Author Archives: David Walker

About David Walker

David Walker runs editorial consultancy Shorewalker DMS (shorewalker.net), editing and advising business and government on reports and other editorial content. David has previously edited Acuity magazine and the award-winning INTHEBLACK business magazine, been chief operating officer of online publisher WorkDay Media, held policy and communications roles at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia and the Business Council of Australia and run the website for online finance start-up eChoice. He has qualifications in law and corporate finance. He has written on economics, business and public policy from Melbourne, Adelaide and the Canberra Press Gallery.

The strange origins of Melbourne’s $100bn Suburban Rail Loop

Posted on August 15, 2021 by David Walker

I spent some time last year planning a piece for a commercial media client about the Melbourne Suburban Rail Loop, a planned underground rail tunnel through Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and then out, partly above-ground, to the west. I had to … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Cracking the code: How to tell what News Corp really thinks about the price of links

Posted on February 21, 2021 by David Walker

News Corp is telling us what Google should really pay for linking to its sites. It’s telling us in code. And the answer is … $0.00. What is an Internet link worth? For most of the Internet’s life, this question … Continue reading →

Posted in Bullshit, Business, Economics and public policy, Information, Intellectual Property, IT and Internet, Media, Politics - national, regulation, Web and Government 2.0 | 19 Comments

Why “final offer arbitration” is Russian Roulette for Google

Posted on February 20, 2021 by David Walker

The legislated “bargaining” process between Google and News Corp is unmoored from reality. Its “final offer arbitration” is unsuited to the task. In the debate over the federal government’s news media bargaining code, rather strange things have happened. The most … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, Journalism, Media, Politics - national, Print media | 15 Comments

The rise of moral bubbles?

Posted on February 3, 2021 by David Walker

We may be headed for a world of endless moral bubbles, where targets for outrage can be identified and turned into bogeymen in record time, with record audiences. It would be QAnon, but for anything you can think of and … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Political theory | 5 Comments

Against decentralising: why crowded is good

Posted on May 20, 2020 by David Walker

Note: This post was original published on 6 July 2015; I’ve updated it several times because both parties keep revisiting a decentralisation agenda. Once again we’re hearing the argument that Australia would be a much better place if only we could … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, Innovation, Politics - national | 50 Comments

COVID-19: The path back (with updates)

Posted on April 22, 2020 by David Walker

Note: Article expanded on 24 April and again on 27 April. The middle now has more meat. So you can read it again! As Paul Frijters has recently said on this site, many countries will soon ease their restrictions on … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Economics and public policy, Health, Medical, Politics - national, Social Policy | 12 Comments

Defending the economy from coronavirus: the answer is “business lending”, not “stimulus”

Posted on March 18, 2020 by David Walker

Here’s a potentially unpopular proposition: The bulk of government economic action over the next few months should be directed to keeping businesses alive. Specifically, we need to keep afloat the many businesses with coronavirus-related short-term cash-flow problems. The correct lever … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments