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The round-up The National Interest round-up begins in the national capital, where Business thinks laterally on social welfare 'People can't live on $35 a day. Entrenching them into poverty isn't a pathway to employment.' These are criticisms you expect to hear from social welfare groups and charities rather than the top end of town. Yet in a speech to the Brotherhood of St Laurence this week, the chief executive of the Business Council of Australia Jennifer Westacott, addressed social justice and disadvantage in Australian society. It's not just abstract talk for Ms Westacott, who grew up on a public housing estate and whose parents relied on the social security system for a large part of their life. But the question remains: do Australia's top CEOs—who the Council represents—care about community enrichment or just getting rich? Ms Westacott says that while business leaders have a duty to maximise shareholder returns, they also acknowledge the central role of 'shared wealth.' That is, a society in which all people have access to a good education, health services and adequate raise rises to keep up with the cost of living. Business can't thrive without a wealthy, healthy and education society in which to operate. Cash paradise: the state vs tax havens When you hear people talking about their bank accounts in Bermuda, Andorra, San Marino or Luxembourg, rest assured they're not philanthropists out to support struggling micro-states. Sovereign tax havens are everywhere and most large companies use them. Indeed, according to research carried out by the Uniting Church in Australia, 71 of the top 100 companies listed on the ASX have subsidiaries in offshore tax havens. And it's an insidious practice. On the one hand companies reap the benefits of Australian tax—infrastructure, education and the rule of law. On the other they avoid contributing to the cost of those benefits, by parking their money in an offshore shelter. You may argue that it's all part of a globalised economy, in which capital moves around at will; or you could say that tax havens are heightening inequality and poverty, corroding democracy, distorting markets, undermining financial regulation and limiting economic growth. Either way, sovereign governments—including Australia—need to face up to the issue. New tribunal to tackle trucking safety We've all heard stories of overworked and underpaid truck-drivers, fighting to stay awake and often forced to race to thei

Resource Rich or Dirt Poor? The revamped mineral resource rent tax is about to be debated in parliament and it's likely to stir up passions about the role of the mining industry in the Australian economy. The tax itself aims to secure the public a bigger share of the super profits being earned from exports of coal and iron ore, but the fate of the tax depends on the vote of independent MPs. Arguments for and against the tax hinge on whether the Australian government has a moral right to claim a larger share of the action during a mining boom. But there is a bigger question at stake: how should Australia spend its mining windfall? Indeed, should be spending it at all, or should we be stashing the cash in a sovereign fund for when the mining boom comes to an end (and following Canberra's own advice to neighbours like East Timor and PNG)? And what social responsibilities do mining companies towards the communities affected by the mining bonanza? Today's conversation was recorded on Saturday 8 October at the 2011 Adelaide Festival of Ideas. Feedback We discussed the mining boom last week on the National Interest with economist Bob Gregory. We looked at whether Australia may be suffering from a bout of 'Dutch Disease'—that's when exports push up the value of the currency, creating problems for other sectors of the economy which become more expensive. Greg, from Mornington, in Victoria, says to avoid the symptoms of Dutch Disease we should consider putting the brakes on our mineral exports... With the resources boom, what's the hurry? We're digging this stuff up and sending it overseas. It's a non-renewable resource—it will only get more valuable with time. And in the meantime, we're destroying the rest of our economy by artificially increasing the value of our dollar. Manufacturing, and tourism and education employ 10 times, of not 100 times more people than mining does. And mining is 80 per cent foreign-owned and they're having it all over us at the moment. It should be a more measured and long-term approach. However, Michael, from Canberra, is not convinced that the minerals boom really does explain the high Aussie dollar. I'd like to point out that the Australian current balance of overseas payments, including the minerals' boom, is heavily in deficit and has been for decades. Now, that would normally exert a downward pressure on exchange rates. So, the upward pressure on the rates have not come from minerals, or exports. In my contentio

The round-up To begin the weekly National Interest round-up, what seem like a few over-reactions to safety issues. When President Obama arrives in Canberra on Wednesday there will be hordes of people out to meet him, and to voice various messages of protest. Whether demonstrators will get a glimpse of Mr Obama—or he of them—is questionable, since protests will be corralled to an Authorised Assembly Area between Old and New Parliament House—presumably a fair distance away from the President himself. Even with these precautions in place, police are taking no chances and have refused permission for the HEMP Party to bring along its protest prop: a ten-metre long joint. HEMP stands for Help End Marijuana Prohibition, and spokesman Michael Balderstone from Nimbin told Grafton´s If mining loses its boom You may have heard the phrase 'Dutch Disease'—used to describe the impact on the Netherlands of the discovery vast North Sea gas reserves. The resulting resources rush pushed up the value of the Guilder, making Dutch exports more expensive and damaging other sectors of the economy—especially manufacturing. If 'Dutch Disease' is also known as the 'Gregory Effect', here's why: back in the 1970s, an Australian called Bob Gregory was the first economist to demonstrate the impact of a mineral boom on a country's subsequent economic performance. Today a Professor at the Australian National University, Bob Gregory remains one of Australia's most influential economists—so, when he writes about our current mining boom, it's worth taking notice. While Professor Gregory argues that we've benefited mightily from mining over the past eight years, the benefits of the boom have now peaked and we need to adjust economic policy accordingly. Uranium exports: the India conundrum When President Barack Obama touches down in Australia on Wednesday, one of the things he'll be keen to talk about with Prime Minister Julia Gillard is the sale of uranium to India. The US believes Australia's ban on uranium exports is hindering efforts to develop a broader economic and security pact to would link Washington, Canberra and New Delhi. The uranium ban could also spark a meltdown at the Australian Labor Party national conference next month, with Resources Minister Martin Ferguson leading the push for a change in policy. Uranium exports have traditionally been a tricky issue for Labor -- in 1984, the ALP national conference resolved to allow uranium

The round-up The National Interest round-up begins with a story linking a few of the program´s stories... namely airlines, discrimination and disability. 75-year-old Sheila King is taking Jetstar to court because it refused her a seat on a flight from Adelaide to Brisbane. The reason for the refusal: Ms King uses a wheelchair and there were already two other passengers with wheelchairs booked on the same plane. Jetstar told Flying kangaroo's international woes The extraordinary events which saw Qantas planes grounded and then returned to the skies has focussed attention on industrial relations and whether the Fair Work Act needs reform. But strike action and lockouts are only part of the story -- possibly a small part. According to a former top executive from Qantas, the flying kangaroo's lacklustre performance internationally is the real cause of the shutdown. And there are no clear skies ahead. So, while overall profits at Qantas look healthy ($250 million in the last financial year), its international flights struggle to make a return. In fact, were it not for its domestic operations (and the success of budget carrier Jet Star), the airline would be in an even bigger pickle than it already is. An excess of seats in and out of Australia is part of the equation, as Canberra welcomes flights by government-owned carriers that enjoy distinct advantages over Qantas. States at war over GST distribution It's the 'glue that binds federation'—and it's not cricket, the Queen or our collective obsession with an annual horse race. No; the adhesive that keeps the 'common' in our 'commonwealth' is a complex formula used to divvy out money between the states. It's called 'horizontal fiscal equalisation'—HFE, to those in the know—and it's been around, in some form, since the early years of federation. 'Equalisation' aims to ensure that poorer states can keep up with their wealthier neighbours, but the way it's used to slice up Australia's 48-billion-dollar GST pie is so contentious that it's now under formal review by the federal government. Submissions are in and they reveal some sharply contrasting views between states as to how GST revenue should be shared. Smaller states like Tasmania want to keep the status quo, while larger states like WA say equalisation leaves them short-changed. Disabled migrants still not welcome The White Australia policy was abolished in the early 1970s and today we would be horrified at the thought of reverting t