Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"The family had decided to keep quiet about the mystery surrounding Jake's death, preferring to let the Army handle the media questions, but a string of incredible mistakes has culminated with the body of Judy's son not being sent back to Australia where the family was waiting to retrieve the coffin. Judy Kovco now wants Australians to know exactly what has happened in the six days since her son was killed, and the circumstances under which he died." Darryl Mason

"Africa received $520billion in aid between 1960 and 1997, the equivalent of six Marshall Plans, and finished up even poorer than before. For some 50 years, foreign aid programmes have been a standard feature of Western dealings with the Third World in general and Africa in particular. The ‘goal’ was defined as assisting modernisation and development. Half a century on Africa remains a basket case with levels of poverty rising, not dropping, virtually across the entire continent." Roslyn Ross

"Some people still think of wage subsidies as a welfare hand-out. But these subsidies are very different from social assistance and social insurance programs. Although such programs have been substantial in Europe and the US, the working poor remain as marginalised as ever. Indeed, social spending has worsened the problem, because it reduces work incentives and thus creates a culture of dependency and alienation from the commercial economy, undermining labor force participation, employability, and employee loyalty. What is needed is higher employment and pay through higher demand for the least productive workers." Edmund S Phelps