The Jewish people did not lack for self-proclaimed messiahs seeking to stir trouble against the Roman occupiers. Why is only one of these men remembered today? Read more

If Central Queensland were its own state, it would be the richest state in the nation. Central Queensland produces $40 billion of wealth for Australia every year, from a population base of just over 400,000. That’s an income per person of more than $100,000, double that of Tasmania. Read more

I was in Mareeba recently talking to growers about the difficult market structure they faced.  I asked: "Why don't you get together and collectively bargain so that you can counterbalance the power of buyers?"  The growers said to me they tried that a few years ago.  Three big growers had had enough: they all agreed not to supply the Cairns market the next Saturday.  The next Saturday came, and the grower who left at 5.30 in the morning passed the other two who were already on their way back from Cairns. Read more

George Orwell once said that political language was designed to “give an appearance of solidity to pure wind”.  Step forward exhibit A and the Labor Party’s explanation for refusing to fix the mess that is Australian renewable energy policy. Mark Butler says that Labor will not “stand by and watch” billions of dollars in investment in renewables head overseas. Read more

The emergence of Bitcoins and other forms of digital currency could revolutionise money markets. If competition is so good in markets for products, why shouldn’t we allow competition in markets for currency too – why should governments have a monopoly? Read more

THIS year is the 80th anniversary of John ‘Black Jack’ McEwen’s election to Parliament. John McEwen is generally no longer thought of so much as a leader of a political party but as a prophet of protectionism. Read more

THE last time I was at an anti-mining protest, there was a sign saying, “We can’t eat coal”. I couldn’t argue against that: coal is fossilised plants 200 to 300 million years old. It is well past its use-by date. But then, in another sense, we do eat coal, or at least the embodied energy that all food contains. Read more

DEBT is the only mountain that is easier to climb up than trek down. The agricultural industry has climbed the mountain at speed in the past 20 years. Read more

THE advocates of renewable energy would have you believe that they have discovered the economic equivalent of the fountain of youth. According to them, we can adopt more expensive ways of doing things, yet that will lead to cheaper prices. Read more

Australia has 16 cities with a population of more than 100,000 people. Three of our youngest five cities, Cairns, Darwin and Townsville, are in Northern Australia. These three cities were all established within around a decade of each other, from 1865 to 1876.  Read more