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Creating a market place of ideas and opportunities
Douglascomms | November 15, 2010At the launch of First 5000 on 20 October 2010 held at NSW Parliament House business journalist Jeanne-Vida Douglas interviewed First 5000 Editor Virginia Harrison.
JVD: There are literally thousands of Australians out there at the moment working in jobs that they are not enjoying all that much while sitting on excellent business ideas which could blossom into successful ventures, if only they had the know how to take those ideas and put them into operation.
Mortgage exit fees: why banning them would hurt industry, kill competition, and enrage consumers
Darren Moffatt - Seniors First | November 15, 2010Mortgage exit fees are an unpopular beast within the larger banking ecosystem.
Let’s face it, no one likes bank fees. Well, maybe bank CEO’s and shareholders are quite fond of them, but for pretty much everyone else they’re about as popular as whooping cough.
Keeping Japanese Whaling in Context
Warren Reed | November 11, 2010Japan’s continued whaling may be more influenced by national politics than tastes.
Recently, in Tokyo, a group of Australian business people sat down to dinner with their Japanese counterparts. Somehow the topic of whaling arose and the visitors asked how many Japanese regularly ate whale meat.
The answer was, very few. Of the Japanese present, half had tried it once, largely out of curiosity, and the others, never. By any measure, it was not a significant part of the Japanese diet. As a consequence, the Japanese pointed out, it was well and truly time that their country put an end to whaling, though that was unlikely to happen any time soon as a result of Australia taking Japan to an international court over the matter.
The consensus was that this would simply make the Japanese industry more intransigent and delay a decision that should have been made years ago.
No more excuses! Equal marriage rights now
sharinementzik | November 5, 2010Comparing gay marriage to child abuse: a new low in Australian politics.
During the Federal election campaign, Family First Senate Candidate Wendy Francis tweeted, “Legitimising gay marriage is like legalizing child abuse.” Although her view is an extreme one, the Federal government’s current stance on gay marriage complacently supports it.
As a child of a lesbian mother, their ignorant excuses for the same-sex marriage ban enrage me.
Francis claims that children brought up by gay couples suffer “uncontrollable depression and suicide.” However, a study at the University of Southern California reveals that the emotional development of children with gay and lesbian parents does not differ from children with heterosexual ones.
Lithium could help Bolivia rival Australia
toribrownrigg | November 3, 2010Will Bolivia step up to the world stage and compete with Australian exporters?
Bolivia’s abundance of lithium deposits is redundant if President Evo Morales can’t collaborate with the foreign investors that have the capacity to mine the brines at Uyuni’s salt flats. Morales only need to look as far as Australia and China to see the wealth and opportunity of which he is depriving his nation.
Political power is shifting. Energy suppliers have newfound power in global markets. Those that export are credible and influential within the global arena.
Bolivia’s energy production is stunted by the internal chaos of its urban social movements and conflicting nationalist ideologies that oppose privatisation of energy and domination of foreign firms. Natural energy resources may offer Bolivia greater prosperity as burgeoning populations increase energy consumption.
UncategorisedFirst 5000 Launch
editor | October 28, 2010
The Deputy Director General, NSW Industry and Investment, had words of encouragement for First 5000 as it launched on 20 October at Parliament House in Sydney. READ MORE »»
2010 World Cup: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Oceane Sellier | October 28, 2010You are in all likelihood one of the nearly 3 billion people who watched and enjoyed the South African 2010 World Cup. You are also probably amongst the majority of fans who are unaware of its real cost.
After the magic of the South African 2010 World Cup, South Africans did not get the expected 5.5 billion Euro boost to the economy. Nor is the promised creation of 415,000 jobs a reality. Joseph S. Blatter, the CEO of FIFA promised that “the World Cup will benefit the whole African continent” and that “it will boost the economy”.
FIFA’s promises have not translated into reality, leaving South Africa with enormous debts.
In the hope of change, developing countries are more willing to go to enormous costs to host the Worls Cup, especially compared to developed host countries.
Bo Xilai for President?
Shiyu Jin | October 27, 2010Bo Xilai is embraced by the Chinese public, but his naked ambition and widespread appeal clearly scare the party elite.
Named “Man of the Year” in a 2009 online poll conducted by newspaper People’s Daily, Bo Xilai is considered a rising political star in China. Following a stint as the Commerce Secretary of China; he now has the top job in the southwestern city of Chongqing, the largest China’s provincial municipality.
Bo was catapulted to fame by the success of the anti-mafia operation in Chongqing city. His popularity could pave the way for the next generation of China’s leaders to behave in a Western way, that is more open and less rigid.
Between June 2009 and February 2010, the Chongqing Public Security cracked 32,771 criminal cases and made 9,512 arrests; 65 of which results in individuals being sentenced to either death or life inprisionment.
Nanny state laws stub out smokers’ civil liberties
Benjamin Fisk | October 27, 2010“It won’t work so why do it?"
Thus is the incendiary punch-line behind a current series of advertisements funded by the Australian Retailers Alliance, rallying against the Labor Party’s proposed ‘plain packaging’ laws.
The new laws, proposed in April by the Rudd government with a view to being enforced by 2012, will see cigarette packs shorn of their traditional logos, colours and pack designs, in addition to an excise tax increase of 25% imposed earlier this year.
But is there more to this legislation.
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