Follow the money - it won't make you communist
Anyone would think I'd gone communist. Along with John Howard.
Articles from Peter Martin
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Cost of tax breaks soars on profits selling homes
Government spending on tax breaks is set to hit a record $170 billion this year, largely as a result of an explosion in the value of concession for the family home.
A tick from the IMF but company tax cuts no sure thing
When the International Monetary Fund boosted its forecasts of world economic growth on the back of better prospects in the US this week, Australia's Treasurer Scott Morrison was quick to claim it as an endorsement of company tax cuts.
Safe, but scared. How Victoria became a state of fear
There's something weird in the crime section of the report on government services released on Thursday.
How about showing us the TPP we're about to sign?
What's in the revised Trans-Pacific Partnership deal for Australia? There's no way to tell until we've seen the text, and we won't see it until after it's signed, in Chile on March 8. Really. That's the way things normally work.
Trump's sugar hit to boost world economy - IMF
A sugar hit from the Trump administration's US tax cuts is expected to propel world economic growth to 3.9 per cent in 2018, the best result in eight years.
Enjoy the Hottest 100, but it's not all it seems
Wanna rig the Hottest 100?
It's surprisingly easy. I am not talking about blatant write-in campaigns of the kind that attempted to push Shake It Off to the top in 2015. They've been headed off by a new rule that says "votes made as part of a competition that promotes a song or artist, or a campaign that undermines the Hottest 100 may be disqualified or ignored".
Government grants sloppy, and perhaps corrupt
Before the last election the Turnbull government had an unofficial budget: $20 million for each electorate in play. It could be handed out as picnic tables, fire trails, skate parks, netball courts, disabled toilets, or anything else that made it look as if the government cared about the electorate.
A senior source told me it was clever – Turnbull had managed to cap the financial cost. Labor said little. It couldn't. In office it had done it itself.
Sugar's tobacco moment as voters call for new tax
Imagine a tax that Coalition voters actually wanted. They certainly don't want more income tax (only 12 per cent do, according to an Essential poll), they certainly don't want more company tax (they want less) and they will cop an increase in GST only if it brings down other taxes.
But then there is sugar. This week's Essential poll reveals the sort of disdain for sugar there is for tobacco.
The gang crisis our leaders help create
What is it about the African gang crisis that's so disturbingly familiar?