Author Archives: Andrew Bushnell

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December 2, 2019

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Opinion

More Regulation Is Not The Solution To Westpac Revelations

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Yet another scandal among Australia’s banks suggests the industry is in dire need of a clean-out. Westpac has committed one of the most startling failures of corporate governance in Australian history. After a year-long investigation, the bank stands accused of failing to report, as required by law, 23 million transactions that it had facilitated, and, in particular, failing to notice a series of suspicious transactions originating from South-east Asia that have been implicated in child exploitation.

The consequences for Westpac continued to mount. The bank is expected to be fined more than $1 billion. It lost $6 billion in market capitalisation, or 7 per cent of its value. Its chairman and chief executive have both resigned. All of this is fair enough. The allegations are extremely serious and, if proved, demonstrate an almost-incredible negligence.

Inevitably, these facts raise the question of whether a policy response is required, and what kind. Given the recent Hayne inquiry into various kinds of malfeasance by Australia’s banks, it would be understandable if the first recourse that comes to political minds is more legislation or regulation. But this would be a mistake.

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November 28, 2019

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The changing political economy of criminal justice reform in Australia

This is an edited version of a speech I gave at the 9th International Criminal Justice Conference in Melbourne in 2019.

The past ten years have seen rapid rises in incarceration and its attendant costs, right across Australia. These basic facts are becoming more widely-understood, and this is, in turn, changing the politics of criminal justice in Australia. Slowly, reform is becoming more politically viable. My purpose here is to describe why this is happening and how we can help it along.

Since 2016, the Institute of Public Affairs Criminal Justice Project has put out nine research reports, two briefs for parliamentarians, and a book chapter; we have met with more than 20 MPs and their offices; and had dozens of opinion pieces and media mentions. The IPA is Australia’s leading centre-right think tank, and over this time we have been the loudest voice on the conservative side of politics in calling for a rethink of criminal justice policy. Our project started with one basic question: whether Australian jurisdictions are incarcerating too many people unnecessarily. Our interest in the topic was inspired by work done by similar institutions in the United States, and by a suspicion that criminal justice has escaped the kind of sceptical scrutiny that we normally apply to government spending and action. More deeply, our work in this area connects to our belief that society should have a shared aspiration for individuals to live dignified, self-sustaining, meaningful lives.

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November 19, 2019

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Skewed Priorities – Comparing The Growth Of Prison Spending With Police Spending

This is the media release for my research report with the above title.

Over the past decade, Australia has seen an unsustainable rise in the rate and cost of incarceration. Nationally, the incarceration rate is at an all-time high of 217 per 100,000 adults, and prisons now cost taxpayers $4.6 billion every year (including capital costs).

This increase in spending on prisons creates a trade-off with other government priorities, like policing. Six years ago Australian governments spent more than $4 dollars on police for every $1 spent on prisons; today, that figure is $3.40. This pattern is seen in every Australian jurisdiction apart from the Northern Territory. This matters because, like incarceration, policing aims to deter would-be offenders. Indeed, many studies indicate that it performs this task more effectively than prison, because offenders are deterred more strongly by the prospect of being caught than the severity of the punishments that they may face.

International figures show that by the measure of police spending to prison spending, Australian jurisdictions rank in between American states, which tend to spend more on prisons, and the countries of the European Union, which tend to spend less. Australia is moving towards a more American-style distribution, even as the US moves in the opposite direction.

Moreover, high rates of incarceration eventually create trade-offs for other areas of government service delivery. In jurisdictions like Western Australia and the Northern Territory, there are noticeably lower ratios between spending on schools and public hospitals and spending on prisons. Given that education and health are both associated with reduced offending, this trade-off may again be reducing community safety.

Australian jurisdictions can improve community safety by pursuing sensible and safe reforms to reduce incarceration, and redirecting spending to more efficient deterrence and rehabilitation.

Download Report – Skewed priorities: comparing the growth of prison spending with police spending

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October 18, 2019

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Australian Values And The Enduring Importance Of The Nation-State

This is the media release for a research report with the above title, co-authored by me with Zac Gorman and Daniel Wild.

The preparation of Australian values and the enduring importance of the nation-state is motivated by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee’s Inquiry into nationhood, national identity and democracy. This inquiry’s remit is broad and ranges from changing notions of nationhood, declining public trust in Australia’s major political institutions, and the impact of globalisation and economic interdependence on the nation state. This report focuses on five areas.

First, this report outlines three key Australian values: political and economic freedom, egalitarianism, and localism and argues that these values are deeply ingrained in Australia’s national identity. These values ought to be buttressed by broad protections for freedom of speech, association, and religion; low taxes and a tolerable regulatory regime so as not to discourage enterprise; and a return to the principles of localism and federalism upon which Australia was founded.

Secondly, it is argued that the society that will be best-placed to respond to the challenges identified in the Senate Committee’s discussion paper is an asset-owning democracy, within which individuals have reason and incentive to pursue their interests to their own benefit and to that of their community and nation. There are five key components of asset-owning democracy which give Australians a stake in the success of the nation:

● Home ownership is a stake in one’s local community and in the country.

● Work is a stake in one’s dignity through personal responsibility.

● Enterprise is a stake in the economy and the success of others.

● Tax is a stake in the size and activity of government.

● Saving, especially for retirement, is a stake in the future of the country.

Thirdly, this paper considers the ongoing relevance and importance of the nation-state as a home where millions of individuals can live together with a shared set of values, customs, habits, and beliefs, and enjoy with one another a common heritage and tradition.

Fourthly, we consider the idea of popular sovereignty and argue that declining trust in Australia’s governing institutions caused in part by the departure of our rulers from Australia’s fundamental values. In particular, this section outlines the way in which freedom, egalitarianism, and localism have been undermined through government intervention.

The final section considers the notion of democratic accountability—of giving power back to the people—and the ways in which this can be implemented so as to restore trust among the public in Australia’s governing institutions.

Download the report here. 

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October 15, 2019

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Opinion

Sydney Motorists Do Not Want A Congestion Tax

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If there were fewer poor people on the roads, rich people could get to work more easily and everyone would be better off. This, in a nutshell, is the argument for the congestion tax, a charge on drivers of vehicles seeking to enter and exit the city during morning and evening peak times.

The idea has returned to public debate this week after the Grattan Institute released a report recommending its implementation in Australia’s capital cities.

Pointing to international examples London, Singapore and Stockholm, the report argues for a flat fee to be imposed on vehicles crossing a cordon around the inner city in peak hour.

The fee would be roughly equivalent to the cost of a public transport ticket.

This enables the remaining vehicles to move through the city more efficiently. People deterred by the fee would be expected to use alternatives like public transport, cycling and walking.

According to the Grattan Institute, we should care about congestion not only because it is uncomfortable to sit in traffic but because transportation inefficiency reduces the economic benefits of cities. Delays impose opportunity costs, limit employment mobility, and make it harder to access goods and services.

If this all seems familiar, that is because the congestion tax is a zombie idea, one that has already consumed many brains.

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