Having sat on the RBA Board ex officio in my then capacity as Secretary to the Treasury, I know how decisions are taken within that body. In recent years, most particularly since September 2016, those decisions have brought little credit to an institution that should be, and once was, a respected national institution

A Treasury giving honest advice will be a Treasury in which bright young people want to work. One which retreats into the coward’s castle of 'responsiveness' will quickly earn their disdain and departure, a heavy price to pay. In this regard, Paul Tilley's otherwise worthwhile 'Changing Fortunes: A History of the Australian Treasury' suffers from a crucial failure of insight

Our once boundless goodwill towards Aboriginal fellow Australians is becoming exhausted. Despite the countless billions spent in their behalf, each failed program spawns yet another, with recent developments the last straw. It’s time to say, 'Enough! It’s over'

In both the House and the Senate I shall be putting a Turnbull-led Liberal Party last. My vote, of course, is but one of millions. The real issue will be how many other Liberal voters will feel equally outraged when they enter the voting booths?

We are a young nation, but that 113 years of existence has been enough for centralism to overturn the founders' vision. On a weekend when we celebrate our history there is comfort in hoping Tony Abbott might be the man to reverse the tide

Some years after leaving the Treasury I was asked about […]

My article in the last edition,[1] Floating the Dollar: Facts […]

The first draft of history, they say, is written by […]

Part I of this article is here… Friday 9 December: […]