John Singleton with Bob HowardRip Van Australia (Stanmore: Cassell Australia, 1977), p. 155, under the heading “Licences”.

Licensing provides yet another dramatic illustration of the perversion of the role of government from that of an agency preventing a few specific acts and having nothing to do with all others, to an agency which concerns itself with all acts, outlaws many, and licences the rest. The Queensland Government recently passed a law requiring that, in future, anyone wishing to hold a frog or lizard race would be required to get a licence. How much further can a government go?

The granting of a licence is a grant of privilege. The licence holder is made part of a coercive monopoly, oligopoly or cartel, and protected from other competition. The government dishes out the privileges, as is its custom, and the general public pays the price, in the form of decreased service and variety, and/or higher prices than would be the case on a free market.

Once again, the general justification for licensing is that it is “for the public good”, to maintain standards and protect consumers. Even if it started out this way, most licensing serves the opposite end today. Licensing allows the public to be exploited by a privileged few, by allowing special interest pressure groups to gain special privileges for their members. No pressure groups come out and say this. Instead, they cast around for an excuse, a rationalisation, that will sound good to the poor, dumb public. Invariably they trot out the old warhorse of the “public good”, and it dutifully covers a thousand sins.

There are, however, other ways to protect consumers that don’t do more harm than good (see Consumer Protection). Licences are privileges, and the sooner we realise it, the better off everyone will be, including, in the long run, the most efficient of today’s licence holders.