Is Rudd the Australian ambassador of China???

Good luck, sleep well and remember the basics. (fact, explanation, example) and make sure your answer is balanced without becoming an emotional diatribe.
Hope I have some interesting marking ahead.

Eco- Is Foreign Aid good for Africa?

On the 17th of March, Foreign Correspondent (yes on the ABC) had an interview with Dambisa Moyo a Zambian-born economist. This is some of the information from the ABC web site.

"In her new book, Dead Aid, she argues that official aid is easy money that fosters corruption and distorts economies, creating a culture of dependency and economic laziness.
Moyo is particularly dismissive of the ‘celebrity aid’ model popularised by international stars such as Bob Geldof and Bono and says many aid organisations and NGOs are more interested in perpetuating poverty in order to justify their own existence."

Interesting thoughts indeed. Moyo is a believer in trade and the power of the market as opposed to the aid model in which she claims the only growth occurring is in the Swiss banks accounts of the political elite.
Lastly she claims that 10 percent of Africans were living in poverty in the 1970s compared to 70 percent now.
What do you think? It would be good to hear some comments for a change.... (PS this is not a new concept it is new for an African economist to be suggesting it though)

Legal - Modern day slavery

The Wei Tang case is very important regarding human rights and the definition of modern slavery in Australia. It was eventually found that ownership is an old fashioned definition of slavery however that 'control over freedom and movement' and to be 'deprived of choice' did exist.

It is estimated that between 400-1000 women (Project respect) are brought to Australia every year for the purposes of sex work and the UN estimates that up to 4 million people are trafficked yearly.

Sex Slavery- the Wei Tang case involved the first person to be charged guilty for possessing of sex slaves. Five women were brought to Australia and told they had to work off debts of $45,000 before they could earn an income. Wei Tang received 10 yrs in June 2006 from the Victorian County Court.
On appeal "her convictions were quashed and a fresh trial was ordered after the Court of Appeal ruled directions given to the jury were inadequate." The prosecution then appealed to the High Court which upheld (agreed) with the original decision which means she is /was guilty. SMH Aug 08.
From an Australian legal point of view this is a landmark case as Weng argued that she was involved in debt bondage not slavery. The Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cwlth) is the issue and the actual defintion of slavery. After hearing the appeal the majority of High Court agreed that the defintion which comes from the 1926 International Convention to supress the Slave Trade was correctly applied.
For additional information see Madam or slave? (The Age) or for a comprehensive discussion see this ANU report which goes into the legal detail.

Yr 12 Eco; An interesting week (updated 11/3)

The past week has been an interesting week in the world of the Australian economy. Statistics seem to drive the political cycle and this makes for interesting viewing in the times we are currently living.
On Tuesday after the RBA decided to hold interest rates on hold for March (after 5 succesive cuts of the cash rate from 7.25% to 3.25%) in a 'vote of confidence'.
In his statement on 3/3/09 Glenn Stevens stated "In Australia, demand has not weakened as much as in other countries and, on the basis of currently available information, the Australian economy has not experienced the sort of large contraction seen elsewhere."

Then on Wednesday the figures the government has been dreading were released. The December quarter growth (GDP) figures showed the economy contracted by 0.5%. This is the first period of negative growth since Dec 2000. The ABS figures also showed that the end of year figures (0.3%) were the lowest since 1990.
Interesting the manufacturing sector contracted by 4.7% and the TCF by 8.5%. On the positive side the agricultural sector expanded production by 10%.


Finally today (Mon 9/3) the World Bank has released a report stating that the volume of world trade will decline for the first time since 1982. Secondly in a report the bank has prepared for next weeks G20 meeting the World Bank states that the world economy will shrink for the first time in 60 years. They have advised developing nations to monitor their banking sectors and to stay away from protectionsim which in their view will 'deepen the crisis'.
Interestingly they te World Bank also suggest that governments like Australia should "create a "vulnerability fund" and to set aside a fraction of what they spend on stimulating their own economies to help others.
After all that dastardly news the positive spin is whilst most of the major OECD nations are officially in recession Australia has the lowest negative growth.

Yr 12 Legal - International Crime and the Holocaust

The visit today to the Sydney Jewish Museum brought back to me the importance of ordinary people taking action. Making sure that despite what the Professor said "we don't learn lessons from history" that when a opportunity presents itself we do not idly sit back and watch.


An interesting sidenote is the Vasiljkovic case where the first successful extradition of a person living in Australia may occur. A lack of political will has meant that previous war criminals in Australia have escaped punishment and may have even been protected by ASIO according to historian Mark Aarons.

In the recent SMH article Fergus Hanson says "Australia draws an odd distinction between suspected war criminals living outside Australia and those living within our borders. Australia is wholehearted in its effort to bring external war criminals to justice.

Despite resistance in some quarters, we became a member of the International Criminal Court in 2002 and last year we gave $15 million to various international criminal courts and tribunals." SMH 11/02/09

What this case highlights is that international law is highly difficult to enforce and thus largely ineffective without the strong will of politicians who may criticise others yet be weak in their own backyards. The Rome Statute setting up the the ICC was signed in 1998, Australia did not become a member for another 4 years??

For those of you who are interested in further reading about recent international issues see;
Cambodia (Feb '09)
Rwanda (Feb '09)
the Former Yugoslavia (July '08)


"the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (and women) to do nothing" Edmund Burke.

Year 12 Eco

On the 27th of February signed the AANZFTA with the 10 members of ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mynamar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam). It is Austrlaia's first regional FTA and there will be significant reduction in protection for agriculture, services, chemicals and electrical goods.

Interestingly "With the car industry, Mr Crean said there had been tough negotiations and Australia would eliminate tariffs for all ASEAN nations. “But there will be slower phase-out arrangements for tariffs on vehicles manufactured in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as Australia demanded reciprocal arrangements with those countries,” he said.

Mr Crean said some of these higher car tariff schedules could be addressed in bilateral FTAs.

“I am pleased to say the agreement will achieve very significant tariff cuts on automotive parts and components,”
This means the noodle bowl of FTAs and regionalism continues where despite a regional FTA not all aspects are covered and individual negiotions are needed to gain concessions on key aspects like the automative industry.

If you would like to read more on the noodle bowl syndrome then take a look at this paper no. 7 from the Asian Development Bank.