The round-up The National Interest round up begins in the West this week, where newish Liberal Premier Colin Barnett is instituting a dress code for MPs. The Premier appears to think that when it comes to standards of parliamentary behaviour, clothes maketh the politician. Henceforth men will be expected to sport jacket and tie - and women to adopt "suitable business attire". Australian unis face offshore campus dilemma Just over a month ago, North Queensland-based James Cook University opened a brand new campus, with room to accommodate 3,000 students and all of the latest mod-cons you would expect. But this new campus was somewhat further north than Cairns or Townsville... Since 2003, James Cook University has been offering degree programs in Singapore, to full fee-paying students who want to obtain an Australian education without leaving home. It's all part of the push into Asia by Australian universities, who are competing fiercely to get their slice of the region's thriving education market. But what responsibilities do Australian universities have when they operate offshore - particularly when it comes to free speech? Last week, James Cook University suspended an academic at its Singapore campus, who is facing contempt of court charges for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of a kangaroo . The academic - John Tan Liang Joo - is arguing the university should have done more to defend his right to free speech. And his Australian colleagues agree. Exit Pacific Solution, enter Indian white elephant Since taking office almost a year ago, the Rudd government has significantly softened Australia's policies towards asylum seekers. Detention camps in Pacific island states have been closed, temporary protection visas have been abolished, there's a promise not to detain children and a commitment to fast-track decision-making on visa applications. Only in recent weeks, however, has Labor's approach really been put to the test by asylum seekers entering Australian waters on boats from Indonesia. There are now 26 asylum seekers being held at two facilities on the remote Australian Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island - although none of them will be in the island's brand-spanking-new, $400 million, purpose-built detention centre. The problem is: there are too few asylum seekers to make it worthwhile opening up the new facility. Besides, the government has committed to keeping women and children out of detention. So, where are the asylum seekers staying, and why bother having a remote detention centre anyway? Size matters: digging the biggest mine in the world BHP Billiton plans to expand its Olympic Dam operations at Roxby Downs to develop the world's largest open cut mine. The copper, gold and uranium project could be a massive boost to the South Australian economy; but BHP will have to move a million tonnes of earth a day - every day - for four years just to get to the ore. The profits will be large, but so will the environmental footprint. It's a project of such scale that it could shape the economic future of South Australia - with jobs and revenue for the state - but it could also affect the area's ecological future. BHP Billiton says an Environmental Impact Statement for the expansion will be lodged with the government before the end of the year, but the company won't talk about its plans until that statement is released for public comment next year. However, last week the BHP Billiton took a bunch of industry analysts on a tour including Olympic Dam - its copper, gold and uranium mine at Roxby Downs. And in the process, BHP executives revealed a bit more detail about their plans to expand their operation. Listener feedback On last week's program we discussed rail lines in the Pilbara and whether BHP and Rio should be forced to share their tracks with other mining companies. Private property versus competition - nothing like a kerfuffle over the key principles of free enterprise to fire up the National Interest audience. David, from Queensland, wrote in the guest book: "It was delightful to hear Alan Moran from the Institute of Public Affairs, while justifying the rent-seeking behaviour of WA's iron ore duopoly, endeavour to maintain the pretence that the IPA has a free-market ideology. Reference is made to socialist trojan horses. How big does a corporation have to be before its interests become indistinguishable from those of governments? Please invite Mr Moran back. It's interesting to hear what they want us to believe." Ditto, Viola, in Victoria: "The financial crisis has to be fixed by 'regulation - ie, tax-payers bail-out the corporate banking crooks. And now we have yet another contradiction between venerated 'private property' and the sacred 'Free Market.' Laissez-faire hacks like Alan Moran of the IPA have a headache as reality is more complicated than his capitalist ideology. Listener Harry took umbrage at Alan Moran's throwaway line that we risk of going "back to the 1950's" if government funds infrastructure. "These people have learned nothing from history [...] He and others like him are the economic dinosaurs, they are taking us back to the 1850's. This has all been tried before and found wanting. Karl Marx should be compulsory reading at every educational institution." Andrew in Victoria says it's 'blindingly obvious' that one railway through the Pilbara is more than enough: "In much of suburban Melbourne you can see kerbside rows of plane trees sliced through the middle to make way for two sets of cable infrastructure that were installed in the 90s: one for Foxtel and one for Optus, in the name of 'competition'. They do exactly the same job - one a completely redundant clone of the other. Only in the rarefied air of corporate investment committees and boardrooms does this kind of stupidity look sensible.." But Robert, an economist from New South Wales, has a more nuanced view. He thinks it's reasonable for BHP and Rio to keep control of their railway lines and for rival firms to lay their own tracks: BHP and Rio have not offered to share their lines with third parties. Let's assume that this is because their costs - especially the higher costs of coordinating third-party access - would exceed any price those third parties would be prepared to pay. Robert says the key test is whether controlling the infrastructure enables the BHP and Rio to raise prices: "With only nine per cent of the world market for iron ore, it cannot be said that BHP and Rio are a duopoly ... Individually or collectively they cannot raise the world price for iron ore." So, there is no need for government intervention in the Pilbara, says Robert - but he says there is a case for intervention when it comes installing telecommunications infrastructure. "In Telstra's case, there is no doubt that it is the dominant supplier, with market power that it abuses, when the ACCC isn't looking. Listener Ray reckons the big boys hold over the Pilbara the rail lines should be broken - if only to reward their rival Twiggy Forrest, the community-minded CEO of Fortescue Metals, who's launched a campaign to get 50-thousand indigenous Australians into jobs: "People like Andrew Forrest, who went to the trouble of building the swimming pool at Fitzroy Crossing for the Aboriginal people, and now this employment initiative, deserve to be supported by our government." Mark from Batemans' Bay, took me to task over my promo for the Pilbara discussion. "Yeah, very good program the National Interest, always listen to it. But the next one coming up is advertised as 'who owns the railroad'. Uhm, just another bit of Americanism coming into this country. We call them 'railways' in this country, Peter." Fair enough Mike. I think I used 'railroad' for a bit of diversity - to avoid saying 'railway' six times in thirty seconds Our interview two weeks ago with Aboriginal academic Stephen Hagan on the Coon Cheese name blame-game still has the phone running hot. Listener Margaret in Perth has had enough - though she seems confused about just who might be offended by the name 'Coon': "I'm absolutely astounded at this nonsense over the Coon Cheese. It has nothing to do with `coons´, in inverted commas; it has nothing to do with having a shot at anybody. Even Chinese people generally don't eat cheese, so it can't have any significance whatsoever." If you're cheesed off by anything on today's program, call the feedback line - 1300 936 222 - or click the 'have your say' button at the top of this page.
LESS