a hit we are now doing a series of Ancient days ( Read more... )

Paddy wagon as shagging wagon.

A Senator making it clear that he will ask the questions.

About the Left sensibility with links to a series of articles on what it is to be Left in Australia in 2009.

ABC newsreader argues that the burka should be banned. I always have mixed feelings on this one: my libertarian instincts war with revulsion at the ( Read more... )

In my post on Greens as Environmental Vandals, I wondered whether the Royal Commission on the fatal Victorian bushfires was going to be about accountability or cover-up. Given the limitations on who can testify and the focus on warnings and responses once the bushfires had started, the answer appears to be cover-up. The limitations mean that the ( Read more... )

Yoram Barzel’s penetrating work Economic Theory of Property Rights analyses human transactions in terms of economic property rights, defined in terms of who actually controls something. Which means individual property rights are inevitable. If something is government-owned, that just means that the property rights rest with whichever officials ( Read more... )

Tuesday night, went to an extremely lucid presentation by a forest scientist of great experience which showed, in a quite matter-of-fact way, what an environmental disaster the green take-over of environmental management in Victoria has been. A discussion at another meeting the next evening added further and better particulars ( Read more... )

Peter Attiwill
on
The Case For Fuel Reduction Burning in Australia’s Forests

The Adam Smith Club will host a dinner meeting (pdf) on Tuesday the 7th of April 2009, at the Malvern Vale Club Hotel, 1321 Malvern Rd, Malvern 3144 ( Read more... )

The news about the Victorian bushfires just keeps getting worse. A warning in 2002. The same experienced bushfire scientist being very angry in his “I told you so”: It is hard for me to see this perversion of public policy and to accept that the folk of the bush have lost their battle to live a safe life in a cared-for rural and forest ( Read more... )