Businesses have been shedding their identity as employers for at least 30 years, profiting from the work performed by ‘independent contractors’ without the cost, risk or aggravation of actually dealing with employees. Whining about cab drivers transcends national boundaries. From New York to Sydney, the complaints are indistinguishable. Sitting among 450 of the world’s leading…

By acting unilaterally to adequately compensate victims of sexual abuse, the Catholic church would send a powerful message that is has changed. At first glance, a national redress scheme for victims of childhood sexual abuse, jointly funded by government, churches, schools and other institutions, might seem like a sensible idea. A meaningful form of redress…

In the early hours of Friday 10 April, as I slept in Melbourne, American author Naomi Wolf was posting on Facebook to condemn me as “deranged”, “genocidal” and “psychotic”. Wolf and I have never met or communicated before. Regrettably, she was not alone. In the course of that night, I was on the receiving end…

In 2011, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe enacted an extraordinary law preventing employees in that country from seeking wage rises above 2.5 per cent per annum. That last sentence is a lie. Mugabe did no such thing. Barry O’Farrell’s government did. Three years ago, the NSW government passed such a law. As a result, NSW public…

In October 2014, David Freud, the British welfare minister, gave a speech in which he argued that some workers with intellectual disabilities should not be paid the UK minimum wage. In the furore that followed, disability groups and the Labor opposition called for Freud to be sacked. David Cameron ordered him to apologise and within…

In a crowded and competitive field, surely it is Mark Latham’s 2013 essay Not Dead Yet; Labor’s Post Left Future that triumphs as the high point of destructive nostalgia for the Hawke-Keating era. With a tendency to mythologise, cherry-pick and whitewash much of that era, Latham’s exhortation for current and aspiring ALP politicians is not…

The finance executive sitting opposite me is speaking so rapidly and erratically that I struggle to understand what he is talking about. I wait until I sense an opportunity to intervene. I explain that in order to help him I need to understand what has happened at work and that he has to slow down.…

In Australia, the economic transformation wrought by 22 consecutive years of economic growth and an unprecedented mining boom has played a crucial part in these changes, generating enormous prosperity. Entrepreneurs have increasingly tiered their business offerings to target this wealth. Australia is now one of the wealthiest countries in the world, vying with Switzerland and…

If economics was sexy, life would be very different. Thomas Piketty, the French professor who has recently published an acclaimed book about growing inequality, is now described as a “rock star economist”. But the truth is that the book is a boring read, and it is most unlikely that Piketty will imminently destroy a suite…

In August 2014, the Australian parliament voted to repeal a scheme that placed a price on carbon emissions. The carbon price was working as intended: reducing carbon emissions while supporting continued economic growth. Australia was once a leader in dealing with climate change; seven years after ratifying the Kyoto protocol, it is now something approaching…

In possibly the most unusual case of workplace bullying I have encountered the bully kept a diary of his mistreatment of his victim. He catalogued the extensive and sometimes bizarre bullying acts on the company’s information technology system. In doing so, he was bragging to his cohort and encouraging them to join in. They obliged.…

In October 2012, I gave a speech to an Australian Industry Group conference in Canberra, arguing that the public debate about industrial relations lacked any scientific or factual basis. I singled out for criticism a range of business leaders who had been arguing that labour laws were an impediment to productivity. My speech prompted the…