photo credit: Corey Tegeler
David Pecotic
Two great new Australian e-gov mashups:
Key Indicators Graph
[Over at their Betaworks blog, the ABS has published an interactive graph that can display key indicators such as the unemployment rate, the consumer price index, gross domestic profit, average weekly income, and (most importantly for our purposes) the house price index. This is the latest in a series of visualisations of ABS data that not only make it fast and easy for our customers to find key figures but make it understandable to the non-statisticians (i.e., the rest of us).]
Atlas of Productive Ageing
[Another Australian e-gov initiative: provides maps and data for a number of indicators of ageing at different geographical levels.]
Is the Australian government equipped to provide collective public goods online?
[On the other hand … Gov 2.0 Taskforce’s Chairman Dr Nicholas Gruen stated that “it was the government’s job to build Google, Facebook, Twitter. I’m quite serious about that.” Most of us accept that one of the core purposes of government is to develop and provide infrastructure for its citizens, public goods that benefit nations and states but are often too expensive, unprofitable or may be a national security risk if left in the hands of private or foreign entities (how we fund that is another matter). But what about virtual public infrastructure: providing collective public goods that many people, including many Australians, use on a daily basis, whether for the storage, organisation, distribution or discovery of information? Or should they leave it up to the market?]
Garrett gives Gorgon gas go ahead
[Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has given the nod, with conditions, to the construction of the $50 billion Gorgon gas project on Barrow Island off the West Australian coast. An extra 28 conditions have been imposed on the project to ensure that Barrow Island, which is a Class A nature reserve, is adequately protected. Mr Garrett says as well as the extra conditions, 20 management plans are also in place.
Dr Andrew Burbidge, who is a consultant for Chevron (one of the joint venture partners), says, however, that the project should not go ahead because it will threaten the island’s biodiversity.]
Projected rises in sea level to curtail development
[PARTS of the Queensland coastline will be declared off-limits for development under a coastal planning policy released yesterday that claims sea levels will rise 80cm over the rest of this century.]
Australia’s ski fields: 40% less snow by 2060
[I wonder how this will effect property prices in the Alps …]
A dangerous Labor blind-spot
[OHS consultant Kevin Jones wrote a piece for Business Spectator on ‘Utegate’ and the role of Godwin Grech last reported to be receiving treatment in a Canberra psychiatric facility. He points out that the saga illustrates issues of personal responsibility for safety, an employers’ OHS obligations, hours of work, allocation of work tasks, an employee’s physical and mental health, and industrial relations regulatory compliance. It raises legitimate questions about how a Labor government, the traditional friend of the worker, manages the safety of its employees.]
Perhaps overwork leads to lack of due consideration of good ideas – like Geonomics!
Forum hears plan to level housing taxes
[HOME owners should not enjoy a tax advantage over renters, according to a proposal presented to a Henry review conference on tax reform.
A Treasury official has canvassed the idea of charging a defacto tax for living in the family home with additional payments offset by a tax deduction for mortgage interest payments. The 157-page paper said the greatest tax distortions to the savings choices of households were caused by explicit decisions made by government in two areas: superannuation and capital gains taxation.
However, as pointed out by one seller in the article, it will also act as a disincentive to owners to spend money on improvements. Geonomics, on the other hand …
Predictably, the property industry came out swinging yesterday against it. They argued it would result in (warning: may contain old chestnuts) a shortage of property, lift rents, and would most affect the elderly.]
Check the commentary on this important report over at Prosper
Property, death & taxes: the home owners advantage over renters
[A useful round-up about the Henry Tax Review and the pros and cons of the usual suspects: stamp duty. capital gains tax, negative gearing and land tax. The following ‘handy hint’ from property author and financial advisor Margaret Lomas with state-by-state variations is very revealing of our contemporary bunyip aristocracy: she argues against land tax as it is one that, beacuse of state-by-state variations, can be avoided by spreading your investments across Australia to maximise the tax-free thresholds.]
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