What do nylon socks have in common with public transport? Nothing. And it is with this same logic that Australia’s Government has adopted in addressing binge drinking. You see, they have slapped a massive tax on ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages (ie, alco-pops).
My understanding of alcoholics is limited to having watched the movies Arthur and Trading Places but I do feel confident in drawing the following conclusions:
1. If a can of bourbon and coke is all of a sudden 25% more expensive it is fair to assume that punters will go out and buy their own bourbon and their own coke. They are already doing it aided with the knowledge that the constituents are somewhat intuitive.
i2. Perhaps the problem lies in allowing 24hr multi-storey drink barns to operate. Ever notice you can replicate a full pub crawl across several bars spread over multipe floors and varying themes. No barman would ever have to serve you twice – handy for avoiding those pesty do-gooder barmen trying to exercise responsible serving of alcohol. Thankfully, there are also no windows or clocks ensuring that your good times and drinking are not disrupted by reminders of what day it is. Best of all, you only have to contend with the one bouncer at the start of the night. You can be completely off your nut but as long as you can still remember your PIN number, you’re in!
3. Prohibtion doesn’t work – Learnt that from watching The Untouchables.
Caught up with one of the chief ministers of Australia’s recently elected Labor government. In scenes straight out of Yes Minister, it was an education to hear a politician distancing himself from election promises within a fortnight of winning the Federal election. ‘We’ll try our best but the reality is that we made promises based on inadequate information base that is usually experienced when in opposition’. The next three years shuold be fun then. Labor was after all in the Opposition wilderness for almost 12 years! That’s a long time to be out of the loop.
To see that democracy is alive and well, go no further than proposed privatisation of the New South Wales’ power assets. Two previous state governments had already tried to privatise these assets without success. The unions blocked the deal on each occasion. So what has the Iemma government done differently to get this deal through? Surely the concerns of the unions could not have changed! In short, it is remarkable what effect a $40,000 cheque to each of the 3,000 or so energy workers to be privatised can have in smoothing the debate…And that, is democracy! And what’s more, who gets to pay for such efficiency? We do.
Proving that failure doesn’t have half the stigma it used to, the head of Merrill Lynch, Stan O’Neal, was ousted with a humiliating US$161m in his pocket to go away and think about how his company managed to lose US$7.9bn playing around in complicated debt instruments. I imagine it would be 
It’s hard to believe that we are seeing the housing crisis we are in the
Sydney’s most valuable tourist destination is surprisingly not the Opera House. It’s not even the Harbour Bridge or Bondi Beach. It’s actually a 6″2 bloke with a goatee, glasses and a ponytail. He is neither armed with rhetoric or campaign slogans…..just a velvet jacket and a placard that simply reads 
Macquarie Bank’s Allan Moss is easy media fodder. Not because Australia’s most powerful banker looks more like the frail, old bloke flogging poppies at the train station on ANZAC Day, but rather because of his $30m plus pay packet.
