Weekly roundup Saturday 2 November
Competing housing policies
Weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy.
Three elections, common patterns
Elections in the ACT, Queensland, and a by-election in New South Wales reveal Labor’s weaknesses in outer suburbs, the Greens’s loss of support as they side with the Coalition to defeat Labor, and the continued erosion of the Liberal Party’s support in their former heartland of prosperous urban regions.
Other politics
Between them the King of England and Senator Lidia Thorpe make us look at serious constitutional issues most politicians try to avoid. Advice on how politicians should behave when they travel.
Housing
The government goes for urban consolidation, while the Coalition goes for shoddily-built houses in urban sprawl. Public polling shows the attraction of populist but counterproductive housing policies.
Other economics
The ABS finds our annual inflation is 0.4 percent, but the RBA has trouble understanding statistics. Modern Monetary Theory economists put their case for prioritising economics over finance. The political economy of smoking.
Public ideas
Advice for journalists in “an echo chamber of conflicting perceived truths”. Economists win a Nobel Prize for discovering that Australia and the Belgian Congo had different experiences of colonialism. Advice on re-invigorating liberal pluralism in an age of resurging ideologies.
A new day dawns in Queensland
If you have comments, corrections, or links to other relevant sources, I’d like to hear from you. Please send them to Ian McAuley — ian, at the domain name ianmcauley.com
