Andrew Leigh

On December 3, the International Day of People with a Disability, I visited Pegasus, an organisation in Holt that provides horse riding to people with a disability. If you'd like to know more about Pegasus, here's their website.

(Pegasus are the site of this year's ABC 666 Saturday Spruce Up, and they're really looking forward to the team arriving on Sat 11 Dec. If I can squeeze it in amidst kid-minding and mobile offices, I'm hoping to pop in.)http://www.youtube.com/v/VaCNbcZF6t8?fs=1&hl=en_US

In Bamaga, discussing the Indigenous economic development hearings that the Economics Committee are presently conducting. If you'd like to make a submission, details are here.http://www.youtube.com/v/C3Wn5PswGJs?fs=1&hl=en_US

Speaking of social capital, today is International Volunteers Day. If you'd like to volunteer, check out:

• VolunteerMatch


• FIDO


• Volunteering Australia

A constituent at my Charnwood mobile office on Saturday made the suggestion that fiscal and monetary policy are working against one another. Since this isn't the first time I've heard this suggestion, I thought it was worth a short post. In fact, both fiscal and monetary policy are currently working in a contractionary direction. Here's the relevant quote from part 1 of the Mid-Year Fiscal and Economic Outlook, released on 9 November:

Fiscal and monetary policy stimulus is also being withdrawn. As robust growth in private sector activity is taking hold, the fiscal stimulus is being phased out as planned and monetary policy stimulus has been withdrawn. The withdrawal of the fiscal stimulus started to detract from economic growth in the March quarter 2010, and is expected to reduce real GDP growth by 1 percentage point in 2010-11 and ½ of a percentage point in 2011-12.

I'll be giving a lecture in December to the ACT Fabians.  For more details see flyer overleaf.

The RBA Governor Glenn Stevens appeared before the House Economics Committee on Friday, to be quizzed by the seven members, myself included. One of the things that struck me most was his comment that when he attends meetings of central bank governors, he looks around the room at his 40-50 colleagues, and there's none that he'd choose to change places with. A transcript of the hearings is available via Parlinfo.

This week, the Committee will be holding hearings into Indigenous economic development in Queensland, particularly as it balances with the preservation of the area's wild rivers. Parliament-permitting, I'll be spending Tuesday to Thursday in far north Queensland. If you'd like to make a submission to our inquiry, details are here.

A few things that I've been reading over recent weeks.

• Michael Fullilove's moving tribute to his father, WWII soldier and Skippy director Eric Fullilove


• John Langmore (former member for Fraser, and prolific thinker) on how Australia can become a more effective UN member


• Nicholas Kristof on good and bad charitable donations


• Thomas Friedman on Arne Duncan's "national teacher campaign"


• McKinsey's recent report on attracting and retaining 'top-third graduates' to careers in teaching


• Skeptical Science, a blog responding to bogus anti-climate change arguments (includes a post on the impact of carbon pricing on the US economy)


• The declining effective tax rates paid by the richest 400 Americans


• The technological and ethical issues surrounding fighting robots

Sample text