Each side of politics takes it as a given that governments should treat citizens at least a little paternalistically – laws which protect people against their own desires are too numerous to list.
But it’s one thing to mandate seatbelts. It’s quite another to completely treat us like children.
In that spirit, the ACCC has introduced Unit [...]

New laws designed to make up for the fact that we’re not policing old laws: 24 hour bottle shops in inner-city Melbourne are having their opening hours “slashed“ (what an exciting word) in order to cut down on street violence.
How shorter opening hours are supposed to stop kids king-hitting each other isn’t exactly clear.
As with [...]

Sydney throws away $1 billion worth of food and drink a year, according to A Study.
Most of this is “fresh food”, although presumably by the time we throw it away the description of “fresh” is somewhat anachronistic. This is apparently bad because of a) money b) the environment and c) you shouldn’t throw things [...]

Guy, I’m all for the hard cases, and I heart the rule of law. So what would be more capricious or arbitrary: a scenario where prosecutors fail to pursue a fugitive for 30 years, and then let him off once he files to have it dismissed, or the current scenario where prosecutors fail to pursue [...]

McDonald’s stands condemned for sponsoring – and promoting! – a free maths tutoring program. You can test it out here – see the little M logo and observe the “insidious” (courtesy Rosemary Stanton) phrase “proudly provided by your local McDonald’s restaurant” in fuzzy 2-point font down the bottom of the page. Never say McDonald’s isn’t [...]